Nigeria and Democratic Progress by Elections in Africa

Wahlen fördern nicht immer die demokratische Entwicklung von Staaten, aber sie können zur Demokratisierung beitragen. Die Autoren entwerfen ein Modell der Demokratisierung durch Wahlen, in dem die Möglichkeiten für politischen Wandel, die in jeder Wahlrunde eröffnet werden, auf den demokratischen Fortschritten basieren, die in früheren Wahlen erreicht werden konnten. Dabei liegt ihr Fokus auf Nigeria. Sie interpretieren den jüngsten Führungswechsel in Nigeria unter Bezug auf vorangegangene Wahlen und ziehen einen Vergleich zu Demokratisierungsprozessen in anderen Staaten Afrikas. Auf der Basis eines neuen Datensatzes zum Führungswechsel in afrikanischen Staaten untersuchen sie Ereignisse im Umfeld von Wahlen und ermitteln die unterschiedlichen Entwicklungsformen afrikanischer Regime seit 1990. Dabei kommen zwei wesentliche Probleme zum Vorschein: Stagnation und Rückentwicklung der Demokratisierung. In einer größeren Gruppe von Ländern sind allerdings schrittweise Fortschritte bei der Institutionalisierung der Demokratie erzielt worden. Die Autoren konstatieren, dass es zwar keinen vorgezeichneten Weg der Demokratisierung gibt, wiederkehrende Wahlen aber zur Vertiefung der Demokratie beitragen können.Elections do not always advance democratisation, yet they can. We outline a democratisation-by-elections model according to which the opportunities for political change opened up by each electoral round build on previous election-related democratic progress. We focus on Nigeria, interpret the recent executive turnover in light of previous elections, and set the country within the comparative context of Africa’s democratisation. Using a new Africa Leadership Change dataset, we use election-related events to examine the diverse routes that African regimes have taken since 1990. The analysis highlights two major syndromes: democratic stagnation and recession. In a sizeable group, however, the institutionalisation of democracy has been making gradual progress. While there is no predetermined way to advance democracy, the reiteration of elections can be instrumental in such advancement

Schools and healthcare in some post-Soviet hybrid democracies have improved. How?

After the end of the Cold War some ex-communist countries embraced full democracy, some became hybrid regimes while others backslid to authoritarianism. Andrea Cassani, Francesca Luppi, and Gabriele Natalizia examined the quality of education and healthcare in these states. They found that while the more democratic a country the better its public services, some hybrid regimes have also managed to improve living standards. While this is good for ordinary people’s social needs, it can also dampen down dissent and ensure the ruling hegemony stays in place

Pickering emulsions in food and nutraceutical technology: from delivering hydrophobic compounds to cutting-edge food applications

Pickering emulsions have emerged as suitable alternatives to healthily and sustainably deliver unstable compounds, addressing the demands of consumers, increasingly concerned about the nutritional value and environmental impact of the products they consume. They are stabilized by insoluble solid particles that partially hydrate both the oil (O) and aqueous (W) phases through a combination of steric and electrostatic repulsions determined by their surface properties. Since the desorption energy of the particles is very high, their adsorption is considered irreversible, which accounts for their greater stability compared to conventional emulsions. Proteins and polysaccharides, used either individually or in combination, can stabilize Pickering emulsions, and recent studies have revealed that microorganisms are also suitable stabilizing particles. This review provides an overview of recent research on Pickering emulsions, highlighting the properties of the stabilizing particles, and their ability to deliver hydrophobic and/or unstable compounds. The use of Pickering emulsions as fat-replacers, edible inks for 3D-printing or their incorporation into packaging material are also presented and discussed, pointing out their great potential for further innovation.Fil: Cassani, Lucía Victoria. Universidad de Vigo; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Gomez Zavaglia, Andrea. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; Argentin

Sustainable food systems in fruits and vegetables food supply chains

Fruits and vegetables wastes (e.g., peel fractions, pulps, pomace, and seeds) represent ~16% of total food waste and contribute ~6% to global greenhouse gas emissions. The diversity of the fruit-horticultural production in several developing countries and the excess of certain fruits or vegetables in the months of greatest production offer unique opportunities for adding value to these wastes (co-products). Within the scope of the Circular Economy, valorization of such wastes for the production of innovative bio-ingredients can open great market opportunities if efficiently exploited. In this context, this review deals with the current situation of wastes arising from fruits and vegetables (availability, characterization) as sources of valuable ingredients (fiber, polyphenols, pigments) suitable to be incorporated into food, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products. In addition, an integral and systematic approach including the sustainable technologies generally used at both lab and industrial scale for efficient extraction of bioactive compounds from fruits and vegetables wastes are addressed. Overall, this review provides a general updated overview regarding the situation of fruits and vegetables chain supplies in the post-pandemic era, offering an integrative perspective that goes beyond the recovery of fiber and phytochemicals from the previous mentioned wastes and focuses on whole processes and in their social and economic impacts.Fil: Cassani, Lucía Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingenieria. Departamento de Ingenieria Quimica y En Alimentos. Unidad de Capacitacion En Gestion de Produccion de Alimentos.; ArgentinaFil: Gomez Zavaglia, Andrea. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; Argentin

Relationship between carbohydrate composition and fungal deterioration of functional strawberry juices preserved using non-thermal treatments

BACKGROUND: The quantification of the main carbohydrates present in strawberry juices enriched with inulin and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and preserved by non-thermal techniques (vanillin and ultrasound) were studied, as well as the evolution of these compounds and their relationship with fungal deterioration during 14 days of refrigerated storage. RESULTS: A simple and environmentally friendly analytical approach based on high performance liquid chromatography with reflection index detector was developed for simultaneous determination of inulin, FOS and mono and disaccharides present in the juices. When analyzing the evolution of carbohydrates during storage, a direct relationship between the consumption of sucrose and the growth of yeasts and molds (main spoilage flora in strawberry) was observed, especially in untreated samples (control). On the contrary, no sucrose consumption was observed during storage of treated sample, thus demonstrating the efficiency of the non-thermal treatments to control yeasts and molds growth. In turn, inulin and FOS added to juices were not degraded during storage. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that non-thermal treatments are adequate to prevent the growth of deteriorative flora in strawberry juices and adding inulin and FOS can be a good strategy to functionalize them, improving their nutritional properties.Fil: Cassani, Lucía Victoria. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Ministerio de Ciencia. Tecnología e Innovación Productiva. Agencia Nacional de Promoción Cientifíca y Tecnológica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Quintana, Gabriel Sebastian. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Moreira, Maria del Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gomez Zavaglia, Andrea. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; Argentin

Belousov-Zhabotinsky type reactions: the non-linear behavior of chemical systems

AbstractChemical oscillators are open systems characterized by periodic variations of some reaction species concentration due to complex physico-chemical phenomena that may cause bistability, rise of limit cycle attractors, birth of spiral waves and Turing patterns and finally deterministic chaos. Specifically, the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction is a noteworthy example of non-linear behavior of chemical systems occurring in homogenous media. This reaction can take place in several variants and may offer an overview on chemical oscillators, owing to its simplicity of mathematical handling and several more complex deriving phenomena. This work provides an overview of Belousov-Zhabotinsky-type reactions, focusing on modeling under different operating conditions, from the most simple to the most widely applicable models presented during the years. In particular, the stability of simplified models as a function of bifurcation parameters is studied as causes of several complex behaviors. Rise of waves and fronts is mathematically explained as well as birth and evolution issues of the chaotic ODEs system describing the Györgyi-Field model of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. This review provides not only the general information about oscillatory reactions, but also provides the mathematical solutions in order to be used in future biochemical reactions and reactor designs

Recent progress in understanding the impact of food processing and storage on the structure–activity relationship of fucoxanthin

Fucoxanthin, a brown algae carotenoid, has attracted great interest because of its numerous biological activities supported by in vitro and in vivo studies. However, its chemical structure is susceptible to alterations when subjected to food processing and storage conditions, such as heat, oxygen, light, and pH changes. Consequently, these conditions lead to the formation of fucoxanthin derivatives, including cis-isomers, apo-fucoxanthinone, apo-fucoxanthinal, fucoxanthinol, epoxides, and hydroxy compounds, collectively known as degradation products. Currently, little information is available regarding the stability and functionality of these fucoxanthin derivatives resulting from food processing and storage. Therefore, enhancing the understanding of the biological effect of fucoxanthin derivatives is crucial for optimizing the utilization of fucoxanthin in various applications and ensuring its efficacy in potential health benefits. To this aim, this review describes the main chemical reactions affecting the stability of fucoxanthin during food processing and storage, facilitating the identification of the major fucoxanthin derivatives. Moreover, recent advancements in the structure–activity relationship of fucoxanthin derivatives will be critically assessed, emphasizing their biological activity. Overall, this review provides a critical updated understanding of the effects of technological processes on fucoxanthin stability and activity that can be helpful for stakeholders when designing processes for food products containing fucoxanthin.Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (Argentina) | Ref. PICT (2020)/1602Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (Argentina) | Ref. PICT (2020)/048

Prediction is very hard, especially about conversion. Predicting user purchases from clickstream data in fashion e-commerce

Knowing if a user is a buyer vs window shopper solely based on clickstream data is of crucial importance for ecommerce platforms seeking to implement real-time accurate NBA (next best action) policies. However, due to the low frequency of conversion events and the noisiness of browsing data, classifying user sessions is very challenging. In this paper, we address the clickstream classification problem in the fashion industry and present three major contributions to the burgeoning field of AI in fashion: first, we collected, normalized and prepared a novel dataset of live shopping sessions from a major European e-commerce fashion website; second, we use the dataset to test in a controlled environment strong baselines and SOTA models from the literature; finally, we propose a new discriminative neural model that outperforms neural architectures recently proposed at Rakuten labs

Development of diagnostic tools for IBDV detection using plants as bioreactors

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is the etiological agent of an immunosuppressive and highly contagious disease that affects young birds, thus causing important economic losses in the poultry industry. Multimeric particles with different architectures based on the capsid protein VP2 have been widely produced for different purposes. We hereby show the production and easy recovery of IBDV subviral particles (SVP) from transiently transformed Nicotiana benthamiana. The SVP, which were observed by electronic microscopy, proved to be antigenically and immunogenically similar to the virion. Indeed, anti-IBDV antibodies from samples of infected birds recognized these SVP and, when injected intramuscularly, these subviral particles also evoked a humoral immune response in chickens. We developed an in-house ELISA using SVP as coating reagent that demonstrated to be highly accurate and in good agreement with a commercial ELISA. This study demonstrates that the recombinant antigen generated and the technology used to produce it are suitable for developing a diagnostic tool against Infectious bursal disease.Instituto de BiotecnologíaFil: Gomez, Evangelina Raquel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Cassani, María Florencia. Universidad Nacional de Luján; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Lucero, Maria Soledad. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Parreño, Viviana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Incuinta e Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Chimeno Zoth, Silvina Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Berinstein, Analia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; Argentin

Development of diagnostic tools for IBDV detection using plants as bioreactors

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is the etiological agent of an immunosuppressive and highly contagious disease that affects young birds, thus causing important economic losses in the poultry industry. Multimeric particles with different architectures based on the capsid protein VP2 have been widely produced for different purposes. We hereby show the production and easy recovery of IBDV subviral particles (SVP) from transiently transformed Nicotiana benthamiana. The SVP, which were observed by electronic microscopy, proved to be antigenically and immunogenically similar to the virion. Indeed, anti-IBDV antibodies from samples of infected birds recognized these SVP and, when injected intramuscularly, these subviral particles also evoked a humoral immune response in chickens. We developed an in-house ELISA using SVP as coating reagent that demonstrated to be highly accurate and in good agreement with a commercial ELISA. This study demonstrates that the recombinant antigen generated and the technology used to produce it are suitable for developing a diagnostic tool against Infectious bursal disease.Fil: Gómez, Evangelina Raquel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Cassani, Maria Florencia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Lucero, María Soledad. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Parreño, Gladys Viviana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación En Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología E Innovaciones Tecnológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Pque. Centenario. Instituto de Virología E Innovaciones Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Chimeno Zoth, Silvina Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Berinstein, Analía. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología y Biología Molecular; Argentin