Search results for "Micro"
showing 10 items of 23412 documents
Simultaneous production of furfural and levulinic acid from pine sawdust via acid-catalysed mechanical depolymerization and microwave irradiation
2019
Abstract In this work pine sawdust was converted into levulinic acid (LA) and furfural. Sawdust was first pre-treated with sulfuric acid-catalysed mechanical depolymerization. The conversion reactions were then performed with microwave heating at 180 °C. To enhance the furfural yield and the efficient separation of furfural and LA, a biphasic water-toluene reaction system was used. The effect of an additional catalyst, AlCl3, on the yield of LA and furfural was also studied. According to the results the pre-treatment method enhanced the yields of LA. In addition, due to the microwave heating the reaction times were short. Additional AlCl3 catalyst enhanced the LA yield, however excellent fu…
Archaeometric Characterisation of Decorated Pottery from the Archaeological Site of Villa dei Quintili (Rome, Italy): Preliminary Study
2019
This work focused on the study of decorated pottery dated back to the 16th century from the Roman archaeological site of Villa dei Quintili, a monumental complex located in the south-eastern part of Rome (Italy). A minero-petrographic and geochemical study was undertaken to analyse five archaeological samples in order to define textural features and raw materials used for their production, along with the chemical and physical composition of the superficial decorative glazed coatings. For this purpose, different analytical methods were used, such as polarising optical microscope (POM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-Ray fluorescence (XRF), and electron microprobe analys…
Profit Sharing the Firm-Size Wage Premium
2017
This study analyzes the relationships among wages, firm size, and profit sharing schemes. We develop a simple theoretical model and explore the relationship empirically using high-quality panel data. The theoretical model shows that the firm-size wage premium decreases in the presence of profit sharing. The empirical results based on rich matched employee-employer data for private sector wage earners in Finland show that the firm-size wage premium is modest, and it becomes negligible when we account for profit sharing and covariates describing assortative matching and monopsony behavior. The analysis suggests that profit sharing schemes embody effects of firm-specific unobservables that rai…
Analyzing heterogeneity on the value, satisfaction, word-of-mouth relationship in retailing
2017
Purpose The literature recognizes the need to study differences in consumer behavior in highly competitive and dynamic markets. In this paper, the authors look at how the heterogeneous evaluation of retailing influences customer satisfaction and loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to analyze unobserved heterogeneity on customer value dimensions perceptions in retail establishments, and their potential effects on positive forms of behavioral outcomes considering customer satisfaction as a mediating variable. Design/methodology/approach On a sample of 820 retail customers, the authors apply a finite mixture structural equation modeling that analyzes unobserved heterogeneity simultaneously.…
Dissimilar Regulation of Antimicrobial Proteins in the Midgut of Spodoptera exigua Larvae Challenged with Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins or Baculoviru…
2015
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and lysozymes are the main effectors of the insect immune system, and they are involved in both local and systemic responses. Among local responses, midgut immune reaction plays an important role in fighting pathogens that reach the insect body through the oral route, as do many microorganisms used in pest control. Under this point of view, understanding how insects defend themselves locally during the first phases of infections caused by food-borne pathogens is important to further improve microbial control strategies. In the present study, we analyzed the transcriptional response of AMPs and lysozymes in the midgut of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae…
Influence of aquatic microbiota on the survival in water of the human and eel pathogen Vibrio vulnificus serovar E
2004
Summary The eel and human pathogen Vibrio vulnificus serovar E (biotype 2) is seldom isolated from natural waters, although it can survive in sterilized artificial seawater microcosms for years. The main objective of the present study was to investigate whether aquatic microbiota can limit its survival and recovery from water samples. A set of preliminary experiments of survival in microcosms containing natural seawater and water from eel farms showed that the persistence of this pathogen was mainly controlled by grazing, and secondarily by bacterial competition. The bacte- rial competition was further analysed in artificial seawater microcosms co-inoculated with selected virulent serovar E…
Global diversity and geography of soil fungi
2014
Fungi play integral roles in soil nutrient cycling, but the determinants of fungal diversity and biogeographic patterns of key functional groups remain poorly understood. By using pyrosequencing data from hundreds of globally distributed soil samples, we demonstrated fungal diversity that expands upon the taxonomic and molecular diversity recorded so far. Except for ectomycorrhizal symbionts, fungal functional group richness was unrelated to plant diversity and plant-to-fungus richness ratio declined exponentially towards the poles. Climatic factors, followed by edaphic and spatial variables, constituted the best predictors of fungal richness and community composition at the global scale. F…
The influence of bacteria-dominated diets on Daphnia magna somatic growth, reproduction, and lipid composition
2012
We explored how dietary bacteria affect the life history traits and biochemical composition of Daphnia magna, using three bacteria taxa with very different lipid composition. Our objectives were to (1) examine whether and how bacteria-dominated diets affect Daphnia survival, growth, and fecundity, (2) see whether bacteria-specific fatty acid (FA) biomarkers accrued in Daphnia lipids, and (3) explore the quantitative relationship between bacteria availability in Daphnia diets and the amounts of bacterial FA in their lipids. Daphnia were fed monospecific and mixed diets of heterotrophic (Micrococcus luteus) or methanotrophic bacteria (Methylomonas methanica and Methylosinus trichosporium) and…
Diverse societies are more productive: a lesson from ants
2012
The fitness consequences of animal personalities (also known as behavioural syndromes) have recently been studied in several solitary species. However, the adaptive significance of collective personalities in social insects and especially of behavioural variation among group members remains largely unexplored. Although intracolonial behavioural variation is an important component of division of labour, and as such a key feature for the success of societies, empirical links between behavioural variation and fitness are scarce. We investigated aggression, exploration and brood care behaviour in Temnothorax longispinosus ant colonies. We focused on two distinct aspects: intercolonial variabil…
Finnish Cottage Industry and Cultural Policy: A Historical View
2013
Eliza Kraatari (MSSc, MA) works as a doctoral student in the unit of cultural policy at the Universityof Jyvaskyla. With a background in art and design (MA) and major in political science she is studyingthe history of Finnish cottage industry policies in her dissertation. Her special fields of interestinclude craft and design history, the linkages of design and the political, and creativity and culturaleconomy in general. E-mail: eliza.kraatari@jyu.fi