Enhancing cultural recommendations through social and linked open data

In this article, we describe a hybrid recommender system (RS) in the artistic and cultural heritage area, which takes into account the activities on social media performed by the target user and her friends, and takes advantage of linked open data (LOD) sources. Concretely, the proposed RS (1) extracts information from Facebook by analyzing content generated by users and their friends; (2) performs disambiguation tasks through LOD tools; (3) profiles the active user as a social graph; (4) provides her with personalized suggestions of artistic and cultural resources in the surroundings of the user’s current location. The last point is performed by integrating collaborative filtering algorithms with semantic technologies in order to leverage LOD sources such as DBpedia and Europeana. Based on the recommended points of cultural interest, the proposed system is also able to suggest to the active user itineraries among them, which meet her preferences and needs and are sensitive to her physical and social contexts as well. Experimental results on real users showed the effectiveness of the different modules of the proposed recommender.

     

Effect of the mimic structure on the molecular recognition properties of molecularly imprinted polymers for ochratoxin A prepared by a fragmental approach

In this work the fragmental approach was used to prepare several molecularly imprinted ethylene dimethacrylate-co-methacrylic acid polymers with molecular recognition towards the mycotoxin ochratoxin A, with the aim of searching for simpler mimic templates than the well-known N-(4-chloro-1-hydroxy-2-naphthoylamido)-(l)-phenylalanine. The screening for binding of two different kinds of ochratoxin-related molecules was performed by HPLC analysis. Ochratoxin A and the mimic templates were eluted in acetonitrile–acetic acid (0.1% v/v) and the imprinting factor was measured for all the ligands on all the columns packed with the imprinted polymers. The experimental results show that changes to the amino acidic sub-structure or the presence/absence of a chlorine atom in position 4 on the naphthalene ring system does not affect the molecular recognition of ochratoxin A by the resulting imprinted polymer. On the contrary, the presence of the bulky naphthalene ring system in the mimic template seems to be necessary to preserve the molecular recognition of ochratoxin. This binding behavior was found to be compatible with in silico simulations of the complexation between some of the mimic templates and molecules of methacrylic acid. The use of the mimic template N-(1-hydroxy-2-naphthoylamido)-(L)-phenylalanine seems to represent a synthetically simple approach to the preparation of imprinted polymers with molecular recognition properties towards ochratoxin A.     

Characterization of Crude Watermelon Seed Oil by Two Different Extractions Methods

The aim of this paper was to study the physical–chemical composition of the watermelon seed oil extracted by a mechanical process using an expeller and by a chemical process using hexane as the solvent. The watermelon seed oil had a high concentration of unsaturated fatty acids. The two primary sterols were stigmasterol and β-sitosterol, which corresponded to approximately 47 and 30% of the total phytosterols. The oil had a low tocopherol content (65.19 mg/kg for S and 73.19 mg/kg for E). Comparing the two extraction methods, extraction by expeller produced an oil of superior quality with respect to oxidative stability, carotenoids and Lovibond color. No significant differences were found between the two extraction methods with respect to the minor components of the oil considered as functional, such as phytosterols.     

Anchoring of Chiral Manganese(III) Salen Complex onto Organo Clay and Porous Clay Heterostructure and Catalytic Activity in Alkene Epoxidation

The chiral Mn(III) salen complex (C1) was immobilised onto a natural clay (BEN) and a porous clay heterostructure (PCH) functionalised with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). FTIR, XPS and Mn chemical analysis confirm the C1 anchorage in both materials, but with higher efficiency in BEN_APTES clay. The catalytic activity of C1@BEN_APTES and C1@PCH_APTES, was assessed in the epoxidation of styrene (sty) and ∝-methylstyrene (∝-Mesty) using NaOCl and m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (m-CPBA)/N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMO). Both materials behave as moderate catalysts, show high epoxide selectivity but low enantiomeric excesses. In the case of sty epoxidation with m-CBPA/NMO the C1@PCH_APTES catalyst showed the highest catalytic activity, whereas in ∝-Mesty epoxidation, the C1@PCH_APTES catalyst, although leading to lower substrate conversion than the BEN analogue, presented the lowest complex leaching. In all cases, the oxidant NaOCl had some destructive effect in the hybrid catalysts, highlighting the importance of a careful choice of catalyst and oxidant system.     

Reactivity of a NiO/Al2O3 oxygen carrier prepared by impregnation for chemical-looping combustion

The reactivity of a Ni-based oxygen carrier prepared by hot incipient wetness impregnation (HIWI) on α-Al₂O₃ with a NiO content of 18 wt% was studied in this work. Pulse experiments with the reduction period divided into 4-s pulses were performed in a fluidized bed reactor at 1223 K using CH₄ as fuel. The number of pulses was between 2 and 12. Information about the gaseous product distribution and secondary reactions during the reduction was obtained. In addition to the direct reaction of the combustible gas with the oxygen carrier, CH₄ steam reforming also had a significant role in the process, forming H₂ and CO. This reaction was catalyzed by metallic Ni in the oxygen carrier and H₂ and CO acted as intermediate products of the combustion. No evidence of carbon deposition was found in any case. Redox cycles were also carried out in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) with H₂ as fuel. Both tests showed that there was a relation between the solid conversion reached during the reduction and the relative amount of NiO and NiAl₂O₄ in the oxygen carrier. When solid conversion increased, the NiO content also increased, and consequently NiAl₂O₄ decreased. Approximately 20% of the reduced nickel was oxidized to NiAl₂O₄, regardless ΔX_s. NiAl₂O₄ was also an active compound for the combustion reaction, but with lower reactivity than NiO. Further, the consequences of these results with respect to the design of a CLC system were investigated. When formation of NiAl₂O₄ occurred, the average reactivity in the fuel reactor decreased. Therefore, the presence of both NiO and NiAl₂O₄ phases must be considered for the design of a CLC facility.     

Ultraviolet B (UVB) Irradiation-Induced Apoptosis in Various Cell Lineages in Vitro

Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation acts as a strong apoptotic trigger in many cell types, in tumor and normal cells. Several studies have demonstrated that UVB-induced cell death occurs through the generation of reactive oxygen species. The consequent oxidative stress includes the impairment of cellular antioxidants, the induction of DNA damage and the occurrence of apoptosis. In this review, we investigated UVB apoptotic action in various cell models by using ultrastructural, molecular and cytofluorimetric techniques. Myeloid leukemia HL-60, T-lymphoblastoid Molt-4 and myelomonocytic U937 human cells, generally affected by apoptotic stimuli, were studied. Human chondrocytes and C2C12 skeletal muscle cells, known to be more resistant to damage, were also considered. All of them, when exposed to UVB radiation, revealed a number of characteristic apoptotic markers. Membrane blebbing, cytoplasm shrinkage and chromatin condensation were detected by means of electron microscopy. DNA cleavage, investigated by using agarose gel electrophoresis and TUNEL reaction, was observed in suspended cells. Differently, in chondrocytes and in skeletal muscle cells, oligonucleosomic DNA fragmentation did not appear, even if a certain TUNEL positivity was detected. These findings demonstrate that UVB radiation appears to be an ideal tool to study the apoptotic behavior.     

Microwave assisted combustion synthesis in the system Ti–Si–C for the joining of SiC: Experimental and numerical simulation results

Microwaves at 2.45 GHz have been applied to ignite the combustion synthesis of compacted Ti–Si–C powders mixtures, having 1:1:1 atomic ratio, in order to join SiC-based components. A mixture of different refractory phases such as TiC and TiSi₂ were obtained. Depending on the synthesis conditions, no residual silicon in the joint was detected, suggesting the suitability of the here proposed experimental joining approach for nuclear plants and high temperature applications. A simplified model was developed with the aim of obtaining a deeper understanding of the here proposed rapid, almost pressure-less and localized heating joining method. Experimental and numerical simulation results demonstrate that joining of SiC can be rapidly obtained with minimization of heat affected zones in the SiC substrates. Maximum apparent shear strength values of the joints ranged from 9.9 to 45.1 MPa, depending on the process conditions.