Plant volatiles are a salient cue for foraging mammals : elephants target preferred plants despite background plant odour

To forage nonrandomly, animals must discriminate among food items. Foods differ in look, smell and taste, providing cues for foragers with appropriate senses. Irrespective of the sensory modality, however, foragers can only use cues effectively if they can detect sensory signals above background noise. Recent evidence shows that foraging mammalian herbivores can detect plant odours, but their capacity to select preferred plants in a noisy olfactory background is unknown. Using choice trials, we tested whether the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, uses plant odour as a salient cue despite increasingly complex and challenging background odours. We first established their preference for familiar plant species. We then tested their capacity to discriminate and select preferred plants based on odour alone. We found that elephants successfully chose preferred species even when presented with complex background odours from nonpreferred plants mimicking multispecies vegetation patches. Elephants also succeeded despite our attempt to mask distinguishing odours with large amounts of a synthetic green leaf volatile. GC–MS analysis confirmed that volatile organic compound profiles differed between plant species. In demonstrating that elephants exploit plant odours even when the signal from preferred plants is embedded in sensory noise of background odours, we provide crucial behavioural evidence that olfaction provides an efficient mechanism for selective, nonrandom foraging. Whether mammalian herbivores recognize novel odours, for example from newly invading plant species, or when air pollution degrades odours of familiar plants, needs investigating. Accounting for the capacity of mammalian herbivores to use plant odour cues will improve models of both their foraging behaviour and the ecosystem impacts of their foraging.A.S. and M.H.S. were supported by the South African National Research Foundation (Grants #: 90691, 90448 & 97262).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/anbehav2020-09-01hj2019Mammal Research InstituteZoology and Entomolog

Economic interaction between China and the Malacca Straits region, tenth to fourteenth centuries A.D.

There are nine chapters in the present study. Chapter one consists of the introduction. Chapters two to four contain brief surveys of the sources from which the present study draws much of its primary information. Chapter five details the changes in the administration of maritime trade in China, and the impact that it had on the role of maritime trade in the Chinese economy and on Chinese maritime trade practices. Chapter six focuses on the Malacca Straits region's maritime state-level diplomatic and trade exchanges with China, against the backdrop of changes in China's view and administration of maritime trade. Chapter seven examines the general trends that occurred in the trade in Malacca Straits region products to China. Chapter eight details the developments in the trade of key categories of Chinese products to the Malacca Straits region, and examines the changing patterns of the Chinese products trade at the regional and sub-regional levels. Chapter nine serves as the conclusion, drawing together the strands of information in the preceding chapters, and providing an overview of the changing patterns of trade between the two regions over a period of four centuries

Wine Sensory Faults

Wine is highly appreciated for its distinctive sensory characteristics, including its colour, aroma, and taste. However, unwanted microbiological activity, unbalanced concentrations of certain compounds resulting from unbalanced grape chemical compositions, and inadequate winemaking practices and storage conditions can result in sensory defects that significantly decrease wine quality. Although preventing wine defects is the best strategy, they are sometimes difficult to avoid. Therefore, when present, several fining agents or additives and technologies are available or being developed with different performances regarding their impact on wine quality. Wine stabilisation refers to removal and prevention strategies and treatments that limit visual, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile wine defects, as well as increase wine safety and stability through fining and the application of different operations carried out in wineries (filtration, pasteurisation, electrodialysis, and cold stabilisation) and the use of emerging technologies (electron-beam irradiation, high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields, ultrasound, pulsed light). Future trends in this field involve using more sustainable and environmentally friendly fining agents and technologies and developing treatments with better performance and specificity

Microsolvation of biomolecular models by microwave spectroscopy: structure and cooperative effects

Se han estudiado los complejos microsolvatados de diversas biomoléculas con el grupo amida, responsable del enlace peptídico. Estos complejos, en los que la molécula de interés está rodeada de un número limitado de moléculas de agua, pueden generarse en una expansión supersónica, y estudiarse usando espectroscopía de rotación. El análisis del espectro permite obtener las constantes de rotación de las especies presentes en la expansión supersónica, que están relacionadas con la estructura molecular. Esto permite caracterizar las interacciones que estabilizan los complejos y los efectos cooperativos que afectan al enlace de hidrógeno. Además, se ha demostrado que los parámetros de acoplamiento de cuadrupolo nuclear y de rotación interna sirven como sonda para evidenciar los efectos cooperativos que afectan a la estructura de la molécula microsolvatada y cuya influencia cambia con el grado de hidratación.Departamento de Química Física y Química InorgánicaDoctorado en Químic

ESSE 2017. Proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy

Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physical-, biological-, and information sciences to study and solve environmental problems. ESSE - The International Conference on Environmental Science and Sustainable Energy provides a platform for experts, professionals, and researchers to share updated information and stimulate the communication with each other. In 2017 it was held in Suzhou, China June 23-25, 2017

Making Sense of Smell: Classifications and Model Thinking in Olfaction Theory

This thesis addresses key issues of scientific realism in the philosophy of biology and chemistry through investigation of an underexplored research domain: olfaction theory, or the science of smell. It also provides the first systematic overview of the development of olfactory practices and research into the molecular basis of odours across the 19th and 20th century. Historical and contemporary explanations and modelling techniques for understanding the material basis of odours are analysed with a specific focus on the entrenchment of technological process, research tradition and the definitions of materiality for understanding scientific advancement. The thesis seeks to make sense of the explanatory and problem solving strategies, different ways of reasoning and the construction of facts by drawing attention to the role and application of scientific representations in olfactory practices. Scientific representations such as models, classifications, maps, diagrams, lists etc. serve a variety of purposes that range from the stipulation of relevant properties and correlations of the research materials and the systematic formation of research questions, to the design of experiments that explore or test particular hypotheses. By examining a variety of modelling strategies in olfactory research, I elaborate on how I understand the relation between representations and the world and why this relation requires a pluralist perspective on scientific models, methods and practices. Through this work I will show how a plurality of representations does not pose a problem for realism about scientific entities and their theoretical contexts but, on the contrary, that this plurality serves as the most reliable grounding for a realistic interpretation of scientific representations of the world and the entities it contains. The thesis concludes that scientific judgement has to be understood through its disciplinary trajectory, and that scientific pluralism is a direct consequence of the historicity of scientific development

The Development of a Modular-Flexible Schedule Model and Its Utilization in Building a New Secondary School Physics Curriculum

Problem: It was the primary purpose of this study to develop a secondary school physics curriculum guide for use within a modular-flexible schedule framework. A secondary aspect was to design a model modular-flexible schedule specifically for physics instruction. Procedure: Information has been obtained through the direct visitation of seventeen schools in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and suburban areas which were using a modular-flexible scheduled program. A comprehensive study has been made of the physics curricula used in each school to determine its relative effectiveness within a modular-flexible framework. Interrogation of administrators, staff members and. curriculum • specialists was employed to ascertain operational procedures. Faculty members and students were questioned about the strengths and weaknesses experienced during the actual operation of the present curriculum within a modular-flexible schedule. Summary: A physics curriculum especially designed to accent the benefits that accrue from a modular-flexible schedule has not been produced prior to this effort. The guide produced herein effectively reflects the basic philosophies of the three principal approaches to the study of physics. Modular-flexible scheduling and the new-design of the curriculum complement one another and enhance learning

Innovative Food Product Development using Molecular Gastronomy: a Focus on Flavour and Sensory Evaluation

The primary goal of this research was to develop novel ice cream products using the principles of molecular gastronomy. An ice cream model system (emulsion) was developed, in which the effects of ingredient levels on stability and formation were investigated and optimised using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Two characteristic volatiles of banana (isoamyl acetate and furfuryl acetate) were added to the optimised emulsion, and their headspace emission was quantified using Solid Phase Microextraction with Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry. RSM was used to investigate the main and interactive effects of ingredient, salt and pH levels on the headspace emission of these volatiles. Salt was found to significantly influence (p ≤ 0.05) headspace emission of isoamyl acetate. The pairing of novel foods (banana and bacon (B+BN), banana and basmati rice (B+R), and banana and olive oil (B+O)) was investigated as an important sensory phenomenon with a key interest in determining how different components in the selected food pairings (both volatile and non-volatile) affect and interact with other components to influence sensory perception. Consumer sensory evaluation (n = 85) showed that B+R and B+BN were significantly more acceptable (p ≤ 0.05) pairings than B+O. Correlation of descriptive sensory analysis (n = 28) and organic volatile profiling was conducted to try to elucidate the hedonic results. Two ice cream product recipes were formulated to provide a matrix for the two preferred novel food pairings (B+R and B+BN). Product acceptability was assessed using two consumer panels representing general and specific markets. Significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) between hedonic results of the two panels suggest that the B+R ice cream may be more suited to a general retail product, whereas the B+BN ice cream may be more suited to a selective culinary market

Joseph Hergesheimer as a novelist

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 194