scholarly journals Lichen Diversity and Biomonitoring: A Special Issue

Diversity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Giordani

Lichens are symbiotic organisms susceptible to environmental alteration due to their morphological and physiological features. For this reason, researchers and decision-makers are extensively using lichen biomonitoring for assessing the effects of various anthropogenic disturbances. The Special Issue was launched to fulfil some knowledge gaps in this field, such as the development of procedures to interpret and compare results. The SI includes three reviews that explore the application of lichen biomonitoring for detecting the effects of climate change. Three articles and one review paper examined the use at a decision level of biomonitoring of air pollution employing lichens, including the application in environmental forensic. Finally, six research articles are illustrative examples of lichen biomonitoring in poorly known habitats, providing data from the physiological to the community level of observation, and pose the basis for extending comparable approaches on a global scale.

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (14) ◽  
pp. 7560
Author(s):  
Julie A. Tucker ◽  
Mathew P. Martin

This special issue on Advances in Kinase Drug Discovery provides a selection of research articles and topical reviews covering all aspects of drug discovery targeting the phosphotransferase enzyme family [...]


Food Security ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Pircher ◽  
Conny J. M. Almekinders

AbstractA demand-driven approach is becoming increasingly central in the efforts to improve agricultural research and development. However, the question of how exactly demand is studied usually remains unstated and is rarely discussed. We therefore carried out a systematic review in order to better understand how farmers’ demand for seed in root, tuber and banana seed systems is studied. The review is based on data from a consultation with an expert panel and a structured literature search in the SCOPUS database. Screening the gathered articles resulted in 46 studies on a global scale, fitting the scope of our investigation. Through qualitative analysis and categorization of these studies, we developed a classification scheme according to the types of approaches applied in the retained studies. One group of studies explicitly articulates farmers’ preferences and choices through surveys or engagements in trials, auctions, choice experiments and interviews. Other studies implicitly articulate farmers’ demand by characterising their current use of varieties and seed. We discuss opportunities and limitations in the use of each type of study and we reflect on the body of available literature as a whole. Our conclusion is that a framework is necessary that purposefully combines the existing different methods and that it is necessary to involve stakeholders in a process where demand is articulated. Together, these two steps would characterise existing demands in a more effective and precise way, thus providing better guidance to decision-makers in their reactions pertaining to seed systems.


Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Wojciech Polkowski

The Special Issue on “Crystal Plasticity” is a collection of 25 original articles (including one review paper) dedicated to theoretical and experimental research works providing new insights and practical findings in the field of crystal plasticity-related topics [...]


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1211
Author(s):  
Yuriy L. Orlov ◽  
Anastasia A. Anashkina

This Special Issue, “Life: Computational Genomics”, presents research articles on systems biology applications, computational genomics, and bioinformatics methods in life sciences [...]


Author(s):  
Mario J. Molina ◽  
Adolfo Plasencia

In this conversation, Nobel Prize winner Mario J. Molina reflects on the ethical side of science. He explains how several decades ago, together with the scientist F. Sherwood Rowland, he predicted that human activity was endangering the ozone layer. They discovered the mechanisms which could bring about the destruction of the layer due to the continuous release of industrial compounds, such as the so-called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), into the atmosphere. Professor Molina relates how the issue with the ozone layer was the first example of a problem on a truly global scale for science and, as such, had to be tackled, because without the ozone layer, life on our planet would not have evolved as we know it. Education and training are proving a great help with how the present challenge of stopping or mitigating the daunting problem of global warming should be approached. In the dialogue, different courses of action for persuading both decision-makers and the public are proposed. It is however proving rather difficult to achieve and something which, according to Professor Molina, is also related to education.


Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas ◽  
Romualdas Bausys ◽  
and Jurgita Antucheviciene

A topic of utmost importance in civil engineering is finding optimal solutions throughout the life cycle of buildings and infrastructural objects, including their design, manufacturing, use, and maintenance. Operational research, management science, and optimisation methods provide a consistent and applicable groundwork for engineering decision-making. These topics have received the interest of researchers, and, after a rigorous peer-review process, eight papers have been published in the current special issue. The articles in this issue demonstrate how solutions in civil engineering, which bring economic, social and environmental benefits, are obtained through a variety of methodologies and tools. Usually, decision-makers need to take into account not just a single criterion, but several different criteria and, therefore, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches have been suggested for application in five of the published papers; the rest of the papers apply other research methods. The methods and application case studies are shortly described further in the editorial.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 2913
Author(s):  
Denise Dettmering ◽  
Marcello Passaro ◽  
Alexander Braun

This special issue compiles studies from different disciplines presenting recent advances in the field of radar and laser altimetry including new and future altimetry missions and their applications. It comprises eight research papers as well as one review paper, and covers method development as well as applications, which target diverse Earth systems (oceans, coastal regions, sea-ice, inland) as well as the Moon.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makram Merimi ◽  
Laurence Lagneaux ◽  
Douâa Moussa Agha ◽  
Philippe Lewalle ◽  
Nathalie Meuleman ◽  
...  

In this Special Issue, directed and supervised by Dr. Mehdi Najar, a collection of basic research articles and reviews, on the state of the art of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells (MSCs) immune biology, is presented. Among the major goals of this Special Issue is the presentation of an update about the immunomodulatory properties of MSCs and their capacity to respond to tissue microenvironment changes. MSCs hold great promise in the field of immunotherapy and regenerative medicine. Accordingly, a better understanding of MSC immune biology will improve their therapeutic value and use.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1043
Author(s):  
Italia Di Liegro

Since ancient times, the importance of physical activity (PA) and of a wholesome diet for human health has been clearly recognized. However, only recently, it has been acknowledged that PA can reverse at least some of the unwanted effects of a sedentary lifestyle, contributing to the treatment of pathologies such as hypertension and diabetes, to the delay of aging and neurodegeneration, and even to the improvement of immunity and cognitive processes. At the same time, the cellular and molecular bases of these effects are beginning to be uncovered. The original research articles and reviews published in this Special Issue on “Genetic and Epigenetic Modulation of Cell Functions by Physical Exercise” focus on different aspects of the genetics and molecular biology of PA effects on health and, in addition, on the effects of different genotypes on the ability to perform PA. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.


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