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Summary: During cell metabolism, oxygen is partially reduced to reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a physiological role in cellular processes. However, an imbalance between the production of ROS and the ability of defenses to detoxify the organism provokes oxidative stress. Oxidative stress and its subsequent damages to vital cellular components have been associated with numerous severe chronic disorders. In addition, oxidation reactions are responsible for food deterioration during processing and storage. Peptides from animal and vegetal food sources have attracted attention due to the large evidence of their in vitro antioxidant properties. In addition to their potential as safer alternatives to synthetic antioxidants used to prevent oxidative reactions in foods, antioxidant peptides can also act by reducing the risk of numerous oxidative stress-associated diseases. Furthermore, peptides can act synergistically with nonpeptide antioxidants, enhancing their protective effect. This Special Issue of the Foods journal includes outstanding papers illustrating examples of the most recent advances on antioxidant peptides from both vegetal and animal sources. The existing data on their bioactivities demonstrated by in silico, in vitro, and animal models are included as well as the mechanisms of action of identified antioxidant peptides.

Summary: In recent years, inorganic oxidic nanomaterials have been extensively investigated for their outstanding properties that allow their use within a large variety of raising fields of interest, ranging from (photo)catalysis to the development of functional nanocomposites. Nanoscopic metal (eventually mixed) oxides are often fabricated following soft-chemistry approaches, characterized by the possibility of favouring specific morphologies, particles dimensions, and surface porosities through different synthetic methods and templating processes. In this context, surface functionalities and reactivity play a major role in the determination of nanomaterials final properties. For this reason, further surface functionalization with specific chemical moieties is often recommended to extend their field of application. This Special Issue, now edited as a book, aimed at extending the comprehension of the mechanisms involved in the synthesis and templating of inorganic oxidic nanomaterials, as well as in their surface functionalization and reactivity. Additionally, this Special Issue aimed at increasing the knowledge on the latest advances of these systems in (photo)catalysis, environmental clean-up processes, energy storage, controlled transport and/or release, biomedicine, sensing, development of smart-materials, stimuli-responsive materials, and nanocomposites. Nanomaterials of interest included: silica, alumina, titania, zirconia, zinc oxide, aluminosilicates, iron oxides, perovskites and titanates, rare earth oxides, and composites. Furthermore, particular attention was dedicated toward studies describing alternative ecofriendly preparation methods.

Summary: Neutrosophic theory has representatives on all continent sand, therefore, it can be said to be a universal theory. On the other hand, according to the two volumes of "The Encyclopedia of Neutrosophic Researchers" (2016, 2018) about 150 researchers from 37 countries apply the idea and the neutrosophic method. Neutrosophic theory was founded by Professor Florentin Smarandache in 1998; it constitutes further generalization of fuzzy and intuitionistic fuzzy theories. The key distinction between the neutrosophic set/logic and other types of sets/logics consists of the introduction of the degree of indeterminacy/neutrality (I) as independent component in the neutrosophic set. Thus, neutrosophic theory involves the degree of membership-truth (T), the degree of indeterminacy (I), and the degree of non-membership-falsehood (F). In recent years, the field of neutrosophic set, logic, measure, probability and statistics, precalculus and calculus etc. and their applications in multiple fields have been extended and applied in various fields, such as communication, management and information technology. The present volume gathers the latest neutrosophic techniques, methodologies or mixed approaches, being thus a barometer of the neutrosophic research in 2020.

Summary: Local communities are increasingly taking on active roles and emerging as new actors in energy systems. Community energy and energy storage may enable effective energy system integration and ensure maximum benefits of local generation, leading to more flexible and resilient energy supply systems and playing an important role in achieving renewable energy and climate policy objectives. In this book, we summarize the different topics covered in the international conference on new pathways for community energy and storage in the form of the 14 articles published in this Special Issue on the same topic. It addresses important developments and challenges related to local energy transitions and the role of community energy and energy storage therein.

Summary: The aim of this Special Issue was to propose, on the basis of the evidence that the current literature provides, new training techniques and specific evaluation methods for the different populations practicing physical activity.

Summary: This book contains the scientific contributions to the Special Issue entitled: "New Trends and Applications in Femtosecond Laser Micromachining". It covers an array of subjects, from the basics of femtosecond laser micromachining to specific applications in a broad spectra of fields such biology, photonics and medicine.

Summary: The synthesis of enantiopure organic compounds is a key issue for several applications in pharmacology, food chemistry, agricultural chemistry, perfumery, materials science and other industrial sectors. Nowadays, asymmetric catalysis is undoubtedly the most important tool to achieve this goal. This technology, in fact, enables the production of large amounts of enantiomerically enriched compounds, employing relatively small quantities of chiral enantiopure catalysts, which is exactly what is accomplished by enzymes in nature. Since the pioneering works of Noyori, Knowles and Sharpless, which later earned them the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, asymmetric catalysis has experienced a rapid and relentless development in the last fifty years. The tremendous expansion of enantioselective transformations, the design of novel and more efficient organometallic and organic catalysts, the development of sophisticated bioreactors and cell factories, are just some of the elements responsible for such growth. However, new challenges of asymmetric catalysis are devoted to enhancing the process's sustainability, by the introduction of recyclable and low-cost catalysts, and the use of renewable starting materials and energy source. This book provides an overview of some of these development directions and comprises a collection of review papers and a research article authored by renowned researchers actively involved in this field. The topics covered by the review papers are photoredox-catalyzed reactions of imines, asymmetric catalytic electrosynthesis, cooperative catalysis of chiral N-heterocyclic carbenes and Lewis acid, and asymmetric ring-opening reactions of epoxides catalyzed by metal-salen complexes. The research article presents a proline-catalyzed aldol reaction in water-methanol solvent mixture.

Summary: The present volume "New Trends in Lithium Niobate: From Bulk to Nanocrystals" contains the materials of a Special Issue of the MDPI journal Crystals dedicated to the memory of Prof. Dr. Ortwin F. Schirmer and provides a new synopsis of his research focusing on LiNbO3. It also includes recent developments, exemplifying the continued interest in this outstanding ferroelectric, non-linear optical and holographic crystal as a workhorse for testing and realizing new ideas and applications.This book starts with reviews on intrinsic and extrinsic crystal defects in LiNbO3 of single-crystal, thin-film or nano-powder forms, studied by various optical, magnetic resonance and nuclear methods, clarifying in particular the reasons for the suppression of anion vacancy formation upon thermal reduction, mechano-chemical processing or irradiations of various types. The reviews are followed by research papers on the experimental and theoretical investigation of small polarons, together with recent results on the properties of Li(Nb,Ta)O3 mixed crystals. Among the various contributions dealing with nonlinear optical applications, papers on device development, entangled photon pair generation and thin films on the Lithium Niobate On Insulator (LNOI) platform can also be found.

Summary: This reprint focuses on new trends in photo-electrocatalysis, specifically addressed to the remediation of wastewater and energy production. The remediation of wastewater, up to a level that is acceptable for discharge into receiving waterbodies, involves an ever-growing demand of energy, so effective and low-energy treatment processes are highly desirable. Among the other treatments, photo- and photo-electrochemical treatment processes may be considered as advanced oxidation processes (AOP), which are based on the generation of OH radicals, strong oxidizing agents able to indiscriminately degrade even the most persistent organic compounds. Photocatalysis and photo-electrocatalysis can be considered as effective methods for organic degradation, especially when the semiconductor is active in the range of visible light. Several results are presented on new morphologies and structures, which allow more photoactive, visibly responsive, and stable materials, as well as studies on combined processes in which photo- or photo-electrochemistry contribute to an increase in the sustainability of the whole process, lowering costs and achieving the most valuable final products. In view of the circular economy concept, microbial fuel cell systems are also considered as possible way to recover energy from organic pollutants contained in wastewater.

Summary: This Special Edition contains new results on Differential and Integral Equations and Systems, covering higher-order Initial and Boundary Value Problems, fractional differential and integral equations and applications, non-local optimal control, inverse, and higher-order nonlinear boundary value problems, distributional solutions in the form of a finite series of the Dirac delta function and its derivatives, asymptotic properties' oscillatory theory for neutral nonlinear differential equations, the existence of extremal solutions via monotone iterative techniques, predator-prey interaction via fractional-order models, among others. Our main goal is not only to show new trends in this field but also to showcase and provide new methods and techniques that can lead to future research.

Summary: Open Mathematics is a challenging notion for theoretical modeling, technical analysis, and numerical simulation in physics and mathematics, as well as in many other fields, as highly correlated nonlinear phenomena, evolving over a large range of time scales and length scales, control the underlying systems and processes in their spatiotemporal evolution. Indeed, available data, be they physical, biological, or financial, and technologically complex systems and stochastic systems, such as mechanical or electronic devices, can be managed from the same conceptual approach, both analytically and through computer simulation, using effective nonlinear dynamics methods. The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight papers that show the dynamics, control, optimization and applications of nonlinear systems. This has recently become an increasingly popular subject, with impressive growth concerning applications in engineering, economics, biology, and medicine, and can be considered a veritable contribution to the literature. Original papers relating to the objective presented above are especially welcome subjects. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: Stability analysis of discrete and continuous dynamical systems; Nonlinear dynamics in biological complex systems; Stability and stabilization of stochastic systems; Mathematical models in statistics and probability; Synchronization of oscillators and chaotic systems; Optimization methods of complex systems; Reliability modeling and system optimization; Computation and control over networked systems.

Summary: This reprint provides information on the novel analytical methods used to address challenges occurring at academic, regulatory, and commercial level. All topics covered include information on the basic principles, procedures, advantages, limitations, and applications. Integration of biological reagents, (nano)materials, technologies, and physical principles (spectroscopy and spectrometry) are discussed. This reprint is ideal for professionals of the food industry, regulatory bodies, as well as researchers.

Summary: The purpose of this reprint based on the Special issue "Molecules in Diabetes Melitus, Dyslipidemia and Cardiovascular Disease", IJMS journal, MDPI, is to present the impact in clinical practice as well as in medical research of novel molecules that have been introduced in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease.

Summary: Exercise necessitates increased energy production to match the elevated demand of physical activity, the magnitude of which varies significantly by activity, sport, and/or athletic position. While long term nutritional habitus is known to impact exercise performance, short term or acute nutritional strategies may also prove beneficial, or detrimental, to athletic performance. Modifications to macro- or micro-nutrient intakes likely influence athletic capacity through the altered metabolic capacity, although cardiovascular, respiratory, or neurocognitive effects are not to be discounted as possibly being influenced by altering the nutritional approach. Similarly, dietary supplementation with factors such as probiotics or antioxidants, either acutely or chronically, is also a likely avenue in which to optimize athletic performance. Supplementation, or the timing of supplementation, diurnally or with activity, may help to bridge gaps between dietary intakes and needs, perhaps as a result of either an inadequate intake and/or high level of athletic demand via high intensity, frequency, volume, or a combination thereof. Altering nutritional strategy for athletic performance is a de facto approach employed by athletes, often occurring seemingly independent of knowledge or evidence for or against a particular strategy. Rigorous studies of nutritional manipulation, supplementation, or those exploring the temporal optimization of nutrition or supplementation are desperately needed in an ever-changing sports nutrition landscape with an increasingly larger audience.

Summary: The effects of nutrition on chronic conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and stroke, continue to generate interest among researchers. This is because diet is a modifiable risk factor. The composition of diet, including the proportions and types of macronutrients and micronutrients, is a major contributor to chronic diseases. The beneficial effects of nutritional interventions on chronic conditions have been well documented, although differences remain among researchers concerning their overall impact. The evaluations of the role of nutrition in chronic conditions draw on diet's effects on body weight, body composition, glycemic, and insulin excursions, and vascular remodeling. The effect of diet in modulating gut microbiota dysbiosis is also an evolving area of research. This reprint, entitled "Nutrition in Chronic Conditions", aims to examine the effect of nutrition in the development, care, and management of chronic conditions. This reprint includes 11 original studies conducted in high- and middle-income countries, 3 systematic reviews with meta-analysis, and 3 literature reviews. The topics covered in the reprint include: the effects of diet on (1) insulin and glucose metabolism; (2) gut health; (3) brain and cognitive impairment; (4) infections, chronic conditions, malnutrition, and all-cause mortality; (5) obesity and dietary variables in post-menopausal women; (6) non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice, specifically with the consumption of coffee; and (7) chronic conditions and COVID-19 infection.

Summary: Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited disease that starts in utero. It is caused by a defective protein called the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and while the effects are seen throughout the body, changes in the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas and liver primarily impact nutritional status. Survival and pulmonary function have been linked to nutritional status. Malnutrition and growth failure were historically the hallmark of disease. Patients with pancreatic insufficiency require pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy and fat-soluble vitamin supplements. With improvements in many areas including newborn screening, nutrition supplements, pancreatic enzymes, CFTR modulator drugs, inhaled antibiotics and mucolytics, life expectancy has increased. In this issue, we will review the latest information in children and adults regarding important factors that play a role in optimizing nutrition status, including body composition, the gut microbiome, food security, pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy, growth and bone health, and micronutrient abnormalities. Pediatric and adult providers both need to be aware of the nuances of care as more patients with CF become adults. Optimizing nutritional status, anticipating and preventing the complications of CF will result in best management practice.

Summary: Over the last 50 years, people's lives and health have been increasingly defined and influenced across the life course and across levels of influence by different processes of medicalization and social control. Although medicalization is not a new concept, new actors, in addition to medical professionals and patients, and new phenomena, such as consumerism and human enhancement, influence the processes of the transformation of human conditions into medical problems today. This reprint integrates several articles that stimulate reflexivity on the use of the concept of medicalization. The articles selected for this reprint, written by research experts in their topic of interest, contribute to the discussion on the wide variety of ethical issues that arise from medicalization processes in areas ranging from medical research conduct to reproductive health. The reader will find a fertile space for theoretical and empirical reflection, where several social science researchers with different backgrounds share their research rigorously and innovatively.

Summary: Open data and policy implications coming from data-aware planning entail collection and pre- and postprocessing as operations of primary interest. Before these steps, making data available to people and their decision-makers is a crucial point. Referring to the relationship between data and energy, public administrations, governments, and research bodies are promoting the construction of reliable and robust datasets to pursue policies coherent with the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as to allow citizens to make informed choices. Energy engineers and planners must provide the simplest and most robust tools to collect, process, and analyze data in order to offer solid data-based evidence for future projections in building, district, and regional systems planning. This Special Issue aims at providing the state-of-the-art on open-energy data analytics; its availability in the different contexts, i.e., country peculiarities; and its availability at different scales, i.e., building, district, and regional for data-aware planning and policy-making. For all the aforementioned reasons, we encourage researchers to share their original works on the field of open data and energy analytics. Topics of primary interest include but are not limited to the following: 1. Open data and energy sustainability; 2. Open data science and energy planning; 3. Open science and open governance for sustainable development goals; 4. Key performance indicators of data-aware energy modelling, planning, and policy; 5. Energy, water, and sustainability database for building, district, and regional systems; 6. Best practices and case studies.

Summary: Let us introduce this new reprint published by MDPI. This volume is the second part of a previous one devoted to Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials, published by MDPI in 2021. As expected, these unique ten contributions fully agree with the definition of hybrid material as per the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) recommendations, defining hybrid materials as the composed of an intimate mixture of inorganic or both types of components interpenetrating scales of less than one micron. Therefore, the reader may deduce that this definition offers many approximations to investigate in the field. Orrganic-inorganic materials are multi-component systems with at least one of their organic (the polymer) or inorganic components in the nano-metric size domain, which confers the material as a whole greatly enhanced properties respecting the constitutive parts in isolation. The works compiled in this volume are at the forefront of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid material research. So, these ten new articles would provide information and inspiration for future applications in this fantastic and fascinating scientific field.

Summary: p38 Mitogen activated protein kinases (p38MAPK) are a group of evolutionary conserved protein kinases which are central for cell adaptation to environmental changes as well as for immune response, inflammation, tissue regeneration and tumour formation. The interest in this group of protein kinases has grown continually since their discovery. Recent studies using new genetic and pharmacological tools are providing helpful information on the function of these stress-activated protein kinases and show that they have an acute impact on the development of prevalent diseases related to inflammation, diabetes, neurodegeneration, and cancer. In this Special Issue we present novel advances and review the knowledge on the identification of p38MAPK substrates, functions, and regulation; mechanisms underlying the role of p38MAPK in malignant transformation and other pathologies; and therapeutic opportunities associated with regulation of p38MAPK activity.

Summary: This book includes the 14 articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM): Applications in Economics and Finance" of the MDPI journal Mathematics, which encompasses a wide range of topics connected with the theory and applications of PLS-SEM methodology. These topics involve, among others, prediction of stock market investment intention, institutional quality and international competitiveness, governance paradigms and public innovation, information and communication technologies in the supply chain, influence of the ability to absorb information from the environment and proactivity on the company's results, quality management, effects of the corporate social responsibility on financial performance, resource management for the improvement of the healthcare system, and the application of maximum entropy bootstrapping to time series. It is expected that the book will prove worthwhile and helpful for those working in the area of PLS-SEM, regardless of the field of application (economics, finance, marketing, education or other). Applications of higher order constructs, mediating variables, multigroup analysis and the latest advances in applied methodology can all be found in this book.

Summary: This reprint contains 12 high-quality original research papers by 74 authors from 17 countries on 3 continents: Asia (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Russia), Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom), and North America (USA). These papers were published in a Special Issue, "Performance and Modification of Wood and Wood-Based Materials", of the journal Forests. They provide examples concerning conventional and novel modification processes of wood and wood-based materials, their improved/modified properties, and their relevant applications.

Summary: Tannins are a family of versatile, natural phenolic biomolecules whose key role is to protect plants against insects and fungi. They are also valuable in use for humans. We show tannins' antioxidant and antibacterial properties, in addition to their potential application in the food industry. We prove the accessibility of condensed tannins to a wide range of potential applications, including NH3 neutralizer, the building block of numerous porous materials, such as foams, organic, and carbon gels. Finally, they are known as wood adhesives, heavy metal scavengers, and corrosion inhibitors. With this book, we want to present the most promising perspectives of tannin.

Summary: There is increasingly intensive research for energy storage technologies development due to the enhanced energy needs of the contemporary societies. Increased global energy consumption results in the reduction in the availability of traditional energy resources, such as coal, oil and natural gas. Therefore, there is an urgent need for new systems development based on the conversion and storage of sustainable and clean energy. Phase change materials (PCMs) are one of the key components for the development of advanced sustainable solutions in renewable energy and engineering systems. In order to update the field of renewable energy and engineering systems with the use of PCMs, a Special Issue entitled "Phase Change Materials: Design and Applications" is introduced. This book gathers and reviews the collection of ten contributions (nine articles and one review), with authors from Europe, Asia and Americam accepted for publication in the aforementioned Special Issue of Applied Sciences.

Summary: This book presents a collection of 13 original research articles that focus on the science of light-matter interaction. This area of science has been led to some the greatest accomplishments of the past 100 years, with the discovery of materials that perform useful operations by collecting light or generating light from an outside stimulus. These materials are at the center of a multitude of technologies that have permeated our daily life; every day we rely on quantum well lasers for telecommunication, organic light emitting diodes for our displays, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors for our camera detectors, and of course a plethora of new photovoltaic cells that harvest sunlight to satisfy our energy needs. In this book, top-rated researchers present their latest findings in the field of nano-particles, plasmonics, semi-conductors, magneto-optics, and holography.

Summary: Microorganisms is pleased to publish this book, which reprints papers that appeared in a Special Issue on "Phototrophic Bacteria", with Guest Editors Robert Blankenship and Matthew Sattley. This Special Issue included research on all types of phototrophic bacteria, including both anoxygenic and oxygenic forms. Research on these bacterial organisms has greatly advanced our understanding of the basic principles that underlie the energy storage that takes place in all types of photosynthetic organisms, including both bacterial and eukaryotic forms. Topics of interest include: microbial physiology, microbial ecology, microbial genetics, evolutionary microbiology, systems microbiology, agricultural microbiology, microbial biotechnology, and environmental microbiology, as all are related to phototrophic bacteria.

Summary: Regular physical activity (PA) is both a preventive measure and a cure for non-communicable diseases. Moreover, PA improves mental health, quality of life, and well-being. Conversely, physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles have negative impacts on individuals, families, and society, as evidenced in particular by the spread of the obesity epidemic. PA has proven to be a low-cost alternative for the treatment and prevention of disease. Therefore, interventions to prevent avoidable diseases by increasing the proportion of physically active people are fundamental. The Special Issue "Physical Activity, Wellness and Health: Challenges, Benefits and Strategies" was collected research articles on anthropometric determinants of health and performance, PA and healthy habits, exercise and diet, exercise and body composition, interventions to promote PA for people of all ages, strategies for the implementation of an active life, and the beneficial effects of exercise on metabolic syndrome. A total of 20 articles were published, falling mainly into the following three areas: anthropometry, health, and sport; health benefits of exercise; population studies and strategies for an active life. All of the studies support strategies to promote PA and reduce sedentary behavior among adolescents, adults and the elderly. There is no doubt that regular exercise is beneficial to health, but the general population should be encouraged to engage in more of it.

Summary: Recently, aluminium scandium nitride (AlScN) emerged as a material with superior properties compared to aluminium nitride (AlN). Substituting Al with Sc in AlN leads to a dramatic increase in the piezoelectric coefficient as well as in electromechanical coupling. This discovery finally allowed us to overcome the limitations of AlN thin films in various piezoelectric applications while still enabling us to benefit from all of the advantages of the parent material system, such as a high temperature stability, CMOS compatibility, and good mechanical properties. Potential applications include RF filters (bulk acoustic wave (BAW) or surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators), energy harvesting, sensing applications, and infra-red detectors. The recent progress in MOCVD- and MBE-grown AlScN has led to high-frequency and -power electronics, (high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs)). AlScN is the first wurtzite III-nitride where ferroelectric switching was observed, allowing for many new possible applications in semiconductor memories additionally, it enables the additional functionality of switching to applications where piezoelectric materials are already in use. This Special Issue was very successful in covering all of the main aspects of AlScN research, including its growth, the fundamental and application-relevant properties, and device fabrication and characterization. We can see that AlScN technology is mature enough to be utilized in wafer-level material development and complicated devices, but there is still much to discover in terms of deposition process control, anisotropy, and, in particular, ferroelectric behavior.

Summary: The book presents a collection of original scientific studies aimed at identifying the pigments and dyes in several archaeological or historical objects and artworks. The objects under investigation span from ancient Greek vases to modern paintings, and show the importance of scientific analysis not only to reveal the artists' materials in different contexts, but also to support conservation and curatorial strategies for the preservation and display of cultural heritage.

Summary: This reprint is focused on recent novel research related to the role of plant cell walls under biotic and abiotic stresses, which was published in the Special Issue "Plant Cell Wall Plasticity under Stress Situations" of the Plants journal. Considering the importance of this plant cell structure in a plethora of plant development processes, this book focused on unraveling the roles of different cell wall components and their turnover in plant defense against pathogens and adaptative responses, in cell wall hydration ability, and in the development of primitive water transport systems in non-vascular plants.

Summary: The book entitled "Polymer Materials in Environmental Chemistry" focuses on functionalized natural/synthetic polymeric materials and their preparation, characterization, and multidimensional applications. This book extensively appraises the research papers on the latest developments of the functionalized natural/synthetic polymers, such as the effect of functionalized polymeric additives on the degradation of aliphatic polyesters, development of nanoparticle functionalized bio-based or composite polymeric structures, water or wastewater purification, natural fibers or clay-based hybrid polymers and their applications, environmental remediation of antibiotics and dyes using polymer-based nanofibers, bio-based polymeric conjugate for the synthesis of bimetallic nanoparticles and their catalytic degradation of ecological pollutant, polymeric-grafted membranes based on ethyl cellulose for gas separation, and polyamide-laccase nanofiber membranes for the degradation of organic and antibiotics from water. Additionally, the book envisages the reviews on recent developments in the techniques and visualization of biopolymer structures and their derivatives and fabrication and characterization of polymeric nanofibers via multidimensional electrospinning techniques and their appliances in environmental pollutant removal.

Summary: Nutritional epidemiology examines dietary or nutritional factors in relation to the occurrence of disease in various populations. It is a fact that substantial progress has been made in recent years in nutritional epidemiology. Compared to the practice during the 1990s, and with the improvements in data analytics, several new approaches are gaining ground. Results from a variety of large-scale studies in the field of nutrition epidemiology have substantially contributed toward the evidence used in guiding dietary recommendations for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, some types of cancer, and other morbidities. In this Special Issue, we would like to bring readers closer to the state-of-the-art in the field by gathering papers covering different aspects of nutrition epidemiology from population-based observational studies. Topics of the submitted articles may, but not necessarily, include eating habits of various populations, especially of those not well-studied, such as in Africa, Oceania, South Americas, immigrants, minorities, as well as a variety of associations between nutrients/foods/food patterns and chronic diseases, like cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc., and gene-nutrient and epigenome-nutrient interactions related to human health at all ages.

Summary: This Special Issue focuses on the effects of hydrostatic pressure on biological systems and the use of these effects for exploring the structure, function, and molecular dynamics of biological macromolecules and their ensembles. Here, we present a selection of papers highlighting new experimental findings and new theoretical concepts in high-pressure biosciences. In these studies, the authors combine pressure perturbation approaches with NMR and optical spectroscopy, kinetic and thermodynamic techniques, functional genomics and transcriptomics, and molecular dynamics simulations to gain new insights into the conformational dynamics of proteins and nucleic acids and to better understand the mechanisms of high-pressure adaptation in piezophiles. The articles collected in this issue demonstrate the unique exploratory potential of the pressure perturbation approach for biochemistry, biophysics, mechanistic enzymology, and evolutionary biology.

Summary: This book presents the latest research published in the Special Issue Preventing the Adverse Effects of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 through Diet, Supplements, and Lifestyle in the journal Nutrients. In this book, we explore the role of supplements, lifestyle choices, and nutritional status on COVID-19 patient outcomes and risk reduction.

Summary: This Special Issue of the journal Microorganisms highlights recent publications on the importance of the antimicrobial effect of probiotics. Current research is focused on finding novel or next-generation probiotic strains with antimicrobial properties that can efficiently modulate the ecological taxa composition and functionality of the human microbiota in the gut and beyond. Overall, this Special Issue has brought together new studies on the antimicrobial effects of various novel probiotics from the Weissella, Bacillus, Leuconostoc and Levilactobacillus genera, as well as well-known probiotic food supplements. It also highlights successful applications of probiotics for different infectious diseases including rotaviral gastrointestinal infections, wound infections and even COVID-19.

Summary: This reprint, entitled "Process Control and Smart Manufacturing for Industry 4.0", contains the extended papers from the Series of annual IFSA conferences on Automation, Robotics and Communications for Industry 4.0/5.0 (ARCI) on the following topics: Process Automation, Process Control and Monitoring, Design Principles in Industry 4.0, Smart Manufacturing and Technologies, Smart Factories, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing. The reprint contains 13 chapters written by 54 ARCI conference participants from seven countries: China, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania. This reprint will inform readers of cutting-edge developments in the field and provide effective starting points and a road map for further research and development. All chapters follow the same structure: firstly, an introduction to the specific topic under study; secondly, a description of the field, including sensing or/and measuring applications. Each chapter ends with a curated list of references, including books, journals, conference proceedings and websites. "Process Control and Smart Manufacturing for Industry 4.0" is intended for researchers and scientists from academia and industry, as well as for postgraduate students.

Summary: The Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) has advanced the accelerating gradient many orders of magnitude over the conventional technologies. Their application to high energy accelerators has been considered, while a new field of micrometric accelerators appears for medical applications.

Summary: Ruminants contribute significantly to human food security. However, the production of ruminants contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are responsible for climate change. GHGs such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide are produced from different processes of ruminant production. Ruminant enteric methane is a substantial component of methane produced by agriculture. This book presents novel and established methods in quantifying and reducing enteric methane emission from ruminants in different production systems. The book covers different types of ruminants including cattle, sheep, and goats. The chapters are contributed by scientists and authors from different parts of the world, demonstrating the importance of this problem and the universal drive for immediate and sustainable solutions. Although, biologically speaking, the production of enteric methane cannot be reduced to zero, high emissions are an indicator of inefficient digestion of feed in the rumen and low utilisation of feed energy. By presenting research that could lead to robust and yet practical quantification methods and mitigation strategies, this book not only contributes to the discourse and new knowledge on the magnitude of the problem but also brings forward potential solutions in different livestock production systems.

Summary: Within the second half of the last century, quantum cosmology concretely became one of the main research lines within gravitational theory and cosmology. Substantial progress has been made. Furthermore, quantum cosmology can become a domain that will gradually develop further over the next handful of decades, perhaps assisted by technological developments. Indications for new physics (i.e., beyond the standard model of particle physics or general relativity) could emerge and then the observable universe would surely be seen from quite a new perspective. This motivates bringing quantum cosmology to more research groups and individuals.This Special Issue (SI) aims to provide a wide set of reviews, ranging from foundational issues to (very) recent advancing discussions. Concretely, we want to inspire new work proposing observational tests, providing an aggregated set of contributions, covering several lines, some of which are thoroughly explored, some allowing progress, and others much unexplored. The aim of this SI is motivate new researchers to employ and further develop quantum cosmology over the forthcoming decades. Textbooks and reviews exist on the present subject, and this SI will complementarily assist in offering open access to a set of wide-ranging reviews. Hopefully, this will assist new interested researchers, in having a single open access online volume, with reviews that can help. In particular, this will help in selecting what to explore, what to read in more detail, where to proceed, and what to investigate further within quantum cosmology.

Summary: Stroke is a common cause of death and disability worldwide. Malnutrition is prevalent in stroke rehabilitation patients, and has serious negative effects on outcomes. In addition, there is growing interest in new concepts related to malnutrition, such as sarcopenia, frailty, cachexia, chronic inflammation, dysphagia, and oral problems, all of which contribute to a poor prognosis. Therefore, it is necessary to assess nutritional status early and, if needed, provide appropriate nutritional interventions to improve patient outcomes. A multidisciplinary approach is strongly recommended in this setting; as such, high-quality clinical evidence regarding clinical nutrition in stroke rehabilitation is needed. This reprint updates our knowledge of clinical nutrition for stroke patients and includes interesting studies on topics including nutrition and weight management in the early stages of stroke, the relationship between frailty and improved physical function, weight gain by providing stored energy, physical activity and diet quality, L-carnitine and cognitive levels, and the prediction of stroke prognosis using temporal muscles. The Guest Editor hopes that this reprint will help provide clinicians with up-to-date knowledge of nutritional management in stroke rehabilitation.

Summary: The present text is an edited Special Issue in reprint form. This Special Issue took the opportunity to invite researchers to contribute their latest original research findings, which were either advances in the state-of-the-art of mathematical methods, theoretical studies, or experimental studies that extend the bounds of existing methodologies to new contributions, addressing current challenges and engineering problems on "Recent Advances in Mathematical Aspect in Engineering". Although this reprint is not a formal textbook, it will definitely be useful for university teachers, research students and industrial researchers, and will assist in overcoming difficulties while dealing with the nonlinear governing equations of fluid mechanics, energy, heat transfer, steady and unsteady flow problems, nanofluids, thermodynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, peristaltic and blood flow. For nonlinear and coupled differential equations, it is often more difficult to achieve an analytic solution or even a numerical one. This reprint has successfully handled this challenging task with the techniques reported within. In addition, the findings of the simulations are logically realistic and meet the standard of sufficient scientific value.

Summary: Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are efficient storage systems for portable electronic devices, electrical power grids, and electrified transportation due to their high-energy density and low maintenance requirements. After their launch into the market in 1990s, they immediately became the dominant technology for portable systems. The development of LiBs for electric drive vehicles has been, in contrast, rather incremental. There are several critical issues, such as an energy density, system safety, cost, and environmental impact of the battery production processes, that remain challenges in the automotive field. In order to strengthen the LiB's competitiveness and affordability in vehicle technology, the necessity of game-changer batteries is urgent. Recently, a novel approach going beyond Li batteries has become rapidly established. Several new chemistries have been proposed, leading to better performances in terms of energy density, long-life storage capability, safety, and sustainability. However, several challenges, such as a thorough understanding of mechanisms, cell design, long-term durability, and safety issues, have not yet been fully addressed. This book collects some recent developments and emerging trends in the field of "post-lithium" batteries, covering both fundamental and applied aspects of next-generation batteries

Summary: This book brings together the papers published in the Special Issue "Recent advances in the understanding of molecular mechanisms of resistance in Noctuid pests" in the journal Insects in 2021. It contains 10 articles that are either original results or reviews. The focus is on insects of the noctuid family, as they are among the most devastating crop pests on the planet. Understanding the molecular mechanisms that allow these insects to become resistant to insecticides is essential for the implementation of sustainable control methods and resistance management strategies.

Summary: This reprint contains 12 high-quality original research and reviews papers by 62 authors from 10 countries on 3 continents: Asia (China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia), Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Portugal, Romania, and Ukraine), and Africa (South Africa). These papers were published in a Special Issue, "Recent Developments in Eco-Friendly Wood-Based Composites II", of the journal Polymers. These papers provide examples of the most recent developments in eco-friendly wood-based composites.

Summary: Protein-ligand interactions play a fundamental role in most major biological functions. The number and diversity of small molecules that interact with proteins, whether naturally or not, can quickly become overwhelming. They are as essential as amino acids, nucleic acids or membrane lipids, enabling a large number of essential functions. One need only think of carbohydrates or even just ATP to be certain. They are also essential in drug discovery. With the increasing structural information of proteins and protein-ligand complexes, molecular modelling, molecular dynamics, and chemoinformatics approaches are often required for the efficient analysis of a large number of such complexes and to provide insights. Similarly, numerous computational approaches have been developed to characterize and use the knowledge of such interactions, which can lead to drug candidates. "Recent Developments on Protein-Ligand Interactions: From Structure, Function to Applications" was dedicated to the different aspect of protein-ligand analysis and/or prediction using computational approaches, as well as new developments dedicated to these tasks. It will interest both specialists and non-specialists, as the presented studies cover a very large spectra in terms of methodologies and applications. It underlined the variety of scientific area linked to these questions, i.e., chemistry, biology, physics, informatics, bioinformatics, structural bioinformatics and chemoinformatics.

Summary: The global food supply chain relies on engineered systems, operational practices, and logistics to preserve, protect, process, and deliver agricultural crops along complex supply lines from farmers in low-, middle-, and high-income countries to markets around the world. Food and nutrition security is compromised by post-harvest losses (and food waste) that have been estimated to be as high as 20% in durable and 40% in perishable crops. Preserving crops using technologies and practices such as timely harvesting, evaporative cooling, cold and frozen storage, drying, and dehydrating, and protecting crops using technologies and practices such as damage-less handling, controlled and modified atmosphere storage, non-chemical heat and gas treatment, plant-derived protective films for individual fruits and vegetables, and improved packaging containers are critical to preserving nutrients, improving livelihoods, and realizing an efficient food system. This Special Issue aims to cover recent progress and innovations in science, technology, engineering, operational practices, and logistics related to post-harvest preservation and protection of durable and perishable agricultural crops. It seeks contributions that improve effectiveness, efficiency, reliability and sustainability in post-harvest handling of crops from field to end use that preserve product quality and result in foods and feeds which are nutritious and safe for human and animal consumption.

Summary: Environmental challenges posed by wrong end of lifeplastic management drive the plastics recycling schemes for energy recovery and cutting emissions, penalties, energy consumption, non-renewable resources, and manufacturing costs. Plastic recycling has the lowest environmental impact on global warming potential and total energy use. However, under-utilised plastic wastes due to low value issues with sorting/contamination pose major challenges. Novel technologies drive innovation in a circular economy model for plastics and employ reuse, recycling and responsible manufacture solutions, support the development of new industries and jobs, reduce emissions and increase efficient use of natural resources (including energy, water and materials). Many economies are working towards achieving a zero plastic waste economy. This Special Issue covers the applications of recycled plastics in the areas of energy recovery/alternative fuels, economic analyses, bitumen additives, flame retardants, recycled polymer nanocomposites to enhance the mechanical property, thermomechanical recycling to improve physical properties, mechano-chemical treatment, cryogenic waste tyre recycling, application in decarbonizing technology, e.g., cement industry, waste characterization, improving agricultural soil quality, as smart fertilizers. The Editors express their appreciation to all the contributors across the world in the development of this reprint. This reprint gives different perspectives and technical ideas for the transformation of plastic wastes into value-added products and to achieve higher recycling rates in the coming years.

Summary: The increasing demand for alternative energy feedstocks is pushing many stakeholders toward the development of new processes, technologies, regulations, as well as new production and economical models. Waste oils represent a consolidated source of valuable raw materials for many industries and, as in the case of used vegetable oils, fit well with the medium- and long-term sustainability objectives of industrialized countries. Waste oils are transversal to many value chains, such as food, the plastic industry, and fossil fuel extraction; thus, they could represent precious raw materials if properly exploited. In this context, a state of the art is provided, which covers technical, regulatory, and research aspects of the topic.

Summary: Since the launch of Seasat, TIROS-N, and Nimbus-7 satellites equipped with ocean observation sensors in 1978, a new era of ocean remote sensing has opened. Today, remotely sensed data have been widely used in oceanographic studies. This reprint collects various advanced ocean remote sensing technologies and their applications, including the use of artificial intelligence techniques to explore ocean information and bibliometric analysis to assess researchers and trends in this scientific field. The observations of various sensors enrich the application of ocean environment monitoring and ocean dynamical analysis. If you are interested in understanding the application of ocean remote sensing, this monograph should be very helpful.

Summary: Environmental management and the preservation of biodiversity are widely considered a priority in the context of accelerating global changes affecting the physical and biological resources of our planet. This Special Issue of the journal will focus on "Coastal and Aquatic Ecosystems". The coastal region is a transition area between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. This transition area is now considered an important component of the biosphere, both in terms of ecosystems' diversity and in the provision of resources and services. Moreover, the coastal region is home to a significant number of distinct biological communities, including coral reefs, mangroves, salt meadows and wetlands, phanerogam meadows, and kelp forests, estuarine assemblages or coastal lagoons, forests, and grasslands. The diversity of coastal ecosystems is directly threatened by human activity. Remote sensing meets this challenge by offering a wide range of standard products on environmental coastal condition, thanks in particular to various state-of-the-art sensors. The development of innovative methods based on the integration of multi-source, multi-resolution, and multi-temporal images offers promising prospects for considering the different scales of ecosystems. Consequently, the products derived from remote sensing contribute to the development of temporal and spatial indicators for better knowledge and management of coastal and aquatic ecosystems.