Bøger udgivet af Mdpi AG

With the ever-increasing global population, the challenge of sustainably meeting the escalating demand for food is more critical than ever. This pressing issue necessitates the optimization of plant mineral nutrition, which is pivotal for enhancing agricultural productivity, improving resource efficiency, and fostering environmental stewardship. In this Reprint, we bring together key insights from a Special Issue of Agronomy, underscoring the crucial role that mineral elements play in crop growth and production. The collection emphasizes innovative management strategies aimed at harmonizing the supply of mineral elements with crop requirements. The cornerstone of sustainable agriculture rests on three pillars: enhancing nutrient acquisition, tailoring nutrient application to specific needs, and adopting an integrated plant-soil perspective. Such strategies are indispensable for capitalizing on mineral nutrition to advance sustainable agricultural practices, thereby ensuring food security and promoting environmental sustainability. The individual papers in this Reprint offer reports on the latest research advancements or comprehensive reviews of existing knowledge. Drawing from a diverse range of disciplines, these articles together aim to deepen our understanding of the importance of mineral elements in crop growth and production.

Fire safety within residential buildings and urban environments is a pressing global concern, demanding dynamic and comprehensive strategies for effective risk assessment and mitigation. The Special Issue reprinted in this collection is the first of a series of Special Issues edited by the Fire journal to provide researchers with a platform to showcase cutting-edge developments in this critical area.Authored by researchers and practitioners from Europe, Asia, and Australia, the thirteen contributions that compose this first volume collectively offer a comprehensive perspective on fire safety, illustrating the global relevance and the imperative need for innovative risk assessment and mitigation strategies. This first volume sets the stage for subsequent Special Issues, showcasing cutting-edge developments and fostering collaborative efforts to address the evolving challenges in fire safety.

Automatic Speech Recognition and Understanding (ASRU) has the potential to reduce air traffic controllers' (ATCos) workload and to enhance air traffic management (ATM) safety. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) transforms voice signals into a sequence of words, e.g., "speed bird four one six descend flight level one two zero". Automatic Speech Understanding extracts the meaning from this word sequence, e.g., that the aircraft with the callsign "BAW416" should "DESCEND" to roughly "twelve thousand feet". The Special Issue contains 12 articles authored by 54 different authors, working for 23 institutions that are located in 13 countries on four continents. These articles discuss (a) ontologies for modeling words and semantics, (b) the extraction of aircraft callsigns and complex commands, (c) ASRU support for ATCos through callsign highlighting, the filling of aircraft radar labels and flight strips for approach, tower, and apron environments, (d) supporting simulation pilots, (e) speech activity detection, speaker role classification, natural language processing, English language identification, (f) combining ASRU with surveillance data, (g) joining speech and gaze data, and (h) a safety assessment.

This collection of articles contributes to our understanding of the production and quality of fermented beverages. It includes high-quality articles on the physicochemical and microbiological characterization of fermented beverages, the effects of climate change and mitigation strategies, their quality improvement, and the development of new products. The novelty of the studies, their clear and comprehensive presentation, and the accurate and in-depth discussion of the results ensure that this collection of articles will become a valuable asset in the study of fermented beverages.

Climate change poses threats to salmonid fishes causing their populations to decline and inducing sub-lethal effects. Increases in temperature change aquatic habitats and opportunities for fish to feed and find shelter. This Special Issue documents how these alterations influence salmonid populations. Across ten papers, leading ecologists from Europe and North America have exhibited how climate warming has influenced the ecology of salmonids in terms of their metabolic rates, development, growth, body size, sexual maturation, and reproductive traits. Climate change also influences their behaviors, including migrations, intraspecific competition, and predation. For instance, salmonids avoid warm stressful temperatures by seeking out cold tributary plumes, groundwater springs, alcoves and hyporheic upwellings, deep lakes, and artificial impoundments. Elevated temperatures affect their physiological, genetic, and epigenetic processes, which are important for their adaptations. This volume also lists examples of how climate change influences interspecific predation, and via mathematical modelling, it shows how climate conditions influence competition between trout and salmon in rivers. The authors have also revealed major research gaps related to species interactions, behavioral responses, and the effects of climate change across the fishes' life stages. This collection of research papers may also help managers in performing better salmonid management in a changing climate.

In this Special Issue, we consider the ways in which a relational wellbeing approach can be used to understand the lives and trajectories of refugees in general and young refugees in particular. We mainly focus on the lives of young adults who came to the global North as unaccompanied children-that is, without an adult responsible for them when they claimed asylum. Many of the papers focus on 'relational wellbeing' for these young refugees-which often involves actions that repair and amplify a sense of social responsibility they and other people have to each other. Hospitality and reciprocity emerge through small acts of fellowship. In time, these actions lead to a mutual sense of 'having enough', 'being connected', and 'feeling good'. Wellbeing becomes a relational endeavour. Overall, the contributions in this Special Issue stand at the conjunction between fields of research into wellbeing and refugee studies. The papers span contexts and countries, offering an international array of experiences, joined by an issue of supra-national importance-that is, the ways interaction and relationality mediate the experiences of becoming and being a refugee.

Wastewater treatment stands out as a pivotal solution for safeguarding public health and the environment. Aerobic granular sludge, as an alternative to conventional activated sludge, offers superior benefits in treatment efficacy, facility space efficiency, and energy utilization. Despite being a relatively novel approach to wastewater treatment, aerobic granular sludge technology has undergone extensive research over the past two decades. However, its real-world application has not reached the anticipated levels of adoption. Moreover, the impact of various operational strategies and processes on the properties of the granules and the treatment performance for different types of wastewater, especially regarding nutrient removal, remains somewhat ambiguous.This Special Issue discusses the performance of aerobic granular sludge for nutrient removal and pharmaceutical wastewater treatment in continuous or batch operating modes, as well as at laboratory, pilot, and even large scales. A key area of focus is the long-term stability of the aerobic granules. Additionally, this Issue explores the treatment and management of waste aerobic granular sludge using anaerobic digestion. Serving as a concise overview of the current research on aerobic granules, this Special Issue provides an insightful snapshot into the latest advancements in using aerobic granules for environmental protection.

This Special Issue focuses on dietary and nutrition surveys in Europe. Considerable progress has been made in harmonising the collection of food consumption data in Europe over the last decade. The European Commission and various national governments have supported the use of dietary surveys as part of regular monitoring and research projects. Guidance on the dietary survey methodology has been developed, enabling the achievement of comparable and harmonised studies across the continent, and thereby generating a common European food consumption database. While this is a basis for improving exposure assessments and ensuring more targeted risk management, food consumption data, alongside other studies focusing on the relationship between diet and health, are also important for assessing nutrient intake.The aim of this Special Issue was to provide a space for high-quality research studies based on nationally representative dietary and nutrition surveys across Europe. We were particularly focused on the intake of foods, nutrients and other bioactive food constituents, as well as on understanding the parameters affecting this intake. Other priorities also included validation studies, country-to-country comparisons, and methodological improvements related to nutritional epidemiology. The Special Issue includes 13 papers from a variety of European countries that have conducted food consumption studies using methodologies constructed in line with the recommendations of the EU Menu.

This Special Issue, "Body Composition in Children", of the journal Children publishes both original and review articles focusing on the prevalence and determinants of obesity across childhood, the role of body composition in children's health, new approaches to assessing body composition, and interventions aiming to improve body composition in children and adolescents.

The advancement of neurorehabilitation is imperative for addressing movement disorders in patients following a stroke or those with neurodegenerative diseases. This Special Issue contains significant clinical and foundational studies that present novel findings and offer potential insights for the future of neurorehabilitation.

In 2020, the world was shaken by a very unexpected development, an unseen virus which could kill millions and spread without control. To reduce the impact of the pandemic and before the vaccine was created, lockdown and other safety measures were implemented.In this context, the socio-economic burden of the disease was, in our opinion, a major issue because we always considered that COVID-19 would have a hard impact on human beings and that that impact would be the most prominent effect of the pandemic. In consequence, when designing this Special Issue, we hoped to receive papers with "tales from the field" that would describe the mentioned socio-economic burden. Therefore, it was deeply rewarding to receive so many contributions of very good quality that ended up composing the Special Issue that is reprinted here.We sincerely thank all the authors and reviewers for the work they produced and we congratulate them for their success. We believe that this reprint of the Special Issue contributes to the understanding of the major consequences of COVID-19 in society. Crucially, the reprint includes papers on global perspectives but also national cases and also sector-specific cases. Finally, we hope the legacy of this volume will be long-lasting and that the papers it contains will be quoted and cited for many years to come.

World perception is the product of complex optical and physical processes in the human visual system, wherein light stimuli penetrate the pupils to reach the retina, which are composed of photoreceptors that transform light into electrochemical energy to be transmitted to the brain for organization, interpretation, and analysis of the received information and to recreate the perceived reality. Using similar optical and physical processes, machine vision is the eyes of cybernetics systems and allows for the virtual and real worlds to coexist in human lives, thus integrating these technologies into our daily lives for improved creativity and globalization through interconnectivity. This is possible due to the ability of advanced sensor and system technologies to acquire and compute information. Such tasks are based on the integration of optoelectronic devices for sensors and cameras. Sensors, artificial intelligence algorithms, embedded systems, robust control, inertial navigation systems, robotics, interconnectivity, big data, and cloud computing are the core of machine vision developments for cyber-physical systems to collaborate with humans and their real and virtual environments and activities.

This Special Issue focuses on the recent research on the effect of physical activity on chronic diseases, including COPD, other lung diseases, cognitive impairment, irritable bowel syndrome, and atherosclerosis . The associated factors, the evaluation methods, and the effective interventions were evaluated. Two review papers and eight original articles are included.

As Guest Editors of the Special Issue "Advances in Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Polymeric Materials", we congratulate all the authors of the published works and thank the reviewers for their time and invaluable comments and suggestions that raised the rank and substantive value of this reprint. We also thank the Editors-in-Chief of Materials for the opportunity to collaborate with the journal, as well as the Section Managing Editor, Ms. Fay Liu, for her kind support and cooperation.We work as associate professors at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at Czestochowa University of Technology. Our scientific interests include polymeric materials and their composites, in terms of thermomechanical tests. Therefore, we decided to open this Special Issue, which turned out to be a huge success. Its goal was to publish innovative papers dealing with the issues of the thermomechanical properties of polymers and composites, structure of polymeric materials, combustion and co-combustion of polymeric materials with fuels and waste, thermal analysis of materials, emission of pollutants during thermal processes, modeling and computer simulation of polymeric material property changes, modeling and computer simulation of exploitation and thermal processes, and recycling of polymeric materials. In this reprint, we emphasized the essence of these issues.We encourage you to read this reprint.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are associated with various degrees of disability affecting participation in activities of daily living (ADL) and the overall quality of life (QoL) of affected individuals. MSDs pose a significant burden to health systems, social care systems and caregivers. Such disorders encompass a diverse group of conditions affecting bones, muscles and joints, including degenerative conditions, inflammatory rheumatic diseases, fragility conditions and several types of bodily pain. Common musculoskeletal degenerative conditions in the elderly population include osteoporosis and osteoarthritic changes in the joints and spine. Furthermore, MSDs are common in multimorbidity. Therefore, it is important to utilize the proper diagnostic tools and the adequate therapeutic modalities that are carried out by a multiprofessional team, and if needed in certain conditions, by an interprofessional team as well. This approach is vital for the optimal treatment course and outcomes.Additionally, special consideration should be given to frailty, particularly in elderly persons with multiorgan dysfunction, where the important component is sarcopenia, resulting in a loss of muscle mass and a decline in strength, thereby leading to functional deterioration.In this Special Issue, the current and experimental diagnostic and therapeutic modalities are presented, as well as preventive measures for improving the functioning and overall quality of life for individuals with MSDs.

This Special Issue mainly concerns recent progress in the fields of building materials, structural mechanics, geotechnical engineering, and advanced materials and technology. Some of the studies in this Special Issue collate the latest achievements in cement and building materials research, building upon traditional research theories and techniques. This Special Issue provides a supportive basis for remediating current research and difficulties and knowledge gaps.This field, with all its traditionalism and multidisciplinarity, has profited from these developments. However, its specific features have led to a considerable scattering of literary sources and a lack of information that has been mutually agreed upon by all relevant subjects. This Special Issue should help to overcome these problems. It provides us with an opportunity to create a compendium on novel cement and building materials, which will not only boost further scientific progress but also provide restorers and artists with a useful literary overview. It is focused on cement and building materials, and contains the most important results from different regions of the world.

Propagation of horticultural plants through in vitro culture has become a viable alternative to conventional propagation methods worldwide. Rapid production of true-to-type and disease-free plants in controlled laboratory conditions, in a small space, in a short time, and regardless of seasonality are especially desired for producing cuttings for commercial purposes in horticulture. On the other hand, in vitro culture is an important tool in plant breeding, as well as in plant conservation and long-term storage. This reprint contains an anthology of studies regarding the latest advancements in the field of in vitro culture of horticultural plants. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of how this technology is shaping the future of crop improvement and horticulture. The reprint not only highlights the remarkable progress made in in vitro technology, but also emphasizes ongoing efforts to overcome issues related to somaclonal variations, virus elimination, and acclimatization of micropropagated plants.

First issued in 2014, Coatings is celebrating its 10th anniversary. In this first decade, the journal has managed to attract and publish numerous innovative works related to various domains and disciplines in which the application of coatings gives an added value."Surface Characterization, Deposition and Modification" is one of the biggest sections of Coatings. Since its inception, numerous papers have been published in this section. The scope of surface characterization, deposition and modification comprises various coating deposition processes and surface treatments, as well as the characterization of microstructural properties and performance studies on modified or treated surfaces. Both experimental and theoretical studies are included in this section. Moreover, the development of novel characterization devices that are specifically designed to evaluate the properties, structural and otherwise, of modified surfaces are welcome.This Special Issue was established to mark the 10th anniversary of Coatings. It is devoted to the swift publication of scientific papers pertaining to surface and interface engineering that modifies the superficial properties of materials in order to enhance their protection in demanding contact conditions, and/or to improve their functional performance.

Recent advances in nano/microtechnologies have significantly enhanced biosensors in terms of their viability for biomedical purposes, from diagnostic to therapeutic applications, and enabled the development of effective early detection and personalized treatment modalities. Specifically, the introduction of a variety of nano/microtechnologies has offered new opportunities to improve the sensitivity, selectivity, response time, and biocompatibility of biosensors through outstanding physical, chemical, electrical and electrochemical properties. Of great interest, this Special Issue aims to highlight the most recent and promising nano/microtechnologies utilized in the development of biosensors for biomedical applications. Thus, here we cordially organize 10 original research papers and reviews aligned with these themes that present novel approaches to the development of next-generation biosensors for biomedical applications.

Linear models are statistical models that play a crucial role in several fields of science and are of practical importance in statistics. The most typical type is the linear regression model. Many phenomena, such as those in biology, medicine, economics, management, geology, meteorology, agriculture and industry, can be approximately described with linear models. Thus, the further research and development of linear models is still a hot research topic.

"Chitosan, Chitosan Derivatives and Their Applications" is devoted to the latest advances in research on chitosan-based systems and focuses on highlighting scientific discoveries carried out in leading laboratories around the world. This topic is a developing field of science, but a very promising one in terms of practical applications. The manuscripts included in this book focus on all aspects of the production, modification, enzymology and application of chitin/chitosan-based systems. The reprint is divided into two parts, each of which begins with an overview article. The first half of the collected articles concerns with the application potential in agricultural and nutritional sciences. The second part covers medical and pharmaceutical applications. At the end of the presented series, several articles devoted to the synthesis and characterization of chitosan-based materials were collected. All mentioned articles (21 in total) represent a high scientific level and the latest trends in research on chitin, chitosan and their derivatives. I wish you a pleasant read.

Self-cleaning surfaces can be achieved using a variety of strategies, materials and technologies, and their applications are as wide as their production methods. The interdisciplinary topic "advanced self-cleaning surfaces" has collected a variety of approaches for self-cleaning, including theoretical approaches, as well as small-scale laboratory experiments and material validation in relevant environments, demonstrating how tailoring the surface for the nano- and micro-meter scale surface phenomena can affect the larger-scale phenomena. This reprint contains all articles included in the topical collection published across different journals-Materials, Membranes, Nanomaterials and Coatings-and is intended to be of help to the scientific community involved in this field to improve collaboration among diverse disciplines and promote novel insights across interdisciplinary research fields.

Explore the forefront of polymer processing with our Special Issue, a curated collection of cutting-edge research and reviews focusing on the machining processes of polymers. Delve into the intricate correlations between processing parameters, surface quality, and material removal mechanisms, unlocking the full potential of polymers in aerospace, optical engineering, and biological engineering. Authored by leading experts in the field, this compilation promises a detailed exploration of the state of the art, offering invaluable insights for researchers and industry professionals alike. Elevate your understanding of polymer processing and contribute to the future of materials science. Join us in advancing the boundaries of knowledge in this stimulating field.

As a key support for human survival and development, how to protect aquatic ecosystems is a hotspot of global concern. This Special Issue was built with the hope of providing scientific references for the conservation of aquatic organisms and ecosystems. Papers cover both freshwater and marine ecosystems, focusing on a single species and multiple species or specific ecosystems. For single-species studies mainly used molecular tools and statistic models to focus on the evolutionary relationships among species, the differentiations among populations within species, and the responses of species to the environment changes. The results of these studies shed light on the evolution, spatial dispersal, and future changes of these species and provided recommendations for the management of population dynamics in these study populations. In multi-species research, biophysical modeling, acoustic technology, and ground surveys were mainly used to predict biodiversity in ecosystems, spatial distribution of different species, and population connectivity among communities. The results of these multi-species studies revealed the spatial patterns of biodiversity, community composition, and ecological corridors from different perspectives, which offer a direct reference for the selection and delineation of marine protected areas. In summary, these papers utilized different tools to reveal the changes or threads faced by important components of water ecosystems from the micro to macro level and provide scientific advice for the conservation and management of protected animals and ecosystems on different spatial scales from local to global.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies can be used to identify defects or damage and evaluate the health status of components or systems to avoid structural failure. Sensors are widely used to collect information about the status of engineering components or systems, and their development and application are key research topics in SHM and NDE. This reprint focuses on the most recent original contributions relating to the use of smart sensors in structural health monitoring and nondestructive evaluation. The topics of discussion include sensors and sensor arrays, sensor modeling and simulation, SHM systems and technology, nondestructive testing and evaluation, structural diagnosis and performance evaluation, signal processing, artificial intelligence applications in SHM and NDE, system and instrument development, and field applications of SHM and NDE.

The Special Issue, "The Adaptability of Residential Planning and Design to World-Changing Events," explores innovative approaches to residential design that can effectively respond to short-, medium-, and long-term challenges posed by recent extreme events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, and devastating natural disasters. It provides a comprehensive guide to creating residential environments that are not only resilient to the immediate impact of these events but also adaptable to the ongoing challenges and shifts in society. This holistic approach to residential planning and design will pave the way for a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities.This Special issue aims to reach a wide range of professionals and researchers involved in the fields of architecture, urban planning, engineering, public safety, and disaster management. This will also be of interest to policymakers, developers, and homeowners seeking to create more resilient and adaptable residential environments through the development of new building codes, urban planning strategies, and design guidelines.

The Special Issue contains topical papers on the latest research, development, and application of electrochemical deposition method. The method is based on the chemical reduction of metal ions or their complexes. It is an almost universal way of making material coatings on the surface of conductive substrates by electrolysis of aqueous solutions containing metal ions or complexes. Electrochemical deposition is an inexpensive and relatively fast method that can be applied on an industrial scale for nano- and micro-structured coatings over a large area.With deep respect, we dedicate this Special Issue to the memory of the distinguished scientist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Konstantin Lovchinov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), who was its initiator and the main Guest Editor.

The present reprint contains the articles accepted and published in the Special Issue "Polynomial Sequences and Their Applications" of the MDPI journal Mathematics. This reprint aims to present, albeit partially, the state of the art on the theory and application of polynomial sequences. Polynomials are incredibly useful mathematical tools, as they are simply defined and can be calculated quickly on computer systems. They can be differentiated and integrated easily and can be pieced together to form spline curves. Sequences of polynomials perform an important role in several branches of science, including mathematics, physics, and engineering. This volume contains both theoretical works and practical applications in the field of polynomial sequences and their applications.

Coherence and polarization are two of the intrinsic properties of a light field, which play a crucial role in determining the light beam propagation and light-matter interaction. The manipulation of coherence and polarization was recognized as an available method to produce many peculiar physical phenomena, which can be superior in some of these applications, such as free-space optical communications, microdensitometry, optical information processing, and plasmonics. The aim of this reprint is to provide a comprehensive exploration of manipulation of coherence and polarization of light and applications.

Although the Baha'i Faith has escaped the gravitational pull of Islam, establishing itself as an independent religious tradition and now being one of the most widely distributed religions in the world, it has received disproportionately little attention in the academic world. This Special Issue of Religions is a small step in redressing this imbalance. The papers in this volume reflect the broad range of subjects and approaches that can be considered to fall under the purview of "Baha'i Studies". These papers vary from history and sociology to doctrinal analyses and textual studies, and range from the earliest Babi phase to recent times. They include such topics as the claims of the Bab; the Bab's writings on the rights of women; the poetry of Tahirih (Qurrat al-`Ayn); the treatment of mi`raj (ascent of the Prophet Muhammad to heaven) in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i texts; the role of wonder in the creation of a Babi and Baha'i identity; the resonances of a Shi`i prayer in Babi and Baha'i scripture; Shaykhi, Babi and Baha'i exegesis of the "Seal of the Prophets" (Qur'an 33:40); the presence of Baha'is among the upper echelons of society in Qajar Iran; the critique of Orientalism in the writings of Abu'l-Fada'il-i-Gulpayigani; the equality, rights, and advancement of women in Baha'i scripture and praxis; the conversion narratives of first-generation Baha'is; and the impact of the World Order magazine.