This book consists of 12 original research articles and one comprehensive review from invited chemists from around the world covering different fields of chemistry. The article on analytical chemistry features the analysis of highly polar metabolites in biological fluids, the determination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with a gas chromatography coupled to ion trap mass spectrometry, and the synthesis of MoS2 nanostructures for the production of near-infrared photodetectors. The environmental chemistry articles include discussions on weekly and longitudinal elemental variability in hair samples, use of bottom ash as a stabilizing agent, the removal of phosphorus from the effluent of a paper company, and the chemistry and consequences of arsenic contamination of groundwater. Polymer/coating chemistry coverage includes the incorporation of superabsorbent polymers into cementitious-based composite materials, the use of licorice root extracts for edible coatings and postharvest quality improvement, and the use of mucin-grafted polyethylene glycol-based micro- for the oral delivery of insulin. The reported research on nanomaterials chemistry covers the synthesis of ZnO-doped ceria nanorods made up of CeO2/ZnO mixed oxides, and the production of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic bonded joints with novel carbon nanotube (CNT) adhesive films. A final paper on flavonol chemistry utilizes LC-MS/MS to investigate the stability of four common types of dietary flavonols.

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Based on five Special Issues in Coatings, this e-book contains a series of 15 articles demonstrating actual perspectives and new trends in advanced coatings in buildings. Innovative materials and multiperformance solutions provide a basis, contributing also to the better protection of buildings’ surfaces during the service life, and the users’ wellbeing.

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Concrete, one of the most often-used building materials today, is the cornerstone of modern buildings all over the world, being used for foundations, pavements, building walls, architectural structures, highways, bridges, overpasses, and so on. Because of its adaptability, concrete may be found in practically every construction, in some form or another. Yet, the diverse nature of its components, their combinations, and their doses result in a very wide range of concrete kinds with varying properties. As a result, concrete is a material that is always evolving and is popular even now, especially when it comes to circular economy.Other ways of concrete manufacturing are now being researched to lessen or remove the limits of this material, which are connected to its brittleness and poor environmental effects. As a result, the development of engineering cementitious composites has resulted in a significant reduction in flexibility issues, while the introduction of new additives and the optimization of the manufacturing process has resulted in a significant reduction in the negative effects of virgin raw material exploitation. In-depth research is still required to optimize and increase the sustainability of these advanced engineering cementitious composites or alternative concretes.In this Special Issue (SI), state-of-the-art research and review articles on the emerging material systems for AM are collected, with a focus on the process–structure–properties relationships. In total, eleven research papers and six reviews have been collected.

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Advanced Glasses, Composites and Ceramics for High-Growth Industries (CoACH) was a European Training Network (ETN) project (http://www.coach-etn.eu/) funded by the Horizon 2020 program. CoACH involved multiple actors in the innovation ecosystem for advanced materials, composed of five universities and ten enterprises in seven different European countries. The project studied the next generation of materials that could bring innovation in the healthcare, construction, and energy sectors, among others, from new bioactive glasses for bone implants to eco-friendly cements and new environmentally friendly thermoelectrics for energy conversion. The novel materials developed in the CoACH project pave the way for innovative products, improved cost competitiveness, and positive environmental impact. The present Special Issue contains 14 papers resulting from the CoACH project, showcasing the breadth of materials and processes developed during the project.

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In recent years, the implementation of sustainable concrete systems has been a topic of great interest in the field of construction engineering worldwide, as a result of the large and rapid increase in carbon emissions and environmental problems resulting from traditional concrete production and industry. For example, the uses of supplementary cementitious materials, geopolymer binder, recycled aggregate and industrial/agricultural wastes in concrete are all approaches to building a sustainable concrete system. However, such materials have inherent flaws due to their variety of sources, and exhibit very different properties compared with traditional concrete. Therefore, they require specific modifications in preprocessing, design, and evaluation before use in concrete. This reprint, entitled “Advances in Sustainable Concrete System”, covers a broad range of advanced concrete research in environmentally friendly concretes, cost-effective admixtures, and waste recycling, specifically including the design methods, mechanical properties, durability, microstructure, various models, hydration mechanisms, and practical applications of solid wastes in concrete systems.

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"Advances in Sustainable Polymeric Materials" is a compilation of 22 articles highlighting the recent progress in the research and development of polymeric materials, with an emphasis on sustainability. Some papers focus on developing biodegradable plastics obtained from renewable sources such as starch and biomass waste. Other articles discuss modification techniques to improve the mechanical properties of biopolymers such as PLA and PHAs. The use of recycled polymeric materials in the construction industry is highlighted as a low-cost and environmentally friendly solution.Other studies include investigations on polymer-modified bitumen, a novel sound-absorbing material made from used palm-oil-based polyurethane foam and water hyacinth fibre composite, bio-based epoxy-lignin coatings, TiO2 nanocomposites, the photocatalytic activity of different polymeric composites, sustainable elastomers, interactions between vanillyl-alcohol-based epoxy and cross-linkers, polyvinyl chloride sorbent for rare earth elements, lignin-based thermoplastic, the chemical foaming process of polylactic acid, microencapsulation strategies for essential oils, electrochemical sensors for glucose determination, and an intelligent drug delivery system based on pH-sensitive polymeric formulations.It is important to recognize that the field of sustainable polymeric materials is vast and rapidly evolving, and while a single volume cannot entirely capture all the developments occurring in this field, this collection provides readers with a valuable introduction and overview of the topic.

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The articles published in this Special Issue collectively demonstrate the significant impact of mathematical modeling, machine learning, and optimization techniques in solving complex engineering problems. They cover a broad spectrum of applications, from manufacturing process control and electric vehicle motor temperature prediction to the financial optimization and structural analysis of dams. The integration of advanced algorithms, such as fuzzy control, deep learning, and stochastic modeling, with classical analytical methods highlights the evolving landscape of engineering mathematics. These studies not only improve predictive accuracy and operational efficiency but also contribute to sustainable and intelligent engineering solutions. Overall, this Special Issue showcases the critical role of interdisciplinary mathematical approaches in advancing engineering research and practice.

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This reprint focuses on applications of machine learning models in a diverse range of fields and problems. It reports substantive results on a wide range of learning methods; discusses the conceptualization of problems, data representation, feature engineering, machine learning models; undertakes critical comparisons with existing techniques; and presents an interpretation of the results. The topics within the chapters of the publication fall into six categories: computer vision, teaching and learning, social media, forecasting, basic problems of machine learning, and other topics.

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This reprint focuses on studies dealing with bio-based materials and its contribution to a circular economy. Research dealing with recycling, waste conversion to bio-based products, the development of bio-based composites, and surface treatments on cellulose fibres have been included in this reprint.

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Dear Colleagues,All types of biomass, and their waste, comprised one the pillars of the preindustrial,pre-fossil fuel, agriculture-based economies of the past. Traditionalpractices of biomass waste management were applied, but not necessarily in asophisticated and efficient way, and included everything from agricultural activitiesto food production, animal feed, natural fiber separation, and processingof forest wood. The modern bioeconomy sector, however, includes new circulareconomy energy and materials streams of added-value products, such asgaseous, liquid and solid biofuels and bioenergy generation routes, and biocharproduction, along with all the previously mentioned traditional products emergingfrom the bioeconomy.This Special Issue includes some of the latest bioenergy and biochar advancementsand their incorporation into a bioeconomy in transition. It focuses onnature, properties, upgrading, and bioenergy generation processes from all typesof biomass waste and biochars originating from biomass waste. The multidisciplinarityof bioenergy and biochar research is evident throughout the SpecialIssue, highlighting the highly variable and tunable processes involved inbiomass handling, pre-processing, converting to biochar, and recovering energy.Dr. Dimitrios KalderisGuest EditorDr. Vasiliki Skoulouco-Guest Editor

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This Special Issue on “Cement-Based Composites: Advancements in Development and Characterization” presents the latest research and advances in the field of cement-based composites. This Special Issue covers a variety of experimental studies related to fiber-reinforced, photocatalytic, lightweight, and sustainable cement-based composites. Moreover, simulation studies are presented in this Special Issue to provide fundamental knowledge of designing and optimizing the properties of cementitious composites. The presented publications in this Special Issue show the most recent technology in the cement-based composite field.

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Improving the durability of reinforced concrete structures is a mandatory strategy to reduce the environmental impact of construction materials together with aiming to limit carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption and natural raw materials depletion. Hence, for both new and existing concrete structures, proper protective techniques are required to prevent premature failure induced by environmental aggressive agents. The book presents the most innovative findings both in designing durable new constructions and toward solving durability deficiencies in existing concrete structures, such as innovative special coatings, hydrophobic impregnations and pore blocking treatments that are very efficient in severe aggressive environments (seawater, biocorrosion, etc.). Moreover, migrant corrosion inhibitors applied on concrete surfaces are able to greatly improve resistance against both chloride and CO2. Finally, special reinforcements and fibers, together with a proper designed cathodic protection, can greatly contribute to obtaining long-life reinforced concrete structures, significantly increasing the sustainability of concrete construction.

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This reprint aims to immerse the reader into the latest developments in the technology of refractory materials. From the application of Artificial Intelligence and computer-aided methods, like machine learning or image analysis and the simulation of refractories’ properties and corrosion phenomena, to tailoring the properties of refractories to be more environmentally friendly, we aim to elucidate the current global trends and progress being made in refractories technology. This reprint has been created by world-recognized researchers, representing both academia and industry, striving jointly to make refractories safer and working for longer periods of time. Through this reprint, we demonstrate our major collaborative efforts to shift the technology to be more effective for the producers of refractory materials, more efficient for end-users, and, primarily, more sustainable in the interest of protecting our most precious shared asset—the safe planet Earth.

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Medical mineralogy and geochemistry constitute an important field, yet little attention has been paid to it by scientists, administrators, or the public. The aims of this book are: (a) to focus on a selection of current challenges and research opportunities and (b) to encourage knowledge transfer between geochemists and mineralogists whose work concerns medical problems and medical scientists who study problems surrounding biominerals and geomaterials. This book covers a variety of novel approaches, tools and techniques, and scenarios of contamination in water and wastewater, and is a key resource for policymakers and environmental scientists working hard to address environmental pollutants. The key features are: state-of-the-art techniques for the assessment and remediation of heavy metals, presenting the interdisciplinary impacts of heavy metals, including those on human health, ecosystems and water quality, and including various contamination indices, such as contamination factor, geoaccumulation index, enrichment factor, pollution index and ecological risk index.

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The mechanics of fracture and fatigue have produced a huge body of research work in relation to applications to metal materials and structures. However, a variety of non-metallic materials (e.g., concrete and cementitious composites, rocks, glass, ceramics, bituminous mixtures, composites, polymers, rubber and soft matter, bones and biological materials, and advanced and multifunctional materials) have received relatively less attention, despite their attractiveness for a large spectrum of applications related to the components and structures of diverse engineering branches, applied sciences and architecture, and to the load-carrying systems of biological organisms. This book covers the broad topic of structural integrity of non-metallic materials, considering the modelling, assessment, and reliability of structural elements of any scale. Original contributions from engineers, mechanical materials scientists, computer scientists, physicists, chemists, and mathematicians are presented, applying both experimental and theoretical approaches.

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This book is dedicated to “High-Performance Eco-Efficient Concrete” and concrete fatigue behavior, more sustainable construction materials, capable of complying with quality standards and current innovation policies, aimed at saving natural resources and reducing global pollution. The development of self-compacting concretes with electric arc furnace slags is a further achievement. In addition, the technical and economic viability of using coarse recycled aggregates from crushed concrete in shotcrete, enhanced quality and reduced on-site construction time are the basic features of prefabricated bridge elements and systems, biomass bottom ash as aluminosilicate precursor and phosphogypsum were discussed. On the other hand, basalt fiber improving the mechanical properties and durability of reactive powder concrete, alkali-activated slag and high-volume fly ash and the potential of phosphogypsum as secondary raw material in construction industry, the effects of fly ash on the diffusion, bonding, and microproperties of chloride penetration in concrete were studied. Increasing amounts of sustainable concretes are being used as society becomes more aware of the environment. Finally, the circular economy as an economic model of production and consumption that involves reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling materials after their service life are presented in this book.

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This Special Issue addresses a topic that is of great relevance as, nowadays, in developed countries, individuals spend most of their time indoors and, depending on each person, the presence at home ranges between 60% and 90% of the day, with 30% of that time spent sleeping. Considering these data, indoor residential environments have a direct influence on human health, especially considering that, in developing countries, significant levels of indoor pollution make housing unsafe, having an impact on the health of inhabitants. Therefore, housing is a key health factor for people all over the world, and various parameters, such as air quality, ventilation, hygrothermal comfort, lighting, physical environment, and building efficiency, can contribute to healthy architecture, as well as to the conditions that can result from the poor application of these parameters. The articles in this Special Issue thus address issues concerning indoor environmental quality (IEQ), which is described, more simply, as the conditions inside a building. This includes air quality, but also access to daylight and views, pleasant acoustic conditions, and occupant control over lighting and thermal comfort. IEQ also includes the functional aspects of the space, such as whether the layout provides easy access to tools and people when needed and whether there is sufficient space for the occupants. Building managers and operators can increase building occupant satisfaction by considering all aspects of IEQ rather than focusing on temperature or air quality alone.

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Welcome to the Reprint of "Innovations in Durability of Sustainable Concrete Materials", a collection presenting cutting-edge research on sustainable and durable concrete. Discover ten insightful manuscripts exploring the various aspects of sustainable concrete technology, from novel materials to advanced modeling methods. This compilation showcases the transformative journey of the concrete industry towards a sustainable future. Join us in this paradigm-shifting exploration at the intersection of durability and sustainability.

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This book contains manuscripts related to alloys (engineering materials) to discuss potential materials, methods for improvement of the strength and cyclic properties of alloys, the stability of microstructures, the possible application of new (or improved) alloys, and the use of treatment for alloy improvement. The broad spectrum of topics included in the articles of this Special Issue demonstrates that research into the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of alloys represents a contemporary field. These topics are also envisaged to be of interest to scientists in other research centers, and we can still expect new developments in this investigation field.

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The raw materials industry is widely considered to be too environmentally costly, and causing more losses than benefits. The responsible solving of the problems caused by this industry is not “exporting” its operations to less developed countries, but addressing all recognized hazards with dedicated technological developments. Such an approach is presented by the authors of this book. The contributions deal with the optimization of processes in the raw materials industry, obtaining energy from alternative fuels, researching the environmental aspects of industrial activities. This book determines some guidelines for the sustainable raw materials industry, describing methods of the optimized use of mined deposits and the recovery of materials, reductions in energy consumption and the recuperation of energy, minimizations in the emissions of pollutants, the perfection of quieter and safer processes, and the facilitation of modern materials-, water-, and energy-related techniques and technologies.

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

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Cement and lime currently are the most common binders in building materials. However, alternative materials and methods are needed to overcome the functional limitations and environmental footprint of conventional products. This Special Issue dedicated to “New frontiers in cementitious and lime-based materials and composites” gathers selected reviews and experimental articles that showcase the most recent trends in this multidisciplinary field. Authoritative contributions from all around the world provide important insights into all areas of research related to cementitious and lime-based materials and composites, spanning from structural engineering to geotechnics, including materials science and processing technology. This Topical Collection is intended to foster innovation and help researchers and developers to identify new solutions for a more sustainable and functional built environment.

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Renewable energy and clean storage technologies are at the forefront of the world’s fight against climate change, including the UN-led move towards a carbon-neutral society. Because these complex technologies require more ‘critical’ metals and elements than fossil fuel-based technologies, the demands for raw materials in their manufacturing are skyrocketing and are projected to continue to increase into the foreseeable future.With ore grades on a steep decline, huge amounts of low-grade ores will have to be mined and processed to satisfy the world’s current and future demands for ‘critical’ metals and elements. Expansion of mining and mineral processing operations would mean more mining-related wastes—tailings, waste rocks and acid mine drainage (AMD)—notorious for their devastating and long-term destructive impacts on the environment. This Special Issue explored repurposing/reprocessing of tailings and AMD treatment cost reduction as promising alternatives to manage mine wastes more sustainably. It also includes articles on the critical roles of redox conditions and galvanic interactions on mine waste stability, hydrogeochemical controls on waste rock weathering, and climate change impacts on AMD formation in closed mines.

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The focus of this reprint is the development of novel intelligence techniques for solving various problems in engineering. These techniques, due to their ability to create complex relationships between dependent and independent variables, can be implemented in a faster and more reliable way. Such techniques utilise algorithms/approaches such as artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, evolutionary theory, learning theory, and probabilistic theory, making them a suitable and useful fit for real-life complex problems. This reprint introduces the process of selecting, applying, and developing such techniques in different engineering designs and applications. In addition, the validation process of intelligence systems as an alternative is discussed in this reprint. Overall, this reprint forms an excellent introduction to these systems for engineers who are not familiar with them.

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