Announcements

We are pleased to announce the winner of the “Machines 2021 Best Cover Paper Award”. In total, 12 cover stories published in 2021 in Machines (ISSN: 2075-1702) were considered for this award.

The winning cover paper is:

“Functional Design of a Hybrid Leg–Wheel–Track Ground Mobile Robot”

by Luca Bruzzone, Mario Baggetta, Shahab E. Nodehi, Pietro Bilancia and Pietro Fanghella
(doi: 10.3390/machines9010010)

Vol. 9, Issue 1 (January 2021)

The winners of the “Machines 2021 Best Cover Paper Award” will receive CHF 100.

Congratulations to the winners for their excellent research!

Machines Editorial Office

Machines (ISSN: 2075-1702) will be attending the 5th IEEE—RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft 2022) as an exhibitor and sponsoring a Best Poster Award. This meeting will be held virtually from 4 to 8 April 2022.

The 5th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Soft Robotics deals with the theme of “Soft Robots for the Planet”, presenting the most recent progress in the various fields of soft robotics and discussing new science, new technologies, and new opportunities for the design, development, and application of “green” soft robots for the Earth’s safeguarding, human healthcare, and the improvement of quality of life.

Recent environmental and medical emergencies have highlighted the key role of science and technology in helping humanity and the planet. Soft robotics, with its highly multidisciplinary scientific and technological character, has the potential to be a game-changer for these current global challenges and future ones.

If you are attending this conference, please do not hesitate to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions you may have.

For more information about the conference and our virtual booth, please visit the following website: https://softroboticsconference.org/.

Conference: The 1st International Electronic Conference on Machines and Applications
Date: 15–30 September 2022
Website: https://iecma2022.sciforum.net/

We are pleased to announce that the 1st International Electronic Conference on Machines and Applications (IECMA 2022), chaired by Prof. Dr. Antonio J. Marques Cardoso, Prof. Dr. Dan Zhang and Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Carbone, will be held on Sciforum (https://iecma2022.sciforum.net/) from 15 to 30 September 2022.

The scope of this online conference is to get together renowned experts from around the world who are currently working on machinery and engineering and to provide an online forum for presenting and discussing new results.

Throughout this event, we aim to cover, among others, the following topics:

• Machines testing and maintenance;
• Automation systems;
• Mechatronic and intelligent machines;
• Turbomachinery;
• Electrical machines and drives;
• Advanced manufacturing.

There will be two special sessions:

• Vehicle dynamics and control;
• Friction and tribology.

There will also be a Poster session. Posters can be presented without an accompanying proceedings paper and will be available online on the conference website during and after the e-conference. However, they will not be added to the proceedings of the conference.

Participants will have the opportunity to examine, explore, and critically engage with issues and advances in these areas. We hope to facilitate discussions and exchanges within the community.

This event will solely be an online proceeding, which allows participation from all over the world with no concerns around travel and related expenditures. Participation as well as attendance of this online conference are free of charge.

The 1st International Electronic Conference on Machines and Applications (IECMA) will be held at https://iecma2022.sciforum.net/, on a platform developed by MDPI to organize electronic conferences.

The 1st International Electronic Conference on Machines and Applications (IECMA) is sponsored by MDPI and the scientific journal Machines (ISSN: 2075-1702), an Open Access publication journal of MDPI on machinery and engineering. Accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of this e-conference, and selected papers will be published in Machines with a 20% discount of the APC.

Conference name: 9th International Symposium on Sensor Science (I3S 2022)

Conference website: https://i3s2022warsaw.sciforum.net/

Date: 20–22 June 2022

Place: Warsaw, Poland

It is with great pleasure that we announce the 9th International Symposium on Sensor Science, to be held in Warsaw, Poland, from 20 to 22 June 2022.

Sensor technology has been shown to be suitable for applications in many important fields, including industrial applications, security medical diagnostics, and environmental monitoring. This international conference, supported by the Photonics Society of Poland, Warsaw University of Technology, as well as MDPI’s Sensors (ISSN: 1424-8220), will bring together scientists from different areas to discuss important recent developments in sensor technology. It will represent a great opportunity for an in-person meeting of an interdisciplinary community aiming to discuss important breakthroughs in sensor technology and its related fields.

The main topics of the conference include:

• Chemical sensors;
• Biosensors;
• Physical sensors;
• Optical/photonic sensors;
• Sensor applications;
• Specialty optical fibers for sensing;
• Materials, microfluidics, configurations and strategies for sensing;
• Distributed sensing in optical fibers;
• Amorphous materials for sensor applications.

We look forward to your participation in this exciting event.

Dr. Piotr Lesiak, Prof. Tomasz Woliński and Prof. Leszek Jaroszewicz
I3S 2022 Conference Chairs

Follow the conversation on Twitter with #I3S2022

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Matthias Meinke has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the newly established Section “Turbomachinery” in Machines (ISSN: 2075-1702).

Name: Dr. Matthias Meinke
Email: m.meinke@aia.rwth-aachen.de
Affiliation: Institute of Aerodynamics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Homepage: http://www.aia.rwth-aachen.de/en/der-lehrstuhl/abteilungsleitung/dr-ing-matthias-meinke/
Research Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; numerical methods for multiphysics; aeroacoustics; aerodynamics

Dr. Matthias Meinke received his M.Sc. (Dipl.-Ing.) and Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) degrees in mechanical engineering with honors from RWTH Aachen University in 1986 and 1993, respectively. After obtaining his Ph.D. degree, he became the head of the CFD group of the Institute of Aerodynamics of RWTH Aachen University. Since 1993, he has been teaching a Bachelor and Master course in computational fluid dynamics at RWTH Aachen University and has given lectures in various international universities, in Japan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, and Korea, to name a few. He is a reviewer for many international conferences and journals. Under his supervision, the CFD group is actively developing multiphysics simulation software, which will be published as an open-source project in 2022. He is the author of more than 150 journal articles, and at present, his Google Scholar h-index is 37.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Matthias Meinke, who shared with us his vision for the journal and his views of the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take on the role of its Section Editor-in-Chief?
The role of Editor-in-Chief is a responsible one, as it helps to guarantee a meaningful selection of topics for a journal and to ensure a high quality of publications. After having published many papers in the past myself, I hope that I can contribute with my experience as an editor.

2. What is your vision for the Section?
Turbomachinery contains many different fields of intertwined, complex physics. I would like to promote the publication of papers leading to an enhanced understanding of phenomena that are not yet understood, to support papers introducing new experimental or simulation techniques, which could be useful for other researchers, and finally to support new emerging topics in the field of turbomachinery.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
We are facing challenges such as global warming, which requires a reduction in the burning of fossil fuels. Therefore, I expect increased research in the field of operating turbines with alternative fuels, energy storage systems, and flexible operation of powerplants. Besides this, I expect topics such as digital twins, failure prediction, uncertainty quantification, and multiphysics modeling to become more important.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
I am a big fan of publishing articles with open access, since this makes it much easier for all researchers to share their knowledge. I personally believe that more and more publishers will opt for Open Access publishing in the future.  

We warmly welcome Dr. Matthias Meinke in taking up his role as Section Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to him leading Machines to many more milestones.

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Kai Cheng has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Advanced Manufacturing” in Machines (ISSN 2218-273X). 

Prof. Dr. Kai Cheng holds the chair professorship in Manufacturing Systems at Brunel University London. His current research interests focus on ultraprecision and micro-manufacturing, design of high-precision machines, smart tooling, diamond tools, and sustainable manufacturing systems. Prof. Dr. Cheng has published over 200 papers in learned international journals and referred conferences, authored/edited 6 books, and contributed 6 book chapters.

Prof. Dr. Cheng is a fellow of the IET and IMechE. He is the Theme Leader of the Micro/Nano Manufacturing Theme at Brunel University London, which consists of 15 academics and over 50 Ph.D. students and research assistants/fellows. Prof. Dr. Cheng and his team are currently working on a number of research projects funded by the EPSRC, EU Programs, Innovate UK, KTP Programs and the industry. Prof. Dr. Cheng is the European editor of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Kai Cheng, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views on the research area and open access publishing:

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take on the role of Editor-in-Chief?

The journal is very dynamic and quite unique in the field of machines, which is increasingly important and iconic for advanced manufacturing. I am also keen to serve this field community better by taking this role.

2. What is your vision for the journal? What perspective do you think the Section “Advanced Manufacturing” will bring to the related fields?

My vision is that it should become a top leading international journal in precision machines and advanced manufacturing as well. The Section “Advanced Manufacturing” should play a key part in the journal, particularly related to machines applications, and provide continuous new drives for the R&D of next-generation machines.

3. As a researcher in advanced manufacturing, what valuable suggestions would you like to share with young scholars in terms of research topic selection?

The research topics and selection likely include high-precision machines, hybrid process machines, micro/nano application machines, robotic machines, smart machines, virtual machines, and digital twins.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?

I am very supportive of the development of Open Access in the publishing field, which is timely and in a fast-moving publishing area. It also reflects the publishing operations in a new business model and likely generates new opportunities as well.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Student Paper Awards, sponsored by Machines (ISSN: 2075-1702, Impact Factor: 2.428 (2020)), for the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE), that was held online, from 1 to 5 November, 2021.

“Development of a Robust and Real-Time Thermal Deformation Prediction System for Machine Tool by Multi-Point Temperature”
by Shun Tanaka, Yuya Marukawa, Toru Kizaki, Kenichi Tomita, Shinji Tsujimura, Daisuke Noda, Hisashi Kobayashi and Naohiko Sugita.

The first-place awards are USD 500 and a 100% article processing charge (APC) waiver.

Second Place: USD 300 and a voucher for CHF 800

Third Place: USD 200 and a voucher for CHF 800

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Jose A Antonino-Daviu has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the newly established Section “Electrical Machines and Drives” in Machines  (ISSN: 2075-1702).

Name: Prof. Dr. Jose A Antonino-Daviu
Affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Email: joanda@die.upv.es
Website: https://www.upv.es/pls/oalu/sic_person.Info?p_alias=JOANDA&P_IDIOMA=i
Interests: electric motors; fault diagnosis; transient analysis; signal processing; wavelet analysis; infrared thermography; time–frequency transforms

Prof. Dr. Jose A Antonino-Daviu holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering, both received from the Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain, in 2000 and 2006, respectively. He has worked for IBM, where he was involved in several international projects. He is currently a Full Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València. He was an Invited Professor at Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, in 2005 and 2007, Michigan State University, USA, in 2010, Korea University, South Korea, in 2014, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France, and Coventry University, U.K., in 2016. He is a co-author of more than 200 papers published in technical journals and conference proceedings. He is also the co-author of one international patent.

Dr. Antonino-Daviu is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journals Transactions on Industrial Informatics, Industrial Electronics Magazine and Emerging and Selected Topics in Industrial Electronics. He was granted the IEEE Second Prize Paper Award by the Electric Machines Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society (2013). He also received the Best Paper Award in the conferences IEEE ICEM 2012, IEEE SDEMPED 2011 and IEEE SDEMPED 2019, and the “Highly Commended Recognition” at the IET Innovation Awards in 2014 and in 2016. He was the General Co-Chair of SDEMPED 2013, and is a member of the Steering Committee of IEEE SDEMPED. He is also General Co-Chair of ICEM’2022 and a member of the ICEM Administrative Committee. In 2016, he received the Medal of the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering (Madrid, Spain) for his contributions towards new techniques for predictive maintenance of electric motors. In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious “Nagamori Award” from the Nagamori Foundation (Kyoto, Japan). In 2019, he received the SDEMPED Diagnostic Achievement Award (Toulouse, France), for his contributions to the advanced diagnosis of electric motors.

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Jose A Antonino-Daviu, who shared his vision for the Section with us, as well as his views of the research area:

1. What attracted you to join the academic editorial team of Machines?

Machines is a journal that has gained an important relevance over recent years. One of the things that attracted me the most was the reputed researchers that act both as Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors. Their excellent profile and serious work guarantee the quality of accepted papers. Moreover, the topics covered by the journal are certainly attractive, including a diversity of emerging areas that are drawing an increasing attention and that could be of special interest for young researchers.

2. What is your vision for the Section?

The Section is aiming to attract recent research on electrical machines and drives, focusing on methods that have a direct applicability in practice but not excluding other works with a more theoretical content that may have a practical application in the medium term. Most importantly, the crucial factor is to publish works with a high quality that bring novel contributions to the area and may be useful for other researchers in the field.

3. As an expert on electric machines, what valuable suggestions would you like to share with young scholars in terms of research topic selection?

There is not always the possibility of selecting the research topic but, if this is possible, I would suggest selecting areas in which researchers are able to develop solutions to real-world problems of today’s societies. Today, there is a need to give reliable responses to the necessities of different sectors of society. In my case, we have oriented our research to provide solutions to real problems in the industrial area, more specifically, those focused on reliable techniques and methods to determine electric motor and generator health.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Jose A Antonino-Daviu to his new role as Section Editor-in-Chief, and we look forward to him leading Machines to many more milestones.

It is our great honor to congratulate the Editorial Board Members and Editors in MDPI's journals who have been distinguished as 2021 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate, according to Web of Science data. We herewith express our gratitude for the immense impact the named researchers continue to make on scientific progress and on our journals' development.

Clarivate's annual list of Highly Cited Researchers^TM identifies the most highly cited scientists for the past decade. Their impactful papers are among the top 1 per cent in the citation distribution of one or more of 22 fields analyzed in the "Essential Science Indicators", distinguishing them as hugely influential among their peers.

The full list of 2021 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed at the following webpage in the Web of Science^TM https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/.

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

Academic editors play a crucial role in leading our journals and ensuring that each article undergoes a robust and timely peer-review. With the launch of Topics this year and addition of Topic Editors to our family of academic editors, we decided it would be a good time to restructure our academic boards, thus providing more clarity and support for each role. MDPI is pleased to announce the launch of a new position—Topical Advisory Panel Member, that will replace the previous position of Topics Board Member. The Topical Advisory Panel will be comprised of early career researchers eager to gain experience in editorial work.

The main responsibility of the new members of the Topical Advisory Panel is to regularly provide support to Guest Editors, Topic Editors, and Section Board Members. The responsibilities of the Topical Advisory Panel are available here: https://www.mdpi.com/editors.

Each year, the members’ performances are evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must:

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to the journal;
• Have received a Ph.D. in the last 10 years, approximately;
• Have at least 6-8 published papers in the last 5 years as first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

If you are interested in this role, please contact the editorial office by email.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.