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Summary: Dear Colleagues, I am very happy to have this Special Issue of the journal Energies on the topic of Design and Control of Electrical Motor Drives published. Electrical motor drives are widely used in the industry, automation, transportation, and home appliances. Indeed, rolling mills, machine tools, high-speed trains, subway systems, elevators, electric vehicles, air conditioners, all depend on electrical motor drives.However, the production of effective and practical motors and drives requires flexibility in the regulation of current, torque, flux, acceleration, position, and speed. Without proper modeling, drive, and control, these motor drive systems cannot function effectively.To address these issues, we need to focus on the design, modeling, drive, and control of different types of motors, such as induction motors, permanent magnet synchronous motors, brushless DC motors, DC motors, synchronous reluctance motors, switched reluctance motors, flux-switching motors, linear motors, and step motors.Therefore, relevant research topics in this field of study include modeling electrical motor drives, both in transient and in steady-state, and designing control methods based on novel control strategies (e.g., PI controllers, fuzzy logic controllers, neural network controllers, predictive controllers, adaptive controllers, nonlinear controllers, etc.), with particular attention to transient responses, load disturbances, fault tolerance, and multi-motor drive techniques. This Special Issue include original contributions regarding recent developments and ideas in motor design, motor drive, and motor control. The topics include motor design, field-oriented control, torque control, reliability improvement, advanced controllers for motor drive systems, DSP-based sensorless motor drive systems, high-performance motor drive systems, high-efficiency motor drive systems, and practical applications of motor drive systems. I want to sincerely thank authors, reviewers, and staff members for their time and efforts. Prof. Dr. Tian-Hua Liu Guest Editor

Summary: Processing and Conversion of Oil and Gas: Modeling, Control, Simulation, and Optimization describes the core of the activity of petrochemical engineers, process controller engineers, industrial engineers, energy engineers, and researchers in the oil and gas field. This reprint explores the modeling, control, simulation, and optimization of new and revamped petrochemical processes using proven software. Thus, it offers novel illustrative examples, prospective applications, and solutions to improve these processes. This reprint aims to combine theoretical principles with examples modeled by commonly used simulation software employing steady-state or dynamic process simulation. Furthermore, applying numerical methods and optimization at both the theoretical and practical levels is within the scope of this reprint.

Summary: Electrical machines are one of the most important components of the industrial world. They are at the heart of the new industrial revolution, brought forth by the development of electromobility and renewable energy systems. Electric motors must meet the most stringent requirements of reliability, availability, and high efficiency in order, among other things, to match the useful lifetime of power electronics in complex system applications and compete in the market under ever-increasing pressure to deliver the highest performance criteria. Today, thanks to the application of highly efficient numerical algorithms running on high-performance computers, it is possible to design electric machines and very complex drive systems faster and at a lower cost. At the same time, progress in the field of material science and technology enables the development of increasingly complex motor designs and topologies. The purpose of this Special Issue is to contribute to this development of electric machines. The publication of this collection of scientific articles, dedicated to the topic of electric machine design and application, contributes to the dissemination of the above information among professionals dealing with electrical machines.

Summary: Polymer composite materials have attracted great interest for the development of electrical and electronic engineering and technology, and have been widely applied in electrical power systems, electrical insulation equipment, electrical and electronic devices, etc. Due to the significant expansion in the use of newly developed polymer composite materials, it is necessary to understand and accurately describe the relationship between composite structure and material properties, as only based on thorough laboratory characterization is it possible to estimate the properties for their future commercial applications. This book focuses on polymer composites applied in the field of electrical and electronic equipment, including but not limited to synthesis and preparation of new polymeric materials, structure-properties relationship of polymer composites, evaluation of materials application, simulation and modelling of material performance.

Summary: The main purpose of this Special Issue of "Advances in Fluid Power Systems" was to present new scientific work in the field of fluid power systems for hydraulic and pneumatic control of machines and devices used in various industries. Advances in fluid power systems are leading to the creation of new smart devices that can replace tried-and-true solutions from the past. The development work of authors from various research centres has been published. This Special Issue focuses on recent advances and smart solutions for fluid power systems in a wide range of topics, including: • Fluid power for IoT and Industry 4.0: smart fluid power technology, wireless 5G connectivity in fluid power, smart components, and sensors.• Fluid power in the renewable energy sector: hydraulic drivetrains for wind power and for wave and marine current power, and hydraulic systems for solar power. • Hybrid fluid power: hybrid transmissions, energy recovery and accumulation, and energy efficiency of hybrid drives.• Industrial and mobile fluid power: industrial fluid power solutions, mobile fluid power solutions, eand nergy efficiency solutions for fluid power systems.• Environmental aspects of fluid power: hydraulic water control technology, noise and vibration of fluid power components, safety, reliability, fault analysis, and diagnosis of fluid power systems.• Fluid power and mechatronic systems: servo-drive control systems, fluid power drives in manipulators and robots, and fluid power in autonomous solutions.

Summary: Among the strategies for reducing the negative effects on the environment effected by the uncontrolled consumption and low potential for the recovery of conventional plastics, the synthesis of new biodegradable and recyclable plastics represents one of the most promising methods for minimizing the negative effects of conventional non-biodegradable plastics. The spectrum of existing biodegradable materials is still very narrow; thus, to achieve greater applicability, research is being carried out on biodegradable polymer mixtures, the synthesis of new polymers, and the incorporation of new stabilizers for thermal degradation, alongside the use of other additives such as antibacterials or new and more sustainable plasticizers. Some studies analyze direct applications, such as shape memory foams, new cartilage implants, drug release, etc.The reader can find several studies on the degradation of biodegradable polymers under composting conditions; however, novel bacteria that degrade polymers considered non-biodegradable in other, unusual conditions (such as conditions of high salinity) are also presented.

Summary: The last decade has contributed to the rapid progress in developing high-power microwave sources. This Special Issue aims to bring together information about the most striking theoretical and experimental results, new trends in development, remarkable modern applications, new demands in parameter enhancement, and future goals. Although only a tiny part of the achievements of recent years is included in this Issue, we hope that the presented articles will be useful for experts and students focusing on modern vacuum electronics.

Summary: In recent years, the global climate has become variable due to intensification of the greenhouse effect, and natural disasters are frequently occurring, which poses challenges to the situation awareness of intelligent distribution networks. Aside from the continuous grid connection of distributed generation, energy storage and new energy generation not only reduces the power supply pressure of distribution network to a certain extent but also brings new consumption pressure and load impact. Situation awareness is a technology based on the overall dynamic insight of environment and covering perception, understanding, and prediction. Such means have been widely used in security, intelligence, justice, intelligent transportation, and other fields and gradually become the research direction of digitization and informatization in the future. We hope this Special Issue represents a useful contribution. We present 10 interesting papers that cover a wide range of topics all focused on problems and solutions related to situation awareness for smart distribution systems. We sincerely hope the papers included in this Special Issue will inspire more researchers to further develop situation awareness for smart distribution systems. We strongly believe that there is a need for more work to be carried out, and we hope this issue provides a useful open-access platform for the dissemination of new ideas.

Summary: This Special Issue provides an overview of the applied experimental and numerical flow, models, which are used to investigate fluid flow in complex situations. The investigated problems are related to fundamental processes or new applications. As demonstrated, the field of the application of experimental and numerical flow models is constantly expanding.

Summary: From small-scale vertical axis wind turbines for urban usage to large-scale horizontal axis wind turbines for offshore wind farms, design, fabrication, and optimization technologies are highly required to manage wind energy effectively. Moreover, some new opportunities, such as in wind farm design, fluid-structure interaction, aero-acoustics, fabrication methods and performance tests by experimental and computational fluid dynamics should be engaged in modern wind turbine communities. The basic objectives of this book include improving the reliability and promoting the high efficiency of wind turbines as well as their dynamic performance, reducing wind turbine-generated noise and improving power generation efficiencies through high-fidelity approaches. Students, scholars, and engineers who manage such a wide range of wind turbine scales and usages, design, fabrication, and performance test protocols for various wind turbines, are highly recommended to read this book.

Summary: In recent years, improving the sustainability of the steel industry and reducing its CO2 emissions has become a global focus. To achieve this goal, further process optimization in terms of energy and resource efficiency and the development of new processes and process routes are necessary. Modeling and simulation have established themselves as invaluable sources of information for otherwise unknown process parameters and as an alternative to plant trials that involves lower costs, risks, and time. Models also open up new possibilities for model-based control of metallurgical processes. This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in the modeling and simulation of unit processes in iron and steelmaking. It includes reviews on the fundamentals of modeling and simulation of metallurgical processes, as well as contributions from the areas of iron reduction/ironmaking, steelmaking via the primary and secondary route, and continuous casting.

Summary: Energy storage currently plays an important role in the electricity systems. Innovative energy storage solutions will play an important role in ensuring the integration of renewable energy sources into the electrical grids in the European Union. Pumped storage hydropower systems are the most mature technology of energy storage and account for over 90% of installed energy storage capacity wordwide. However, PSH technology is constrained by topography and land availability in flat areas. In addition, PSH plants are controversial due to their impacts on landscape, land use and the environment. Conversely, underground energy storage systems may be an interesting alternative to increase the energy storage capacity with low envoronmental impacts.To help address and resolve these types of questions, this book is comprised of eleven chapters that explore new ways of energy stororage reducing the environmental impacts caused by the installation of conventional energy storage systems, as well as to increase the energy storage capacity and promote the use of disused underground space, such as abandoned mines and quiarries.The chapters included in this book cover a wide spectrum of issues related to underground energy storage systems. Advances in underground pumped storage hydropower, compressed air energy storage and hydrogen energy storage systems are presented. Finally, we would like to thank both the MDPI publishing and editorial staff for their excellent work and support, as well as the authors who collaborated with your interesting research works.

Summary: Unlike other construction materials, road materials have developed minimally over the past 100 years. However, since the 1970s, the focus has been on more sustainable road construction materials such as recycled asphalt pavements. Recycling asphalt involves removing old asphalt and mixing it with new (fresh) aggregates, binders, and/or rejuvenators. Similarly, there are various efforts to use alternative modifiers and technical solutions such as crumb rubber, plastics, or various types of fibres. For the past two decades, researchers have been developing novel materials and technologies, such as self-healing materials, in order to improve road design, construction, and maintenance efficiency and reduce the financial and environmental burden of road construction. This Special Issue on "Advances in Asphalt Pavement Technologies and Practices" curates advanced/novel work on asphalt pavement design, construction, and maintenance. The Special Issue comprises 19 papers describing unique works that address the current challenges that the asphalt industry and road owners face.

Summary: This reprint focuses on interdisciplinary research that reveals the problems of resource provision of the economy, both from the perspective of local projects and from the point of view of the creation of global infrastructure that contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Considerable attention is paid to the development of the Arctic territories as one of the most promising sources of mineral and fuel resources as of 2021. This reprint also includes selected papers from European Raw Materials Conferences 2020-2021, held despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, and will be published with the financial support of the International competence Centre for mining-engineering education under the auspices of UNESCO: - Russian-UK Raw Materials Dialogue (21-23 October 2020); - Russian-German Raw Materials Conference (30 November-1 December 2020).

Summary: This reprint is based on "Antimicrobial resistance and anti-biofilms" in the journal Antibiotics since November of 2020. This reprint has one editorial article, eight research articles, one review article, and one case report article, covering a time period of 15 months from December of 2021 to February of 2023. Containing three major sub-topics in this reprint, four manuscripts regarding the prevalence of resistant microbes, the emergence and evolution of resistance, and the molecular investigation of resistance mechanisms fall into the first sub-topic as "Antimicrobial resistance in microorganisms: epidemiology and molecular mechanism"; three manuscripts fall into the second sub-topic as "New antibiofilm strategy against fungal and/or bacterial biofilms"; and three manuscripts regarding the production and characteristics of these functional material encapsulated/ delivered natural compounds, in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial and antivirulent effects, and their potential applications, such as in food and medicine, fall into the third sub-topic as "Influence of Functional Material-Based Encapsulation/Delivery on the Antimicrobial and Antivirulent Effects of Natural Compounds". Articles contained in this reprint have provided comprehensive knowledge and insight in understanding of antimicrobial resistance epidemiology and molecular mechanism and new antibiofilm strategies.

Summary: This reprint focused on the advancements in the field of shoulder arthroplasty in recent years. These concern surgical indications that have dramatically evolved and planification and navigation. The rapid development of surgical techniques and new prosthetic designs, as well as glenoid and humeral reconstruction for various conditions, is also overviewed. Despite the important progress highlighted in this reprint, there is currently a myriad of prosthetic designs, highlighting the evolving nature of this field.

Summary: The inverse dynamics problem was developed in order to provide researchers with the state of the art in inverse problems for dynamic and vibrational systems. Contrasted with a forward problem, which solves for the system output in a straightforward manner, an inverse problem searches for the system input through a procedure contaminated with errors and uncertainties. An inverse problem, with a focus on structural dynamics, determines the changes made to the system and estimates the inputs, including forces and moments, to the system, utilizing measurements of structural vibration responses only. With its complex mathematical structure and need for more reliable input estimations, the inverse problem is still a fundamental subject of research among mathematicians and engineering scientists. This book contains 11 articles that touch upon various aspects of inverse dynamic problems.

Summary: Transportation systems play a major role in the reduction of energy consumptions and environmental impact all over the world. The significant amount of energy of transport systems forces the adoption of new solutions to ensure their performance with energy-saving and reduced environmental impact. In this context, technologies and materials, devices and systems, design methods, and management techniques, related to the electrical power systems for transportation are continuously improving thanks to research activities. The main common challenge in all the applications concerns the adoption of innovative solutions that can improve existing transportation systems in terms of efficiency and sustainability.

Summary: This book contains 10 reviewed papers published as a Special Issue "Global and International Logistics" in the journal Sustainability, edited by Prof. Dr. Ryuichi Shibasaki, Prof. Dr. Daisuke Watanabe, and Dr. Tomoya Kawasaki. The topics of the papers contain the impact of logistics development under the China's Belt and Road initiative (BRI) by using the improved gravity model, strategies against barriers to the BRI from a logistics and supply chain management perspective, the dynamic interaction between international logistics, and cross-border e-commerce trade, the effect of China's restrictive programs on the international trade of waste products, the empty container repositioning problem of shipping companies with foldable containers, port capacity and connectivity improvement in the hub and feeder network in Indonesia, GHG emission scenarios for the maritime shipping sector using system dynamics, incorporating a shipping and shipbuilding market model, the emission inventory and bunker consumption from a LNG fleet from an automatic identification system database, the factors that can help select between land transport and maritime shipping in long-distance inter-regional cross-border transport, and container transport simulations in Myanmar with the global logistics intermodal network assignment model including both maritime shipping and land transport in the land-based Southeast Asia region. Some papers are related to the 8th International Conference on Transportation and Logistics (T-LOG 2020) which was held online on 6-7 September 2020 hosted by Universitas Internasional Semen Indonesia.

Summary: In this new book, we present a collection of the advanced developments in reconfigurable antennas and metasurfaces. It begins with a review of reconfigurability technologies, and proceeds to the presentation of a series of reconfigurable antennas, UWB MIMO antennas and reconfigurable arrays. Then, reconfigurable metasurfaces are introduced and the latest advances are presented and discussed.

Summary: Interactions between nucleic acids and proteins are essential requirements for the viability of cellular life because they are indispensable for many basic biological processes. DNA is typically presented as a specific double-stranded helical structure, but nucleic acids have great structural flexibility. Current knowledge demonstrates that the structural conformations of nucleic acids play critical roles in protein-DNA interactions. This book presents a collection of research findings published in the Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, titled "Impacts of Molecular Structure on Nucleic Acid-Protein Interactions".The breadth of research findings reported here demonstrates that the structural flexibility of nucleic acids plays critical roles in their interactions with proteins, with important implications across a range of human diseases, including cancer and some infectious diseases.Prof. Richard BowaterUniversity of East Anglia, Norwich, United KingdomProf. Václav BrázdaInstitute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

Summary: Bioenergy is renewable energy obtained from biomass-any organic material that has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. Biogas is among the biofuels that can be obtained from biomass resources, including biodegradable wastes like manure, sewage sludge, the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes, slaughterhouse waste, crop residues, and more recently lignocellulosic biomass and algae. Within the framework of the circular economy, biogas production from biodegradable waste is particularly interesting, as it helps to save resources while reducing environmental pollution. Besides, lignocellulosic biomass and algae do not compete for arable land with food crops (in contrast with energy crops). Hence, they constitute a novel source of biomass for bioenergy.Biogas plants may involve both high-tech and low-tech digesters, ranging from industrial-scale plants to small-scale farms and even households. They pose an alternative for decentralized bioenergy production in rural areas. Indeed, the biogas produced can be used in heaters, engines, combined heat and power units, and even cookstoves at the household level. Notwithstanding, digesters are considered to be a sustainable technology that can improve the living conditions of farmers by covering energy needs and boosting nutrient recycling. Thanks to their technical, socio-economic, and environmental benefits, rural biogas plants have been spreading around the world since the 1970s, with a large focus on farm-based systems and households. However, several challenges still need to be overcome in order to improve the technology and financial viability.

Summary: The world has never been richer than today. The distribution of our global wealth, however, is hugely biased. Since 1980, the gains were mainly captured by the rich: The top 1% obtained twice as much of the income growth as compared to the bottom 50%. Nevertheless, within economics, debates about inequality have remained rather marginal, despite long-term research by renowned scholars such as Tony Atkinson. Within the public arena, concerns about inequality emerged as a result of a number of developments: First, the global financial crisis in 2008 exposed the risks of the financing of the economy; secondly, 2013, Thomas Picketty's book "Capital in the 21st century" demonstrated that, against the trend of the overall 20th century, capital returns outstrip the gains through economic growth in recent decades, thus threatening social coherence and democratic institutions and thirdly, the Millennium Campaign presented impressive achievements regarding poverty but stirred doubts whether the most deprived were left even further behind. Since 2015, then, the stated aim of SDG 10 is to "reduce inequality within and among countries". There is growing consensus that economic growth is not sufficient to reduce poverty, and that our efforts to make it more inclusive so far were insufficient. The very first step reduce inequality is to adopt a systemic perspective, allowing an integrative analysis covering both ends of the ladder. Policies should be universal in principle and pay attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations. Predicated on comparison, inequality reminds us that it's not enough to study lower earners and the poor. Instead, the term demands that we expand our perspective, scrutinizing how economic value is generated, accumulated, at whose cost, and - not least - how the overall system could be made fairer. "Transitioning to Reduced Inequalities" therefore explores inequality trends worldwide, offers a debate on different measures and comparative perspectives, highlights key actors who either benefited or suffered from recent economic trends, and explores policy options to reduce inequality and thus contribute to SDG 10. The volume considers particularly: conceptual frameworks with regards to the inequality debate; the relationship between poverty reduction, economic growth and inequality; measures of inequality; overlooked/bypassed groups in developing countries; analysis on income/wealth growth for different groups in the global north; discussion about policies to reduce inequality; and further research in the realm of inequality. Transitioning to Reduced Inequalities is part of MDPI's new Open Access book series Transitioning to Sustainability. With this series, MDPI pursues environmentally and socially relevant research which contributes to efforts toward a sustainable world.

Summary: This is a reprint of the articles from the Special Issue entitled "10th Anniversary of Actuators", published in the open-access journal, Actuators. It consists of 18 representative works with four main topics: systematic reviews for specific types of actuators, performance evaluation, design and controls, and new actuators' applications. This reprint helps readers to understand the challenges and the trends of research and development in advancing the theories, methodologies, and design tools of actuators.

Summary: Membrane Distillation (MD) is based on the evaporation of a hot feed through a microporous and hydrophobic membrane. Thermal energy is needed to heat the feed up to the desired temperature during the process. Therefore, improvements of the thermal performance of MD are important to apply this technology at large scale. The Special Issue "Thermal Performance of Membrane Distillation" focuses on the recent research efforts made in this direction, covering both the development of new membranes and the optimization of the process.

Summary: The proposed book is a compilation of a Special Issue on "Leaching of Rare Earth Elements from Various Sources", published in the journal Minerals in 2020. There are 10 papers contributed by experts in the area, and these can be grouped into four categories: leaching from low-grade ores including coal, clay, soil, and red mud; pre-treatment and leaching; recycling; and precipitation and nano-hydrometallurgy. Although these articles are available in the journal Minerals, it is convenient to compile the most valuable information into a book form so that scholars and industrial practitioners can have easy access to it when they need it where the Internet is not easily available. I strongly believe that the book on a very specialized topic matter such as modern extraction technologies of rare earth elements will contribute greatly to the fast-growing industry that needs rare earth elements.

Summary: The present book contains nine articles that were accepted and published in the Special Issue "Modeling and Control of Energy Conversion during Underground Coal Gasification Process" of the MDPI Energies journal. This book focuses on the energy conversion processes in underground coal gasification (UCG), as well as on the modeling and control of this process. The articles published in this book can be divided into three thematic parts of research in the field of underground coal gasification technology: the first part is the impact of technology on the environment, the second is research (studies) on the coal areas and coal properties of UCG technology, and the third is the monitoring, modeling, and control processes within UCG. We hope that this book will be interesting and useful for workers and researchers in the field of underground coal gasification technology, as well as for those who are interested in the mathematical modeling and control of this process.

Summary: The construction industry is growing rapidly and time has changed the construction methods used. The traditional way of construction is becoming obsolete and technology is taking over. In this case, sustainable construction is the future and the new norm in the construction industry. Although there are various opportunities in this sector, there are also some challenges that exist and hinder productivity. Hence, this reprint covers the opportunities and challenges in sustainable construction.

Summary: Thin films are important in many of the technologies used every day, impacting major markets for energy, medicine, and coatings. Scientists and engineers have been producing thin films on a wide range of surfaces for many decades but now have begun to explore giving these films new and controlled structures at the nanometer scale. These efforts are part of the new horizons opened by the field of nanoscience and impart novel structures and properties to these thin films. This book covers some of the methods for making these nanostructured thin films and their applications in areas impacting on health and energy usage.

Summary: Agricultural productivity should increase to meet the growing food demand. Tillage is defined as the mechanical manipulation of agricultural soil, and it is an extremely vital part of crop production, particularly for seedbed preparation and weed control. Tillage operations are carried out using mechanical force, commonly with a tractor-drawn tool to achieve the cutting, inversion, pulverization, and disturbance of soil. A significant part of the energy (from fossil fuels) used in crop production is expended in tillage. This energy use results in greenhouse gas emissions. It is essential that we reduce energy use (hence, greenhouse gas emissions) to achieve sustainable farming practices and improve crop production and design new tillage tools or optimize the existing tools. Although the design and evaluation of tillage tools are generally carried out using analytical methods and field experiments, with recent technological improvements, computer technology has been used for the design and evaluation of tillage tools. Additionally, sensor technology can improve the efficiency of tillage tools. This Special Issue collated innovative papers that make a significant contribution to the design and application of agricultural equipment in tillage systems. It involved original research and review papers from different research fields, such as agricultural engineering, engineering simulation, and precision agriculture.

Summary: In the competitive business environment or public domain, the sustainability assessment in supply chain and infrastructure management are important for any organization. Organizations are currently striving to improve their sustainable strategies through preparedness, response, and recovery because of increasing competitiveness, community, and regulatory pressure. Thus, it is necessary to develop a meaningful and more focused understanding of sustainability in supply chain management and infrastructure management practices. In the context of a supply chain, sustainability implies that companies identify, assess, and manage impacts and risks in all the echelons of the supply chain, considering downstream and upstream activities. Similarly, the sustainable infrastructure management indicates the ability of infrastructure to meet the requirements of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to address their needs. The complexities regarding sustainable supply chain and infrastructure management have driven managers and professionals to seek different solutions. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with the most recent research results on the aforementioned subjects. In addition, it offers some solutions and also raises some questions for further research and development toward sustainable supply chain and infrastructure management.

Summary: Additive Manufacturing (AM), more popularly known as 3D printing, is transforming the industry. AM of metal components with virtually no geometric limitations has enabled new product design options and opportunities, increased product performance, shorter cycle time in part production, total cost reduction, shortened lead time, improved material efficiency, more sustainable products and processes, full circularity in the economy, and new revenue streams. This Special Issue of Metals gives an up-to-date account of the state of the art in AM.

Summary: This book focuses on advanced techniques to reduce the impact of the transport sector and, more specifically, of Spark-Ignition (SI) Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) on atmospheric air pollution and climate change. Hybrid vehicles represent the most suitable option for addressing these issues in the medium term, since hybridization allows us to overcome the major disadvantages of ICEs, electric units, and energy storage devices and merge their respective benefits. In this scenario, ICEs will remain the core component of automotive propulsion systems in the years to come. Of course, further efforts to improve the efficiency and reduce the pollutant and CO2 emissions of ICEs are necessary.

Summary: This volume is a reprint of the Special Issue "Theory and Application of Web 3.0 in the Media Sector". Launched to highlight vital multidisciplinary perspectives, the SI's contents are both theory- and application-oriented. The advancements of computational processing and storage capacities (at affordable or decreasing costs), the evolution of content compression techniques, and the constant update of networking infrastructures led to the domination of the so-called User-Generated Content (UGC). The proliferation of mobile devices, offering inherent networking with enhanced content capturing and sharing capabilities, also fueling the models of Participatory and Citizens' Journalism. Thus, the interest has shifted to semantic services, purposing, among others, to automate content production, publishing, validation, documentation, and management. Such technological solutions have already entered the media sector, with their successful growth and elaboration requiring multidisciplinary effort supported by digital literacy initiatives. Nevertheless, further research is needed for the transition to the new media era in which algorithmic automations and semantic services will serve their original purposes, helping both media professionals and broader audiences. A total of 11 contributions were published within this volume, enlightening various aspects of contemporary Web 3.0 services from both technological/algorithmic and conceptual/social science approaches..

Summary: Biofiltration is a technology of great interest since the costs of installation and, above all, exploitation costs are much lower than those associated with other technologies based on physical-chemical processes. Nowadays, the use of biofiltration is increasing every day. On the other hand, the physicochemical filtration process is a successful technology in numerous applications in the field of water treatment. This issue of the journal is focused on the treatment of different types of effluents through filtration: Drinking water and wastewater. Different technologies are analysed: Filtration through biochar from agricultural by-products; biological active carbon (BAC); electroadsorption using a commercial granular activated carbon as the adsorbent; filtration through sand, anthracite and expanded clay; granular activated carbon (GAC) as part of a tertiary treatment for wastewater reuse.

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: Remote sensing is being actively researched in the fields of environment, military and urban planning through technologies such as monitoring of natural climate phenomena on the earth, land cover classification, and object detection. Recently, satellites equipped with observation cameras of various resolutions were launched, and remote sensing images are acquired by various observation methods including cluster satellites. However, the atmospheric and environmental conditions present in the observed scene degrade the quality of images or interrupt the capture of the Earth's surface information. One method to overcome this is by generating synthetic images through image simulation. Synthetic images can be generated by using statistical or knowledge-based models or by using spectral and optic-based models to create a simulated image in place of the unobtained image at a required time. Various proposed methodologies will provide economical utility in the generation of image learning materials and time series data through image simulation. The 6 published articles cover various topics and applications central to Remote sensing image simulation. Although submission to this Special Issue is now closed, the need for further in-depth research and development related to image simulation of High-spatial and spectral resolution, sensor fusion and colorization remains.I would like to take this opportunity to express my most profound appreciation to the MDPI Book staff, the editorial team of Applied Sciences journal, especially Ms. Nimo Lang, the assistant editor of this Special Issue, talented authors, and professional reviewers.

Summary: This is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This reprint focuses on the modification of hydrogels and their applications in biomedical engineering, aiming to provide a reference for scholars in related fields. It mainly involves the applications of hydrogels in biomedical fields such as phantoms, wound healing, skin, cartilage, muscle, and drug loading. We believe this reprint can provide a valuable reference for scientific and technological workers in the fields of materials science, tissue engineering, biological manufacturing, biomedical engineering, and so on.

Summary: Material loss due to wear and corrosion and high resistance to motion generate high costs. Therefore, minimizing friction and wear is a problem of great importance. This book is focused on the tribological behavior of functional surfaces. It contains information regarding the improvement of tribological properties of sliding elements via changes in surface topography. Tribological impacts of surface texturing depending on the creation of dimples on co-acting surfaces are also discussed. The effects of various coatings on the minimization of friction and wear and corrosion resistance are also studied. Friction can be also reduced by introducing a new oil.

Summary: Nowadays, there is great pressure on energy conservation and emission reduction. In order to achieve these goals, weight reduction in manufacturing fields, such as the vehicle, marine, and aerospace industries, and microelectromechanical systems is the major trend. Although some structures and parts that require special properties and service conditions must use ferrous materials such as steels due to their superior thermal and wear resistance, there is a desperate need to replace these alloys with non-ferrous materials such as Al alloys, Mg alloys, Ti-based alloys, Cu alloys, and others in order to decrease the operational and maintenance costs. Recently, many new material processing techniques, i.e., irradiation, cryogenic rolling, wet chemical method, induction sintering, liquid/solid casting, heat treatment, electromagnetic hot forming, and five-axis flank milling, have been developed to enhance the performance of non-ferrous materials. Excellent work hardening, fracture toughness, mechanical properties, magnetic properties, and wear resistance could be realized depending on the appropriate application of these new technologies. This Special Issue covers these topics and focuses on the process-structure-properties relationships of high-performance non-ferrous materials.

Summary: Wood is a natural material that is available in large quantities and is easy to produce, making it the perfect material to consider for the circular economy. Its importance has dramatically increased in recent years. This increase is accompanied by the development of new research methods that open new possibilities in the areas related to wood and wood products in the process of their production, processing, and final use. The main topics of this Special Issue were the knowledge of the quality of wood and other lignocellulose materials; the processes of their effective utilization and processing for more efficient processing; the adoption of techniques and research around using wood for environmentally friendly composite production and the positive impact of this on the environment; wood's interaction with solid substances and with different mechanical loads, chemicals, and other substances; and the different forms of energy and surface modification of wood and wood composites.

Summary: The United Kingdom has a proud history of liquid crystal research. Its contributions span from the formulation of the theory of nematic elasticity as it is used today, uncovered via the Leslie-Erickson theory describing the viscosity of mesophases, to the discovery of the first room-temperature nematic and the related developments in the display industry, to name just several pioneering contributions. Today, liquid crystal science in the UK is more diverse and multidisciplinary than ever, ranging from the synthesis of increasingly complex mesogenic molecules, via the physical properties of self-organised systems and composites of both the thermotropic and the lyotropic type, to a wide variety of applications outside of the traditional display sector. The field covers aspects of chemistry, physics, material sciences, chemical engineering, mathematics, biology and device engineering in an overarching effort to advance the fundamental understanding of these soft-matter materials and to promote their technological exploitation in the UK and worldwide. To this end, a large group of individuals and research groups from universities and industry in the UK are working together on a Special Issue to advance the development of this field. The achievements of these scholars can be found in publications in top-class journals and presentations at all large international conferences, in the development of new products, and in events for public engagement.

Summary: Metalliferous minerals play a central role in the global economy. They will continue to provide the raw materials we need for industrial processes. Significant challenges will likely emerge if the climate-driven green and low-carbon development transition of metalliferous mineral exploitation is not managed responsibly and sustainably. Green low-carbon technology is vital to promote the development of metalliferous mineral resources shifting from extensive and destructive mining to clean and energy-saving mining in future decades. Global mining scientists and engineers have conducted a lot of research in related fields, such as green mining, ecological mining, energy-saving mining, and mining solid waste recycling, and have achieved a great deal of innovative progress and achievements. This Special Issue intends to collect the latest developments in the green low-carbon mining field, written by well-known researchers who have contributed to the innovation of new technologies, process optimization methods, or energy-saving techniques in metalliferous minerals development.

Summary: Today, the flow of electricity is bidirectional, and not all electricity is centrally produced in large power plants. With the growing emergence of prosumers and microgrids, the amount of electricity produced by sources other than large, traditional power plants is ever-increasing. These alternative sources include photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine (WT), geothermal, and biomass renewable generation plants. Some renewable energy resources (solar PV and wind turbine generation) are highly dependent on natural processes and parameters (wind speed, wind direction, temperature, solar irradiation, humidity, etc.). Thus, the outputs are so stochastic in nature. New data-science-inspired real-time solutions are needed in order to co-develop digital twins of large intermittent renewable plants whose services can be globally delivered.

Summary: Recent research and development in the field of high-current circuit breaker technology are devoted to meeting two challenges: the environmental compatibility and new demands on electrical grids caused by the increasing use of renewable energies. Electric arcs in gases or a vacuum are the key component in the technology at present and will play a key role also in future concepts, e.g., for hybrid and fast switching required for high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission systems. In addition, the replacement of the environmentally harmful SF6 in gas breakers and gas-insulated switchgear is an actual issue. This Special Issue comprises eight peer-reviewed papers, which address recent studies of switching arcs and electrical insulation at high and medium voltage. Three papers consider issues of the replacement of the environmentally harmful SF6 by CO2 in high-voltage gas circuit breakers. One paper deals with fast switching in air with relevance for hybrid fault current limiters and hybrid HVDC interrupters. The other four papers illustrate actual research on vacuum current breakers as an additional option for environmentally compatible switchgear; fundamental studies of the vacuum arc ignition, as well as concepts for the use of vacuum arcs for DC interruption.

Summary: Electrical machines and drives dominate our everyday lives. This is due to their numerous applications in industry, power production, home appliances, and transportation systems such as electric and hybrid electric vehicles, ships, and aircrafts. Their development follows rapid advances in science, engineering, and technology. Researchers around the world are extensively investigating electrical machines and drives because of their reliability, efficiency, performance, and fault-tolerant structure. In particular, there is a focus on the importance of utilizing these new trends in technology for energy saving and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This Special Issue will provide the platform for researchers to present their recent work on advances in the field of electrical machines and drives, including special machines and their applications; new materials, including the insulation of electrical machines; new trends in diagnostics and condition monitoring; power electronics, control schemes, and algorithms for electrical drives; new topologies; and innovative applications.

Summary: This Special Issue of the journal Applied Sciences presents recent advances and developments in the use of digital 3D technologies to protect and preserve cultural heritage. While most of the articles focus on aspects of 3D scanning, modeling, and presenting in VR of cultural heritage objects from buildings to small artifacts and clothing, part of the issue is devoted to 3D sound utilization in the cultural heritage field.

Summary: Intelligent optimization is based on the mechanism of computational intelligence to refine a suitable feature model, design an effective optimization algorithm, and then to obtain an optimal or satisfactory solution to a complex problem. Intelligent algorithms are key tools to ensure global optimization quality, fast optimization efficiency and robust optimization performance. Intelligent optimization algorithms have been studied by many researchers, leading to improvements in the performance of algorithms such as the evolutionary algorithm, whale optimization algorithm, differential evolution algorithm, and particle swarm optimization. Studies in this arena have also resulted in breakthroughs in solving complex problems including the green shop scheduling problem, the severe nonlinear problem in one-dimensional geodesic electromagnetic inversion, error and bug finding problem in software, the 0-1 backpack problem, traveler problem, and logistics distribution center siting problem. The editors are confident that this book can open a new avenue for further improvement and discoveries in the area of intelligent algorithms. The book is a valuable resource for researchers interested in understanding the principles and design of intelligent algorithms.

Summary: This Special Issue aimed to cover the new developments in the synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanoconstructs ranging from conventional metal oxide nanoparticles to novel molecule-based or hybrid multifunctional nano-objects. At the same time, the focus was on the potential of these novel magnetic nanoconstructs in several possible applications, e.g. sensing, energy storage, and nanomedicine.

Summary: With increasing awareness about environmental sustainability issues, the geotechnical engineering community is in search of sustainable materials, innovative applications and ground improvement technologies which are resilient to climate change, involve low carbon emissions, are ecologically friendly and affordable, yet effective. As such, this reprint brings together 18 novel contributions providing the state-of-the-art in "Sustainable Geotechnics" with special focus on the reuse and recycling of waste materials in geotechnical applications as well as sustainable design, construction, and monitoring of the performance of geostructures. This reprint may be of particular interest to geotechnical professional engineers and researchers who are facing the challenging task of increasing the sustainability and resiliency of geotechnical assets and infrastructures.