Announcements

The purpose of our Best Paper Awards is to promote and recognize the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

The editors of each journal carefully selected reviews and research papers through a rigorous judging process based on criteria such as the scientific merit, overall impact, and the quality of presentation of the papers published in the journal.

We are honored to present the winners for the year 2022 in environmental and earth sciences, who were selected amongst the extensive competition, and congratulate the authors for their outstanding scientific publications.

Atmosphere:

• “Covid-19 Airborne Transmission and Its Prevention: Waiting for Evidence or Applying the Precautionary Principle?”
  by Annalaura Carducci, Ileana Federigi and Marco Verani
  Atmosphere 2020, 11(7), 710; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11070710

• “The Heat Health Warning System in Germany—Application and Warnings for 2005 to 2019”
  by Andreas Matzarakis, Gudrun Laschewski and Stefan Muthers
  Atmosphere 2020, 11(2), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11020170

• “Temporal Hydrological Drought Index Forecasting for New South Wales, Australia Using Machine Learning Approaches”
  by Abhirup Dikshit, Biswajeet Pradhan and Abdullah M. Alamri
  Atmosphere 2020, 11(6), 585; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060585

Clean Technologies:

• “Lignocellulosic Biomass Mild Alkaline Fractionation and Resulting Extract Purification Processes: Conditions, Yields, and Purities”
  by Vincent Oriez, Jérôme Peydecastaing and Pierre-Yves Pontalier
  Clean Technol. 2020, 2(1), 91-115; https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol2010007

• “Environmental and Economic Evaluation of Fuel Choices for Short Sea Shipping”
  by Kirsi Spoof-Tuomi and Seppo Niemi
  Clean Technol. 2020, 2(1), 34-52; https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol2010004

Energies:

• “Analyzing Similarities between the European Union Countries in Terms of the Structure and Volume of Energy Production from Renewable Energy Sources”
  by Jarosław Brodny and Magdalena Tutak
  Energies 2020, 13(4), 913; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13040913

• “High Reynold’s Number Turbulent Model for Micro-Channel Cold Plate Using Reverse Engineering Approach for Water-Cooled Battery in Electric Vehicles”
  by Satyam Panchal, Krishna Gudlanarva, Manh-Kien Tran, Roydon Fraser and Michael Fowler
  Energies 2020, 13(7), 1638; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13071638
• “Investigation of Inorganic Phase Change Material for a Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic (STPV) Module”
  by Alagar Karthick, Muthu Manokar Athikesavan, Manoj Kumar Pasupathi, Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar, Shauhrat S. Chopra and Aritra Ghosh
  Energies 2020, 13(14), 3582; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13143582

• “Considerations on Potentials, Greenhouse Gas, and Energy Performance of Biofuels Based on Forest Residues for Heavy-Duty Road Transport in Sweden”
  by Shveta Soam and Pål Börjesson
  Energies 2020, 13(24), 6701; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13246701

• “Characterization of Hybrid-nano/Paraffin Organic Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage Applications in Solar Thermal Systems”
  by Manoj Kumar Pasupathi, Karthick Alagar, Michael Joseph Stalin P, Matheswaran M. M and Ghosh Aritra
  Energies 2020, 13(19), 5079; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13195079

• “Snapshot of Photovoltaics—February 2020”
  by Arnulf Jäger-Waldau
  Energies 2020, 13(4), 930; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13040930

• “The Importance of Renewable Energy Sources in Poland’s Energy Mix”
  by Renata Marks-Bielska, Stanisław Bielski, Katarzyna Pik and Krystyna Kurowska
  Energies 2020, 13(18), 4624; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13184624

• “Infectious Diseases, Market Uncertainty and Oil Market Volatility”
  by Elie Bouri, Riza Demirer, Rangan Gupta and Christian Pierdzioch
  Energies 2020, 13(16), 4090; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13164090

• “Cost of Equity of Coal-Fired Power Generation Projects in Poland: Its Importance for the Management of Decision-Making Process”
  by Piotr W. Saługa, Katarzyna Szczepańska-Woszczyna, Radosław Miśkiewicz and Mateusz Chłąd
  Energies 2020, 13(18), 4833; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13184833

• “Internet of Things (IoT) and the Energy Sector”
  by Naser Hossein Motlagh, Mahsa Mohammadrezaei, Julian Hunt and Behnam Zakeri
  Energies 2020, 13(2), 494; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13020494

• “A Review on Thermoelectric Generators: Progress and Applications”
  by Mohamed Amine Zoui, Saïd Bentouba, John G. Stocholm and Mahmoud Bourouis
  Energies 2020, 13(14), 3606; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13143606

• “Contributions and Risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Building Smarter Cities: Insights from a Systematic Review of the Literature”
  by Tan Yigitcanlar, Kevin C. Desouza, Luke Butler and Farnoosh Roozkhosh
  Energies 2020, 13(6), 1473; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13061473

• “Possibilities and Challenges for the Inclusion of the Electric Vehicle (EV) to Reduce the Carbon Footprint in the Transport Sector: A Review”
  by Aritra Ghosh
  Energies 2020, 13(10), 2602; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13102602

• “Energy and Climate Policy—An Evaluation of Global Climate Change Expenditure 2011–2018”
  by Coilín ÓhAiseadha, Gerré Quinn, Ronan Connolly, Michael Connolly and Willie Soon
  Energies 2020, 13(18), 4839; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13184839
• “A Review of The Methanol Economy: The Fuel Cell Route”
  by Samuel Simon Araya, Vincenzo Liso, Xiaoti Cui, Na Li, Jimin Zhu, Simon Lennart Sahlin, Søren Højgaard Jensen, Mads Pagh Nielsen and Søren Knudsen Kær
  Energies 2020, 13(3), 596; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13030596

Environments:

• “Microplastic Contamination in Freshwater Environments: A Review, Focusing on Interactions with Sediments and Benthic Organisms”
  by Arianna Bellasi, Gilberto Binda, Andrea Pozzi, Silvia Galafassi, Pietro Volta and Roberta Bettinetti
  Environments 2020, 7(4), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7040030

• “Biogas Production from Food Residues—The Role of Trace Metals and Co-Digestion with Primary Sludge”
  by Moshe Habagil, Alexander Keucken and Ilona Sárvári Horváth
  Environments 2020, 7(6), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7060042

Forests:

• “Coastal Pine-Oak Glacial Refugia in the Mediterranean Basin: A Biogeographic Approach Based on Charcoal Analysis and Spatial Modelling”
  by Gaetano Di Pasquale, Antonio Saracino, Luciano Bosso, Danilo Russo, Adriana Moroni, Giuliano Bonanomi and Emilia Allevato
  Forests 2020, 11(6), 673; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11060673

• “A Survey in Natural Forest Ecosystems of Vietnam Reveals High Diversity of both New and Described Phytophthora Taxa including ramorum”
  by Thomas Jung, Bruno Scanu, Clive M. Brasier, Joan Webber, Ivan Milenković, Tamara Corcobado, Michal Tomšovský, Matěj Pánek, József Bakonyi, Cristiana Maia et al.
  Forests 2020, 11(1), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11010093

• “Living in Drylands: Functional Adaptations of Trees and Shrubs to Cope with High Temperatures and Water Scarcity”
  by José Javier Peguero-Pina, Alberto Vilagrosa, David Alonso-Forn, Juan Pedro Ferrio, Domingo Sancho-Knapik and Eustaquio Gil-Pelegrín
  Forests 2020, 11(10), 1028; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11101028

• “Advances and Promises of Epigenetics for Forest Trees”
  by Joana Amaral, Zoé Ribeyre, Julien Vigneaud, Mamadou Dia Sow, Régis Fichot, Christian Messier, Gloria Pinto, Philippe Nolet and Stéphane Maury
  Forests 2020, 11(9), 976; https://doi.org/10.3390/f11090976

IJGI:

• “Cartographic Vandalism in the Era of Location-Based Games—The Case of OpenStreetMap and Pokémon GO”
  by Levente Juhász, Tessio Novack, Hartwig H. Hochmair and Sen Qiao
  ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2020, 9(4), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9040197

Minerals:

• “A Comprehensive Review of Rare Earth Elements Recovery from Coal-Related Materials”
  by Wencai Zhang, Aaron Noble, Xinbo Yang and Rick Honaker
  Minerals 2020, 10(5), 451; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10050451
• “SEM-Based Automated Mineralogy and Its Application in Geo- and Material Sciences”
  by Bernhard Schulz, Dirk Sandmann and Sabine Gilbricht
  Minerals 2020, 10(11), 1004; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10111004

• “Characteristics of Precipitation of Rare Earth Elements with Various Precipitants”
  by Kenneth N. Han
  Minerals 2020, 10(2), 178; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10020178

• “Lithium-Rich Claystone in the McDermitt Caldera, Nevada, USA: Geologic, Mineralogical, and Geochemical Characteristics and Possible Origin”
  by Stephen B. Castor and Christopher D. Henry
  Minerals 2020, 10(1), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10010068

• “Using Complementary Methods of Synchrotron Radiation Powder Diffraction and Pair Distribution Function to Refine Crystal Structures with High Quality Parameters—A Review”
  by Seungyeol Lee and Huifang Xu
  Minerals 2020, 10(2), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/min10020124

Quaternary:

• “Erosive Response of Non-Glaciated Pyrenean Headwater Catchments to the Last Major Climate Transition and Establishing Interglacial Conditions”
  by Kurt Martin Stange, Ivar Midtkandal, Johan Petter Nystuen, Andrew Murray, Reza Sohbati, Warren Thompson, Cornelia Spiegel and Hans-Joachim Kuss
  Quaternary 2019, 2(2), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2020017

• “Last Interglacial Climate in Northern Sweden—Insights from a Speleothem Record”
  by Martin Finné, Sakari Salonen, Norbert Frank, Karin F. Helmens, Andrea Schröder-Ritzrau, Michael Deininger and Steffen Holzkämper
  Quaternary 2019, 2(3), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2030029

• “Climatically Controlled River Terraces in Eastern Australia”
  by James S. Daley and Tim J. Cohen
  Quaternary 2018, 1(3), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat1030023

• “Dropstones in Lacustrine Sediments as a Record of Snow Avalanches—A Validation of the Proxy by Combining Satellite Imagery and Varve Chronology at Kenai Lake (South-Central Alaska)”
  by Sien Thys, Maarten Van Daele, Nore Praet, Britta J. L. Jensen, Thomas Van Dyck, Peter J. Haeussler, Elke Vandekerkhove, Veerle Cnudde and Marc De Batist
  Quaternary 2019, 2(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2010011

• “From Climatic to Anthropogenic Drivers: A Multi-Proxy Reconstruction of Vegetation and Peatland Development in the French Jura Mountains”
  by Emilie Gauthier, Vincent E. J. Jassey, Edward A. D. Mitchell, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Richard Payne, Frédéric Delarue, Fatima Laggoun-Defarge, Daniel Gilbert and Hervé Richard
  Quaternary 2019, 2(4), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat2040038

Remote Sensing:

• “Current Practices in UAS-based Environmental Monitoring”
  by Goran Tmušić, Salvatore Manfreda, Helge Aasen, Mike R. James, Gil Gonçalves, Eyal Ben-Dor, Anna Brook, Maria Polinova, Jose Juan Arranz, János Mészáros et al.
  Remote Sens. 2020, 12(6), 1001; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12061001

• “Change Detection Based on Artificial Intelligence: State-of-the-Art and Challenges”
  by Wenzhong Shi, Min Zhang, Rui Zhang, Shanxiong Chen and Zhao Zhan
  Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1688; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101688
• “A Spatial-Temporal Attention-Based Method and a New Dataset for Remote Sensing Image Change Detection”
  by Hao Chen and Zhenwei Shi
  Remote Sens. 2020, 12(10), 1662; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12101662

• “Mapping Landslides on EO Data: Performance of Deep Learning Models vs. Traditional Machine Learning Models”
  by Nikhil Prakash, Andrea Manconi and Simon Loew
  Remote Sens. 2020, 12(3), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030346

• “LiCSBAS: An Open-Source InSAR Time Series Analysis Package Integrated with the LiCSAR Automated Sentinel-1 InSAR Processor”
  by Yu Morishita, Milan Lazecky, Tim J. Wright, Jonathan R. Weiss, John R. Elliott and Andy Hooper
  Remote Sens. 2020, 12(3), 424; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12030424

Safety:

• “A Novel Method for Safety Analysis of Cyber-Physical Systems—Application to a Ship Exhaust Gas Scrubber System”
  by Victor Bolbot, Gerasimos Theotokatos, Evangelos Boulougouris, George Psarros and Rainer Hamann
  Safety 2020, 6(2), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6020026

• “Characteristics of Commuters’ Single-Bicycle Crashes in Insurance Data”
  by Roni Utriainen
  Safety 2020, 6(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6010013 

• “Effect of Road Markings and Traffic Signs Presence on Young Driver Stress Level, Eye Movement and Behaviour in Night-Time Conditions: A Driving Simulator Study”
  by Darko Babić, Dario Babić, Hrvoje Cajner, Ana Sruk and Mario Fiolić
  Safety 2020, 6(2), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/safety6020024

Sustainability:

• “COVID-19 Could Leverage a Sustainable Built Environment”
  by Manuel Duarte Pinheiro and Nuno Cardoso Luís
  Sustainability 2020, 12(14), 5863; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145863

• “Mapping the Sustainable Development Goals Relationships”
  by Luis Miguel Fonseca, José Pedro Domingues and Alina Mihaela Dima
  Sustainability 2020, 12(8), 3359; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12083359

• “The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Resilience of Sustainable Mobility in Sicily”
  by Tiziana Campisi, Socrates Basbas, Anastasios Skoufas, Nurten Akgün, Dario Ticali and Giovanni Tesoriere
  Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 8829; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12218829

• “Artificial Intelligence in the Agri-Food System: Rethinking Sustainable Business Models in the COVID-19 Scenario”
  by Assunta Di Vaio, Flavio Boccia, Loris Landriani and Rosa Palladino
  Sustainability 2020, 12(12), 4851; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12124851

Toxics:

• “Interaction of Environmental Pollutants with Microplastics: A Critical Review of Sorption Factors, Bioaccumulation and Ecotoxicological Effects”
  by Albert Menéndez-Pedriza and Joaquim Jaumot
  Toxics 2020, 8(2), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8020040

• “Analysis of Cannabinoid-Containing Fluids in Illicit Vaping Cartridges Recovered from Pulmonary Injury Patients: Identification of Vitamin E Acetate as a Major Diluent”
  by Bryan Duffy, Lingyun Li, Shijun Lu, Lorie Durocher, Mark Dittmar, Emily Delaney-Baldwin, Deepika Panawennage, David LeMaster, Kristen Navarette and David Spink
  Toxics 2020, 8(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics8010008

Water:

• “Assessing the Benefits of Forested Riparian Zones: A Qualitative Index of Riparian Integrity Is Positively Associated with Ecological Status in European Streams”
  by Francis J. Burdon, Ellinor Ramberg, Jasmina Sargac, Marie Anne Eurie Forio, Nancy de Saeyer, Petra Thea Mutinova, Therese Fosholt Moe, Mihaela Oprina Pavelescu, Valentin Dinu, Constantin Cazacu et al.
  Water 2020, 12(4), 1178; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12041178

• “Worldwide Regulations and Guidelines for Agricultural Water Reuse: A Critical Review”
  by Farshid Shoushtarian and Masoud Negahban-Azar
  Water 2020, 12(4), 971; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12040971

• “Adsorption of Methylene Blue in Water onto Activated Carbon by Surfactant Modification”
  by Yu Kuang, Xiaoping Zhang and Shaoqi Zhou
  Water 2020, 12(2), 587; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020587

• “Antimicrobials and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria: A Risk to the Environment and to Public Health”
  by Liliana Serwecińska
  Water 2020, 12(12), 3313; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12123313

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