621 research outputs found
FTIR-ATR, FT-RAMAN and GC-FID assessment of discrimination of aged wine spirits under different conditions
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Volatile phenols in aged wine spirits: role, contents and impact of ageing systems
The volatile phenols (eugenol, guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol, syringol, 4-methylsyringol and 4-allylsyringol) are odorant compounds
that may exist in aged wine spirits resulting from their contact with wooden barrels during the ageing process. These compounds,
which are originated from wood lignin’s, revealed an important sensory impact in aged wine spirits due to their low sensory
thresholds and correlations with sensory attributes such as woody, toasted, smoke, which have a close relationship with the
quality of these beverages. The wine spirits are traditionally aged in wooden barrels but the use of wood fragments, with or
without micro-oxygenation, is a technological alternative that has been recently studied by our team with promising results. This
work presents an overview of volatile phenols’ amounts in wine spirits aged in wooden barrels during different ageing times and
using two kinds of wood (chestnut versus oak). These compounds were quantified by GC-FID, after a previous extraction and
concentration steps, and their identification was assessed by GC-MS. It is also examined the results and the impact of alternative
technologies on the amounts of such compounds. The ANOVA results showed a significant effect of the ageing system and the
wood botanical species on the volatile phenols contentsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Renormalization and Quantum Scaling of Frenkel-Kontorova Models
We generalise the classical Transition by Breaking of Analyticity for the
class of Frenkel-Kontorova models studied by Aubry and others to non-zero
Planck's constant and temperature. This analysis is based on the study of a
renormalization operator for the case of irrational mean spacing using
Feynman's functional integral approach. We show how existing classical results
extend to the quantum regime. In particular we extend MacKay's renormalization
approach for the classical statistical mechanics to deduce scaling of low
frequency effects and quantum effects. Our approach extends the phenomenon of
hierarchical melting studied by Vallet, Schilling and Aubry to the quantum
regime.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, submitted to J.Stat.Phy
Diagnosis of Respiratory Bronchiolitis associated interstitial lung disease
Background. Respiratory Bronchiolitis (RB), described by Niewoehner et al in 1974, is a common finding in heavy smokers and is characterised by the presence of pigmented macrophages within respiratory bronchioles and adjacent alveoli. In the 1980s, Myers et al described RB associated with interstitial lung disease (RBILD), which is a rare entity expressed as an amplified respiratory bronchiolitis in response to cigarette smoke. Methods. The authors studied a group of 8 patients with biopsy-proven RBILD diagnosed within the last five years, and assessed epidemiological data, clinical and imaging features, lung function tests, bronchoalveolar lavage findings, therapeutic approaches and clinical evolution. Results and Conclusions. The most difficult differential diagnosis is between RBILD and Desquamative Interstitial Pneumonia (DIP), which seems to suggest that these disorders are either end of the same spectrum, although the authors claim that there are some clinical, morphological and prognostic distinctions. The diagnosis of RBILD requires an appropriate clinical setting (including smoking habits), characteristic image findings (like ground glass shadowing and centrilobular nodules), and Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) data to exclude other diagnosis. Pathological confirmation may also be important, not only to exclude more adverse interstitial lung disease, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, but also, as in the eight cases presented, to illustrate some specific features such as the prevalence of lymphocytosis in BAL
'Kids sold, desperate moms need cash': Media representations of Zimbabwean women migrants
The article draws on 575 randomly selected articles from the South African Media database
to explore the representation of Zimbabwean women migrants. Using critical discourse analysis
(CDA), the article shows that some of the dominant construction types depict a picture of caricatured,
stereotypical and stigmatised Zimbabwean migrant women without voice and individuality. In turn,
the diversity of their actualities is not captured in the process of constructing the twin images of
Zimbabwean women as victims and as purveyors of decadent and other negative social ills in
society. We conclude that Zimbabwean women migrants appear in the SA media primarily in three
negative images: suppliers of sexual services, as un-motherly, and as victims. We also conclude
that there is need for media to capture the voices of migrant women recounting their everyday lived
experiences in different political and socio-economic contexts in order to account for the migrant
women's voices of resilience, defiance and victimhood and of agency, against the normalising and
marginalising influences of political institutions and national border controls. This would also help
capture the transformative nature of migration to the women, the 'home' in Zimbabwe and the 'home'
in South Africa.IS
A screening study of the spatial distribution and cumulative toxicity of agricultural pesticides in the European Union’s waters
Pesticides can be an important stressor to aquatic ecosystems, and their use is strictly regulated in the European Union (EU). However, data on the use of pesticides are rather limited and poorly available, and monitoring is often insufficient to characterize their actual exposure and impact. The aim of the work presented here is to harness the limited data available and assess, for the first time, the distribution of concentrations and toxicity of 148 pesticide active substances (AS) for the whole EU. Starting from available estimates of pesticide use in agriculture and a simple screening-level model of their fate and transport, we quantify pesticide concentrations in soil and water. A comparison with monitoring data shows that predicted water concentrations are in plausible orders of magnitude, hence the model can be regarded as a first-approximation representation of the distribution of pesticides in the environment. The toxicity of individual pesticide active substances (AS) is characterized by their concentrations divided by the respective no observed effect concentrations (NOEC) for aquatic organisms, which represents the “toxic units” (TU) of each AS. The cumulative toxicity of pesticides in soils and streams of the EU is obtained by summing the TU of individual AS. We estimate that the toxicity of individual AS is generally well below 0.1 TU, indicating relatively safe environmental exposure. However, the cumulative toxicity of a mixture of AS can exceed 0.1 toxic units (TU) for more than 27% of the length of the EU’s stream network, and 1 TU for more than 4%. The cumulative toxicity at a given location is driven by only a handful of AS, but these differ from site to site reflecting the variability of pesticide use. Still, we estimate that only about 20 AS out of 148 appear among the top contributors to cumulative toxicity in most cases. While our assessment suggests a relatively widespread risk due to pesticide pollution, it also points to the important limitations concerning knowledge of pesticide use and monitoring of pesticide occurrence in the environment. These limitations need to be addressed in order to evaluate more accurately the effectiveness of EU pesticide policies. The assessment represents a proof-of-concept of a method that can be applied in support of the monitoring of pesticide policies implementation in the EU and elsewhere, once pesticide use can be estimated
Biochemical and Molecular Profiling of Wild Edible Mushrooms from Huila, Angola
The harvesting, processing, and sale of wild edible mushrooms (WEM) is a relevant economic activity in Angola and a good example of the use of non-wood forest products for food. Although there is deep traditional knowledge about the general properties of WEMs, a huge gap remains in detailed scientific knowledge. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the socio-economic importance of the species sold at local markets in Huila, Angola, from their molecular identification to the assessment of their nutritional, chemical, and bioactive profiles. From the eight WEM morphotypes studied, five were identified based on phenotypical and molecular approaches (four Russula spp., and Amanita loosei). The studied mushrooms proved to be a rich source of carbohydrates, proteins, and ashes, also presenting low amounts of fat. Chemical analyses further revealed mannitol as the main free sugar in all samples, and organic acids, namely, oxalic, quinic, malic, citric, and fumaric acids in low amounts. Additionally, the α-tocopherol isoform and monounsaturated fatty acids were predominant. Regarding phenolic acids, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, p-coumaric, and cinnamic acids were detected in all mushroom hydroethanolic extracts, being responsible for their antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal activities. Our investigation contributes to the identification and knowledge of WEMs as important complementary food sources in Angola, some of which were reported for the first time, promoting their utilization as a basis of nutritional and functional ingredients, as being able to be part of a balanced diet and to be used in new bio-based formulations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Biochemical and Molecular Profiling of Wild Edible Mushrooms from Huila, Angola
The harvesting, processing, and sale of wild edible mushrooms (WEM) is a relevant economic
activity in Angola and a good example of the use of non-wood forest products for food.
Although there is deep traditional knowledge about the general properties of WEMs, a huge gap
remains in detailed scientific knowledge. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the socio-economic
importance of the species sold at local markets in Huila, Angola, from their molecular identification
to the assessment of their nutritional, chemical, and bioactive profiles. From the eight WEM
morphotypes studied, five were identified based on phenotypical and molecular approaches (four
Russula spp., and Amanita loosei). The studied mushrooms proved to be a rich source of carbohydrates,
proteins, and ashes, also presenting low amounts of fat. Chemical analyses further revealed mannitol
as the main free sugar in all samples, and organic acids, namely, oxalic, quinic, malic, citric, and
fumaric acids in low amounts. Additionally, the -tocopherol isoform and monounsaturated fatty
acids were predominant. Regarding phenolic acids, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, p-coumaric,
and cinnamic acids were detected in all mushroom hydroethanolic extracts, being responsible for
their antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal activities. Our investigation contributes to the identification
and knowledge of WEMs as important complementary food sources in Angola, some of which
were reported for the first time, promoting their utilization as a basis of nutritional and functional
ingredients, as being able to be part of a balanced diet and to be used in new bio-based formulationsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Mathematics learning and assessment using MathE platform: a case study
Universities are encouraging the implementation of innovative methodologies and
teaching strategies to develop an interactive and appealing educational environment
where students are the focus of the learning process. In such a personalised learning
environment, an increase of the students’ engagement and the improvement of the
outcomes arise. MathE has been developed to help achieve this goal. Based on collaborative
procedures, internet resources – both pre-existing and freely available as
well as resources specifically conceived by the project team – and communities of
practices, MathE intends to be a tool to nurture and stimulate the learning of Mathematics
in higher education. This study introduces and describes the MathE platform,
which is divided into three sections: Student’s Assessment, Library and Community
of Practice. An in-depth description of the Student’s Assessment section is presented
and an analysis of the results obtained from students, when using this feature of the
platform, is also provided. After this, and based on the answers to an online survey,
the impact of the MathE platform among students and teachers of eight countries is
shown. Although the number of collected results is still scarce, it allows the recognition
of a trend regarding the use of the material of the Student’s Assessment section
for autonomous study. The results indicate the platform is well organized, with a
satisfactory amount and diversity of questions and good interconnection between
the various parts. Nevertheless, both teachers and students indicate that more questions
should be introduced. The overall opinion about the MathE platform is very
favourableThe authors are grateful to FCT for financial support through national funds UIDB/05757/2020.The authors are grateful to FCT for financial support through national funds UIDB/05757/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Genome-wide mega-analysis identifies 16 loci and highlights diverse biological mechanisms in the common epilepsies
sem informaçãoThe epilepsies affect around 65 million people worldwide and have a substantial missing heritability component. We report a genome-wide mega-analysis involving 15,212 individuals with epilepsy and 29,677 controls, which reveals 16 genome-wide significant91sem informaçãosem informaçãosem informaçã
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