Food proteins and peptides

The qualitative and quantitative determination of proteins and peptides in raw or processed food is experiencing a growing interest and importance from both scientific and economic point of view. Proteomics and peptidomics are relatively new entries in the field of food security, safety and authenticity, and themselves can contribute to the emergence of new branches of the science of food, such as foodomics and the just born nutriomics, digestomics, and gut metagenomics/metaproteomics. Mass spectrometry, in combination with a wide variety of separation methods and bioinformatic tools, is the principal methodology for proteomics. Both the so-called "in-gel" and "gel-free shotgun" bottom-up approaches are widely used.Among the arguments described in this chapter there are: stress effects on gene expression, postharvest (plant) and postmortem (livestock) protein modification, food safety, quality and authentication, food processing and quality control, frauds discovery, food peptidomics and digestomics. © 2015 Elsevier B.V

Development of a rapid LC-MS/MS Method for the determination of emerging fusarium mycotoxins enniatins and beauvericin in human biological fluids

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of enniatins A, A1, B and B1 and beauvericin, both in human urine and plasma samples, was developed and validated. The method consisted of a simple and easy pretreatment, specific for each matrix, followed by solid phase extraction (SPE) and detection by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry with an electrospray ion source. The optimized SPE method was performed on graphitized carbon black cartridges after suitable dilution of the extracts, which allowed high mycotoxin absolute recoveries (76%-103%) and the removal of the major interferences from the matrix. The method was extensively evaluated for plasma and urine samples separately, providing satisfactory results in terms of linearity (R² of 0.991-0.999), process efficiency (>81%), trueness (recoveries between 85% and 120%), intra-day precision (relative standard deviation, RSD < 18%), inter-day precision (RSD < 21%) and method quantification limits (ranging between 20 ng·L(-)¹ and 40 ng·L(-)¹ in plasma and between 5 ng·L(-)¹ and 20 ng·L(-)¹ in urine). Finally, the highly sensitive validated method was applied to some urine and plasma samples from different donors

Parental attitudes toward referral from a child psychiatric clinic

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

L’idea di Manierismo in architettura: fortuna e declino di una categoria storiografica

The concept of Mannerism in architecture had great critical fortune between the 30s and the 60s in the 20th century, with the progressive achievement of this historiographic category in the field of arts and culture. Regarding architecture, the term Mannerism received different definitions, periodisations and evaluations, up until the sudden and silent decline of the interest it had sparked.This paper briefly reconstructs these events through the analysis of different critical approaches and positions with particular regard to the contributions of three great scholars who share the fact of having used the category of Mannerism to analyze architecture and then of having moved away from it in their more recent studies: Ernst Gombrich, Manfredo Tafuri, and Arnaldo Bruschi.The history of the concept of Mannerism is put in relationship to contemporary historical research on architecture, by revealing that the use of this category allowed the renovation of traditional historiographical points of view and drew attention to previously neglected subjects. In conclusion, the later rejecting of Mannerism as an interpretative tool of architectural phenomena is attributed to the development of research itself, which had highlighted the complexity of XVth and XVIth century architecture, and to methodological improvements regarding not only the Renaissance but the whole field of architectural history as well.Il concetto di Manierismo in architettura conosce una stagione di notevole fortuna critica tra gli anni Trenta e Sessanta del secolo scorso, nell’ambito di una progressiva affermazione di questa categoria storiografica nel campo delle arti e della cultura. Riguardo all’architettura il Manierismo ha ricevuto definizioni, periodizzazioni e valutazioni diverse, fino a un rapido e silenzioso declino dell’interesse che aveva suscitato.Il saggio ricostruisce sinteticamente queste vicende attraverso la rilettura di diverse posizioni critiche, con particolare riguardo al contributo di tre grandi studiosi che condividono il fatto di aver utilizzato, per l’architettura, la categoria di Manierismo e di averla poi superata negli studi più recenti: Ernst Gombrich, Manfredo Tafuri e Arnaldo Bruschi.La storia del concetto di Manierismo è così messa in relazione alle contemporanee esperienze della ricerca storica sull’architettura, rilevando come l’uso di questa categoria abbia permesso di rinnovare i punti di vista storiografici e di attirare l’attenzione su temi precedentemente trascurati.È infine possibile concludere che i motivi del suo superamento come strumento interpretativo dei fenomeni architettonici siano insiti nell’approfondimento della ricerca, che ha evidenziato la complessità dell’architettura del XV e XVI secolo, nonché in una maturazione metodologica che non riguarda soltanto il periodo rinascimentale ma coinvolge l’intera disciplina della storia dell’architettura

Using trails to improve map generation for virtual agents in large scale, online environments

This thesis looks at improving the generation of maps for intelligent virtual agents in large scale environments. Virtual environments are growing larger in size and becoming more complex. There is a major challenge in providing agents that are able to autonomously generate their own map representations of the environment for use in navigation. Currently, map generation for agents in large scale virtual environments is performed either by hand or requires a lengthy pre-processing step where the map is built online. We are interested in environments where this process is not possible, such as those that encourage user generated content. We look at improving map generation in these environments by using trails. Trails are a set of observations of how a user navigates an environment over time. By observing trails an agent is able to identify free space in an environment and how to navigate between points without needing to perform any collision checking. We found that trails in a virtual environments are a useful source of information for an agent's map building process. Trails can be used to improve rapidly exploring randomised tree and probabilistic roadmap generation, as well as being used as a source of information for segmenting maps in very large scale environments

Llano Alonso, Fernando H. - El pensamiento iusfilosófico de Guido Fassó

Considerar el trabajo de Fernando H. Llano Alonso, partiendo de que el mismo es una tesis doctoral, invita al elogio sin restricciones. La propuesta es seria y así lo evidencian las notas incluidas al final de cada capítulo, donde se manifiesta la profusión de fuentes bibliográficas, en las cuales se apoya la investigación. Pero la crítica de la obra, debe necesariamente trascender la labor de investigación, para recalar en la ponderación de sus resultados, que es lo que nos roponemos

Enhancing singlet oxygen generation by self-assembly of a porphyrin entrapped in supramolecular fibres

Singlet oxygen (SO) is one of the reactive oxygen species that is effective in various uses, including performing chemical reactions, treating water impurities, and aiding in medicinal therapy. The generation of SO is often efficient in solution, although generation from the solid phase in nanomaterials is less reliable. Here, we report the preparation of hybrid supramolecular materials that incorporate a photosensitizer within their nanostructured fibers and demonstrate their high efficiency in promoting SO formation. The incorporation of tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin within the nanofibers of a bis-imidazolium gelator was proved by various techniques, including super-resolution radial fluctuations (SRRF) microscopy, which shows the location of the chromophore precisely. SO is generated from the dispersed nanofibers far more efficiently than the dissolved porphyrin; a 14-fold higher rate is observed initially. These results point to an effective approach to the generation of SO for several applications, from optimizing synthetic protocols to photomedicine

Critical fiction, fictional criticism: Christine Brooke-Rose’s experimentalism between theory and practice

This thesis focuses on the mature development of Christine Brooke-Rose’s experimental fiction, taking particular interest in the exemplary texts Between and Thru. I argue that these texts both critically refigure and respond to central aspects of the poststructuralist debate. I investigate Between and Thru specifically in relation to the theories of Irigaray, Barthes (in the case of Between), Derrida and Kristeva (in the case of Thru), demonstrating how the two novels develop these theorists’ core tenets in an innovative manner that critics have failed to recognise up to this point. Starting – in the first chapter – from Brooke-Rose’s first four conventional novels, I explore the issues which lie at the basis of the experimental direction she comes to take, and investigate her first two experimental novels, Out and Such. The second chapter explores Between in relation to the debate over language and identity, whereas the third chapter investigates the way the novel addresses the gender issue as related to language. The fourth chapter concentrates on Thru’s narrative technique in order to better elucidate – in the fifth and sixth chapters – how the novel succeeds in resolving both the tension generated by the notion of language as linked to the representation of an ontologically unstable reality, and the narrative anxiety deriving from the dispute around the death of the author and the ontological status of characters. The seventh chapter offers an overview of Brooke-Rose’s fictional output after Thru, while the eighth and final chapter aims at further positioning Brooke- Rose in the context of the postmodern debate, showing how her work represents a countertendency to the nihilist attitude engendered by the major critical tenets of postmodernism. The thesis thus sheds light on the importance and role of Brooke-Rose as a highly innovative intellectual figure, while rethinking some of the main literary implications of the postmodernist debate