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Summary: This volume describes the nature, causes, and consequences of the diverse fluid movements that produce energy and mineral resources in sedimentary basins. The contained papers point to new capabilities in basin analysis methods and models. The processes that operate in the resource-producing thermo-chemical-structural reactors we call sedimentary basins are reviewed. Efficient ways to infer the tectonic history of basins are described. Impacts on hydrocarbon maturation and migration of glacial tilting, magmatic intrusion, salt migration, and fracturing are illustrated. The conditions under which subsurface flow will channel with distance traveled are identified. Seismic methods that can image and map subsurface permeability channels are described. The surface maturation, surface charge, and chemical reaction foundations of creep subsidence are set forth. Dynamic aspects of the hydrogen resource in basins are analyzed. There is much that is new that is presented in these papers with the intent of stimulating thinking and enthusiasm for the advances that will be made in future decades.

Summary: Rabbit breeding, although being a small sector of animal husbandry, is widespread in many areas of the world, as the rabbit is intended both for food (meat) and not food (fur) purposes. The rabbit production chain has to face various problems, mainly concerning animal health and product quality. To overcome these issues, studies using a multidisciplinary approach addressing aspects of the rabbit nutrition and feeding, with a direct impact on the rabbit farming, welfare, health, and meat quality are particularly appreciated and requested by the scientific community. This book is composed of four original papers and one review focused on different nutritional approaches. In particular a phyto-additive (thyme essential oil) and a rabbit-derived bacteriocin-producing strain (Enterococcus faecium CCM7420) with probiotic properties were investigated as new feed additives, while two types of insect fats were studied, in order to understand their effects as dietary replacements for soybean oil and their in vitro antimicrobial activities as alternative raw materials. Results collected in this book will be of particular interest for farmers and animal nutritionists working in the rabbit breeding sector

Summary: The correct management of territory and its planning based on scientific criteria in the face of the anthropogenic impacts of human activities is one of the main challenges in the 21st century. This publication includes some of the latest advancements in environmental planning and spatial analysis related to the ecological management of territory from a multidisciplinary perspective. The research papers from different researchers, scholars and experts in this field included in this collection were published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health after undergoing a rigorous anonymous peer review process.

Summary: This book focuses on the analysis, design and implementation of future smart grid systems. This book contains eleven chapters, which were originally published after rigorous peer-review as a Special Issue in the International Journal of Energies (Basel). The chapters cover a range of work from authors across the globe and present both the state-of-the-art and emerging paradigms across a range of topics including sustainability planning, regulations and policy, estimation and situational awareness, energy forecasting, control and optimization and decentralisation. This book will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and scholars working in areas related to future smart grid systems.

Summary: The present book contains 14 papers accepted and published in the Special Issue of the MDPI Mathematics journal, entitled "Fuzzy Logic and Soft Computing - Dedicated to the Centenary of the Birth of Lotfi A. Zadeh (1921-2017)", which covers a wide range of topics connected to the theory and applications of fuzzy logic and soft computing. More precisely, these topics include: mathematical programming problems with coefficients and/or decision variables expressed by fuzzy numbers; soft computing methods in a fuzzy environment; fuzzy inner product spaces; M-hazy vector spaces; interval ranges of fuzzy sets; arithmetic operations of fuzzy sets; gradual numbers; Interval-valued fuzzy soft sets; interval-valued fuzzy soft topology; preference relationships; L-fuzzy sub-effect algebras; Fuzzy differential subordinations; m-polar fuzzy set in semigroups; practical use of the marks; the fuzzy logic approach for decision-making systems in management control; multigranulation rough sets; the multigranulation roughness of an intuitionistic fuzzy set; decision-making algorithms, etc. We hope that this book will be useful for those who work in the domains of fuzzy logic and soft computing or for those who want to familiarize themselves with the most advanced knowledge in the field of fuzzy mathematics.

Summary: The present book contains five papers accepted and published in the Special Issue, "Fuzzy Natural Logic in IFSA-EUSFLAT 2021", of the journal Mathematics (MDPI). These papers are extended versions of the contributions presented in the conference "The 19th World Congress of the International Fuzzy Systems Association and the 12th Conference of the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology jointly with the AGOP, IJCRS, and FQAS conferences", which took place in Bratislava (Slovakia) from September 19 to September 24, 2021. Fuzzy Natural Logic (FNL) is a system of mathematical fuzzy logic theories that enables us to model natural language terms and rules while accounting for their inherent vagueness and allows us to reason and argue using the tools developed in them. FNL includes, among others, the theory of evaluative linguistic expressions (e.g., small, very large, etc.), the theory of fuzzy and intermediate quantifiers (e.g., most, few, many, etc.), and the theory of fuzzy/linguistic IF-THEN rules and logical inference. The papers in this Special Issue use the various aspects and concepts of FNL mentioned above and apply them to a wide range of problems both theoretically and practically oriented. This book will be of interest for researchers working in the areas of fuzzy logic, applied linguistics, generalized quantifiers, and their applications.

Summary: This book collects fifteen papers published in s Special Issue of Mathematics titled "Fuzzy Sets in Business Management, Finance, and Economics", which was published in 2021. These paper cover a wide range of different tools from Fuzzy Set Theory and applications in many areas of Business Management and other connected fields. Specifically, this book contains applications of such instruments as, among others, Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Neuro-Fuzzy Methods, the Forgotten Effects Algorithm, Expertons Theory, Fuzzy Markov Chains, Fuzzy Arithmetic, Decision Making with OWA Operators and Pythagorean Aggregation Operators, Fuzzy Pattern Recognition, and Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets. The papers in this book tackle a wide variety of problems in areas such as strategic management, sustainable decisions by firms and public organisms, tourism management, accounting and auditing, macroeconomic modelling, the evaluation of public organizations and universities, and actuarial modelling. We hope that this book will be useful not only for business managers, public decision-makers, and researchers in the specific fields of business management, finance, and economics but also in the broader areas of soft mathematics in social sciences. Practitioners will find methods and ideas that could be fruitful in current management issues. Scholars will find novel developments that may inspire further applications in the social sciences.

Summary: The present book contains the 24 total articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Fuzzy Sets, Fuzzy Logic and Their Applications, 2020" of the MDPI Mathematics journal, which covers a wide range of topics connected to the theory and applications of fuzzy sets and systems of fuzzy logic and their extensions/generalizations. These topics include, among others, elements from fuzzy graphs; fuzzy numbers; fuzzy equations; fuzzy linear spaces; intuitionistic fuzzy sets; soft sets; type-2 fuzzy sets, bipolar fuzzy sets, plithogenic sets, fuzzy decision making, fuzzy governance, fuzzy models in mathematics of finance, a philosophical treatise on the connection of the scientific reasoning with fuzzy logic, etc. It is hoped that the book will be interesting and useful for those working in the area of fuzzy sets, fuzzy systems and fuzzy logic, as well as for those with the proper mathematical background and willing to become familiar with recent advances in fuzzy mathematics, which has become prevalent in almost all sectors of the human life and activity.

Summary: The Special Issue "Game Theory" of the journal Mathematics provides a collection of papers that represent modern trends in mathematical game theory and its applications. The works address the problem of constructing and implementation of solution concepts based on classical optimality principles in different classes of games. In the case of non-cooperative behavior of players, the Nash equilibrium as a basic optimality principle is considered in both static and dynamic game settings. In the case of cooperative behavior of players, the situation is more complicated. As is seen from presented papers, the direct use of cooperative optimality principles in dynamic and differential games may bring time or subgame inconsistency of a solution which makes the cooperative schemes unsustainable. The notion of time or subgame consistency is crucial to the success of cooperation in a dynamic framework. In the works devoted to dynamic or differential games, this problem is analyzed and the special regularization procedures proposed to achieve time or subgame consistency of cooperative solutions. Among others, special attention in the presented book is paid to the construction of characteristic functions which determine the power of coalitions in games. The book contains many multi-disciplinary works applied to economic and environmental applications in a coherent manner.

Summary: Gastrointestinal tract disorders are a wide group of diseases involving both the gastrointestinal tube (esophagus, stomach, small and large intestine) and related organs (liver, pancreas, and gallbladder). These dysfunctions may differ by site, etiology, and severity, going from simple malfunctions to mere diseases. Because of their variety and heterogeneity, gastrointestinal disorders can affect many people and are widespread throughout the population. Therefore, scientific research in this area is facing a great challenge. Better knowledge of gastrointestinal disorders in terms of their pathophysiology, clinical features, and possible complications is necessary for the development of new diagnostic methods and therapeutic strategies. During the last several decades, some scientific developments have already been made, giving more opportunities to these patients. However, much remains to be discovered and to be done to help physicians in their everyday work and to give patients a better prognosis. The present Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in gastrointestinal tract disorders, focusing on their diagnostic and therapeutic path, evolution, and complications.

Summary: This reprint describes the recent challenges in tourism seen from the point of view of data science. Thanks to the use of the most popular Data Science concepts, you can easily recognise trends and patterns in tourism, detect the impact of tourism on the environment, and predict future trends in tourism. This reprint starts by describing how to analyse data related to the past, then it moves on to detecting behaviours in the present, and, finally, it describes some techniques to predict future trends. By the end of the reprint, you will be able to use data science to help tourism businesses make better use of data and improve their decision making and operations..

Summary: The use of renewable energy sources (RESs) is a need of global society. This editorial, and its associated Special Issue "Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Sources", offers a compilation of some of the recent advances in the analysis of current power systems that are composed after the high penetration of distributed generation (DG) with different RESs. The focus is on both new control configurations and on novel methodologies for the optimal placement and sizing of DG. The eleven accepted papers certainly provide a good contribution to control deployments and methodologies for the allocation and sizing of DG.

Summary: Noncovalent interactions are the bridge between ideal gas abstraction and the real world. For a long time, they were covered by two terms: van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonding. Both experimental and quantum chemical studies have contributed to our understanding of the nature of these interactions. In the last decade, great progress has been made in identifying, quantifying, and visualizing noncovalent interactions. New types of interactions have been classified-their energetic and spatial properties have been tabulated. In the past, most studies were limited to analyzing the single strongest interaction in the molecular system under consideration, which is responsible for the most important structural properties of the system. Despite this limitation, such an approach often results in satisfactory approximations of experimental data. However, this requires knowledge of the structure of the molecular system and the absence of other competing interactions. The current challenge is to go beyond this limitation. This Special Issue collects ideas on how to study the interplay of noncovalent interactions in complex molecular systems including the effects of cooperation and anti-cooperation, solvation, reaction field, steric hindrance, intermolecular dynamics, and other weak but numerous impacts on molecular conformation, chemical reactivity, and condensed matter structure.

Summary: In recent years, the scientific community's interest towards efficient energy conversion systems has significantly increased. One of the reasons is certainly related to the change in the temperature of the planet, which appears to have increased by 0.76 °C with respect to pre-industrial levels, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and this trend has not yet been stopped. The European Union considers it vital to prevent global warming from exceeding 2 °C with respect to pre-industrial levels, since this phenomenon has been proven to result in irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes. These climate changes are mainly caused by the emissions of greenhouse gasses related to human activities, and can be drastically reduced by employing energy systems, for both heating and cooling of buildings and for power production, characterized by high efficiency levels and/or based on renewable energy sources. This Special Issue, published in the journal Energies, includes 12 contributions from across the world, including a wide range of applications, such as HT-PEMFC, district heating systems, a thermoelectric generator for industrial waste, artificial ground freezing, nanofluids, and others.

Summary: This volume celebrates the 30th anniversary of the first very-high energy (VHE) gamma-ray Source detection: the Crab Nebula, observed by the pioneering ground-based Cherenkov telescope Whipple, at teraelectronvolts (TeV) energies, in 1989. As we entered a new era in TeV astronomy, with the imminent start of operations of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) and new facilities such as LHAASO and the proposed Southern Wide-Field Gamma-ray Observatory (SWGO), we conceived of this volume as a broad reflection on how far we have evolved in the astrophysics topics that dominated the field of TeV astronomy for much of recent history.In the past two decades, H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS pushed the field of TeV astronomy, consolidating the field of TeV astrophysics, from few to hundreds of TeV emitters. Today, this is a mature field, covering almost every topic of modern astrophysics. TeV astrophysics is also at the center of the multi-messenger astrophysics revolution, as the extreme photon energies involved provide an effective probe in cosmic-ray acceleration, propagation and interaction, in dark matter and exotic physics searches. The improvement that CTA will carry forward and the fact that CTA will operate as the first open observatory in the field, mean that gamma-ray astronomy is about to enter a new precision and productive era.This book aims to serve as an introduction to the field and its state of the art, presenting a series of authoritative reviews on a broad range of topics in which TeV astronomy provided essential contributions, and where some of the most relevant questions for future research lie.

Summary: Dietary fat quality is a crucial determinant of several physiological, biochemical and molecular processes in the body, tissues and cells. As a source of energy, Fatty Acids (FA) are mainly stored in fat cells and within lipid droplets (LD) in oxidative and steroidogenic tissues, but significant amounts are also found in cell membranes where their structural role is crucial for membrane protein functions and the control of cellular functions. Differential effects have been identified between different types FA on inflammatory and metabolic diseases during obesity or in response to physical exercise and chronic diseases. The most recent dietary guidelines advise that lipids should represent 35% of the daily energy intake in order to prevent deleterious effects of high glycaemic index carbohydrates and deficiency in essential fatty acids. Hence, the prevalence of obesity could rise dramatically despite a fall in total fat intake. Advice is more focused on the improvement of the quality of fat than on the reduction of total fat intake. Dietary fat sources provide a mixture of saturated FA (SFA), monounsaturated FA (MUFA) and polyunsaturated FA (PUFA). Most institutional dietary guidelines claim that the consumption of SFA should be limited to the expense of MUFA and PUFA as a nutritional strategy for the prevention of chronic diseases. The role of dietary SFA and MUFA in cardiometabolic risk remains controversial in the scientific community. This special issue was proposed to publish articles that bring new elements into the topic by collecting recent advances for students and professionals involved in lipid and health.

Summary: The manuscripts published in this reprint provide new insights into the hypothalamic neuronal and non-neuronal pathways involved in the pathophysiology and development of obesity and related diseases such as diabetes. Via four original papers, six review manuscripts, and one perspective, this reprint will substantially contribute to the identification of novel therapeutic targets in the hypothalamus and novel approaches to combatting the progression of human obesity.

Summary: Next year (2018), we will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health-IJERPH (ISSN 1660-4601). Hence, we are currently organizing a Special Issue to commemorate this important milestone. Founded in 2004, IJERPH has experienced a tremendous growth in terms of the number and quality of scientific publications. With a 2016 impact factor of 2.101, IJERPH now ranks among the top international journals in the emerging field of environmental research and public health. As described on our website (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph), IJERPH is a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the publication of scientific and technical information on the impacts of natural phenomena and anthropogenic factors on the quality of our environment, the interrelationships between environmental health and the quality of life, as well as the socio-cultural, political, economic, and legal considerations related to environmental stewardship and public health. Its primary areas of research interests include: Gene-environment interactions Environmental genomics and proteomics Environmental toxicology, mutagenesis and carcinogenesis Environmental epidemiology and disease control Health risk assessment and management Ecotoxicology, and ecological risk assessment and management Natural resources damage assessment Environmental chemistry and computational modeling Environmental policy and management Environmental engineering and biotechnology Emerging issues in environmental health and diseases Environmental education and public health To help celebrate the 15th anniversary, you are kindly invited to submit original articles, critical reviews, research notes, and short communications on any of the above-listed topics. Please also encourage any of our colleagues who may be interested to submit manuscripts. We expect that this issue will attract considerable attention, as we prepare to celebrate the excellent scientific contributions and socio-economic impacts of IJERPH over the past 15 years.

Summary: Climate change poses a serious challenge to our health and wellbeing. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heatwaves, and the direct impacts of changes in temperature have direct impacts on health. At the same time, broader environmental change affects infectious disease risk, air pollution, and other forms of exposure. The different ways in which climate change will affect health are complex, interactive, and different communities are disproportionately affected. International actions such as the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals recognise the future risks to society and acknowledge that we are already committed to a certain level of climate change. Future adaptation measures therefore need careful assessment and implementation for us to be able to minimise the potential risks from climate change and, at the same time, maximise the potential health benefits of a cleaner, greener world. This Special Issue comprises original research articles and detailed reviews on the likely impacts of climate change on health in a range of geographical settings, and the potential for adaptation measures to reduce some of these risks. Ultimately, studies like these will motivate policy level action for mitigation and help in determining the most effective methods of adaptation to reduce negative impacts in future through embedding scientific evidence into practice.

Summary: Food, by nature, is a biological substrate and is therefore capable of supporting the growth of microbials that are potential producers of toxic compounds. Among them mycotoxins, marine biotoxins, plant toxins, cyanogenic glycosides, and toxins occurring in poisonous mushrooms pose not only a risk to both human and animal health but also impact food security and nutrition by reducing people's access to healthy food. This book collects some of the recent key improvements of analytical methodologies for the detection of natural toxins and their metabolites in food, and highlights the challenges yet to be resolved. Special emphasis is given to emerging or less-investigated toxins, to provide the scientific community with new tools and/or data supporting a better understanding of related food safety issues.

Summary: This book collects selected high-quality papers published in 2018-2020 to inaugurate the "Natural Hazards" Section of the Geosciences journal. The topics encompass: trends in publications at international level in the field of natural hazards research; the role of Big Data in natural disaster management; assessment of seismic risk through the understanding and quantification of its different components; climatic/hydro-meteorological hazards; and finally, the scientific analysis and disaster forensics of recent natural hazard events. The target audience includes not only specialists, but also graduate students who wish to approach the challenging, but also fascinating

Summary: The sustainable development of our planet depends on the use of energy. The growing population of the world inevitably causes an increase in the demand for energy, which, on the one hand, threatens the potential for shortages of energy supply, and, on the other hand, causes the deterioration of the environment.Therefore, our task is to reduce this demand through different innovative solutions (i.e., both technological and social). Social marketing and economic policies can also play a role in affecting the behavior of households and companies, by causing behavioral change oriented to energy stewardship, and an overall switch to renewable energy resources. This book provides a platform for the exchange of a wide range of ideas, which, ultimately, would facilitate the driving of societies to long-term energy efficiency.

Summary: Most of the typical materials employed in today's constructions present limitations, especially concerning their durability, in either common or severe environmental conditions, and their impact on the environment. In response to these issues, academic and industrial efforts around the world have been devoted to developing new smart materials that can provide efficient alternatives, improve the energy efficiency of buildings, or can upgrade, repair, or protect existing infrastructures. Different and wide technological innovations are, therefore, quickly fostering advancements in the field of construction materials. A new generation of materials (bricks, cement, coatings, concrete, FRP, glass, masonry, mortars, nano-materials, PCM, polymers, steel, wood, etc.) is gaining a prominent position in modern building technology, since they can overcome various limits and flaws of conventional materials employed in constructions, without neglecting the smart applications of pioneering materials in ancient constructions and historic buildings. Even though the adoption of innovative materials in the construction field has been a successful route in achieving enhanced performance, or even new and unexpected characteristics, some issues have not been completely solved. On top of them, the cost/performance ratio of novel solutions, since their introduction must be convenient, without compromising quality. Other concerns are related to their sustainability, with eco-friendly options, possibly exploiting recycled materials or by-products from other productions, being the most desirable solution. Finally, the use of materials or systems that are unconventional in this field raises the need to update or develop new specifications and standards. This special issue aims at providing a platform for discussing open issues, challenges, and achievements related to innovative materials proposed for the construction industry.

Summary: This book contains original peer-reviewed articles written by some of the most prominent international physicists active in the field of hydrodynamics. The topic is entirely devoted to the study of the transitional regimes of incompressible viscous flow found at the onset of turbulent flows. Nine articles written for this 2020 Special Issue of the journal Entropy (MDPI) have been gathered at the crossroads of fluid mechanics, statistical physics, complexity theory, and applied mathematics. They include experimental, analytic, and computational material of an academic level that has not been published anywhere else.

Summary: Since its first observation in 1850, ion-exchange (IEx) has become a fundamental process in many applications involving water treatment, catalysis, chromatography, and the food and pharmaceutical industries. Starting from the early 1900s, another relevant application of IEx has been in the glass industry, with the surface tempering of glass produced by a K+-Na+ ion exchange. Nowadays, photonics has greatly exploited IEx technology: graded-index microlenses, graded-index fibers and integrated optical waveguides and devices are examples of achievements made possible by the IEx process. Moreover, ion-exchange is possible in ferroelectric crystals, too, and has been fundamental for the development of many linear and nonlinear integrated optical devices in lithium niobate and tantalate.This volume collects articles published in the corresponding Special Issue of the Applied Sciences journal. Four review articles, written by internationally renowned experts in this field, provide complementary overviews of the history, fundamental aspects, designs and fabrications of devices, and technological achievements. Three articles describe original research in the fields of diffraction grating, photo-thermo-refractive glasses, and Yb-doped lithium niobate. This volume constitutes a valuable and updated reference for all students and researchers wishing to improve their knowledge and/or make use of ion-exchange technology and its applications.

Summary: This book, titled "Ionic Conductive Membranes for Fuel Cells", from the journal Membranes, discusses the state of the art and future developments in the field of polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells, an efficient and clean system for converting fuel into energy.

Summary: Recently, there has been a growing awareness of the need to make better use of natural resources. Hence, the utilization of biomass has led to so-called biorefinery, consisting of the fractionation or separation of the different components of the lignocellulosic materials in order to achieve a total utilization of the same, and not only of the cellulosic fraction for paper production. The use of plant biomass as a basic raw material implies a shift from an economy based on the exploitation of non-renewable fossil fuels, with limited reserves or with regeneration cycles far below the rates of exploitation, to a bioeconomy based on the use of renewable organic natural resources, with balanced regeneration and extraction cycles. To make this change, profound readjustments in existing technologies are necessary, as well as the application of new approaches in research, development, and production."Biorefinery" is the term used to describe the technology for the fractionation of plant biomass into energy, chemicals, and consumer goods. The future generation of biorefinery will include treatments, leading to high-value-added compounds. The use of green chemistry technologies and principles in biorefineries, such as solvent and reagent recovery and the minimization of effluent and gas emissions, is essential to define an economically and environmentally sustainable process.In particular, the biorefinery of lignocellulosic materials to produce biofuels, chemicals and materials is presented as a solid alternative to the current petrochemical platform and a possible solution to the accumulation of greenhouse gases.

Summary: The present reprint contains five articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Logic and Computation 2023" of the MDPI "Mathematics" journal, covering several topics on computing science based on some form of logic. These topics include the model theory for formal logic-based formal specification and programming, logic mining and logic for games. It is hoped that the reprint will be interesting and useful for those working in the area of applying logic to computing.

Summary: This Special Issue reprint covers the synthesis of luminescent nanomaterials, applications for in vitro and in vivo imaging, detection based on fluorescence resonance energy, and the applications of luminescent nanoparticles for photodynamic activation and solid-state displays, as well as new materials and structures, such as perovskite quantum dots, and novel phenomena, such as aggregation-induced emissions. In total, there are 15 papers (2 reviews and 13 research articles) in this Special Issue consisting of the major areas of upconversion of luminescent nanomaterials; luminescent nanomaterials for solid-state lighting, displays, and anti-counterfeiting; particle-based sensing technology; particle-based therapeutics; and new materials and structures. This Issue represents new developments in luminescence nanotechnology.

Summary: As the scaling of electronic semiconductor devices displays signs of saturation, the main focus of research in microelectronics is shifting towards finding new computing paradigms. Electron spin offers additional functionality to digital charge-based devices. Several fundamental problems, including spin injection to a semiconductor, spin propagation and relaxation, and spin manipulation by the gate voltage, have been successfully resolved to open a path towards spin-based reprogrammable electron switches. Devices employing electron spin are nonvolatile; they are able to preserve the stored information without external power. Emerging nonvolatile devices are electrically addressable, possess a simple structure, and offer endurance and speed superior to flash memory. Having nonvolatile memory very close to CMOS offers a prospect of data processing in the nonvolatile segment, where the same devices are used to store and process the information. This opens perspectives for conceptually new low-power computing paradigms within Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). This Special Issue focuses on all topics related to spintronic devices such as spin-based switches, magnetoresistive memories, energy harvesting devices, and sensors that can be employed in in-memory computing concepts and in Artificial Intelligence.

Summary: "EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Written by a leading expert in the field, this practical and accessible book is an essential guide to knowledge exchange, impact and research dissemination in health and social care. Providing the why, what, who, how and when of research impact, the book helps researchers turn raw findings into useful, high-impact evidence for policymakers, practitioners and the public. It will help researchers at all stages of their career to maximise the impact of their work."

Summary: This book is a hard copy of the editorial and all the papers in a Special Issue of the peer-reviewed open access journal 'Water' on the theme 'Managed Aquifer Recharge for Water Resilience'. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is the purposeful recharge of water to aquifers for subsequent recovery or environmental benefit. MAR is increasingly used to make water supplies resilient to drought, climate change and deteriorating water quality, and to protect ecosystems from declining groundwater levels. Global MAR has grown exponentially to 10 cu.km/year and will increase ten-fold within a few decades. Well informed hydrogeologists, engineers and water quality scientists are needed to ensure that this investment is effective in meeting increasingly pressing needs. This compilation contains lessons from many examples of existing projects, including several national and continental summaries. It also addresses the elements essential for identifying and advancing projects such as mapping aquifer suitability and opportunities, policy matters, operational issues, and some innovations in MAR methods and monitoring. This collection exemplifies the state of progress in the science and practice of MAR and is intended to be useful, at least to water managers, water utilities, agricultural water users and urban planners, to facilitate water resilience through new MAR projects.

Summary: Modern society faces various global and regional challenges, including climate change and sustainable development. In order to deal with these challenges, society must be managed properly to follow a sustainable and low-carbon pathway. To advance the studies on this topic, 13 articles have been included in a Special Issue of the "International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health". This is a reprint of the 13 articles published in the Special Issue. The themes covered by the 13 articles include the driving forces of carbon emissions, the carbon market, implications of regional and global low-carbon pathways, green finance, green growth, and air pollution. Various methods have been used in these studies, such as computable general equilibrium (CGE) models, econometric models, and machine learning methods. Most of the articles provide new insights based on evidence from China while the others focus on several regions and the global economy.

Summary: To address the increasingly prominent environmental pollution and energy shortage, many countries devote themselves to green manufacturing and logistics in which some optimization problems are common and challenging, e.g., production planning and scheduling, supply chain management, location and allocation problems, vehicle routing problem, resource optimization, and pricing strategies. The present reprint contains all of the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Mathematical Modeling and Intelligent Optimization in Green Manufacturing & Logistics" from the MDPI Mathematics journal. This Special Issue is focused on collecting recent mathematical modeling and intelligent optimization research in green manufacturing and logistics, including operations research, game theory, (meta)heuristics, machine learning, knowledge-driven, digital twin, and so on. We hope that the scientific results presented in this reprint will serve as a valuable source of documentation and inspiration to those researching the modeling and optimization of green manufacturing and sustainable logistics.

Summary: The present book contains the 16 papers accepted and published in the Special Issue "Mathematical Modeling and Simulation in Mechanics and Dynamic Systems" of the MDPI "Mathematics" journal, which cover a wide range of topics connected to the theory and applications of Modeling and Simulation of Dynamic Systems in different field. These topics include, among others, methods to model and simulate mechanical system in real engineering. It is hopped that the book will find interest and be useful for those working in the area of Modeling and Simulation of the Dynamic Systems, as well as for those with the proper mathematical background and willing to become familiar with recent advances in Dynamic Systems, which has nowadays entered almost all sectors of human life and activity.

Summary: This volume was conceived as a Special Issue of the MDPI journal Mathematics to illustrate and show relevant applications of differential equations in different fields, coherently with the latest trends in applied mathematics research. All the articles that were submitted for publication are valuable, interesting, and original. The readers will certainly appreciate the heterogeneity of the 10 papers included in this book and will discover how helpful all the kinds of differential equations are in a wide range of disciplines. We are confident that this book will be inspirational for young scholars as well.

Summary: This Special Issue collected original contributions, both research papers and reviews, showing recent results and/or positive advances in the behavior of new sustainable bio-materials under applied mechanical stress, both in static and dynamic mode, and evaluating the characteristics of resistance, moduli and/or viscoelasticity, in view of potential applications, such as tissue engineering, medical devices, surgical or dental implants, manufacturing of human parts, agriculture, packaging, textiles, electronics, automotive and aerospace, green buildings, and architecture and construction.

Summary: The recent COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted from SARS CoV-2 coronavirus infection, contributed to a rapid increase in hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Although during the last 3 years there have been numerous research publications on patient care, data concerning the role of the dietary approach in the overall treatment of the disease are minimal. Moreover, with regard to the dietary approach during COVID-19 critical illness, practice guidelines are still based on data which were developed too quickly and were based on targeted recommendations on feeding the critically ill. Since then, new sources of data have emerged, which clearly display significant nutritional challenges. Why are we so interested in providing individualized nutritional therapy to critically ill patients with COVID-19? Bevause these patients tend to exhibit a significantly greater length of hospital stay, and a higher risk of developing muscle weakness, malnutrition and functional loss. Are there any data on best nutrition support practices? Unfortunately, there are no data from randomized clinical trials, with the exception of some micronutrient supplementation studies with immunomodulating actions. So, the key concept identified in this Special Issue was that optimizing dietary practices for patients both during their ICU stay and beyond is crucial. Clinicians should be capable of managing their patients both during their hospitalization and rehabilitation phase, in order to ensure continuous care and to minimize the susceptibility of adverse events due to malnutrition.

Summary: Sedimentary habitats cover the vast majority of the ocean floor and constitute the largest ecosystem on Earth. These systems supply fundamental services to human beings, such as food production and nutrient recycling. It is well known that meiofauna are an abundant and ubiquitous component of sediments, even though their biodiversity and importance in marine ecosystem functioning remain to be fully investigated. In this book, the meiofaunal biodiversity trends in marine habitats worldwide are documented, along with the collection of empirical evidence on their role in ecosystem services, such as the production, consumption, and decomposition of organic matter, and energy transfer to higher and lower trophic levels. Meiofaunal activities, like feeding and bioturbation, induce changes in several physico-chemical and biological properties of sediments, and might increase the resilience of the benthic ecosystem processes that are essential for the supply of ecosystem goods and services required by humans. As a key component of marine habitats, the taxonomical and functional aspects of the meiofaunal community are also used for the ecological assessment of the sediments' quality status, providing important information on the anthropogenic impact of benthos.

Summary: This book contains the articles collected for the Special Issue entitled "Micro-nano Surface Functionalization of Materials and Thin Films for Optical Applications" in the journal Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). These selected articles provide a meaningful overview of recent advances and concepts beyond the state-of-the-art regarding surface functionalization of materials and deposition of thin films to be used in optical applications. The aim was to cover all relevant aspects of the topic (simulation, design, fabrication, characterization and applications) with a special emphasis on non-conventional methods for surface modification of materials, combinations of mature fabrication routes with emerging technologies (i.e., additive manufacturing) and large-area fabrication concepts to pave the way to an industrial utilization of the developed materials. This overview comprises the recent work of reputed scientists from Germany, Austria, Spain and India on: - New developments on the scale-up deposition of transparent conductive materials by magnetron sputtering,- Design of hierarchical surface structures at different scale lengths for nanoimprinting of optical nano- and micro-structures, - Non-conventional preparation of rutile-type TiO2 films at room temperature for optical applications on heat-sensitive substrates, - Design of spectrally selective solar absorber coatings based on computational simulation and ellipsometry measurements.

Summary: In view of the general trend that the development of the global energy industry is oriented toward green, low-carbon, and efficient utilization, scientific research teams in various fields dominated by the coal industry have conducted much research on coal and coal-like materials by borrowing the technologies and concepts of modern materials science and rock mass mechanics, hoping to explore new directions for the high value-added utilization of structural coal resources and the development of new coal-like materials. On behalf of Materials, we invited you to contribute an original research article to a Special Issue on the microstructure, characterization, and mechanical properties of coal and coal-like materials. This Special Issue aimed to showcase the latest scientific and technological achievements and cutting-edge test technologies in the study of coal and coal-like materials, with exploration of their structural change characteristics and mechanical properties under various influencing factors. Hot topics to be covered include: Analysis of mechanical properties of coal and coal-like materials;Multiscale characterization of coal and coal-like materials;Development and utilization of coal resources with high added value;Void structure and seepage characteristics of coal and coal-like materials;Establishment of constitutive relationships.

Summary: The Special Issue Modeling and Simulation in Engineering, belonging to the section Engineering Mathematics of the Journal Mathematics, publishes original research papers dealing with advanced simulation and modeling techniques. The present book, "Modeling and Simulation in Engineering I, 2022", contains 14 papers accepted after peer review by recognized specialists in the field. The papers address different topics occurring in engineering, such as ferrofluid transport in magnetic fields, non-fractal signal analysis, fractional derivatives, applications of swarm algorithms and evolutionary algorithms (genetic algorithms), inverse methods for inverse problems, numerical analysis of heat and mass transfer, numerical solutions for fractional differential equations, Kriging modelling, theory of the modelling methodology, and artificial neural networks for fault diagnosis in electric circuits. It is hoped that the papers selected for this issue will attract a significant audience in the scientific community and will further stimulate research involving modelling and simulation in mathematical physics and in engineering.

Summary: This Special Issue on the "Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Preeclampsia" belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics" of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. It was a very successful Special Issue as it contains 20 published papers, including one editorial, nine original research papers, and ten reviews on the topic. The original publications cover a wide spectrum of topics, including alterations and involvement of specific factors during preeclampsia, new non-invasive technologies to identify changes, new treatment options, animal models, gender aspects, and effects of the pregnancy pathology later in life. The review publications again cover a wide spectrum of topics, including factors and pathways involved in preeclampsia, effects on the maternal vascular and immune systems, effects on the placenta and the trophoblast, epigenetic changes, new preventive strategies, and new views on the current hypotheses on preeclampsia. Taken together, this Special Issue gives a fantastic overview on a broad spectrum of topics, all of which are important to identify the real etiology of preeclampsia and to finally develop real treatment options.

Summary: The conversion and storage of renewable energy sources is key to the transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a low-carbon society. Many new game-changing materials have already impacted our lives and contributed to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, such as high-efficiency photovoltaic cells, blue light-emitting diodes, and cathodes for Li-ion batteries. However, new breakthroughs in materials science and technology are required to boost the clean energy transition. All success stories in materials science are built upon a tailored control of the interconnected processes that take place at the nanoscale, such as charge excitation, charge transport and recombination, ionic diffusion, intercalation, and the interfacial transfer of matter and charge. Nanostructured materials, thanks to their ultra-small building blocks and the high interface-to-volume ratio, offer a rich toolbox to scientists that aspire to improve the energy conversion efficiency or the power and energy density of a material. Furthermore, new phenomena arise in nanoparticles, such as surface plasmon resonance, superparamegntism, and exciton confinement. The ten articles published in this Special Issue showcase the different applications of nanomaterials in the field of energy storage and conversion, including electrodes for Li-ion batteries and beyond, photovoltaic materials, pyroelectric energy harvesting, and (photo)catalytic processes.

Summary: The use of nanomaterials in technologies for photovoltaic applications continues to represent an important area of research. There are numerous mechanisms by which the incorporation of nanomaterials can improve device performance. We invited authors to contribute articles covering the most recent progress and new developments in the design and utilization of nanomaterials for highly efficient, novel devices relevant to solar cell applications. This book covers a broad range of subjects, from nanomaterials synthesis to the design and characterization of photovoltaic devices and technologies with nanomaterial integration.

Summary: In recent years, researchers have shown a special interest in natural products as alternative methods for the prevention, treatment, and/or management of various skin illnesses and disorders, primarily due to their natural availability, efficacity, reduced cost, and minimal toxicity. In a similar vein, synthetic bioactives, as well as small molecules, have been studied in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical studies as potential drugs or supplements. This Special Issue of Nutrients comprises an array of literature reviews, original communications, and studies on the roles of natural products, synthetic bioactives, and small molecules in a variety of skin disorders and diseases, such as aging, atopic dermatitis, cutaneous T-cell lymphomas, melanoma, allergies, hyperpigmentation, inflammation, and more, which were investigated through in vitro and ex vivo approaches, preclinical trials, cell-based assays, and animal models. The mechanisms of action of certain compounds are proposed, while others are currently under investigation. The authors of the papers also explore technologies designed to improve the bioavailability and delivery of certain compounds. In lieu of ongoing research on a variety of skin disorders, the wealth of information published in this Special Issue can act as a springboard for the development of new preventive and therapeutic modalities for the management of skin diseases.

Summary: A Special Issue of the international journal Sustainability under the section Sustainability of Culture & Heritage has been made, entitled Natural Sciences in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. The bridge between science/technology and the humanities (archaeology, anthropology, history of art, and cultural heritage) has formed a well-established interdisciplinary subject with several sub-disciplines; it is growing exponentially, spurred by the fast development of technology in other fields (space exploration, medical, military, and industrial applications). On the other hand, art and culture struggle to survive due to neglect, lack of funding, or the dangers of events such as natural disasters and war. This volume strengthens and exerts the documentation of the sustainability of the issue that arises from the outcome of resulting research and the application of such a duality link. The sustainable dimension emerges from society, education, and economics through the impact of cultural growth, all of which produce a balanced society, in which prosperity, harmony, and development are merged at a sustainable local/regional/national/social level. A wide range of subjects linking the applied natural sciences with archaeology and the cultural heritage of innovative research and applications are presented in this volume.

Summary: Buildings account for more than one-third of the global final energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The building sector offers a significant potential in the transition towards the decarbonisation of societies. To achieve this goal, different concepts and implementations of Net-Zero/Positive Energy Buildings and Districts (NZPEBD) have emerged in the last years and are still in progress. This book is the collection of the articles published in the Special Issue "Net-Zero/Positive Energy Buildings and Districts" of the Buildings journal. This reprint includes 17 research articles covering different aspects of Net-Zero/Positive Energy Buildings and Districts planning, technologies, economics, building design and retrofitting, citizen engagement, and collection of energy data.

Summary: In recent years, people have tended to adjust the degree of order/disorder to explore new materials. The degree of order/disorder can be measured by entropy, and it can be divided into two parts: topological disordering and chemical disordering. The former mainly refers to order in the spatial configuration, e.g., amorphous alloys which show short-range ordering but without long-range ordering, while the latter mainly refers to the order in the chemical occupancy, that is to say, the components can replace each other, and typical representatives are high-entropy alloy (HEAs). HEAs, in sharp contrast to traditional alloys based on one or two principal elements, have one striking characteristic: their unusually high entropy of mixing. They have not received much noticed until the review paper entitled "Microstructure and Properties of High-Entropy Alloys" was published in 2014 in the journal of Progress in Materials Science. Numerous reports have shown they exhibit five recognized performance characteristics, namely, strength-plasticity trade-off breaking, irradiation tolerance, corrosion resistance, high-impact toughness within a wider temperature range, and high thermal stability. So far, the development of HEAs has gone through three main stages: 1. Quinary equal-atomic single-phase solid solution alloys; 2. Quaternary or quinary non-equal-atomic multiphase alloys; 3. Medium-entropy alloys, high-entropy fibers, high-entropy films, lightweight HEAs, etc. Nowadays, more in-depth research on high-entropy alloys is urgently needed.

Summary: The demand for global fossil energy continues to be strong, meaning that the exploitation of oil and gas resources is still very important. In addition, due to the continuous reduction in conventional oil and gas recoverable resources, the development of unconventional oil and gas resources and geothermal energy has gradually become an important replacement. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the existing mechanism analysis, research methods and engineering technology to improve the production and development efficiency of oil, gas, and geothermal resources. This reprint presents 11 recent works on the application of new theories and technologies in oil, gas, and geothermal reservoirs. The content covers well-drilling, cementing, hydraulic fracturing, improved oil recovery, conformance control, and geothermal energy development. The new progress presented in this reprint will help scientists and researchers to better understand and master the latest theories and techniques for oil, gas, and geothermal reservoirs, which has important practical significance for the economical and effective development of oil, gas, and geothermal resources.