Migration, humanitarianism, and the politics of knowledge: An interview with Juliano Fiori

In this interview with Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Juliano Fiori—Head of Studies (Humanitarian Affairs) at Save the Children—reflects on Eurocentrism and coloniality in studies of and responses to migration. In the context of ongoing debates about the politics of knowledge and the urgency of anticolonial action, Fiori discusses the ideological and epistemological bases of responses to migration, the Western character of humanitarianism, the “localization of aid” agenda, and the political implications of new populisms of the Right

FIELD TESTS FOR MEDICAGO RESISTANCE AGAINST THE POTATO LEAFHOPPER (HOMOPTERA: CICADELLIDAE)

A collection of 70 Medicago introductions were field tested for resistance against potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris), damage. All M. sativa L. ssp. sativa and most ssp. mixtures were susceptible. All ssp. falcata (L.) Arcangeli, one ssp. mixture sativa and caerulea (Lessing ex Ledebour) Schmalhausen, ssp. × varia (Martyn) Arcangeli and M. pironae Vis were resistant receiving one-half or less damage than the standard cultivars during four seasons of testing. Resistant introductions were slower in regrowth, attained less height, had smaller leaflets, thinner, tougher stems, and more prostrate growth than standard cultivars. Results suggest most observed resistance is due to avoidance of tough stems for ovipositio

Evaluation of roasting effect on selected green tea volatile flavor compound and pyrazine content by hs-spme gc-ms

The present study aims at the development and validation of a quali-quantitative headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME GC-MS) method for the analysis of odorants in different Chinese and Japanese green teas. A 65 µm PDMS/DVB fiber was used, and GC-MS was performed on a ZB-5 (30 m × 0.25 mm ID, 0.25 µm film) column. The main odorants in green tea samples were identified and the method was fully validated. Linearity (r2 0.981–0.999), sensitivity (LOQ 0.005–0.04 µg/mL), reproducibility (CV% 3.12–10.37), accuracy (recovery% 79.08–99.17) and matrix effect (ME% −9.5 to +4.5) were determined. Quantitation of 2,4-heptadienal, β-damascenone, β-ionone, linalool, indole, 2-ethyl-6-methyl-pyrazine, 2-ethyl-5-methyl-pyrazine, 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpirazine, 2-ethyl-3,5-dimethyl-pyrazine and 2-acetyl-pyrazine was carried out in the presence of isotopically labeled compounds as the internal standards. The proposed method was applied to the comparison of the profile of the volatile flavor compounds (VFCs) of green tea subjected to roasting treatment at three different temperatures (160, 180 and 200◦C for 30 min). In particular, the roasting process was monitored by following the quantitative variations of the selected odorant content, considered as the most important contributory components to the Hojicha or black tea (roasted tea) flavor. A temperature of 160◦C was found to be the best roasting temperature

Simulations and integral-equation theories for dipolar density interacting disks

Integral equation theories (IETs) based on the Ornstein-Zernike (OZ) relation can be used as an analytical tool to predict structural and thermodynamic properties and phase behavior of fluids with low numerical cost. However, there are no studies of the IETs for the dipolar density interaction potential in 2D systems, a relevant inter-domain interaction in lipid monolayers with phase coexistence. This repulsive interaction arises due to the excess dipole density of the domains, which are aligned perpendicular to the interface. This work studies the performance of three closures of the OZ equation for this novel system: Rogers-Young (RY), Modified Hypernetted Chain (MHNC), and Variational Modified Hypernetted Chain (VMHNC). For the last two closures the bridge function of a reference system is required, being the hard disk the most convenient reference system. Given that in 2D there is no analytical expressions for the hard disk correlation functions, two different approximations are proposed: one based on the Percus-Yevick approximation (PY), and the other based on an extension of the hard spheres Verlet-Weis-Henderson-Grundke parameterization (LB). The accuracy of the five approaches is evaluated by comparison of the pair correlation function and the structure factor with Monte Carlo simulation data. The results show that RY closure is only satisfactory for low-structured regimes. MHNC and VMHNC closures perform globally well and there are no significant differences between them. However, the reference system in some cases affects their performance; when the pair correlation function serves as the measure, the LB--based closures quantitatively outperform the PY ones. From the point of view of its applicability, LB--based closures do not have a solution for all studied interaction strength parameters, and, in general, PY--based closures are numerically preferable.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Field-amplified sample injection and sweeping micellar electrokinetic chromatography in analysis of glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid in wheat

Glyphosate, a widely used herbicide, has been classified as probably carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In the present study a method based on Field-Amplified Sample Injection and Sweeping Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography (FASI sweep-MEKC) has been developed and validated for determination of glyphosate and its microbial metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) in wheat flour. The method involved a preliminary solid phase extraction for cleanup of the aqueous extracts from wheat flour, based sequentially on C18 and strong anion exchange cartridges, followed by derivatization using 9-fluorenylmethylchloroformate. Optimization of sample cleanup and derivatization procedure was carried out by a HPLC-UV method, whereas FASI sweep-MEKC was applied for achieving the sensitivity necessary for analysis of real samples. To this regard, optimum conditions involved the use of an extended path fused-silica capillary (80 cm total length, 50 μm, i.d.) filled with a high concentration buffer (sodium phosphate 100 mM, pH 2.2). Electrokinetic sampling was carried out at −10 kV with injection time of 700 s and the separation of the loaded analytes was performed under MEKC conditions using sodium phosphate buffer 50 mM at pH 2.2, supplemented with sodium dodecyl sulfate, 100 mM. The method was validated for linearity, precision, accuracy and sensitivity, showing that using conventional UV detection (210 nm) the achieved limit of quantitation (LOQ) values for both the analytes were widely lower than those set by Authorities. In particular, LOQ for glyphosate and AMPA were found to be 5 and 2.5 ng/mL, respectively, corresponding to 0.1 and 0.05 mg/kg, in wheat flour. The method, applied to commercially available real samples (wheat flour from different manufacturers) and to an experimental sample obtained by cv. Svevo wheat, can be considered as a convenient alternative to the existing approaches in analysis of complex matrices

THEORETIC-EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF A CASCADE REFRIGERATION SYSTEM FOR LOW TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS USING THE PAIR R22/R404A

This paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of a cascade refrigeration system using the refrigerant R22 as the working fluid in the high temperature circuit (HT) and the refrigerant R404a as the working fluid in the low temperature circuit (LT). The present analysis aimed to obtain the condensing temperature of the LT that provides an optimal value for the coefficient of performance (COP) of the cycle. Parameters involved in the analysis included the evaporation temperature, the condensing temperature and the difference between the condensing temperature of the LT (TC_LT) and evaporation temperature of the HT (TE_HT) – ΔTCAS. Simulations were performed using the software EES (Engineering Equation Solver). In addition to the analysis, experimental data obtained from a prototype was compared with the simulated results which showed good agreement. The COP varies with the increase in the intermediate temperature; however this variation does not exceed 1%

LAS: a software platform to support oncological data management

The rapid technological evolution in the biomedical and molecular oncology fields is providing research laboratories with huge amounts of complex and heterogeneous data. Automated systems are needed to manage and analyze this knowledge, allowing the discovery of new information related to tumors and the improvement of medical treatments. This paper presents the Laboratory Assistant Suite (LAS), a software platform with a modular architecture designed to assist researchers throughout diverse laboratory activities. The LAS supports the management and the integration of heterogeneous biomedical data, and provides graphical tools to build complex analyses on integrated data. Furthermore, the LAS interfaces are designed to ease data collection and management even in hostile environments (e.g., in sterile conditions), so as to improve data qualit