1,720,989 research outputs found
Effects of light modulation on plant photosynthesis process and secondary metabolism
No full textLight modulation on plants significantly affects photosynthetic process as well as plant primary and secondary metabolism. To date, four main light modulation ways have been investigated on plants: (i) monochromatic environments arranged with Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) lamps; (ii) supplemental monochromatic light; (iii) partial light depletion; (iv) spectral shifting films. In the present work, the effect of monochromatic blue (B), red (R) and green (G) light on photosynthesis and secondary metabolism are reviewed. Studies on light modulation provide innovative solutions which allow to either maximize plant growth, thanks to the improvement of photosynthetic performances, or promote the accumulation of nutraceutical molecules in the prospective of a healthy diet
Seasonal Fluctuations of Crop Yield, Total Phenolic Content and Antioxidant Activity in Fresh or Cooked Borage (Borago officinalis L.), Mallow (Malva sylvestris L.) and Buck’s-Horn Plantain (Plantago coronopus L.) Leaves
Full text linkThe interest for wild edible plants as functional food is increasing among consumers in the Mediterranean countries because of their high content of antioxidants. However, a critical point is the seasonality of wild edible species due to their spontaneity and the cultivation results necessary to satisfy market requests. Moreover, cooking may be necessary for most wild edible species to enhance their palatability. In the present experiment, the crop yield, total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of leaves were determined in three wild edible species (Borago officinalis L., Malva sylvestris L. and Plantago coronopus L.), which were hydroponically cultivated in winter and in spring. Plants were recurrently harvested three times and the leaves were analyzed raw or after boiling in water for different times based on their palatability as evaluated by a hedonic test (2 min for B. officinalis, 2.5 min for M. sylvestris and 8 min for P. coronopus). The total crop yield was promising, especially for P. coronopus, with small differences between winter and spring (9.3 and 13.8 kg m−2, respectively). The boiling treatment caused a loss of TPC and, in some cases, of the AA in B. officinalis and M. sylvestris due to the solubilization of phenolic and other antioxidant compounds in boiling water. Conversely, in P. coronopus, TPC and AA were higher in boiled leaves than in fresh leaves, likely due to the strong binding of phenolic compounds to the cell wall. This binding might lead to the inefficient extraction of these compounds through the boiling treatment
Transformative shifts in dough and bread structure with pumpkin seed protein concentrate enrichment
No full textPumpkin seed protein concentrate, a promising raw material with high biological value, holds potential for incorporation into bread technology. Protein structural changes occur during the bread-making process. This study aimed to investigate how pumpkin seed protein concentrate incorporated at different concentrations (5, 10, and 20%) affected the structural, mechanical properties, and conformational changes in protein substances within dough and bread made from wheat flour, utilizing near-infrared reflection spectroscopy. The gas- and shape-holding capacities of dough enriched and unenriched by pumpkin seed protein concentrate resulted similar. This aspect is important for the impact of the final product as bread on the consumers. The near-infrared reflection spectroscopy analysis revealed that the enrichment of bread with pumpkin seed protein concentrate not only introduced higher protein and unsaturated fat content in bread but also reduced the level of lignin, enhancing the digestibility of the final product. A deeper investigation into the nutraceutical and nutritional value of this enriched bread as well as of physio-chemical features investigated in the present work could be useful for the introduction of a new functional food in the market. Moreover, the enriched bread was acceptable in terms of sensory quality analysis, especially using 10% pumpkin seed protein concentrate. Therefore, to better understand the market potentiality of the enriched bread proposed in this study, future research should investigate how consumer acceptability could increase with a higher concentration of nutritional components perceived as beneficial for a lifestyle by specific consumer segments
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
Role of beneficial elements in plants: Implications for the photosynthetic process
No full textEssential macro-and microelements availability strictly influences photosynthetic process as well as the overall plant status. Besides essential macro-and micronutrients, a group of other elements described as ‘beneficial’ has been proposed to ameliorate plant performances under optimal and/or stressful conditions. The first explanation of the term ‘essential’, as suggested by Arnon and Stout in 1939, defined beneficial elements as not essential since they are not necessary for plants to complete their life cycle. However, at low amounts, they can exert promoting effects on plant performances, including photosynthesis. In this review, we summarize the positive effect of seven beneficial elements (Se, Si, Na, I, Ti, Ce, and La) on plant photosynthetic processes to depict a clear picture of the influences of these beneficial elements on photosynthesis
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
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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