**Preface to "Scientific Advances in STEM: Synergies to Achieve Success. 2nd Edition"**

#### **1. Introduction and Scope**

The *Escuela Polit´ecnica Superior* (EPS) from Universidad de Sevilla (US) is a higher education engineering center that aims to provide specific training and research in each area of knowledge from Science, Techology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), as well as the generation and transfer of knowledge. To be at the forefront of innovation, research plays a key role, and, at this center, there are researchers working in all STEM areas, not only Maths and Physics but also Electrical, Electronic, Materials, and Chemistry Engineering.

Among the different research activities promoted by the center, the EPS-US annually organizes a workshop on Research, Development and Innovation, which reached its 8th edition in 2021. Advances in research in several fields of Science and Engineering are presented at this event, involving the participation of students of all levels (from BSc to PhD), as well as academic and research staff not only from this center, but also participants from different universities located in seven countries. The multidisciplinary nature of this center has led to the establishment of collaborations among research groups from different disciplines, the combination of scientific knowledge from basic with applied research, and the use of different research facilities. Fundamental science helps us to understand phenomenological foundations, while applied science focuses on products and technological developments, highlighting the need to transfer knowledge to society and the industrial sector. This is also an opportunity for transfering knowledge, since industrial PhD students also participate and companies can present their demands and establish collaborations with research groups.

This book collects articles published on the special topic *Scientific Advances in STEM: Synergies to Achieve Success, 2nd Edition*, including publications from the journals M aterials, P olymers, F oods, Sustainability and Sensors, all published by MDPI. These papers cover selected cutting-edge research hosted at the EPS-US and presented at the 8th Symposium on Research, Development and Innovation of the academic center, which also covers the collaboration with national and international institutions. In fact, some of these works are framed within strategic research areas developed during recent years, presenting their progress in each edition of this workshop, as it was corroborated by their publication of the results in the first edition of this topic [1]. The editors wish to disseminate the multidisciplinary research carried out under the institutions of the EPS-US, contributing to establishing new collaborations among research groups.

#### **2. Contributions**

This book collects a total of 16 research works from the STEM field. As mentioned previously, they were published in five MDPI journals. Six contributions are collected from M aterials, analysing different issues. This was the case for the analysis of fatigue and cellular performance of novel superficially treated porous titanium dental implants fabricated using conventional powder metallurgy and space holder techniques [2]. Additionally, in the field of biomaterials, Beltran et ´ al. [3] evaluated the texture and surface roughness of porous titanium samples manufactured by the space holder powder metallurgy technique superficially modified by the Yb-doped laser. The area of titanium-based biomaterials was also complemented by studies aimed to characterise the macroporosity inherent in the manufacturing process, including the effect of the femtosecond laser treatment of the surface of titanium discs [4], as well as the influence of processing parameters on the bimodal microstructure in biomedical implants [5].The journal M aterials also included a paper on the formation of gelatin-based biofilms containing FexOy NPs [6]. These materials exhibited antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.

Related to material science, four contributions are included from P olymers and are focused on the development of bio-based materials. With this aim, the authors explored the development of cellulose-derived nanostructures (processed by electrospinning) [7] as well as the development of bioplastics by injection molding, using undervalued raw materials for this goal (rice bran and invasive seaweed) [8,9]. Moreover, this field of knowledge was enriched by simulation in terms of cost function analysis applied to arrabidaea chica verlot extracts [10].

This book also includes a contribution from F oods, where the manufacture of double emulsions was described by Felix et al. [11]. These emulsions were intended to be carriers of future food products with specific functionalities.

Three contributions are included from Sustainability. Martin et al. [12] analysed the presence of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates, nonylphenol ethoxylates and Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in composting processes. They elucidated the environmental risks that it may involve. Furthermore, Canete et al. [13] proposed new strategies to improve family and work conciliation with children ˜ suffering from psychological pathologies. Eventually, Feng et al. [14] conducted comprehensive research on innovation management in collaborative enterprise groups.

This book is finally complemented by three contributions from Sensors. In one of them, Guerra et al. [15] proposed a low-level blockchain marketplace to share the power of participants as requested. Slightly related to this topic, Pena et al. [16] suggested a system to classify and ˜ optimize energy input in smart buildings using an analytics approach. Eventually, convolutional neural networks to automatically segment cerebellar fissures using brain magnetic resonance imaging were investigated by Cabeza-Ru´ız et al. [17].

#### **3. References**


#### **Yadir Torres Hern´andez, Ana Mar´ıa Beltr´an Custodio, and Manuel F´elix Angel ´** *Editors*
