35,969 research outputs found

    Application of lactic acid bacteria for the biopreservation of meat products: A systematic review

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    .The increasing concern of consumers about food quality and safety and their rejection of chemical additives has promoted the breakthrough of the biopreservation field and the development of studies on the use of beneficial bacteria and their metabolites as potential natural antimicrobials for shelf life extension and enhanced food safety. Control of foodborne pathogens in meat and meat products represents a serious challenge for the food industry which can be addressed through the intelligent use of bio-compounds or biopreservatives. This article aims to systematically review the available knowledge about biological strategies based on the use of lactic acid bacteria to control the proliferation of undesirable microorganisms in different meat products. The outcome of the literature search evidenced the potential of several strains of lactic acid bacteria and their purified or semi-purified antimicrobial metabolites as biopreservatives in meat products for achieving longer shelf life or inhibiting spoilage and pathogenic bacteria, especially when combined with other technologies to achieve a synergistic effect.S

    Identification of Hindbrain Neural Substrates for Motor Initiation in the hatchling Xenopus laevis Tadpole

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    Animal survival profoundly depends on the ability to detect stimuli in the environment, process them and respond accordingly. In this respect, motor responses to a sensory stimulation evolved into a variety of coordinated movements, which involve the control of brain centres over spinal locomotor circuits. The hatchling Xenopus tadpole, even in its embryonic stage, is able to detect external sensory information and to swim away if the stimulus is considered noxious. To do so, the tadpole relies on well-known ascending sensory pathway, which carries the sensory information to the brain. When the stimulus is strong enough, descending interneurons are activated, leading to the excitation of spinal CPG neurons, which causes the undulatory movement of swimming. However, the activation of descending interneurons that marks the initiation of motor response appears after a long delay from the sensory stimulation. Furthermore, the long-latency response is variable in time, as observed in the slow-summating excitation measured in descending interneurons. These two features, i.e. long-latency and variability, cannot be explained by the firing time and pattern of the ascending sensory pathway of the Xenopus tadpole. Therefore, a novel neuronal population has been proposed to lie in the hindbrain of the tadpole, and being able to 'hold' the sensory information, thus accounting for the long and variable delay of swim initiation. In this work, the role of the hindbrain in the maintenance of the long and variable response to trunk skin stimulation is investigated in the Xenopustadpole at developmental stage 37/38. A multifaceted approach has been used to unravel the neuronal mechanisms underlying the delayed motor response, including behavioural experiments, electrophysiology analysis of fictive swimming, hindbrain extracellular recordings and imaging experiments. Two novel neuronal populations have been identified in the tadpole's hindbrain, which exhibit activation patterns compatible with the role of delaying the excitation of the spinal locomotor circuit. Future work on cellular properties and synaptic connections of these newly discovered populations might shed light on the mechanism of descending control active at embryonic stage. Identifying supraspinal neuronal populations in an embryonic organism could aid in understanding mechanisms of descending motor control in more complex vertebrates

    Interactive Sonic Environments: Sonic artwork via gameplay experience

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    The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of video-game technology in the design and implementation of interactive sonic centric artworks, the purpose of which is to create and contribute to the discourse and understanding of its effectiveness in electro-acoustic composition highlighting the creative process. Key research questions include: How can the language of electro-acoustic music be placed in a new framework derived from videogame aesthetics and technology? What new creative processes need to be considered when using this medium? Moreover, what aspects of 'play' should be considered when designing the systems? The findings of this study assert that composers and sonic art practitioners need little or no coding knowledge to create exciting applications and the myriad of options available to the composer when using video-game technology is limited only by imagination. Through a cyclic process of planning, building, testing and playing these applications the project revealed advantages and unique sonic opportunities in comparison to other sonic art installations. A portfolio of selected original compositions, both fixed and open are presented by the author to complement this study. The commentary serves to place the work in context with other practitioners in the field and to provide compositional approaches that have been taken

    South Yorkshire low carbon energy supply chains: insulation sector summary

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    Cyber-threat landscape of border control infrastructures

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    Various events in recent decades, such as the 9/11 tragedy and the European migration crisis, have highlighted the critical nature of robust borders and the impact of associated attacks on their integrity. However, it is unclear as to the extent to which cyber-attacks can threaten border operations. Interestingly, no extensive research has been conducted into this topic, possibly due to the complexity and diversity of border controls. This paper specifies the cyber-threat landscape of border control infrastructures to assist professionals in assessing the relevant cybersecurity risks. Border control infrastructures are complex environments and relevant risks might not be easily identified. To investigate the cyber-threat landscape of these infrastructures, a mixed research method, combining qualitative and quantitative results, and using border-related expert interviews and risk analysis investigation was chosen. Key contributions of this work include the classification of a widespread set of border assets, the description of the profiles of threat actors and their potential synergies, the specification of a threat taxonomy applicable to all border types, and the identification of potential areas of vulnerability. Moreover, through the risk analysis investigations, exemplary input is developed to guide professionals while applying a risk assessment methodology in the context of border control infrastructures. The paper concludes with future directions addressed to policy makers and border professionals

    Word sketches of descriptive modifiers in children's short stories for teacher training in teaching English as a foreign language

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    .Stories have proved to be an important didactic resource in language teaching; therefore, teacher trainees are often encouraged to design story-based tasks. However, they may find difficulties in identifying the language typically found in children's stories. For this reason, the present paper aims at exploring a relevant feature of this genre, descriptive modifiers, in order to raise student teachers’ genre awareness and prompt them to use high-frequency words and phrases. In this corpus-based study, a number of key elements were first identified, then classified, and finally, their occurrences were analyzed to obtain patterns in their grammatical behavior and an inventory of their most common collocates. SketchEngine was used both to compile the corpus and to retrieve word sketches of each modifier. Gaining more insight into the language of stories can contribute to helping teacher trainees to perceive characteristic language in children-oriented text types and to develop their own storytelling abilities.S

    Las escuelas rurales de una comarca leonesa

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    p. 1-13La escuela es la casa de la infancia y es el lugar de la memoria infantil que actúa como tercer educador después de la familia y los compañeros. Este artículo tiene por objetivo la recogida y documentación de los edificios escolares rurales situados en la comarca de la Maragatería. Se trata de una comarca en la provincia de León con su capital en Astorga que conserva ritos, trajes, espacios y tradiciones ancestrales muy definidos y particulares. El estudio de sus escuelas tiene también connotaciones específicas patrimoniales y contextuales. Se ha usado el método etnográfico para su elaboración. Los resultados, considerando su estructura y demás elementos arquitectónicos nos han permitido realizar una categorización de las mismas en función de la complejidad que presentan sus construcciones en: escuelas básicas antiguas (edificaciones simples de un aula y una sola planta); escuelas de balconada (las más frecuentes en la Maragatería, son de planta y piso y tienen abajo el aula y arriba la vivienda del docente); escuelas fortaleza (de planta y piso, robusta construcción, pocas ventanas, en piedra y mampostería); escuelas de torre o peineta (edificios esbeltos y esmerados con piedra y ladrillo, que se rematan en una torre con o sin reloj, o bien con una peineta en su parte frontal y suelen ser de indiano) y, finalmente, escuelas estándar de la posguerra, (de ladrillo, muy similares a las de otras partes de España, funcionalistas y sin adornos).S

    Nurse managers’ competencies: A scoping review

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    .Aim : To describe and synthesize scientific literature on nurse managers’ competencies. Background : The key strategy for the success of health organisations currently re-sides in the capacity of the nurse manager to develop advanced competencies in management. However, there is a lack of systematic reviews that synthesize knowl-edge about nurse managers’ competencies. Evaluation : A scoping review was conducted using electronic databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature. Key issues : After the first analysis, 392 competencies were observed from 76 stud-ies. Finally, 53 competencies were grouped according to their characteristics. The two most- cited competencies were communication and finance. Conclusions : Knowing the competencies required by nurse managers can help or-ganisations create strategies to develop competent managers. In addition, from the results we can infer what might be the core competencies, since 22 main competen-cies from the total number were identified. Implications for Nursing Management : The competencies identified constitute the body of knowledge necessary for nurse managers. In addition, it is possible to gener-ate a pathway for learning and professional development for nurses before they work at the microlevel of management. The starting point for this pathway could be the 22 core competencies.S

    Multi-dimensional barrier identification for wind farm repowering in Spain through an expert judgment approach

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    .Spain was one of the pioneers in the deployment of wind energy systems worldwide and thus since 2014 has a potential for repowering that reaches between 3.3 and 8.7 GW in 2021 (12%–32% of its current installed wind capacity). However, despite the technical and economic advantages, we have observed little interest from promoters in the repowering of already amortized wind farms. The aim of the proposed study is to depict the background framework of barriers for repowering wind farms, which is specially affecting to Spain, but that can also extend to other EU countries. Therefore, we conducted a systematic survey study with academics, promoters, financial experts, manufacturers, operators, maintainers and policymakers to identify and understand the existing real and practical barriers. As a result, we have identified 34 major barriers covering five categories: technical issues, economics, environmental considerations, social concerns, and regulatory and administrative hurdles. We then asked the experts to rate these barriers based on their impact or relevance. We found that the experts agree that regulatory and administrative barriers have the maximum impact, while economic, environmental and technical barriers have only a mid-high impact. Therefore, we can conclude that, in general, the Administration must develop a concise and stable regulatory framework for all RES, especially for repowering projects, and carry out a review of both the technical requirements and the incentives schemes, with a focus on energy efficiency.S

    Efectos de la colaboración con usuarios sobre el tipo de innovación desarrollado

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    pp. 87-110Recientemente, la colaboración con usuarios para el desarrollo de innovaciones ha adquirido una notable relevancia tanto en el mundo académico como en el empresarial. Prueba de ello es el aumento de investigaciones publicadas sobre esta materia y que cada vez más empresas optan por esta estrategia para desarrollar innovaciones. No obstante, aún son muchos los aspectos de este fenómeno que necesitan ser investigados más a fondo. Una de esas cuestiones –y que constituye el objetivo principal de este trabajo–, es el estudio de los efectos de la colaboración con usuarios sobre el output innovador de la empresa. Más concretamente, se ha analizado la influencia que tiene esta colaboración sobre la probabilidad de obtener dos tipos de innovaciones: de producto y de proceso. Así, a partir de dos modelos Probit Bivariantes y utilizando una muestra de 11.881 empresas manufactureras españolas a lo largo del periodo 1998-2005, se ha observado empíricamente que en España, tanto el simple hecho de colaborar tecnológicamente con usuarios como la intensidad/continuidad de esa colaboración influyen positivamente en el desarrollo de ambos tipos de innovaciones.S
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