In the last decades, mankind has become totally aware about the importance of food quality: nowadays authentication and traceability are words of general use. Food authentication verifies how much a food is in accordance with its label description and law and it could be considered a further guarantee for the quality and safety of a foodstuff. The traceability of food could be considered an essential element in ensuring safety and high quality of food. The synergistic use of instrumental analytical techniques and chemometrics represents a promising way to obtain trustworthy results in the development of authenticity and traceability models. This chapter deals with the potentialities of chemometrics tools in resolving some real issues related to food traceability and authenticity. Particular attention will be paid to the use of some exploratory, classification, and discrimination techniques. In the first part of this chapter, a briefly description of European regulations (Authenticity and Traceability: the European Union point of view), and traceability and authenticity markers (Authenticity and Traceability: a scientific point of view) is reported. The second part is split into two sections: namely Food Authenticity and Food Traceability applications, where the main features and advantages of some chemometrics approaches are presented.
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) cells are the key regulators of reproductive function in all vertebrate organisms. The GnRH molecule is synthesized in a small number of neurons in rostral hypothalamic regions of the brain. In mammals, these neurons release the GnRH decapeptide into the portal capillary system leading to the anterior pituitary gland. There, GnRH causes the release of the gonadotropins, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which in turn act upon the gonads to stimulate their maturation, and to cause synthesis of sex steroid hormones, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Although each of the levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis is critical for reproductive function, GnRH neurons play the primary role in the control of reproductive maturation and adult reproductive function, and may even play a role in reproductive senescence. Since its discovery in 1970, there has been intense interest in GnRH-producing neurons, with more than 8000 papers and chapters in the last decade alone. Despite this activity of research in basic and clinical science, there has never been a book written specifically on GnRH neurons. GnRH: The Master Molecule of Reproduction aims to bring together the large and diverse literature of both laboratory and applied research that focuses on these unique cells. This book will provide basic background into reproductive neuroendocrinology, as well as specifics regarding the role of GnRH neurons in the control of reproduction. Students studying endocrinology, reproduction, neuroendocrinology or molecular endocrinology will benefit from this book. In addition, this book will take a multi-species approach which will be useful both to basic researchers as well as clinicians. Whenever possible, species differences and similarities will be presented, and if possible, studies on humans, or the clinical relevance of basic research findings to humans will be discussed (such as the treatment of reproductive disorders such as abnormalities in pubertal development, or infertility).
In this work we plan to revise the main techniques for enumeration algorithms and to show four examples of enumeration algorithms that can be applied to efficiently deal with some biological problems modelled by using biological networks: enumerating central and peripheral nodes of a network, enumerating stories, enumerating paths or cycles, and enumerating bubbles. Notice that the corresponding computational problems we define are of more general interest and our results hold in the case of arbitrary graphs. Enumerating all the most and less central vertices in a network according to their eccentricity is an example of an enumeration problem whose solutions are polynomial and can be listed in polynomial time, very often in linear or almost linear time in practice. Enumerating stories, i.e. all maximal directed acyclic subgraphs of a graph G whose sources and targets belong to a predefined subset of the vertices, is on the other hand an example of an enumeration problem with an exponential number of solutions, that can be solved by using a non trivial brute-force approach. Given a metabolic network, each individual story should explain how some interesting metabolites are derived from some others through a chain of reactions, by keeping all alternative pathways between sources and targets. Enumerating cycles or paths in an undirected graph, such as a protein-protein interaction undirected network, is an example of an enumeration problem in which all the solutions can be listed through an optimal algorithm, i.e. the time required to list all the solutions is dominated by the time to read the graph plus the time required to print all of them. By extending this result to directed graphs, it would be possible to deal more efficiently with feedback loops and signed paths analysis in signed or interaction directed graphs, such as gene regulatory networks. Finally, enumerating mouths or bubbles with a source s in a directed graph, that is enumerating all the two vertex-disjoint directed paths between the source s and all the possible targets, is an example of an enumeration problem in which all the solutions can be listed through a linear delay algorithm, meaning that the delay between any two consecutive solutions is linear, by turning the problem into a constrained cycle enumeration problem. Such patterns, in a de Bruijn graph representation of the reads obtained by sequencing, are related to polymorphisms in DNA- or RNA-seq data.
Since radio's invention, some Canadians have been concerned about the increasingly commercialized and centralized nature of medium. Sometimes working alone, more often in teams, and always illegally, these activists represent islands of resistance within the ocean of homogenous frequencies, pirating radio signals for personal, political and artistic expression. In the first book published on the subject, Islands of Resistance gives you a view from the crowsnest of the phenomenon of pirate radio in Canada. Here is a collection of seventeen activist manifestos, artistic treatises of intent, historical essays on the development of radio and its regulatory bodies, sociological examination of pirate radio's application in new social movements, and personal anecdotes from behind the eyepatch. Just as the new media ostensibly renders the old obsolete, Islands of Resistance unveils the existence of a thriving clandestine counterculture. An invaluable addition to an unscrutinized subject in Canadian media studies, Islands of Resistance appeals to the anarchist, anti–authoritarian impulses in all of us. Visit the Islands of Resistance website for more about the book and to hear audio clips of pirate radio.
Psychoneuroimmunology is the emerging science devoted to studying the two-way relationship between the nervous and immune systems. Psychoneuroimmunology, Stress, and Infection highlights the latest information concerning microbial infections in both man and animals as related to stress and especially stress hormones. The volume focuses on psychoneuroimmunology as it impacts the immune system in general and also the relationship between neurological events which influence susceptibility and/or resistance to infectious agents such as bacteria, fungi and viruses, as well as parasites. Prominent researchers describe the involvement of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis on immunity as a function of the nervous system. The text discusses hormones such as prolactin and growth hormone and steroid induced susceptibility to infection and neuropeptides, including vasoactive intestinal peptide, and substance P. The effects of catacholamines on immunity and susceptibility to infection are also covered. This reference also details the involvement of immune cells in the synthesis of neuropeptides, including hormones and endorphins, their effect on the brain as well as the effects of interleukins and tumor necrosis factor on the central nervous system. The book concludes with an interesting look at the relationship between aging, psychoneuroimmunology, and infection. Although there is much new knowledge concerning the nature and mechanism of immune responses, including the mediators involved, Psychoneuroimmunology, Stress, and Infection also presents important discussions and reviews that are long overdue and provide a major contribution to the area of biomedical knowledge in general and psychoneuroimmunology in particular.
Over the last fifteen years, the South African postapartheid Transitional Amnesty Process – implemented by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) – has been extensively analyzed by scholars and commentators from around the world and from almost every discipline of human sciences. Lawyers, historians, anthropologists and sociologists as well as political scientists have tried to understand, describe and comment on the ‘shocking’ South African political decision to give amnesty to all who fully disclosed their politically motivated crimes committed during the apartheid era. Investigating the postapartheid transition in South Africa from a multidisciplinary perspective involving constitutional law, criminal law, history and political science, this book explores the overlapping of the postapartheid constitution-making process and the Amnesty Process for political violence under apartheid and shows that both processes represent important innovations in terms of constitutional law and transitional justice systems. Both processes contain mechanisms that encourage the constitution of the unity of the political body while ensuring future solidity and stability. From this perspective, the book deals with the importance of several concepts such as truth about the past, publicly shared memory, unity of the political body and public confession.
The modern retail system has worked to dazzling effect. From the 19th century, store owners emerged from small beginnings to set in train an industry that has seen some operators become nationally, even globally, dominant. Along the way, they turned retailing into an art, and then a science. Now retailers in emerging markets appear to be repeating the story all over again, except on a scale and at a speed beyond anything we have seen before. Given all of this, it can be hard for those who work in retailing to accept that the industry as we know it is living on borrowed time, on the brink of transformation. There is now an urgency with which conventional store-based retailers must now act and the extent of the challenges this change represents in strategic, organizational, and above all, technological terms. Reshaping Retail sets out the driving causes, current trends and consequences of a transformation in retail triggered by technology. The changes go far beyond making items available for sale on the internet. Starting by briefly setting the historical and business system contexts for retail and describe the role that technology has played in the creation of modern retail it then explains the underlying technological drivers behind the current revolution – radical changes in the capacity of both hardware and software, mobile telecommunications changes and the advances of the Internet. Ultimately, success will hinge on more than competence; it will come down to a way of thinking. Customer-centricity will need to be valued not just by the store owner, as in the past, but also by all employees in the organization. It will need to become embedded in their daily tasks. The same applies to technology, which must be at the center of the organization and recognized as such by everyone. With a combination of extensive desk and field research, interviews with leading retailers and technologists, together with the real world experience of practitioners in this area, Reshaping Retail will inspire and help store retailers to make the necessary transformation now to win in the new consumer driven world.
The Clash of Legitimacies makes an innovative contribution to the history of the state-building process in late medieval Lombardy (during the 13th to 15th centuries), by illuminating myriad conflicts attending the legitimacy of power and authority at different levels of society. Through the analysis of the rhetorical forms and linguistic repertoires deployed by the many protagonists (not only the prince, but also the cities, communities, peasants, and political factions) to express their own ideals of shared political life, this volume reveals the depth of the conflicts in which opposing political actors were not only inspired by competing material interests - as in the traditional interpretation to be found in previous historiography - but also often were guided by differing concepts of authority. From this comes a largely new image of the late medieval and early Renaissance state, one without a monopoly of force - as has been shown in many studies since the 1970s - and one that did not even have the monopoly of legitimacy. The limitations of attempts by governors to present the political principles that inspired their acts as shared and universally recognized are revealed by a historical analysis firmly intent on investigating the existence, in particular territorial or social ambits, of other political cultures which based obedience to authority on different, and frequently original, ideals.
Italy is a country of recent decline and long-standing idiosyncratic traits- a rich society where the rule of law is weak and political accountability is low. This book draws on political economic literature and historical analysis to argue that a battle of ideas can ease the shift to a fairer and more efficient equilibrium.
Despite the symbolic capital and the global commercial success of the Vespa scooter, there is no academic book dealing with its history, only literature produced by the company itself or by scooter enthusiasts. The origins of the Vespa are shrouded in mist, entrusted more to myth than to historical truth. Based on lengthy research carried out in Piaggio’s historical archives and on an interdisciplinary approach, this volume aims to fill this gap. It shows how the Vespa took techniques from the most advanced aeronautical industries in the world, adapting and hybridizing them in an original way, and how the company disseminated its models in the transnational social space.
Lippincott Certification Review: Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner is the ideal companion while preparing for the Acute Care CPNP® exam administered by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Review Board, or for anyone who seeks to perform at a higher level of practice for children who are acutely, chronically, and critically ill. Organized in a simple, bulleted format, this invaluable resource includes multiple choice self-assessment questions with rationales at the end of every chapter, plus two self-assessment exams with rationales – totaling more than 750 questions. Content focuses on the diagnosis and management of pediatric acute care problems typically treated in the emergency department or an inpatient setting.
This book investigates the long-term continuity of large-scale states and empires, and its effect on the Near East’s social fabric, including the fundamental changes that occurred to major social institutions. Its geographical coverage spans, from east to west, modern-day Libya and Egypt to Central Asia, and from north to south, Anatolia to southern Arabia, incorporating modern-day Oman and Yemen. Its temporal coverage spans from the late eighth century BCE to the seventh century CE during the rise of Islam and collapse of the Sasanian Empire. The authors argue that the persistence of large states and empires starting in the eighth/seventh centuries BCE, which continued for many centuries, led to new socio-political structures and institutions emerging in the Near East. The primary processes that enabled this emergence were large-scale and long-distance movements, or population migrations. These patterns of social developments are analysed under different aspects: settlement patterns, urban structure, material culture, trade, governance, language spread and religion, all pointing at movement as the main catalyst for social change. This book’s argument is framed within a larger theoretical framework termed as ‘universalism’, a theory that explains many of the social transformations that happened to societies in the Near East, starting from the Neo-Assyrian period and continuing for centuries. Among other influences, the effects of these transformations are today manifested in modern languages, concepts of government, universal religions and monetized and globalized economies.
Chinese migrant communities have reinvented their histories in many contexts, but the process of globalization has accelerated and diversified this phenomenon. Their fluid identities, innovative modernities, and generative talents in overcoming prejudice and multiple dislocations offer powerful examples of creative resistance to placebound traditions and nationalist histories. As the velocity of exchange in global media and commerce steadily increases, emergent and dynamic diasporas are increasingly influential in transnational discourses. This volume engages cultural representations of the subjectivities and loyalties of Chinese migrant communities, including analyses of aesthetic texts, as well as theoretical approaches in cultural studies. The book situates diasporic agency as an historical phenomenon with far-reaching political and social implications for both home and host societies and as a major site of contemporary cultural developments. By assembling a variety of regional, temporal, and disciplinary perspectives, it interrogates current notions of the diasporic subject, raising questions about respective ideological roots and cultural repositories as well as extensions and transgressions of new aesthetic vocabularies. Contributors include Roland Altenburger, Pheng Cheah, Prasenjit Duara, Kathrin Ensinger, Ping-kwan Leung, Helen F. Siu, Tamara S. Wagner, Mary Shuk-han Wong, Sau-ling C. Wong and Nicolas Zufferey.
This title features the latest historical and archaeological research into the mysterious and powerful confederations of raiders who troubled the Eastern Mediterranean in the last half of the Bronze Age. Research into the origins of the so-called Shardana, Shekelesh, Danuna, Lukka, Peleset and other peoples is a detective 'work in progress'. However, it is known that they both provided the Egyptian pharaohs with mercenaries, and were listed among Egypt's enemies and invaders. They contributed to the collapse of several civilizations through their dreaded piracy and raids, and their waves of attacks were followed by major migrations that changed the face of this region, from modern Libya and Cyprus to the Aegean, mainland Greece, Lebanon and Anatolian Turkey. Drawing on carved inscriptions and papyrus documents – mainly from Egypt – dating from the 15th–11th centuries BC, as well as carved reliefs of the Medinet Habu, this title reconstructs the formidable appearance and even the tactics of the famous 'Sea Peoples'.
Discover an enhanced synthetic approach to developing and screening chemical compound libraries Diversity-oriented synthesis is a new paradigm for developing large collections of structurally diverse small molecules as probes to investigate biological pathways. This book presents the most effective methods in diversity-oriented synthesis for creating small molecule collections. It offers tested and proven strategies for developing diversity-oriented synthetic libraries and screening methods for identifying ligands. Lastly, it explores some promising new applications based on diversity-oriented synthesis that have the potential to dramatically advance studies in drug discovery and chemical biology. Diversity-Oriented Synthesis begins with an introductory chapter that explores the basics, including a discussion of the relationship between diversity-oriented synthesis and classic combinatorial chemistry. Divided into four parts, the book: Offers key chemical methods for the generation of small molecules using diversity-oriented principles, including peptidomimetics and macrocycles Expands on the concept of diversity-oriented synthesis by describing chemical libraries Provides modern approaches to screening diversity-oriented synthetic libraries, including high-throughput and high-content screening, small molecule microarrays, and smart screening assays Presents the applications of diversity-oriented synthetic libraries and small molecules in drug discovery and chemical biology, reporting the results of key studies and forecasting the role of diversity-oriented synthesis in future biomedical research This book has been written and edited by leading international experts in organic synthesis and its applications. Their contributions are based on a thorough review of the current literature as well as their own firsthand experience developing synthetic methods and applications. Clearly written and extensively referenced, Diversity-Oriented Synthesis introduces novices to this highly promising field of research and serves as a springboard for experts to advance their own research studies and develop new applications.
Although harsh and inhospitable, the North African theatre of World War II proved to be a perfect environment for irregular warfare and the deployment of Special Forces. Following Italy's entry into the war in June 1940, the Western Desert became the background for a long conflict dominated by motorized units. The major combatants Great Britain, Free France, Italy and Germany all developed irregular units to exploit the unique conditions of the region with varying degrees of success. This book details the genesis, organization and tactics of these forces, including such famous units as the Long Range Desert Group and the Special Air Service.
The intersection between literature and music is a major feature in Anglo-American cultural history. The present volume analyzes the transatlantic migration of European opera and its appropriation by some of the most important literary figures of the United States. The presence of opera in literary texts is always "operative" and results in artistic outputs possessing more articulated and tense vectors of meaning. The comparative method applied confirms the musical sensitivity of masters such as Poe, Whitman, Melville, Dickinson, Wharton, Cather, reveals the intriguing contradictions in the poetics of Emerson, Thoreau and James and vindicates the role of some minor figures who, through their involvement in the world of musical theater, contributed to the intercultural context.
Do you love stories with sexy, romantic heroes who have it all—wealth, status, and incredibly good looks? Harlequin® Desire brings you all this and more with these three new full-length titles in one collection! THE BABY FAVOR Billionaires and Babies by Andrea Laurence CEO Mason Spencer and his wife are headed for divorce when an old promise changes their plans. They are now the guardians for Spencer's niece…and they must remain married. Will this be their second chance, one that leads to forever? HIS UNEXPECTED HEIR Little Secrets by Maureen Child After a fling with a sexy marine leaves Rita pregnant, her attempts to reach the billionaire are met with silence…until now! Brooding, reclusive Jack offers to marry Rita—in name only. Will his new family give him the heart to embrace life—and love—again? BEST FRIEND BRIDE In Name Only by Kat Cantrell CEO Jonas Kim must stop his arranged marriage—by arranging a marriage for himself! His best friend, Vivian, will be his wife and never fall in love, or so he thinks. Can he keep his heart safe when Viv tempts him to become friends with benefits? Look for Harlequin® Desire's July 2017 Box Set 2 of 2, filled with even more scandalous stories and powerful heroes!
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third Latin-American Symposium on Dependable Computing, LADC 2007, held in Morelia, Mexico, in September 2007. The 14 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited talks, and outlines of 3 tutorials and 2 panel sessions, were carefully reviewed and selected from 37 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on fault-tolerant algorithms, software engineering of dependable systems, networking and mobile computing, experimental dependability evaluation, as well as intrusion tolerance and security.
This volume offers an original and theoretically grounded conceptualization and measurement of international parliamentary institutions and their role in ensuring the accountability of regional international organizations. Through a comparative analysis of the establishment, evolution, institutional organization, oversight and policymaking functions of 22 parliamentary institutions, mainly from European, African and Latin American regional international organizations, the book serves a twofold purpose. First, it allows assessment of the extent to which parliamentary institutions have (measurable) influence on the outcome of regional organizations’ decision-making processes. Second, drawing on the literature on new institutionalism and comparative regionalism, the volume investigates the conditions under which the influence of parliamentary institutions is expected to grow, thus advancing the understanding of the variation and development of this poorly explored type of international institution. The book is aimed at scholars of global governance, international organization and comparative regionalism, and will also be of interest to parliamentarians and parliamentary practitioners from national and international institutions.
Covering every problem encountered in today’s intensive care unit, this leading critical care textbook presents the knowledge and expertise of more than 350 global experts in this fast-changing field. Beginning with the social aspects of medicine, it then discusses monitoring and organ system pathobiology followed by specific diseases states/syndromes. Each chapter begins with immediate concerns and proceeds to broader-based discussions of relevant pathophysiologic and clinical issues.
One woman's career in the business world. An honest narrative about her experiences as an executive assistant, complete with the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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