Raman imaging of changes in the polysaccharides distribution in the cell wall during apple fruit development and senescence

Main conclusion Du ring on-tree ripening, the pectin distribution changed from polydispersed in cell wall to cumulated in cell wall corners. During apple storage, the pectin distribution returned to evenly dispersed along the cell wall. The plant cell wall influences the texture properties of fruit tissue for example apples become softer during ripening and postharvest storage. This softening process is believed to be mainly connected with changes in the cell wall composition due to polysaccharides undergoing an enzymatic degradation. These changes in polysaccharides are currently mainly investigated via chemical analysis or monoclonal labeling. Here, we propose the application of Raman microscopy for evaluating the changes in the polysaccharide distribution in the cell wall of apples during both ripening and postharvest storage. The apples were harvested 1 month and 2 weeks before optimal harvest date as well as at the optimal harvest date. The apples harvested at optimal harvest date were stored for 3 months. The Raman maps, as well as the chemical analysis were obtained for each harvest date and after 1, 2 and 3 months of storage, respectively. The analysis of the Raman maps showed that the pectins in the middle lamella and primary cell wall undergo a degradation. The changes in cellulose and hemicellulose were less pronounced. These findings were confirmed by the chemical analysis results. During development changes of pectins from a polydispersed form in the cell walls to a cumulated form in cell wall corners could be observed. In contrast after 3 months of apple storage we could observe an substantial pectin decrease. The obtained results demonstrate that Raman chemical imaging might be a very useful tool for a first identification of compositional changes in plant tissue during their development. The great advantage Raman microspectroscopy offers is the simultaneous localization and identification of polysaccharides within the cell wall and plant tissue

Introducing the Philosophy of Creativity: The Concept—the History of Idea—the Interdisciplinary Perspective

Twórczość już od dawna nie jest postrzegana jedynie jako domena poetów i artystów, a możliwość rozważania jej natury nie jest zarezerwowana tylko dla estetyki. W swoich analizach chciałabym pokazać tę wielokierunkowość badań nad fenomenem creatio, który współcześnie coraz częściej łączony jest z opisywaną przez psychologów uniwersalną ludzką kreatywnością. Tekst niniejszy, wprowadzając w podstawowe rozważania nad definiowaniem i wyjaśnianiem twórczości dawniej i dzisiaj, ma jednocześnie ułatwić podjęcie kwestii bardziej szczegółowych i specyficznych dla współczesnych analiz (kwestie te podejmuję w artykule „O głównych dylematach filozofii twórczości. Ujęcie syntetyczne z uwzględnieniem badań współczesnych”, który stanowi niejako przedłużenie przedstawionych tu treści). Niniejsze wprowadzenie do dziedziny filozofii twórczości zostało wykonane w trzech krokach: (1) poprzez przywołanie rozważań dokonanych już wcześniej przez filozofów; (2) przez opisanie tradycyjnych i współczesnych sposobów definiowania pojęcia twórczości (i kreatywności) oraz (3) poprzez przedstawienie wybranych popularnych psychologicznych teorii procesu twórczego.It has been a long time since the ability to create is not percieved only as the domain of poets and artists, and the eventuality of deliberating over its nature is not restricted only to aesthetics. In the present analyses I would like to show this modern and postmodern variety of the studies on the creatio phenomenon, which today is often to be comprehended as the universal human creativity (described mainly by psychologists and educators). By introducing the fundamental considerations over the traditional and non-traditional definitions and explanations of creativity, this article has to facilitate at the same time the task of raising more specific and detailed issues (which I partly describe in the article “On the main dilemmas of the philosophy of creativity: A synthetic view of the contemporary research” in this volume of Roczniki Filozoficzne). The present introduction to the philosophy of creativity field will be made in three main steps: (1) by evoking some previous philosophical analyses, (2) by describing the traditional and modern ways of defining the concept and (3) through showing the selected psychological theories of the process of creating the new, valuable and original artifact

Counterfactual Imagination as a Mental Tool for Innovation

In the article I demonstrate some of the possible ways by which counterfactual im⁠agination can lead people to innovation and the creation of novel and valuable solutions. I start with adopting the broad definition of counterfactuals, by which counterfactual imagination is understood as the ability to imagine alternative states of affairs which can relate to the past, present or future. I explain how counterfactual imagination differs from other sorts of imaginative and creative thoughts, pointing out that counterfactual types of thinking always rely on facts and involve a change in some features of the actual world, leaving other such features unaltered. I also show that the concept of counterfactual imagination can be useful when we aim to describe the very earliest manifestations of imaginative capacities in children, which can be seen in their make-believe games. All the mentioned characteristics of counterfactual imagination are further used to examine how what if and would be sorts of thinking and imagining might influence people’s creative performance. I conclude with the suggestion that—if guided properly—counterfactual imagination could be a truly valuable mental tool for innovation. This demonstration is partly influenced by Ruth Byrne’s multi-faceted analysis of counterfactual imagination, mainly from her book, The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality

On the Main Dilemmas of the Philosophy of Creativity: A Synthetic View of the Contemporary Research

Współcześnie filozoficzne studia nad ludzką twórczością nie zamykają się jedynie na opisie życiorysów geniuszy i na estetycznych analizach oryginalnego wytworu. Wraz z poszerzeniem granic pojęcia creatio, rozumianego obecnie często jako uniwersalna ludzka potencjalność tworzenia (kreatywność), rozszerzyło się też pole możliwych analiz do podjęcia w ramach kiełkującej dopiero dziedziny filozofii twórczości. Pojawiły się też jednocześnie nowe dylematy do rozwiązania. W niniejszym tekście pokazuję ową różnorodność i problematyczność współczesnych badań nad fenomenem twórczości poprzez (1) wymienienie głównych opozycyjnych głosów w dzisiejszych analizach, a także (2) przez opisanie obecnie wiodących kierunków studiów podejmowanych wokół tego zagadnienia. Podniesione zostaną tutaj m.in. takie problematyczne kwestie jak: egalitarność vs. elitarność twórczości, miejsce świadomości i racjonalności w procesie twórczym, natura twórczości naukowej, perspektywa międzykulturowa w badaniach nad kreatywnością, naturalizowanie ludzkiej twórczości czy też rola wyobraźni oraz dziecięcej zabawy w udawanego w kształtowaniu zdolności twórczych człowieka.Contemporary philosophical studies on creativity of humans are not narrowed only to the descriptions of the geniuses’ lifes and to the aesthetical analyses of the original artifacts. With the modern extension of the creatio concept (which is now often understood as an universal ability of all men to create), the enlargement of the possible studies to be done in the field od philosophy of creativity have appeared also. At the same time—the new dilemmas to solve have come out. In the present article I show the diversity of contemporary research on the creativity phenomenon by (1) delineating the main opposition voices in this research and by (2) describing some of the leading trends in the field. There will be raised such problematic issues as: elitism vs. egalitarianism of creativity, the place of consciousness and rationality in the creative processes, the nature of the scientific creativity, the intercultural perspective in the research, naturalizing the phenomenon and also the possible functions of the imagination and pretend play in shaping the creative abilities of humans

Isolation and Characterization of Cellulose from Different Fruit and Vegetable Pomaces

A new fractionation process was developed to achieve valorization of fruit and vegetable pomaces. The importance of the residues from fruits and vegetables is still growing; therefore; the study presents the novel route of a fractioning process for the conversion of agro-industrial biomasses, such as pomaces, into useful feedstocks with potential application in the fields of fuels, chemicals, and polymers. Hence, the biorefinery process is expected to convert them into various by-products offering a great diversity of low-cost materials. The final product of the process is the cellulose of the biofuel importance. The study presents the novel route of the fractioning process for the conversion of agro-industrial biomasses, such as pomaces, into useful feedstocks with a potential application in the fields of fuels, chemicals, and polymers. Therefore the aim of this paper was to present the novel route of the pomaces fraction and the characterization of residuals. Pomaces from apple, cucumber, carrot, and tomato were treated sequentially with water, acidic solution, alkali solution, and oxidative reagent in order to obtain fractions reach in sugars, pectic polysaccharides, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. Pomaces were characterized by dry matter content, neutral detergent solubles, hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. Obtained fractions were characterized by the content of pectins expressed as galacturonic acid equivalent and hemicelluloses expressed as a xyloglucan equivalent. The last fraction and residue was cellulose characterized by crystallinity degree by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), microfibril diameter by atomic force microscope (AFM), and overall morphology by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The hemicelluloses content was similar in all pomaces. Moreover, all the materials were characterized by the high pectins level in extracts evaluated as galacturonic acid content. The lignins content compared with other plant biomasses was on a very low level. The cellulose fraction was the highest in cucumber pomace. The cellulose fraction was characterized by crystallinity degree, microfibril diameter, and overall morphology. Isolated cellulose had a very fine structure with relatively high crystalline index but small crystallites

Determination of the Optimum Harvest Window for Apples Using the Non-Destructive Biospeckle Method

Determination of the optimum harvest window plays a key role in the agro-food chain as the quality of fruit depends on the right harvesting time and appropriate storage conditions during the postharvest period. Usually, indices based on destructive measurements are used for this purpose, like the De Jager Index (PFW-1), FARS index and the most popular Streif Index. In this study, we proposed a biospeckle method for the evaluation of the optimum harvest window (OHW) of the “Ligol” and “Szampion” apple cultivars. The experiment involved eight different maturity stages, of which four were followed by long cold storage and shelf life to assist the determination of the optimum harvest window. The biospeckle activity was studied in relation to standard quality attributes (firmness, acidity, starch, soluble solids content, Streif Index) and physiological parameters (respiration and ethylene emission) of both apple cultivars. Changes of biospeckle activity (BA) over time showed moderate relationships with biochemical changes during apple maturation and ripening. The harvest date suggested by the Streif Index and postharvest quality indicators matched with characteristic decrease in BA. The ability of biospeckle method to characterize the biological state of apples was confirmed by significant correlations of BA with firmness, starch index, total soluble solids and Streif Index, as well as good match with changes in carbon dioxide and ethylene emission. However, it should be noted that correlations between variables changing over time are not as meaningful as independent observations. Also, it is a well-known property of the Pearson’s correlation that its value is highly susceptible to outlier data. Due to its non-selective nature the BA reflected only the current biological state of the fruit and could be affected by many other factors. The investigations showed that the optimum harvest window for apples was indicated by the characteristic drop of BA during pre-harvest development. Despite this, at the current state of development the BA method cannot be used as an indicator alone. Due to rather poor results for prediction in OHW the BA measurements should be supported by other destructive methods to compensate its low selectivity