Announcements

The 2022 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

We are thrilled to announce that 90% of our ranked MDPI journals, specifically 86 out of 96 (captured in the table below), are performing above average in Q1 or Q2. This year, Clarivate has expanded its Impact Factor (IF) awards to include journals in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), providing greater transparency for the full set of journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. As a result, 111 of MDPI journals have received their first IF in 2023, with 37 journals surpassing an IF of 3.0. In total, 208 MDPI journals have been honored with an IF.

Clarivate explains that by "expanding the coverage but holding to highly selective standards, the [Impact Factor] is now a reliable indicator of trustworthiness, as well as a measure of scholarly impact, at the journal level."

Please visit our blog post where we discuss the release of the latest citation metrics with our Indexing Manager, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn, to find out what's different this time around and how to make use of different metrics available.

Note: The Journal of Personalized Medicine's Impact Factor was omitted in the original release and will be assigned separately. Please find the data on the journal webpage in due course.

Source: 2022 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2023)

The goal of the Editor’s Choice Articles project is to promote high-quality articles published in Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2076-3417). Please find below the list of articles carefully handpicked by the scientific editors of the journal, which we believe will be of interest to you.

1. “A Multiobjective Decision-Making Model for Risk-Based Maintenance Scheduling of Railway Earthworks”
by Irina Stipanovic, Zaharah Allah Bukhsh, Cormac Reale and Kenneth Gavin
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(3), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11030965
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/3/965

2. “An Integrated SWOT-PESTLE-AHP Model Assessing Sustainability in Adaptive Reuse Projects”
by Ioannis Vardopoulos, Evangelia Tsilika, Efthymia Sarantakou, Antonis Zorpas, Luca Salvati and Paris Tsartas
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 7134; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157134
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/15/7134

3. “Application of Spatial Time Domain Reflectometry for Investigating Moisture Content Dynamics in Unsaturated Loamy Sand for Gravitational Drainage”
by Guanxi Yan, Thierry Bore, Zi Li, Stefan Schlaeger, Alexander Scheuermann and Ling Li
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(7), 2994; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11072994
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/7/2994

4. “Applications of Decision Tree and Random Forest as Tree-Based Machine Learning Techniques for Analyzing the Ultimate Strain of Spliced and Non-Spliced Reinforcement Bars”
by Hamed Dabiri, Visar Farhangi, Mohammad Javad Moradi, Mehdi Zadehmohamad and Moses Karakouzian
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(10), 4851; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12104851
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/10/4851

5. “Asphalt Pavement Temperature Prediction Models: A Review”
by Adwan Ibrahim, Abdalrhman Milad, Zubair Ahmed Memon, Iswandaru Widyatmoko, Nuryazmin Ahmat Zanuri, Naeem Aziz Memon and Nur Izzi Md Yusoff
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 3794; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11093794
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9/3794

6. “BIM Visual Programming Tools Applications in Infrastructure Projects: A State-of-the-Art Review”
by Jorge Collao, Fidel Lozano-Galant, José Antonio Lozano-Galant and Jose Turmo
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(18), 8343; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11188343
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/18/8343

7. “BIM-Based Digital Twin and XR Devices to Improve Maintenance Procedures in Smart Buildings: A Literature Review”
by Corentin Coupry, Sylvain Noblecourt, Paul Richard, David Baudry and David Bigaud
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 6810; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11156810
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/15/6810

8. “Experimental Investigation and Artificial Neural Network Based Prediction of Bond Strength in Self-Compacting Geopolymer Concrete Reinforced with Basalt FRP Bars”
by Sherin Khadeeja Rahman and Riyadh Al-Ameri
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(11), 4889; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11114889
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/11/4889

9. “Experimental Validation of Non-Marker Simple Image Displacement Measurements for Railway Bridges”
by Kodai Matsuoka, Fumiaki Uehan, Hiroya Kusaka and Hikaru Tomonaga
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(15), 7032; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157032
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/15/7032

10. “Exploring 3D Wave-Induced Scouring Patterns around Subsea Pipelines with Artificial Intelligence Techniques”
by Mohammad Najafzadeh and Giuseppe Oliveto
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 3792; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11093792
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9/3792

11. “Forecast of Airblast Vibrations Induced by Blasting Using Support Vector Regression Optimized by the Grasshopper Optimization (SVR-GO) Technique”
by Lihua Chen, Panagiotis G. Asteris, Markos Z. Tsoukalas, Danial Jahed Armaghani, Dmitrii Vladimirovich Ulrikh and Mojtaba Yari
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(19), 9805; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12199805
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/19/9805

12. “Geostatistical Analysis of the Spatial Correlation between Territorial Anthropization and Flooding Vulnerability: Application to the DANA Phenomenon in a Mediterranean Watershed”
by Salvador Garcia-Ayllon and John Radke
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 809; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11020809
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/2/809

13. “Indoor Acoustic Requirements for Autism-Friendly Spaces”
by Federica Bettarello, Marco Caniato, Giuseppina Scavuzzo and Andrea Gasparella
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 3942; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11093942
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9/3942

14. “Nonlinear Dynamic Response of a Precast Concrete Building to Sudden Column Removal”
by Simone Ravasini, Beatrice Belletti, Emanuele Brunesi, Roberto Nascimbene and Fulvio Parisi
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 599; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11020599
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/2/599

15. “Predicting Compressive Strength of Concrete Containing Recycled Aggregate Using Modified ANN with Different Optimization Algorithms”
by Amirreza Kandiri, Farid Sartipi and Mahdi Kioumarsi
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(2), 485; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11020485
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/2/485

16. “Railway Vehicle Wheel Flat Detection with Multiple Records Using Spectral Kurtosis Analysis”
by Araliya Mosleh, Pedro Aires Montenegro, Pedro Alves Costa and Rui Calçada
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 4002; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11094002
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9/4002

17. “Tuning ANN Hyperparameters for Forecasting Drinking Water Demand”
by Andrea Menapace, Ariele Zanfei and Maurizio Righetti
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(9), 4290; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11094290
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9/4290

18. “Uncertainties in the Seismic Assessment of Historical Masonry Buildings”
by Igor Tomić, Francesco Vanin and Katrin Beyer
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(5), 2280; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11052280
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/5/2280

19. “Wind-Induced Phenomena in Long-Span Cable-Supported Bridges: A Comparative Review of Wind Tunnel Tests and Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling”
by Yuxiang Zhang, Philip Cardiff and Jennifer Keenahan
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(4), 1642; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041642
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/4/1642

We would like to thank all of the research groups that authored these exceptional papers for their contribution. We sincerely hope you find these articles of Applied Sciences as useful and insightful as we have found them.

1. “A Secured Industrial Internet-of-Things Architecture Based on Blockchain Technology and Machine Learning for Sensor Access Control Systems in Smart Manufacturing”
by Hichem Mrabet, Adeeb Alhomoud, Abderrazek Jemai and Damien Trentesaux
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 4641; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12094641
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/9/4641

2. “A Semi-Supervised Extreme Learning Machine Algorithm Based on the New Weighted Kernel for Machine Smell”
by Wei Dang, Jialiang Guo, Mingzhe Liu, Shan Liu, Bo Yang, Lirong Yin and Wenfeng Zheng
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(18), 9213; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12189213
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/18/9213

3. “A Survey on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and eXplainable AI in Air Traffic Management: Current Trends and Development with Future Research Trajectory”
by Augustin Degas, Mir Riyanul Islam, Christophe Hurter, Shaibal Barua, Hamidur Rahman, Minesh Poudel, Daniele Ruscio, Mobyen Uddin Ahmed, Shahina Begum, Md Aquif Rahman et al.
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1295; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031295
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/3/1295

4. “A System for Standardizing and Combining U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Emissions and Waste Inventory Data”
by Ben Young, Wesley W. Ingwersen, Matthew Bergmann, Jose D. Hernandez-Betancur, Tapajyoti Ghosh, Eric Bell and Sarah Cashman
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(7), 3447; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12073447
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/7/3447

5. “An Improved Algorithm of Drift Compensation for Olfactory Sensors”
by Siyu Lu, Jialiang Guo, Shan Liu, Bo Yang, Mingzhe Liu, Lirong Yin and Wenfeng Zheng
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(19), 9529; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12199529
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/19/9529

6. “An Overview of Variants and Advancements of PSO Algorithm”
by Meetu Jain, Vibha Saihjpal, Narinder Singh and Satya Bir Singh
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(17), 8392; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12178392
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/17/8392

7. “Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality in Dentistry: A Narrative Review on the Existing Platforms and Future Challenges”
by Riccardo Monterubbianesi, Vincenzo Tosco, Flavia Vitiello, Giulia Orilisi, Franco Fraccastoro, Angelo Putignano and Giovanna Orsini
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 877; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020877
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/2/877

8. “BERT-Based Transfer-Learning Approach for Nested Named-Entity Recognition Using Joint Labeling”
by Ankit Agrawal, Sarsij Tripathi, Manu Vardhan, Vikas Sihag, Gaurav Choudhary and Nicola Dragoni
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 976; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12030976
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/3/976

9. “Comparative Study of Machine Learning Classifiers for Modelling Road Traffic Accidents”
by Tebogo Bokaba, Wesley Doorsamy and Babu Sena Paul
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 828; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020828
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/2/828

10. “Dist-YOLO: Fast Object Detection with Distance Estimation”
by Marek Vajgl, Petr Hurtik and Tomáš Nejezchleba
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1354; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031354
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/3/1354

11. “Driver Drowsiness Detection by Applying Deep Learning Techniques to Sequences of Images”
by Elena Magán, M. Paz Sesmero, Juan Manuel Alonso-Weber and Araceli Sanchis
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1145; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031145
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/3/1145

12. “Educational AI Chatbots for Content and Language Integrated Learning”
by Kleopatra Mageira, Dimitra Pittou, Andreas Papasalouros, Konstantinos Kotis, Paraskevi Zangogianni and Athanasios Daradoumis
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(7), 3239; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12073239
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/7/3239

13. “Ergonomic Design of a Workplace Using Virtual Reality and a Motion Capture Suit”
by Ilona Kačerová, Jan Kubr, Petr Hořejší and Jana Kleinová
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(4), 2150; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12042150
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/4/2150

14. “Fake News Classification Based on Content Level Features”
by Chun-Ming Lai, Mei-Hua Chen, Endah Kristiani, Vinod Kumar Verma and Chao-Tung Yang
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1116; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031116
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/3/1116

15. “Fractional-Order Controller for Course-Keeping of Underactuated Surface Vessels Based on Frequency Domain Specification and Improved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm”
by Guangyu Li, Yanxin Li, Huayue Chen and Wu Deng
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(6), 3139; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12063139
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/6/3139

16. “Improved YOLOv5: Efficient Object Detection Using Drone Images under Various Conditions”
by Hyun-Ki Jung and Gi-Sang Choi
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(14), 7255; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12147255
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/14/7255

17. “Options for and Challenges of Employing Digital Twins in Construction Management”
by Tareq Salem and Mihai Dragomir
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(6), 2928; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12062928
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/6/2928

18. “Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning Using Homomorphic Encryption”
by Jaehyoung Park and Hyuk Lim
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020734
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/2/734

19. “Securing SCADA Energy Management System under DDos Attacks Using Token Verification Approach”
by Yu-Sheng Yang, Shih-Hsiung Lee, Wei-Che Chen, Chu-Sing Yang, Yuen-Min Huang and Ting-Wei Hou
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(1), 530; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12010530
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/1/530

20. “Virtual Reality Metaverse System Supplementing Remote Education Methods: Based on Aircraft Maintenance Simulation”
by Hyeonju Lee, Donghyun Woo and Sunjin Yu
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 2667; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052667
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/5/2667

We are pleased to inform you that Applied Sciences‘ 2022 CiteScore is 4.5. Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2076-3417) now ranks Q1 in the “Category Engineering (General Engineering)” category. Our journal continues to build momentum in applied natural sciences. We would like to extend our congratulations to all concerned.

Applied Sciences’ CiteScore ranks as follows:

• Q1 (73 out of 302) in the "Engineering (General Engineering)" category;
• Q2 (42 out of 136) in the "Physics and Astronomy (Instrumentation)" category;
• Q2 (32 out of 92) in the "Chemical Engineering (Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes)" category;
• Q2 (287 out of 792) in the "Computer Science (Computer Science Applications)" category;
• Q2 (199 out of 453) in the "Materials Science (General Materials Science)" category;
• Q3 (35 out of 68) in the "Chemical Engineering (Process Chemistry and Technology)" category.

For more journal statistics, please visit https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci/stats.

MDPI will be attending the 6th International Conference on Nanoenergy and Nanosystems (NENS 2023), held in Beijing, China, from 17 to 19 June 2023. Starting in 2014, NENS has been organized once every two years by the Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences (BINN, CAS). The conference has attracted high-profile scholars from around the world to deliver plenary and invited talks. This conference will provide a platform for scientists to exchange scientific information, build relationships, and possibly establish collaborations. During this conference, MDPI will welcome researchers from different backgrounds to visit and share their latest views as well as research with us.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Energies;
• Applied Sciences;
• Nanoenergy Advances;
• Machines;
• ChemEngineering;
• Electronics;
• Technologies;
• Nanomaterials;
• Batteries.

If you are attending this conference, please stop by our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person to answer any questions that you may have. For more information about the conference, please visit the following link: http://www.nens.cn/.

Welcome message by Dr. Dimitris Mourtzis, the webinar chair:

We welcome you to our webinar Smart Manufacturing and Industry 5.0. We will explore how the integration of advanced technologies is reshaping the manufacturing sector. Industry 5.0 represents a paradigm shift, where humans and intelligent machines collaborate in a seamless ecosystem. Our expert speakers will discuss the principles, trends, and transformative potential of smart manufacturing. We will delve into automation, AI, big data, and IoT, optimizing production and enabling real-time decision making. We will also highlight the importance of human workers in Industry 5.0, where collaborative robots, augmented reality, and cognitive computing unlock new possibilities. Therefore, we invite you to join us on this interesting webinar to uncover the potential of smart manufacturing and Industry 5.0, gain valuable insights, participate in stimulating discussions, and envision the future of manufacturing.

Date: 15 June 2023 at 9:00 a.m. CEST | 15:00 p.m. CST Asia

Register now for free!

Program:

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we’ll let you know when the recording is available to watch.

Webinar Chair and Keynote Speakers:

• Dimitris Mourtzis, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Patras, Greece;
• Pai Zheng, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China;
• Ang Liu, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia.

Relevant Topic:

“Smart Manufacturing and Industry 5.0”

Abstract submission deadline: 30 September 2023

Manuscript submission deadline: 30 November 2023

A range of MDPI journals will be attending the 9th National Conference on Luminescent Properties of Doped Nanomaterials (NMLP 2023) as exhibitors. This meeting will be held in Nanning, Guangxi, China, from 19 to 22 May 2023.

Guangxi University was established by the State Key Laboratory of Lifetime Safety of Special Metal Materials and Composite Structures and was jointly built by the province and the ministry. This is a grand meeting for scholars in the field of luminescence. It will comprehensively display the latest progress and achievements of basic research and applied research in the fields of doped nano-luminescent materials, optoelectronic materials, micro-nano devices, and related applications, and will discuss the latest developments related to disciplines. The topic of this conference is "Luminescent Properties of Doped Nanomaterials", and the topics covered include: perovskite materials and applications, rare earth luminescent materials and applications, quantum dot luminescent materials and devices, biomedical photonics and optical information processing, micro-/nanofiber optics, devices and sensors, energy materials, and micro-/nano-optoelectronic devices. These topics will be presented in the form of invited reports of the conference, invited reports of branch sessions, oral reports, and posters.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Applied Sciences;
• Physics;
• Optics;
• Inorganics.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us at our booth. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit https://www.bagevent.com/event/NMLP2023/p/510700, or contact the Applied Sciences Editorial Office at applsci@mdpi.com.

Proteins play a key role in every biological process that takes place in our body, from transporting molecules across our cells and providing mechanical strength to our tissues, to transmitting neurochemical signals between neurons and recognizing external pathogens. This extremely large variety of biological functions is encoded in the surprisingly small alphabet of only twenty amino acids. How is that possible? How can a simple sequence of amino acids lead to such well-defined biological tasks?

The answer lies in the fact that this sequence actually exists as a corporeal structure with an evolutionary-conserved shape and the specific ability to perform biologically relevant motions. This opens several fascinating research questions that the scientific community has been trying to answer in the last half century, such as the following: how exactly is an amino acid sequence translated into a specific protein structure? How does the structure change its conformation during the protein functional cycle or under external perturbations? Can we identify the relevant motions that enable a protein to perform its biological tasks? What are the causes of disease-associated protein malfunctions at both the sequence, structure, and dynamics level?

Advances in computational approaches in the last few decades have made it feasible to answer some of these questions, by exploiting methodologies such as Molecular Dynamics (MD), Normal Mode Analysis (NMA), and Elastic Network Models (ENMs). In this webinar, we will discuss some of the most recent applications of these computational approaches to unravel the mysteries of the biological function of specific protein systems.

Date: 27 April 2023 at 01:30 p.m. CEST | 7:30 a.m. EDT | 7:30 p.m. CST Asia
Webinar ID: 836 7194 4334

Register now for free!

Program

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Unable to attend? Register anyway and we will let you know when the recording is available to watch.

Webinar chair and keynote speakers:

Dr. Domenico Scaramozzino, Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
Dr. Michal Cifra, Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia
Dr. Laura Orellana, Protein Dynamics and Mutation Lab, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
Prof. Patrick Senet, Laboratoire ICB, UMR 6303 CNRS-Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France

Relevant Special Issue:
“Computational Approaches for Protein Dynamics and Function”
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Robert Jernigan and Dr. Domenico Scaramozzino
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2023

A range of MDPI journals will be attending the 40th Annual Conference of Chinese Society for Imaging Science and Technology (SCIST 2023) as exhibitors. This meeting will be held in Kunming, Yunnan, China, from 13 to 16 May 2023.

The theme of this conference is "Strengthening the Driven by Technological Innovation and Building the Future of Photosensitive Imaging". The conference will invite well-known experts and scholars in the field of photosensitive imaging and related fields to make special reports and keynote reports of the conference. It will also organize academic exchanges in 17 sub-sessions in conjunction with various professional committees. The scale of the meeting is expected to be 1000 people.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Applied Sciences;
• J. Imaging;
• Sensors;
• Chemosensors;
• Photonics.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start a conversation with us at our booth #1-12. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have.

For more information about the conference, please visit https://2021csist.scimeeting.cn/cn/web/index/, or contact the Applied Sciences Editorial Office at applsci@mdpi.com.

The International Day of Human Space Flight commemorates the first manned space flight by the Soviet citizen Yuri Gagarin on 12 April 1961. This day was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight in 2011 by the United Nations General Assembly resolution, to celebrate the beginning of the human space age. It reaffirms the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of countries and people, as well as ensuring the realization of their aspiration to preserve outer space for peaceful purposes. 

In the course of human exploration of space, we have established many remarkable achievements and breakthrough milestones:

• In 1957, the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik I, was launched into outer space;
• In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth;
• In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot upon the surface of the Moon;
• In 1996, the first spacecraft in human history successfully landed on Mars;
• In 1998, the International Space Station, a 16-nation international space program, launched for the first time;
• In 2009, the Kepler space telescope was launched, which has helped humans find thousands of exoplanets;
• In 2015, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and recovered the first stage. 

To further explore the information about space on the 2023 International Day of Human Space Flight, we have gathered academic research from several journals on the topic of space flight, all of which are open access, enabling practitioners, policymakers and people around the world to access and share up-to-date scientific knowledge. 

Let us celebrate the International Day of Human Space Flight together.

The ORIGIN Space Instrument for Detecting Biosignatures and Habitability Indicators on a Venus Life Finder Mission Aerospace 2022, 9(6), 312; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9060312
Venus Life Finder Missions Motivation and Summary Aerospace 2022, 9(7), 385; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace9070385
Theoretical and Observational Constraints on Lunar Orbital Evolution in the Three-Body Earth-Moon-Sun System Astronomy 2022, 1(2), 58-83; https://doi.org/10.3390/astronomy1020007
Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Imaging Simulation of the Distant Planetary Magnetosphere and ENA Emission Discussion of the Solar Wind Astronomy 2022, 1(3), 235-245; https://doi.org/10.3390/astronomy1030013
Revisiting Fractional Cosmology Fractal Fract. 2023, 7(2), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract7020149
Special Issue: Orbit Determination Methods for Space Missions and Applications to the Exploration of the Solar System	Special Issue: Feature Papers in the Astronomical Sciences

Whirl Tower Demonstration of an SMA Blade Twist System Actuators 2022, 11(6), 141; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11060141
A Tutorial and Review on Flight Control Co-Simulation Using Matlab/Simulink and Flight Simulators Automation 2022, 3(3), 486-510; https://doi.org/10.3390/automation3030025
Reconfigurable Fault-Tolerant Control for Spacecraft Formation Flying Based on Iterative Learning Algorithms Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(5), 2485; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12052485
Wilderness Search for Lost Persons Using a Multimodal Aerial-Terrestrial Robot Team Robotics 2022, 11(3), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/robotics11030064
Special Issue: Advances in CubeSat Sails and Tethers	Special Issue: Aerospace Mechanisms and Actuation
Special Issue: Advanced Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control Technology of Spacecraft	Special Issue: Smart Sensors and Devices: Recent Advances and Applications

Investigation of UAV Detection by Different Solid-State Marine Radars Electronics 2022, 11(16), 2502; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11162502
Edge Machine Learning for the Automated Decision and Visual Computing of the Robots, IoT Embedded Devices or UAV-Drones Electronics 2022, 11(21), 3507; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics11213507
Autonomous Tracking of ShenZhou Reentry Capsules Based on Heterogeneous UAV Swarms Drones 2023, 7(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7010020
A Human-Detection Method Based on YOLOv5 and Transfer Learning Using Thermal Image Data from UAV Perspective for Surveillance System Drones 2022, 6(10), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones6100290
Multi-UAV Conflict Resolution with Graph Convolutional Reinforcement Learning Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(2), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12020610
Special Issue: Control and Applications of Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle	Special Issue: Navigation, Control and Mission Planning Advances for Safe, Efficient and Autonomous Drones