Salt pans matter : a system of ecology and culture cohabitation for Cabo de Gata, Andalusia, Spain

This thesis book seeks new meanings for the concept of “cohabitation”, it is important to understand “cohabitation” as the link to connect cultural inheritance and natural restoration. We need to find a way to coexist with nature and create something beyond - the new relationship for “economy, nature, and culture.” The salt pans in Cabo de gata of Andalucia, Spain is not just a potential habitat for the migrating birds, especially for flamingos, but also for the cultural heritage of the traditional craft of salt production. Unfortunately, it is the only salt pan still under operation in the region today. Actually, in recent years, the local salt pans have declined because the local traditional salt production has been replaced by industrially produced salt(chemical mined salt) from other countries. While the salt pans are gradually abandoned, the habitat lost, too. It is important for us to think about ecosystem transformation and cultural protection at this point. Could the traditional salt industry still have value today? What is the potential for the future? The unique thing about the site is that the salt pan is facing to the sea and right beside the volcano, which creates a shift in scale from the deep topo to a vast flatness. It extracts the water from the sea to create the color palette, which is different from the natural salt pan. This book brings an idea to guide the salt pan for future development from aesthetic, ecological and experiencial viewpoint. The first chapter will talk about the importance of the salt pan, how it works and how the craft of salt production relates to habitat. The issue will lead us to think about how could we preserve this special landscape by keeping its natural function and cultural value but also by creating “a unique and valuable experience for visitors”. That could be the reason for it should exist even when the salt production has less economic value for this area in the future. The design proposal for the “narrative experience”- an experience of knowledge and engagement, and experience about the interaction between the natural process and artificial production

1H-NMR spectroscopy to investigate the effects of food on animals and humans through metabolomics

Metabolomics have proven highly effective for unravelling the complex metabolomic interactions between food and health. 1H-NMR has provided abundant information when the animal metabolism response to feed characteristics was evaluated or when the connection between health status of people and food composition was investigated. As a first step of the PhD work, standard operating procedures (SOPs) were setup to investigate the metabolome of serum, feces, urine and meat by means of 1H-NMR. The SOPs were outlined so to be of general applicability for metabolomics investigation of any animal. The SOPs gave the opportunity to face new projects which highlighted effects of food on the metabolism of animals and humans. In order to gain confidence about metabolomic investigations on animal studies, a simple trial focused on arginine supplementation for broiler chickens was setup at the first stage. We found that arginine supplementation improved food efficiency in fast-growing broiler chickens. Second, a complex trial relating to probiotics administration for horses was performed. Such trial was considered as an intermediate step to provide references for the final goal. As a result, some potential biomarkers suggested that a likely mechanism was linked to the change of energy source in muscle from carbohydrates to short-chain fatty acids. Finally, the effects of probiotics on human health was investigated through two experiments aiming to provide evidences of probiotic supplementation on the treatments of gastrointestinal diseases. It was the first trial aiming to assess safety and efficacy of a mixture of probiotics for the treatment of infantile colic in exclusively breastfed infants. We found propylene glycol was considered as the potential candidate molecules of individuals supplemented with probiotics. In terms of the treatments of symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD), short chain fatty acids production seemed to play a mainstay role in the complex metabolic pathway characterizing SUDD patients

On the General Chain Pair Simplification Problem

The Chain Pair Simplification problem (CPS) was posed by Bereg et al. who were motivated by the problem of efficiently computing and visualizing the structural resemblance between a pair of protein backbones. In this problem, given two polygonal chains of lengths n and m, the goal is to simplify both of them simultaneously, so that the lengths of the resulting simplifications as well as the discrete Frechet distance between them are bounded. When the vertices of the simplifications are arbitrary (i.e., not necessarily from the original chains), the problem is called General CPS (GCPS). In this paper we consider for the first time the complexity of GCPS under both the discrete Frechet distance (GCPS-3F) and the Hausdorff distance (GCPS-2H). (In the former version, the quality of the two simplifications is measured by the discrete Fr\u27echet distance, and in the latter version it is measured by the Hausdorff distance.) We prove that GCPS-3F is polynomially solvable, by presenting an widetilde-O((n+m)^6 min{n,m}) time algorithm for the corresponding minimization problem. We also present an O((n+m)^4) 2-approximation algorithm for the problem. On the other hand, we show that GCPS-2H is NP-complete, and present an approximation algorithm for the problem

Genomic Scaffold Filling Revisited

The genomic scaffold filling problem has attracted a lot of attention recently. The problem is on filling an incomplete sequence (scaffold) I into I\u27, with respect to a complete reference genome G, such that the number of adjacencies between G and I\u27 is maximized. The problem is NP-complete and APX-hard, and admits a 1.2-approximation. However, the sequence input I is not quite practical and does not fit most of the real datasets (where a scaffold is more often given as a list of contigs). In this paper, we revisit the genomic scaffold filling problem by considering this important case when, (1) a scaffold S is given, the missing genes X = c(G) - c(S) can only be inserted in between the contigs, and the objective is to maximize the number of adjacencies between G and the filled S\u27 and (2) a scaffold S is given, a subset of the missing genes X\u27 subset X = c(G) - c(S) can only be inserted in between the contigs, and the objective is still to maximize the number of adjacencies between G and the filled S\u27\u27. For problem (1), we present a simple NP-completeness proof, we then present a factor-2 greedy approximation algorithm, and finally we show that the problem is FPT when each gene appears at most d times in G. For problem (2), we prove that the problem is W[1]-hard and then we present a factor-2 FPT-approximation for the case when each gene appears at most d times in G

Synthesis and Characterization of Free-Stand Graphene/Silver Nanowire/Graphene Nano Composite as Transparent Conductive Film with Enhanced Stiffness

As-grown graphene via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has potential defects, cracks, and disordered grain boundaries induced by the synthesis and transfer process. Graphene/silver nanowire/graphene (Gr/AgNW/Gr) sandwich composite has been proposed to overcome these drawbacks significantly as the AgNW network can provide extra connections on graphene layers to enhance the stiffness and electrical conductivity. However, the existing substrate (polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass, silicon, and so on) for composite production limits its application and mechanics behavior study. In this work, a vacuum annealing method is proposed and validated to synthesize the free-stand Gr/AgNW/Gr nanocomposite film on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids. AgNW average spacing, optical transmittance, and electrical conductivity are characterized and correlated with different AgNW concentrations. Atomic force microscope (AFM) indentation on the free-stand composite indicates that the AgNW network can increase the composite film stiffness by approximately 460% with the AgNW concentration higher than 0.6 mg/mL. Raman spectroscopy shows the existence of a graphene layer and the disturbance of the AgNW network. The proposed method provides a robust way to synthesize free-stand Gr/AgNW/Gr nanocomposite and the characterization results can be utilized to optimize the nanocomposite design for future applications

Probiotic Supplementation in Trained Trotter Horses: Effect on Blood Clinical Pathology Data and Urine Metabolomic Assessed in Field

The attention of sports community towards probiotic supplementation as a way to promote exercise and training performance, together with good health, has increased in recent years. This has applied also to horses, with promising results. Here, for the first time, we tested a probiotic mix of several strains of live bacteria typically employed for humans to improve the training performance of Standardbred horses in athletic activity. To evaluate its effects on the horse performance, we measured lactate concentration in blood, a translational outcome largely employed for the purpose, combined with the study of hematological and biochemical parameters, together with urine from a metabolomics perspective. The results showed that the probiotic supplementation reduced significantly post exercise blood lactate concentration. The hematological and biochemical parameters, together with urine molecular profile, suggested that a likely mechanism underlying this positive effect was connected to a switch of energy source in muscle from carbohydrates to SCFAs. Three sulfur-containing molecules differently concentrated in urines in connection to probiotics administration suggested that such switch was linked to sulfur metabolism

Respiratory metabolites in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) can differentiate horses affected by severe equine asthma from healthy horses

The use of an untargeted metabolomic approach to investigate biofluids of respiratory origin is of increasing interest in human and veterinary lung research. Considering the high incidence of equine asthma (>\u200914%) within horse population and the importance of this animal model for human disease, we aimed to investigate the metabolomic profile of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in healthy and asthmatic horses

Effect of dietary arginine to lysine ratios on productive performance, meat quality, plasma and muscle metabolomics profile in fast-growing broiler chickens

open7siBackground: Due to the important functions of arginine in poultry, it should be questioned whether the currently adopted dietary Arg:Lys ratios are sufficient to meet the modern broiler requirement in arginine. The present study aimed, therefore, to evaluate the effects of the dietary supplementation of L-arginine in a commercial broiler diet on productive performance, breast meat quality attributes, incidence and severity of breast muscle myopathies and foot pad dermatitis (FPD), and plasma and muscle metabolomics profile in fast-growing broilers. Results: A total of 1,170 1-day-old Ross 308 male chicks was divided into two experimental groups of 9 replicates each fed either a commercial basal diet (CON, digestible Arg:Lys ratio of 1.05,1.05,1.06and1.07 in each feeding phase, respectively) or the same basal diet supplemented on-top with crystalline L-arginine (ARG, digestible Arg:Lys ratio of 1.15,1.15,1.16and1.17, respectively). Productive parameters were determined at the end of each feeding phase (12, 22, 33, 43 d). At slaughter (43 d), incidence and severity of FPD and breast myopathies were assessed, while plasma and breast muscle samples were collected and analyzed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance-spectroscopy. The dietary supplementation of arginine significantly reduced cumulative feed conversion ratio compared to the control diet at 12 d (1.352 vs. 1.401, P<0.05), 22 d (1.398 vs. 1.420; P<0.01) and 33 d (1.494 vs. 1.524; P<0.05), and also tended to improve it in the overall period of trial (1.646 vs. 1.675; P=0.09). Body weight was significantly increased in ARG compared to CON group at 33 d (1,884 vs. 1,829g; P<0.05). No significant effect was observed on meat quality attributes, breast myopathies and FPD occurrence. ARG birds showed significantly higher plasma concentration of arginine and leucine, and lower of acetoacetate, glutamate, adenosine and proline. Arginine and acetate concentrations were higher, whereas acetone and inosine levels were lower in the breast of ARG birds (P<0.05). Conclusions: Taken together, these data showed that increased digestible Arg:Lys ratio had positive effects on feed efficiency in broiler chickens probably via modulation of metabolites that play key roles in energy and protein metabolism.openZampiga, Marco; Laghi, Luca; Petracci, Massimiliano; Zhu, Chenglin; Meluzzi, Adele; Dridi, Sami; Sirri, Federico*Zampiga, Marco; Laghi, Luca; Petracci, Massimiliano; Zhu, Chenglin; Meluzzi, Adele; Dridi, Sami; Sirri, Federico

Effects of S. cerevisiae strains on the sensory characteristics and flavor profile of kiwi wine based on E-tongue, GC-IMS and 1H-NMR

The fermentation of kiwifruit into kiwi wine (KW) can represent a strategy to reduce the economic losses linked to fruits imperfections, spoilage, over production and seasonality. In the study, Pujiang kiwifruit, a China National Geographical Indication Product, was used as raw material to produce KW fermented by four commercial S. cerevisiae strains, namely Drop Acid Yeast, DV10, SY and RW. The sensory characteristics and flavor profile of KW were assessed by means of sensory evaluation, E-tongue, GC-IMS and 1H-NMR. KW fermented by RW strain obtained the higher sensory evaluation score. E-tongue could clearly distinguish the taste differences of KW fermented by distinct S. cerevisiae strains. A total of 128 molecules were characterized by GC-IMS and 1H-NMR, indicating that the combinations of multiple technologies could provide a comprehensive flavor profile of KW. The main flavor compounds in KW pertained to the classes of esters and alcohols. Several pathways were found to be differently altered by the fermentation with the different yeast strains, namely butanoate metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, arginine and proline metabolism. The present study will facilitate screening suitable S. cerevisiae strains for KW production and provide a theoretical basis for large-scale production of KW