1,720,963 research outputs found
Morpho-histological characterization and nutritional properties of prickly pear (Opuntia ficusindica L. Mill)
No full textOpuntia ficus indica (L.) is a large genus of succulent shrubs native to Mexico. In 16th century it was
introduced into several continents and is now widely grown in the warmer parts of the world. It has been
shown that the prickly pear fruit is very rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids and in sugars. Another
important compositional factor of prickly pear is the presence of pigments, such as betalains, which make
the fruit and its products particularly attractive. Betalains are vacuolar pigments present in all varieties of
reported O. ficusindica. Their main function in the plant is to attract animals for pollen transfer facilitating
plant propagation and to protect against UV radiation. Two betalain derivatives are present in cactus-pears:
betacyanin, which gives the red-purple colour, and betaxanthin, which gives a yellow-orange colour. These
pigments have important antioxidant activities without toxic effects to humans. Given the considerable
interest aroused by this species, the aim of our research was to study the morphological and cyto-histological
characteristics of the fruit from two different varieties of the prickly pear typical of Sicily (Italy):”
Sanguigna” and “Muscaredda” or “Sciannarina”.Some functional compounds of prickly pear such as the
betalains, the carotenoids and chlorophyll (a and b) were also quantified. There were no cyto-histological
differences between the fruits of the two considered varieties; instead the content of betacyanins and
chlorophyll was very different
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
Use of Biostimulants as a New Approach for the Improvement of Phytoremediation Performance—A Review
No full textEnvironmental pollution is one of the most pressing global issues, and it requires priority attention. Environmental remediation techniques have been developed over the years and can be applied to polluted sites, but they can have limited effectiveness and high energy consumption and costs. Bioremediation techniques, on the other hand, represent a promising alternative. Among them, phytoremediation is attracting particular attention, a green methodology that relies on the use of plant species to remediate contaminated sites or prevent the dispersion of xenobiotics into the environment. In this review, after a brief introduction focused on pollution and phytoremediation, the use of plant biostimulants (PBs) in the improvement of the remediation effectiveness is proposed. PBs are substances widely used in agriculture to raise crop production and resistance to various types of stress. Recent studies have also documented their ability to counteract the deleterious effects of pollutants on plants, thus increasing the phytoremediation efficiency of some species. The works published to date, reviewed and discussed in the present work, reveal promising prospects in the remediation of polluted environments, especially for heavy metals, when PBs derived from humic substances, protein and amino acid hydrolysate, inorganic salts, microbes, seaweed, plant extracts, and fungi are employed
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
Effect of extracts of wastewater from olive milling in postharvest treatments of pomegranate fruit decay caused by Penicillium adametzioides
No full textNonclimateric pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruit harvested at full ripening are susceptible to attack
by different genera of pathogenic fungi such as Alternaria, Aspergillus, Botrytis, Colletotrichum, Coniella,
Nematospora, Penicillium, Pestalotiopsis, Pilidiella, Rhizopus and Syncephalastrum which can cause rot of
the fruits thus compromising their organoleptic and nutritional value. Seven fungal species belonging to
the genus Penicillium such as Penicillium expansum, Penicillium herquei, Penicillium implicatum, Penicillium
glabrum, Penicillium minioluteum, Penicillium purpurogenum and Penicillium sclerotiorum have been
previously identified as causal agents of postharvest pomegranate decay. Based on culture characteristics, molecular analyses on internal transcribed spacers, beta-tubulin gene sequences, and pathogenicity
tests, Penicillium adametzioides S. Abe ex G. Sm. is identified as a causal agent of pomegranate fruit rot. To
the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of P. adametzioides as a pathogen of P. granatum. A
phenolic concentrate obtained from olive-mill wastewater through a membrane
filtration process, and its related purified phenolic extract that has a lower reducing sugar content, were produced and tested in
vitro and in vivo against P. adametzioides. Both the phenolic concentrate and the purified phenolic extract
significantly reduced mycelial growth and conidial germination of P. adametzioides when applied at
4 mg mL-1 and 8 mg mL-1 phenols. At the same content of phenols, the greater reduction of mycelial
growth by the purified phenolic extract was related to its lower sugar content. Of note, the purified
phenolic extract at 4 and 8 mg mL-1 phenols protected pomegranate fruit in vivo against P. adametzioides.
Postharvest application of such by-products of the olive-oil industry might represent an alternative use of
olive-mill wastewater, where its high content of phenols results in a disposal problem. This olive-mill
wastewater also represents an alternative means for safe disease control of pomegranate fruit
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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