Content Index Research Articles

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents]

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents]

Contents Index to Volume 37

Contents Index to Volume 37

Contents Index to Volume 45

Contents Index to Volume 45

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents]

Characterization of dark chocolates based on polyphenolic profiles and antioxidant activity.

Dark chocolates were characterized according to geographical origin, cocoa variety, and cocoa content using the methylxanthine and polyphenolic composition and antioxidant activity as the data. The main study objective was to uncover sample patterns and identify possible markers of quality, variety, or origin to deal with authentication or fraud detection issues. In the study, a set of 26 dark chocolates from different varieties (e.g., Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario) harvested in Africa, America, and Asia was analyzed. The optimized sample treatment consisted of defatting the chocolate (1g of sample with 5mL of cyclohexane for 15min, three times) and then extracting the analytes by sonication with methanol/water 60:40 (v:v) for 15min. The filtered extracts were analyzed by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with UV and spectrophotometric methods (Folin-Ciocalteu, ferric reducing antioxidant power, and aluminum methods) to determine individual phenolics and overall indexes of antioxidant and flavonoid content. Results from this chocolate set indicated that American samples are richer than African counterparts in alkaloids and phenolics (e.g., 1.7 vs. 1.1mgg-1 caffeine and 14.5 vs. 12.5mgg-1 total flavanols, respectively). Regarding cocoa varieties, Criollo cocoa was richer in bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity (e.g., 16, 15, and 12mgg-1 total flavanols for Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario, respectively). These results indicate that the analytes resulted in potential descriptors of varietal or geographical attributes.

Effect of in vitro Digestion on the Bioaccessibility of Polyphenols and Potential Prebiotic Properties of Potato Peel.

Potato peel is a byproduct of the potato processing industry and a potential source of functional ingredients such as dietary fiber, polyphenols, and prebiotics. However, the bioaccessibility of polyphenols and antioxidants during in vitro digestion as well as prebiotic potential after in vitro digestion of potato peel flour has not been reported. The study was designed to assess the bioaccessibility of polyphenols and the prebiotic potential of potato peel flour. In this study, the changes in polyphenol content and antioxidant capacity during different phases of in vitro digestion, including salivary, gastric and intestinal phases were studied. Additionally, an investigation was conducted to evaluate the prebiotic properties of potato peel flour by in vitro fermentation with Lactobacillus acidophilus. The findings revealed a significant increase in the recovery index for total phenolic content during both gastric (106.90%) and intestinal (102.71%) digestive phases. Furthermore, polyphenols in potato peel flour exhibited high residual intestinal digestibility index values (>90%). The antioxidant capacity increased by >50% during various phases of in vitro digestion. Regarding prebiotic properties, potato peel flour significantly increased L. acidophilus counts and promoted the production of short-chain fatty acids, specifically propionate and butyrate. This study suggests that potato peel flour has the potential to serve as a functional ingredient or nutraceutical that can enhance health and may help in reducing environmental problems.

Evaluation of cosmetic efficacy of lychee seed fermentation liquid

BackgroundLychee seeds were fermented by three kinds of bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum, Saccharomyces cerevillus and ganoderma lucidum mycelium), and two effective strains were selected by two indexes of activity content and antioxidant, so as to further verify whether lychee seeds have waste multiplication effect and can protect cells damaged by oxidation from anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and safety.ResultsThe contents of polyphenols, flavonoids and proteins in the solution fermented by Ganoderma lucidum mycelium did not increase, thus affecting the antioxidant capacity of the solution was far less than that of the water extract. The active content of the other two fermentation solutions was higher than that of the water extract, and the ability of scavenging free radicals of the two solutions increased with the increase of the volume fraction. At the cellular level, the two fermentation solutions showed repair effects on UVA-induced damaged cells. The contents of type I collagen (COL-1), total antioxidant capacity and ELN were increased, the contents of reactive oxygen species and MDA were decreased, and the expressions of inflammatory factors IL-6, TNF-a, iNOS and COX-2 were decreased in HaCaT cells. From the gene level, the mRNA contents of IL-6, TNF-a, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, Bax and Bcl were significantly decreased. The test of chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (HTET CAM) showed that there was no bleeding and litchi seed fermentation liquid was not irritating.ConclusionsTherefore, two kinds of litchi seed fermentation can be used as natural plant raw materials for cosmetics, and have strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging functions on skin, and also have good human safety.Graphical

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents]

Frontmatter (Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents)

Frontmatter (Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents)

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents

Frontmatter [Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents]

The Information content of annual report and cost of equity capital: Based on Text Vectorization Method

Taking Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2017 to 2021 as the research sample, the method of text vectorization is used to construct an index of information content of annual report, and empirically test the impact of information content on the cost of equity capital. The results show that the information content is negatively related to the cost of equity capital, and the degree of information asymmetry plays a mediating role between them. This article is the first to verify the effect of information content on the cost of equity capital, and it is expected to provide theoretical guidance for regulators, enterprises and investors.

Food composition and trophic niches of blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus, 1758) in Madura Strait, Pamekasan, East Java

Abstract Blue swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) is the main fishery commodity in the Madura Strait, Pamekasan Regency. The sustainability of the crab depends on the suitability of the habitat and the availability of food in the waters. This study aims to analyze the food composition and trophic niches of blue swimming crab in the Madura Strait, Pamekasan Regency. Sampling was conducted using the simple random sampling technique. The analysis included composition of the collection based on length frequency distribution, gastric fullness index, trophic niche area, food niche overlap, crab food composition, and growth (carapace width-weight relationship, and condition factor). The results of the index study showed that the index of stomach content of the female was generally greater than that of the male. Blue swimming crab is classified as a carnivore with the main food being fish. The overlap of the niches of male and female crabs of 0.9328 indicates a high level of competition for food. The male crab has a negative allometric growth pattern, while the female crab has a positive allometric growth pattern. The condition of the crab factor in each month of observation is greater than 0.5 indicating the availability of food and water conditions suitable for crab life.

A new approach to video summary generation

This paper describes a video summary approach for an actual video file that provides a rapid way to assess its information. This is a difficult task to identify relevant or informative sections. When the original video demands knowledge of its content, we build a video summary via extracting in-depth characteristics of each original video. Video summarization deals with the generation of a condensed version of the original video by including meaningful frames or segments while eliminating redundant information provides a concise and accurate representation of the original video clips by providing the most representative summary with increased interest through the application of a matching function between the current and prior frames. The primary goal of this work is to give a strategy for recording video clips using security cameras and converting them into a short video to provide a clear analysis of the video by reducing excess and extracting the key video contents into the real video. In a lengthy video clip, viewers may not have enough time to see the full thing. The viewer may be interested in seeing a specific topic under the label "Important". It may be composed of pieces that may be shared on social media and communicate the semantics of long videos, particularly video snippets that must be submitted to Internet. To browse, will be needed a network with adequate bandwidth. That is, non-affiliated video streaming, indexing, and retrieval of video content makes it valuable to viewers.

Frontmatter (Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents)

Frontmatter (Front Cover, Editorial Team, Indexing, and Table of Contents)

A first analysis on the green securitizations in Italy

This paper represents one of the first empirical analyses of the market for green securitizations in Italy. Green securitizations are financial instruments for which there are currently no universally accepted definitions or standard methodologies to identify them. We thus discuss possible definitions and limitations in identifying these instruments. To overcome practical constraints, we argue that, for the time being, a feasible way is to label a securitization as ‘green’ based on the assessment of the sustainability of the economic activity of the borrower of the underlying securitized loans. We also describe the main characteristics of the market for green securitizations originated by banks in Italy during the decade 2010–19. Empirical and econometric analysis show that banks’ securitized loans to ‘brown’ (less sustainable) economic activities grew much more rapidly than those to ‘green’ ones suggesting that banks preferred to keep loans to ‘green’ activities in their balance sheets and to derecognize loans to ‘brown’ ones. Finally, we show that the usual indexes of carbon content of Italian banks’ loans overestimate the amount of financed emissions if they do not take banks’ securitizations into account.

High-value extracts from pulp, seeds, and leaves of Grumixama: Antioxidant, low cytotoxic, and preservative effect in cream cheese

This study aimed to optimize the extraction of bioactive compounds from the pulp, seeds, and leaves of grumixameira (Eugenia brasiliensis Lam.) and evaluate its antioxidant and cytotoxic effects for direct use in creamy cheeses for conservation purposes. Through the response surface methodology, the best mixtures of solvents (water:ethanol:acetone volume fractions) were identified for each plant part: pulp (0.42: 0.16: 0.42), leaves (0.49: 0.26: 0.25) and seeds (0.54: 0.30: 0.16); which promoted an increase in the yield of the extraction of bioactive compounds. Leaves extracts showed the greatest index of total phenolic content (187.03 mg GAE/g) and highest antioxidant activities through DPPH (486.55 mg Trolox/g) and FRAP (680.81 mg ferric sulfate/g) assays. The pulp extracts, in turn, presented the highest indexes of content of total flavonoids (20.17 mg QE/g) and total anthocyanins (62.32 cyanidin-3-glucoside/g). The high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses identified quercetin as the major compound in all extracts, followed by catechin. The rutin also stood out in leaves and pulp extracts.The extracts obtained from the leaves and pulp of grumixama showed a low cytotoxic effect on human embryonic kidney cells. Using the three optimized extracts in creamy cheeses contributed to preserving the physical-chemical and microbiological characteristics, emphasizing the leaves extracts when used at a concentration of 2 wt %. Thus, the results obtained in this study demonstrated the bioactive potential of these natural extracts, which can be exploited for technological applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Chloride Resistance of Assembled Bridge Piers Reinforced with Epoxy-Coated Steel Bars

To reveal the influence of joint type and epoxy-coated steel bar surface damage on the durability of assembled bridge piers, this study simulated the potential damage to epoxy-coated steel bars at various stages of an actual construction process by bending, scratching, and knocking. The pier inter-segmental joint and the pier-bearing platform joint were designed to highlight the critical zones affecting the durability of sea-crossing bridge substructures. The migration of chloride ions into the concrete was accelerated by applying a constant voltage DC electric field. The electrochemical indexes of epoxy-coated steel bars and chloride ion content in concrete were measured regularly. Results show that the corrosion risk and corrosion rate of steel bars increase significantly when the damaged area ratio of epoxy coating is higher than 5%. The chloride ion transport rate at the interface of the pier-bearing platform joint is about 5 times that of the pier inter-segmental joint. The service life of the pier-bearing platform joint is only 1/2 that of the pier inter-segmental joint when epoxy-coated steel bars with the same treatment are used.

Характеристика Rf-линий подсолнечника коллекции ВНИИМК с помощью микросателлитных маркеров ДНК

Sunflower is one of the most profitable oil crops. The task of sunflower breeding is development of highly productive hybrids. The genetic diversity of initial germplasm is very important in this case. Molecular-genetic markers, particularly microsatellites, are used for the estimation of such material. The purpose of this research concluded in the genotyping of an Rf-lines collection, analyzing its genetic diversity using microsatellite markers. The analysis of 54 Rf-lines from a collection of V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops was carried out using 12 SSR-markers. Genetic passports of all studied lines were composed by these markers, the main indicators of SSR-loci information capacity were determined. The collection is characterized with a high genetic diversity, in total (Nа) 55 alleles were obtained, in average 4.58 alleles per locus. An effective allele amount (Ne) averaged 2.48. An index of polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.51. A level of line heterogeneity was quite low (5.5%) that certifies their good genetic uniformity. Due to the results, the collection was divided in two cluster at a joint level of 15.8. A minimal genetic distance between lines was equal 0. Eleven lines formed one cluster. The most lines (43 pcs) formed another cluster. The uniqueness of the collection was 91%.

Evaluation of raspberry drought tolerance

Physiological parameters of drought tolerance of fi ve raspberry varieties (‘Meteor’, ‘Gusar’, ‘Lavina’, ‘Patricija’, and ‘Ulyabka’) and seven selected raspberry forms (4-122-2, 6-125-3, 1-76-1, 6-125-4, 2-83-21, 1-76-25, 2-90-3) were investigated. Experiments were conducted in 2022–2023 at the Kokinsky experimental station of the Federal Horticultural Center for Breeding, Agrotechnology and Nursery (Bryansk Oblast) and at the Center for Collective Use of Bryansk State Agrarian University. Drought tolerance was assessed based on the indices of total leaf water content, water defi cit, and water-retaining capacity in the phenophases of budding (May) and fruiting (July). The analysis showed that within one vegetation period, the total leaf water content and water-retaining capacity decreased from the phase of budding to that of fruiting, compared to water defi cit, which showed an inverse trend. The water-retaining capacity of the studied varieties was found to be higher in a drier season than in a moderatelyhumid year. A signifi cant variability among genotypes was observed in terms of water regime. During the fruiting phase, the total leaf water content decreased to an average level in all the studied genotypes (less than 70.0 %), except for the ‘Gusar’ and ‘Lavina’ varieties which demonstrated lower levels (less than 60.0 %). Forms outperforming in a number of leaf water regime parameters were identifi ed. Thus, the ‘Meteor’ variety, although showing high values of water content in the budding phenophase, was characterized by low water losses after 6-hour wilting (less than 30.0 %) and a leaf water defi cit (less than 10.0 %). Water defi cit in the ‘Ulyabka’ variety, as well as 6-125-4 and 2-90-3 selected forms, exceeded 10.0 % in the fruiting phenophase, corresponding to the average level of drought tolerance. The 2-83-21 form showed a reduced water-retaining capacity in the fruiting phenophase (water losses exceeded 30.0 %).

Lexical pragmatic indicators of conflictogenicity in the light of the manifestation of national communication style (based on Mexican and US mass media)

The lexical pragmatic indicators of conflictogenicity peculiar to Mexican and US media discourse were selected by means of a continuous sampling method from the articles published in 2021-2024 in American (CNN, The Fox News, The New York Times, The New York Post, Los Angeles Times - 100 articles) and Mexican (La Jornada, La Opinion, Excélsior, El Universal, El Milenio - 100 articles) online newspapers. All the analyzed articles are devoted to the migration crisis, which is a common problem of these countries. For the first time, the correlation between the conflict potential index of the text, the density of linguoconflictogens used and the peculiarities of the linguoculture of the ethnic group was established. According to the results, Mexican mass media is characterized by a significantly lower conflict potential index of the text compared to US publications: the density of the lexical pragmatic indicators of the conflict potential is not only lower but in fact lexical units with strong negative semantics are rarely used. The authors of Mexican online publications avoid using such stylistic means of "situation pumping" as hyperbolisation which is so common for US mass media. Metaphors are practically not used in Mexican press either. It is important to note that while the American media discourse is dominated by the extremely negative image of migrants as criminals and terrorists, the Mexican media presents two different types of migrants: the rich arrogant white-skinned trouble-provoking alien and the Latino brother who needs help and protection. The study's perspectives include a comparison of the conflict potential index of user-generated content in these countries and the compilation of a typology of the lexical pragmatic indicators of the conflict potential used.