Classification of wines by means of multivariate data analysis using the SPME/CGC-chromatograms of volatile aroma compounds

The solid phase microextraction (SPME) is an effective solvent-free sample preparation technique for the capillary gas chromatographic (CGC) analysis of volatile aroma compounds of wines. Using discriminant analysis based upon only two terpene compounds, it was possible to analytically discern between the varieties Riesling, Muller-Thurgau and Silvaner grown in the same region. The discrimination of these varieties was unsuccessful for wines of different vintages (1988-1995). In order to obtain a highly significant classification, it was necessary to consider further aroma components described in wine literature. The differentiation between these wines by a similar high classification rate was obtained using a set of variables selected by mathematical methods. Wines prepared from known grape varieties were qualitatively recognized by factor- and cluster-analyses as well as the relative peak intensities of the terpene compounds in the SPME-CGC chromatograms. The composition of wine blends was quantitatively determined

Paleometry: A brand new area in Brazilian science

Paleometry is a promising research field that brings together different areas, such as physics and chemistry, applied to paleobiological issues. In spite of being recognized abroad, it is a new research field in Brazil. The most important characteristic is the application of mostly non-destructive techniques to the study of fossils. This work compiles some paleometrical applications to different geological contexts, such as the synthesis of hard skeleton in Corumbella werneri, geochemical aspects about fresh water bivalves from the Bauru Group and the exceptional preservation of arthropods from the Crato Member. Diffuse Reflectance Infrared (DRIFT) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) were complementary to elucidate the types of skeletogenesys in Corumbella. In the case of the bivalves, DRIFT revealed to be important to elucidate aspects about death and fossilization. Among arthropods, morphological analysis with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) associated with EDX was more profitable to understand fossilization process and paleoenvironmental implications.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Ctr Ciencias &Tecnol Sustentabilidade, BR-18052780 Sorocaba, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Carlos, Ctr Ciencias Humanas &Biol, BR-18052780 Sorocaba, SP, BrazilUniv Sao Paulo, Inst Geociencias, BR-05508080 Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista Julio Mesquita Filho UNESP, Fac Ciencias, BR-17033360 Bauru, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista Julio Mesquita Filho UNESP, BR-18087180 Sorocaba, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista Julio Mesquita Filho UNESP, Fac Ciencias, BR-17033360 Bauru, SP, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista Julio Mesquita Filho UNESP, BR-18087180 Sorocaba, SP, BrazilFAPESP: 2009/02312-4FAPESP: 2013/16545-6FAPESP: 2013/06719-7FAPESP: 2013/06718-

The Forgotten Tradition. How the Logical Empiricists missed the Philosophical Significance of the work of Riemann, Christoffel and Ricci

Abstract. The paper attempts to show how the Logical Empiricists’ interpretation of the relation between geometry and reality emerges from a “collision” of mathematical traditions. Considering Riemann’s work as the initiator of a 19th century geometrical tradition, whose main protagonists were Helmholtz and Poincaré, the Logical Empiricists neglected the fact that Riemann’s revolutionary insight flourished rather in a non-geometrical tradition dominated by the works of Christoffel and Ricci-Curbastro roughly in the same years. I will argue that in the attempt to draw the line Riemann-Helmholtz-Poincaré-Einstein Logical Empiricists were led to argue that General Relativity raised mainly a problem of mathematical under-determination, i.e. the discovery that there are physical differences that cannot be expressed in the relevant mathematical structure of the theory. However, a historical reconstruction of the alternative line of development Riemann-Chritoffel-Ricci-Einstein shows on the contrary that the main philosophical issue raised by Einstein’s theory was rather that of mathematical over-determination, i.e. the recognition of the presence of redundant mathematical differences that do not have any correspondence in physical reality