241 research outputs found
Measuring the transition to homogeneity with photometric redshift surveys
We study the possibility of detecting the transition to homogeneity using
photometric redshift catalogs. Our method is based on measuring the fractality
of the projected galaxy distribution, using angular distances, and relies only
on observable quantites. It thus provides a way to test the Cosmological
Principle in a model-independent unbiased way. We have tested our method on
different synthetic inhomogeneous catalogs, and shown that it is capable of
discriminating some fractal models with relatively large fractal dimensions, in
spite of the loss of information due to the radial projection. We have also
studied the influence of the redshift bin width, photometric redshift errors,
bias, non-linear clustering, and surveyed area, on the angular homogeneity
index H2 ({\theta}) in a {\Lambda}CDM cosmology. The level to which an upcoming
galaxy survey will be able to constrain the transition to homogeneity will
depend mainly on the total surveyed area and the compactness of the surveyed
region. In particular, a Dark Energy Survey (DES)-like survey should be able to
easily discriminate certain fractal models with fractal dimensions as large as
D2 = 2.95. We believe that this method will have relevant applications for
upcoming large photometric redshift surveys, such as DES or the Large Synoptic
Survey Telescope (LSST).Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure
The CDM growth rate of structure revisited
We re-examine the growth index of the concordance cosmology in the
light of the latest 6dF and {\em WiggleZ} data. In particular, we investigate
five different models for the growth index , by comparing their
cosmological evolution using observational data of the growth rate of structure
formation at different redshifts. Performing a joint likelihood analysis of the
recent supernovae type Ia data, the Cosmic Microwave Background shift
parameter, Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations and the growth rate data, we
determine the free parameters of the parametrizations and we
statistically quantify their ability to represent the observations. We find
that the addition of the 6dF and {\em WiggleZ} growth data in the likelihood
analysis improves significantly the statistical results. As an example,
considering a constant growth index we find and
.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication by International J. of
Modern Physics D (IJMPD). arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with
arXiv:1203.672
Physicochemical properties and bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds of dietary fibre concentrates from vegetable by-products
The agro-food industry generates a large volume of by-products, whose revaluation is
essential for the circular economy. From these by-products, dietary fibre concentrates (DFCs) can
be obtained. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterise (a) the proximal composition
by analysing soluble, insoluble and total Dietary Fibre (DF), (b) the physicochemical properties,
and (c) the phenolic profile of artichoke, red pepper, carrot, and cucumber DFCs. In addition, the
bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds was also evaluated after in vitro gastrointestinal and colonic
digestions. The results showed that the DFCs had more than 30 g/100 g dw. The water holding and
retention capacity of the DFCs ranges from 9.4 to 18.7 g of water/g. Artichoke DFC presented high
concentration of phenolic compounds (8340.7 mg/kg) compared to the red pepper (304.4 mg/kg),
carrot (217.4 mg/kg) and cucumber DFCs (195.7 mg/kg). During in vitro gastrointestinal digestion,
soluble phenolic compounds were released from the food matrix, chlorogenic acid, the principal
compound in artichoke and carrot DFCs, and hesperetin-7-rutinoside in red pepper cucumber DFCs.
Total phenolic content decreased after in vitro colonic digestion hence the chemical transformation of
the phenolic compounds by gut microbiota. Based on the results, DFCs could be good functional
ingredients to develop DF-enriched food, reducing food waste.This research was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Gobierno de Espana: AGLRTI-2018-094268-B-C21
Formation, stability and antioxidant activity of food-grade multilayer emulsions containing resveratrol
Interfacial deposition of biopolymer layers on oil droplets may be a suitable strategy for increasing the emulsion stability and protection of functional ingredients. Resveratrol is a naturally occurring phenolic compound with numerous health-promoting properties, but its usage is still restricted due to its poor water solubility and high chemical instability. The aim of this study was to formulate single-layer (lactoferrin) and multilayer (lactoferrin/alginate and lactoferrin/alginate/-poly-l-lysine) emulsions containing resveratrol and to study the emulsions stability and antioxidant activity during storage. All primary (single-layer) emulsions had average droplet diameters below 300 nm and -potentials strongly positive, allowing the electrostatic deposition of another layer of anionic biopolymer, such as alginate. Secondary (multilayer) emulsions were highly unstable at low alginate concentrations, which was attributed to the bridging flocculation. At higher alginate concentrations, secondary emulsions were rather stable. Tertiary emulsions containing either low or high -poly-l-lysine concentrations presented flocculation, but formulations with 0.0036% (w/w) were fairly stable. The antioxidant activity of all resveratrol-loaded emulsions did not significantly change during storage, whereas it decreased in non-encapsulated resveratrol oil from the third week onwards. This study provides useful information for the design of delivery systems for resveratrol with relevance in food applications.This research was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) throughout the projects AGL2009-11475 and ALG2012-35635, and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and
Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-
FEDER-027462) and FCT Strategic Project of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit. The authors also thank the Project “BioInd - Biotechnology and Bioengineering for improved Industrial and Agro-Food processes,
REF. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000028” Co-funded by the Programa
Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2 e O Novo Norte), QREN,
FEDER. The author A. Acevedo-Fani thanks the University of Lleida for the pre-doctoral grant. The author H. D. Silva, (SFRH/BD/81288/2011) is the recipient of a fellowship from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). The authors would like to acknowledge to Rui Fernandes from IBMC, University of Porto, for assistance in taking the TEM microphotographs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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