1,721,058 research outputs found
Ultrasound Assisted Extraction of Polyphenols from Ripe Carob Pods (Ceratonia siliqua L.): Combined Designs for Screening and Optimizing the Processing Parameters
Carob pulp has recently received great attention due to its considerable content of polyphe-nols having a wide range of health promoting effects. In this work, ultrasound assisted extraction was optimized sequentially using a screening Plackett–Burman design and non-standard central composite design coupled to response surface methodology and desirability function statistical tools, to find the best conditions for the extraction of nine polyphenols from carob pods. The gathered mathematical models showed that the highest significant factors influencing the extraction of all compounds were solid–solvent ratio, solvent concentration, and particle size, with the optimal results obtained at values of 0.2 g/mL, 40% ethanol, and 0.3 mm, respectively. Extraction temperature, time, sonication power, and frequency were set at 35◦ C, 15 min, 100 W, and 37 kHz, respectively. These parameters help to reduce energy costs and to obtain the best possible extraction of polyphenols
Processing of Carob Kernels to Syrup by Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction
Carob syrup is one of the most important carob products, which can have applications in pastry and confectionery, as a fruit preservative, but also in the pharmaceutical field because of the antimicrobial activity due to its polyphenol content. Carob syrup is traditionally made through a very time-consuming process, involving solid–liquid extraction in boiling water and concentration at a high temperature (>100◦ C), which potentially causes the degradation of the active compounds (i.e., procyanidins or flavonol glycosides). Therefore, in this work, an alternative and less drastic method based on ultrasound technology was proposed to produce carob syrup. Processing conditions (i.e., time, temperature, and liquid–solid ratio) influencing the extraction of total soluble solids (TSS) and total phenolic compounds (TPC) were optimized using a central composite design coupled to response surface methodology. Reliable mathematical models allowed us to predict the highest TSS (24 ± 2◦ Brix) and TPC (1.7 ± 0.5 mg/mL) values that could be obtained at 15 min, 35◦ C, and 2 mL/g. Finally, a different HPLC-DAD phenolic pattern was determined between syrups produced by traditional and ultrasound methods; epicatechin, 4-hydroxycoumaric acid, and ferulic acid were more concentrated in the former, while procyanidin B2, myricitrin, and quercitrin were prevalent in the latter one
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
“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
We 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
Overview of the Polyphenols in Salicornia: From Recovery to Health-Promoting Effect
Nowadays, there has been considerable attention paid toward the recovery of waste plant matrices as possible sources of functional compounds with healthy properties. In this regard, we focus our attention on Salicornia, a halophyte plant that grows abundantly on the coasts of the Mediterranean area. Salicornia is used not only as a seasoned vegetable but also in traditional medicine for its beneficial effects in protecting against diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer. In numerous research studies, Salicornia consumption has been highly suggested due to its high level of bioactive molecules, among which, polyphenols are prevalent. The antioxidant and antiradical activity of polyphenols makes Salicornia a functional food candidate with potential beneficial activities for human health. Therefore, this review provides specific and compiled information for optimizing and developing new extraction processes for the recovery of bioactive compounds from Salicornia; focusing particular attention on polyphenols and their health benefits
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We 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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