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Search results for: origin of life
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A first-principles study of electronic and magnetic properties of 4d transition metals doped in Wurtzite GaN for spintronics applications
PublicationWe studied the electronic and magnetic properties of wurtzite GaN (w-GaN) doped with different concentrations of the 4d transition metal ions Nb, Mo, and Ru. We incorporated spin-polarized plane-wave density functional theory within an ultrasoft pseudopotential formalism. The 4d transition metals were doped at different geometrical sites to determine the geometry with the lowest total energy and the one that induced the largest...
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Fully bio-based poly(propylene succinate) synthesis and investigation of thermal degradation kinetics with released gases analysis
PublicationOne of the most important information about polyesters is their thermal stability and phase transition tem- peratures. These characteristics give information about the promising behavior of the polyester during proces- sing. In this work, linear bio-based polyester polyols were prepared with the use of succinic acid and 1.3- propanediol (both with natural origin). As a polycondensation catalyst was used tetraisopropyl orthotitanate...
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Optimization of combined heat and power (CHP) market allocation: The case of Poland
PublicationCombined heat and power (CHP), that is production of electricity and useful heat in a single thermodynamic process, is a way of primary energy saving and emission reduction. Therefore, promotion of the electricity from high-efficiency cogeneration (CHP-E) was encouraged in the European Union. However, CHP-E promotion mechanisms proved low effectiveness in certain countries, like Poland, where the prices of certificates of origin...
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Profiling of polar ionogenic metabolites in Polish wines by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry
PublicationThe composition of wine is determined by a complex interaction between environmental factors, genetic factors (i.e., grape varieties), and winemaking practices (including technology and storage). Metabolomics using NMR spec-troscopy, GC-MS, and/or LC-MS has shown to be a useful approach for assessing the origin, authenticity, and quality of various wines. Nonetheless, the use of additional analytical techniques with complementary...
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Comparison of the Measurement Techniques Employed for Evaluation of Ambient Air Odour Quality Influenced by Operation of Industrial Sewage Treatment Plant
PublicationThe paper presents the results of investigation on ambient air quality evaluation with respect to concentration of odorants in a vicinity of a sewage treatment plant of the LOTOS Group S.A. petroleum plant. The investigation was performed during winter season using a prototype of electronic nose and the Nasal Ranger field olfactometers. The prototype was equipped with a set of six semiconductor sensors by FIGARO Co. and one PID-type...
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Monitoring of odour nuisance in the Tricity Agglomeration
PublicationThe paper describes a principle of operation of odour nuisance monitoring network, which is being designed in the Tricity Agglomeration. Moreover, it presents the preliminary results of an investigation on ambient air quality with respect to odour nuisance in a vicinity of the municipal landfill. The investigation was performed during spring-winter season using a prototype of electronic nose and the Nasal Ranger field olfactometers. The...
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Minute and diverse in fossil sticky stuff: Tanytarsini (Diptera: Chironomidae) from early Eocene Indian Cambay amber
PublicationWe here present a pioneering systematic review of fossil dipterans of the tribe Tanytarsini (family Chironomidae) discovered in Indian amber from Cambay. The specimens examined belong to five species: Gujaratomyia miripes, Stempellina stebneri sp. nov., Stempellinella pollex sp. nov., Tanytarsus forfex sp. nov. and Tanytarsus ramus sp. nov., which are described. All species belong to the oldest known Tanytarsini and come from the...
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Studies on origin of Polish honeys by two-dimensional gas chromatography Ocena pochodzenia surowcowego polskich miodów przy użyciu dwuwymiarowej chromatografii gazowej
PublicationPolish acacia, linden, rapessed and buckwheat-derived honeys and a honydew were analysed for presence of hydrocarbons, alcs., ketones and esters by 2-dimensional gas chromatog. to establish the markers for the honey origin. PrOH was found characteristic for acacia honey, Me(CH2)11OH for linden honey, Me(CH2)6CHOMe for honeydew and Me(CH2)8COOEt for the rapeseed honey. Wykorzystano technikę dwuwymiarowej chromatografii gazowej sprzężonej...
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Distributed correlations and information flows within a hybrid multipartite quantum-classical system
PublicationUnderstanding the non-Markovian mechanisms underlying the revivals of quantum entanglement in the presence of classical environments is central in the theory of quantum information. Tentative interpretations have been given by either the role of the environment as a control device or the concept of hidden entanglement. We address this issue from an information-theoretic point of view. To this aim, we consider a paradigmatic tripartite...
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Fractionation and origin of dissolved and colloidal organic nitrogen in BNR plant effluent
PublicationThe characteristics of effluent dissolved and colloidal organic nitrogen (DON and CON) as well as their origin, fate and biodegradability in wastewater treatment plants and receiving waters were identified as the major issues that limit the ability to achieve low total N in the effluent. This study presents the results of a comprehensive survey, which was conducted in eight biological nutrient removal (BNR) WWTPs in northern Poland....
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Concentration and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in surface soil near a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill
PublicationDue to a continuous demand of land for infrastructural and residential development there is a public concern about the condition of surface soil near municipal solid waste landfills. A total of 12 surface (0–20 cm) soil samples from a territory near a landfill were collected and the concentration of 16 PAHs and 7 PCB congeners were investigated in these samples. Limits of detection were in the range of 0.038–1.2 μg/kg for PAHs...
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Electron mobility variance in semiconductors: the variance approach
PublicationPraca przedstawia nowe podejście da analizy zjawisk losowych w półprzewodnikach. Uwzględnia kilka mechanizmów zjawisk fluktuacji ruchliwości w półprzewodnikach, prowadzących do powstawamai składowej szumów typu 1/f, dominujących w zakresie małych czetotliwości. Przedstawia analizę sposobu wyznaczenia stałej Hooge'a określającej intensywność szumów typu 1/f.The statistical non-triviality of current carrier mobility fluctuations...
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Engineering Candida albicans glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase for efficient enzyme purification
PublicationRationally designed muteins of Candida albicans glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase, an enzyme known as a promising target for antifungal chemotherapy, were constructed, overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified to near homogeneity. To facilitate and to optimize the purification of the enzyme, three recombinant versionscontaining internal oligoHis fragments were constructed: (i) by substituting residues 343 - 348...
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Molecular Targets for Anticandidal Chemotherapy
PublicationA relatively small number of anticandidal chemotherapeutics used in clinical practice is at least in part consequence of a limited number of their molecular targets: ergosterol in the membrane, lanosterol demethylase, b(1!3) glucan synthase, and DNA/RNA biosynthesis. Much more potential novel targets have been revealed by the comparative genomic studies identifying essential genes unique for Candida albicans or resulted from recognition...
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The Specific Nature of Chemical Composition of Water from Volcanic Lakes Based on Bali Case Study
PublicationThe research area was localized in the Indonesian Archipelago, at the latitude of eight and nine degrees S on the one of the Lesser Sunda group island provinces, Bali (563,3 km2). Two massive calderas (Mount Batur 1717 m above sea level.; Mount Sangiyang 2093 m above sea level) are one of the most prominent landforms in the chain of volcanic mountain ranges of the Bali Island. Lake Batur (17,18 km2) and Batur Spring (which are...
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Ontological Model for Contextual Data Defining Time Series for Emotion Recognition and Analysis
PublicationOne of the major challenges facing the field of Affective Computing is the reusability of datasets. Existing affective-related datasets are not consistent with each other, they store a variety of information in different forms, different formats, and the terms used to describe them are not unified. This paper proposes a new ontology, ROAD, as a solution to this problem, by formally describing the datasets and unifying the terms...
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Combining Road Network Data from OpenStreetMap with an Authoritative Database
PublicationComputer modeling of road networks requires detailed and up-to-date dataset. This paper proposes a method of combining authoritative databases with OpenStreetMap (OSM) system. The complete route is established by finding paths in the graph constructed from partial data obtained from OSM. In order to correlate data from both sources, a method of coordinate conversion is proposed. The algorithm queries road data from OSM and provides...
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Basic sensitivity analysis of a telecommunication tower complementing standard reinforcement design process
PublicationThis paper presents straightforward sensitivity assessment of a telecommunication tower. The analysis is set toidentify the elements of the tower which may be reinforced with the greatest structural advantage. As current expertopin ions on structural redesign of similar structures due to a planned addition of extra loads are mainly based ondeterministic computations or engineering intuition,...
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Novel “acid tuned” deep eutectic solvents based on protonated L-proline
PublicationThe paper presents new types of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) based on L-proline protonated using three different acids (hydrochloric, sulfuric and phosphoric)and playing the role of a hydrogen bond acceptor(HBA). Glucose and xylitol were used as hydrogen bond donors (HBD). A series of deep eutectic solvents with various mole ratios were obtained for the systems L-proline: glucose and L-proline: xylitol. Density, melting point,...
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Ranking of Generation Source Locations by a Hybrid Multi-Criteria Method
PublicationThe paper presents a ranking of the locations of eight renewable energy sources (RES) made using a hybrid multi-criteria analysis method. The method is a combination of the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method and numerical taxonomy. The considered generating sources, i.e. solar plants, biogas plants, and wind farms are sources that will significantly contribute to implementing the provisions of the energy and climate package...
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A numerical analysis of the thermal effects in the jet impingement stagnation zone
PublicationMost of the flows occurring in the engineering systems are turbulent and their accurate numerical analysis is still challenging, especially when combined with the heat transfer. One of the methods of heat transfer enhancement is utilization of the turbulent impinging jets, which were recently applied also in the heat exchangers. Their positive impact on the heat transfer performance was proven, but many questions related to its...
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The Analysis of Vodka: A Review Paper
PublicationVodka is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Poland, Russia and other Eastern European countries, made from ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin that has been produced via fermentation of potatoes, grains or other agricultural products. Despite distillation and multiple filtering, it is not possible to produce 100 % ethanol. The solution with a minimum ethanol content of 96 %, which is used to produce vodkas, also contains trace amounts...
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Structure analysis and thermal degradation characteristics of bio-based poly(propylene succinate)s obtained by using different catalyst amounts
PublicationLinear bio-based polyester polyols were prepared with the use of succinic acid and 1.3-propanediol (both with natural origin). As a catalyst was used tetraisopropyl orthotitanate (TPT). In order to determine the effect of various catalyst content on the thermal degradation characteristics, three different TPT amounts, as a 1.3-propanediol equivalent, were used, namely 0.1 mass% (PPS-0.1), 0.2 mass% (PPS-0.2) and 0.25 mass% (PPS-0.25)....
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Marine polymers in tissue bioprinting: Current achievements and challenges
PublicationBioprinting has a critical role in tissue engineering, allowing the creation of sophisticated cellular scaffolds with high resolution, shape fidelity, and cell viability. Achieving these parameters remains a challenge, necessitating bioinks that are biocompatible, printable, and biodegradable. This review highlights the potential of marine-derived polymers and crosslinking techniques including mammalian collagen and gelatin along...
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Eco-Friendly Ether and Ester-Urethane Prepolymer: Structure, Processing and Properties
PublicationThis study concerns bio-based urethane prepolymers. The relationship between the chemical structure and the thermal and processing parameters of bio-based isocyanate-terminated ether and ester-urethane prepolymers was investigated. Bio-based prepolymers were obtained with the use of bio-monomers such as bio-based diisocyanate, bio-based polyether polyol or polyester polyols. In addition to their composition, the bio-based prepolymers...
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Coffee silverskin as a potential bio-based antioxidant for polymer materials: Brief review
PublicationCoffee silverskin is one of the by-products generated by the coffee industry. Although it is not the most burdensome one, because it stands only for ~4.2 wt % of coffee, it seems like an auspicious raw material for industrial processes. Coffee silverskin is characterized by a relatively low moisture content of ~5–7%, so it often does not require quite energy-consuming drying processes. The chemical composition of coffee silverskin,...
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Free-standing TiO2 nanotubes decorated with spherical nickel nanoparticles as a cost-efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction
PublicationHere, we report significant activity towards the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of spherical nickel nanoparticles (NPs) electrodeposited onto free-standing TiO2 nanotubes (TNT) via cyclic voltammetry. It has been shown that simple manipulation of processing parameters, including scan rate and number of cycles, allows for formation of the NPs in various diameters and amounts. The polarization data with respect to transmission electron...
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Market Price Prediction of Property Rights from Gas Fired Plants or Plants with Total Installed CHP Source Capacity Below 1 MW until 2025
PublicationThe resolution on the Polish Energy Policy until 2030 (PEP-30) was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 10 November 2009. The document specifies the combined electricity and heat generation as a direction of pursuing the goals of energy efficiency, fuel and energy supply security, competitive fuel and energy markets development, and reduction of the energy sector’s environmental impact. PEP-30 assumes that electricity generation...
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Characterization of home-made and regional fruit wines by evaluation of correlation between selected chemical parameters
PublicationSince the last decade of the 20th century, there has been rising interest in the production of fruit wines, as evidenced by the high number of published papers and books covering this matter. When aiming to produce quality fruit wines, it is essential to evaluate the analytical parameters of the beverage. In this context, there are a large number of analyses for the evaluation of wines and fruit wines. This article characterizes...
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Metabolic activity of tree saps of different origin towards cultured human cells in the light of grade correspondence analysis and multiple regression modeling
PublicationTree saps are nourishing biological media commonly used for beverage and syrup production. Although the nutritional aspect of tree saps is widely acknowledged, the exact relationship between the sap composition, origin, and effect on the metabolic rate of human cells is still elusive. Thus, we collected saps from seven different tree species and conducted composition-activity analysis. Saps from trees of Betulaceae, but not from...
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Influence of Rock Dust Additives as Fine Aggregate Replacement on Properties of Cement Composites—A Review
PublicationConcrete production consumes enormous amounts of fossil fuels, raw materials, and is energy intensive. Therefore, scientific research is being conducted worldwide regarding the possibility of using by-products in the production of concrete. The objective is not only to identify substitutes for cement clinker, but also to identify materials that can be used as aggregate in mortar and concrete productions. Among the potential alternative...
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Time reversal invariant single-gap superconductivity with upper critical field larger than the Pauli limit in NbIr2B2
PublicationRecently, compounds with noncentrosymmetric crystal structure have attracted much attention for providing a rich playground in search for unconventional superconductivity. NbIr2B2 is a new member to this class of materials harboring superconductivity below Tc = 7.3(2) K and a very high upper critical field that exceeds Pauli limit. Here we report on muon spin rotation (μSR) experiments probing the temperature and field dependence...
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Application of response surface methodology to optimize solid-phase microextraction procedure for chromatographic determination of aroma-active monoterpenes in berries
PublicationMost of scientific papers concern the qualitative or semi-quantitative analysis of aroma-active terpenes in liquid food matrices. Therefore, the procedure based on solid-phase microextraction and comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry for determination of monoterpenes in fresh berries was developed. The optimal extraction conditions using divinylbenzene-carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane fiber...
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Molecular dynamics simulations reveal the balance of forces governing the formation of a guanine tetrad—a common structural unit of G-quadruplex DNA
PublicationG-quadruplexes (G4) are nucleic acid conformations of guanine-rich sequences, in which guanines are arranged in the square-planar G-tetrads, stacked on one another. G4 motifs form in vivo and are implicated in regulation of such processes as gene expression and chromosome maintenance. The structure and stability of various G4 topologies were determined experimentally; however, the driving forces for their formation are not fully...
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The Verification of the Usefulness of Electronic Nose Based on Ultra-Fast Gas Chromatography and Four Different Chemometric Methods for Rapid Analysis of Spirit Beverages
PublicationSpirit beverages are a diverse group of foodstuffs. They are very often counterfeited which cause the appearance of low quality products or wrongly labelled products on the market. It is important to find a proper quality control and botanical origin method enabling the same time preliminary check of the composition of investigated samples, which was the main goal of this work. For this purpose, the usefulness of electronic nose...
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Transformation of the countryside into an open-air museum as a way to rescure its spatial layout and to improve the quality of live = Przekształcenie wsi w muzeum na wolnym powietrzu jako sposób ratowania jej układu przestrzennego i poprawy jakości życia mieszkańców
PublicationSince the first open-air museums until today, the exposition subject-matter has been specialized (ethnographic, archeological, industrial and technical skansens). But idea of the existence of such objects remains unchanged. Still, the goal is to show the collection of wooden buildings in the environment as close to their origin as possible or in the home environment. These distinguish the skansens and make them different then municipal...
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The Thin-Layer Microchromatography (μTLC) and TLC–FID Technique as a New Methodology in the Study of Lubricating Oils
PublicationThis paper concerns the possibility of using TLC coupled with a flame ionization detector (FID) and micro-TLC (μTLC) as precursors for microfluidized devices of analytical techniques to identify and determine the presence and content of the petroleum/vegetable oil base in the lubricating oils applied in cutting devices (chainsaws). This research is related to the problem of ensuring, in compliance with the requirements of environmental...
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Is the Solid Electrolyte Interphase an Extra-Charge Reservoir in Li-Ion Batteries?
PublicationAdvanced metal oxide electrodes in Li-ion batteries usually show reversible capacities exceeding the theoretically expected ones. Despite many studies and tentative interpretations, the origin of this extra-capacity is not assessed yet. Lithium storage can be increased through different chemical processes developing in the electrodes during charging cycles. The solid electrolyte interface (SEI), formed already during the first...
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Microscopic Imaging to Visualize the Distribution of Dietary Nucleic Acids in Food Products of Various Origins
PublicationDietary nucleic acids (dietNAs) are being increasingly recognized as important food components with nutritional value. However, the precise dietary recommendations for dietNAs are limited, because established methods for determining the quantity and nutritional role of dietNAs are still lacking. One of the tools to narrow this gap could be microscopic imaging, as a convenient approach to visualize the abundance and distribution...
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Religious social action and its organizational profiles
PublicationPurpose Social action implemented by the Church via its affiliated entities, foundations and associations may be viewed as a uniform activity. In reality, however, several organizational profiles exist that depend on the origin of these organizations (lay or religious), the scope of their activities (local or general) and their dependence on resources (whether from public administration or civil society). The paper aims to discuss...
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Assessment and design of greener deep eutectic solvents – A multicriteria decision analysis
PublicationDeep eutectic solvents (DES) are often considered as green solvents because of their properties, such as negligible vapor pressure, biodegradability, low toxicity or natural origin of their components. Due to the fact that DES are cheaper than ionic liquids, they have gained many applications in a short period of time. However, claims about their greenness sometimes seem to be exaggerated. Especially, bearing in mind lots of data...
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Analysis of air mass back trajectories with present and historical volcanic activity and anthropogenic compounds to infer pollution sources in the South Shetland Islands (Antarctica)
PublicationThis work analyses atmospheric transport of natural and anthropogenic pollution to the South Shetland Islands (SSI), with particular reference to the period September 2015 – August 2017. Based on data from the Global Volcanism Program database and air mass back trajectories calculated using the HySPLIT model, it was found that it is possible that in the analysed period volcanic pollution was supplied via long-range transport from...
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A Study of Transport Behaviour of Academic Communities
PublicationAn important challenge to achieving sustainable university campuses is ensuring that the academic community makes sustainable transport choices. The objective of this study was to investigate the daily commuting patterns, identify the potential for change, and determine the factors and criteria affecting the transport decisions of academic communities of two universities located in Gdansk, Poland. This paper summarizes the results...
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Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other organic pollutants in freshwaters on the western shore of Admiralty Bay (King George Island, Maritime Antarctica).
PublicationOrganic contamination in freshwater samples has never been investigated at the western shore of Admiralty Bay. Therefore, the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in five different sites distributed along a shore running from the Arctowski Station to the Baranowski Glacier was studied. Moreover, organic compounds such as n-alkanes, toluene and ethylbenzene were also noted. Increased ΣPAHs in late Austral summer 2016...
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Defining a novel domain that provides an essential contribution to site-specific interaction of Rep protein with DNA
PublicationAn essential feature of replication initiation proteins is their ability to bind to DNA. In this work, we describe a new domain that contributes to a replication initiator sequence-specific interaction with DNA. Applying biochemical assays and structure prediction methods coupled with DNA–protein crosslinking, mass spectrometry, and construction and analysis of mutant proteins, we identified that the replication initiator of the...
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Concentration of Potentially Bioactive Compounds in Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oils from Various Sources by Using LC-MS and Multivariate Data Analysis
PublicationHigh quality extra virgin olive oils represent an optimal source of nutraceuticals. The European Union (EU) is the world’s leading olive oil producer, with the Mediterranean region as the main contributor. This makes the EU the greatest exporter and consumer of olive oil in the world. However, small olive oil producers also contribute to olive oil production. Beneficial effects on human health of extra virgin olive oil are well...
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GreedyMAX-type Algorithms for the Maximum Independent Set Problem
PublicationA maximum independent set problem for a simple graph G = (V,E) is to find the largest subset of pairwise nonadjacent vertices. The problem is known to be NP-hard and it is also hard to approximate. Within this article we introduce a non-negative integer valued functionp defined on the vertex set V(G) and called a potential function of agraph G, while P(G) = max{vinV(G)| p(v)} is called a potential of G. For any graph P(G) <= D(G),...
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Yerba Mate - A Long but Current History
PublicationBearing in mind the growing interest in Yerba Mate, a comprehensive study has been prepared containing the most important aspects and possibilities of its use. The introduction of the work contains the species characteristics of Yerba Mate, as well as information about the origin and places of cultivation. The next part focuses on the analysis of the composition, pointing to purine alkaloids, polyphenols, saponins, and minerals...
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The New LM-PCR/Shifter Method for the Genotyping of Microorganisms Based on the Use of a Class IIS Restriction Enzyme and Ligation Mediated PCR
PublicationThis study details and examines a novel Ligation-Mediated - Polymerase Chain Reaction (LM-PCR) method. Named the LM-PCR/Shifter, it relies on the use of a Class IIS restriction enzyme giving restriction fragments with different 4 base, 5' overhangs, this being the Shifter, and the ligation of appropriate oligonucleotide adapters. A sequence of 4-base, 5' overhangs of the adapter and a 4-base sequence of the 3' end of the primer(s)...
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Modulation of CYP1A1, CYP1A2 and CYP1B1 expression by cabbage juices and indoles in human breast cell lines
PublicationEpidemiological studies have shown that consumption of cab- bage and sauerkraut is connected with significant reduction of breast cancer incidences. Estrogens are considered a major breast cancer risk factor and their metabolism by P450 enzymes substan- tially contributes to carcinogenic activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cabbage and sauerkraut juices of differ- ent origin on the expression profile...