1,720,973 research outputs found
Antioxidant compounds and nutraceutical benefits of Mediterranean red fruits
No full textToday, the responsibility of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on the onset of non-transmissible chronic degenerative diseases has been clearly recognized by the scientific community. Epidemiological studies show that eating habits can significantly influence the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases. A conspicuous part of the protective effects of the Mediterranean diet is due to the presence of antioxidants in foods and beverages obtained from red fruits. The protective effect of dietary antioxidants from red fruits is supported by data obtained from animals, showing that the supplementation of the diet with red fruits can have beneficial effects against different types of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular damage. This chapter aims to contribute to a better understanding of ability of the antioxidant compounds of red fruits to counteract the damaging effects of ROS and will focus on the relevance of their antioxidant action
Assessment of microbial pool by an innovative microbiological technique in olive mill by-products co-composted under natural conditions
No full textDifferent mixtures of olive pomace (OP), olive mill wastewater (OMWW) and olive pruning residues (OPR) were aerobically co-composted under natural conditions. Compost temperature showed a sharp increase in the first 40-60 days, followed by a stabilization at 60°C and a decline after 150 days, whereas compost water content ranged from 50-55% to 25-30%. Total and selec-tive microbial counts were followed throughout the experiment by means of innovative (IMT) and conventional (CMT) microbiological techniques. Pseudomonas spp., anaerobic bacteria, actino-mycetes, and fungi reached levels of 8, 7, 5 and 6 log CFU g–1 compost, respectively, with a slight depression after 30-80 days. Total and fecal coli- forms strongly decreased during the compost-ing process. The use of IMT allowed to detect a higher and more stable growth of microorgan-isms if compared to CMT. IMT was demonstrated to be an appropriate and reliable method for mo- nitoring the microbial pools during the co-com- posting process
Persistence ed effect of rotenone on oil quality in two Italian olive cultivars
No full textThe aims of this work are to assess the persistence of rotenone in oil and drupes of olive plants of cultivars Nocellara del Belice (NB) and Cassanese (CA), and to compare the quality of oils from rotenone-treated and untreated plants. Samples of drupes and oil were analyzed at 2, 12, 22 and 30 days after treatment. Rotenone levels in drupes of treated plants declined by about 50% after 22 days from treatment (0.037 mg kg-1 in NB and 0.039 mg kg-1 in CA), whereas the respective values in the oil were higher (0.209 mg kg-1 in NB and 0.229 mg kg-1 in CA) and had a lower decay half-life (4.02 days in NB and 4.71 days in CA). For both cultivars, no significant differences in oil physicochemical and nutritional parameters were found between the two treatments. The panel test of oils extracted after 22 days did not reveal significant differences in unpleasant aromatic notes nor defects between the two treatments. Our results confirm that serious doubts remain about the safety and healthiness of oils extracted from drupes treated with rotenone. This information could assess the real risk in the use of this product for plant protection in olive growing
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
In situ olive mill residual co-composting for soil organic fertility restoration and by-product sustainable reuse
Full text linkThe addition of organic matter in the form of compost improves overall physical, chemical and biological properties of soils but, to be really sustainable, the composting process should be carried out using the by-products available in situ. Two different soils of a Mediterranean olive orchard, one managed traditionally (NAS) and the other amended with compost (AS), were investigated in a two-year experiment. Increases in total organic matter, total nitrogen and pH, were detected in AS if compared to NAS. Significant increases in total and specific microbial counts were observed in AS, with a clear amelioration of microbiological soil quality. The results demonstrated that soil amendment using compost deriving from olive mill by-products can be an important agricultural practice for supporting and stimulating soil microorganisms and, at the same time, for re-using these byproducts, so avoiding their negative environmental impact
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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