Open Access Books

The processing of animal- and plant-based food proteins significantly impacts their structure, techno-functional properties, and nutritional quality. Techniques such as heating, extrusion, fermentation, and enzymatic hydrolysis alter protein conformation, leading to changes in solubility, emulsification, foaming, and gelation properties. For instance, heat treatment can denature proteins, improving digestibility but potentially reducing certain functional properties. Extrusion enhances texturization, making plant proteins more meat-like, while fermentation can improve bioavailability and reduce anti-nutritional factors in plant proteins. However, excessive processing may lead to the loss of essential amino acids or the formation of harmful compounds, such as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Animal proteins generally exhibit higher stability during processing, whereas plant proteins may require additional modifications to achieve the desired functionalities. Balancing processing conditions is crucial to optimize both the techno-functional and nutritional attributes of proteins, ensuring they meet consumer demands for health, sustainability, and sensory appeal.

The circumstances of the crime contribute both to a best individualisation and definition of the case, and to the judicial assessment of the fine. This double “soul” makes the circumstances of the crime an elected ground for policies that are either legalitarian (policies of legal determination of the particular case and legal quantification of the fine), or of judicial discretion (judicial determination of the particular case and judicial assessment of the fine). The uncertain amendment has, however, delivered a magmatic and unbalanced system. The work tries to give rationality to the matter by affirming that a reform of the institute (no longer postponable) must first pass by the special part of the code, through a redefinition of the legal notes and then by the assessment system as a whole. However, such an intervention would make the institution of circumstances seem irrational, leading it to radical suppression.

Materials / States of matter

Water pollution from biorefractory pollutants and emerging contaminants is still a very relevant problem worldwide. Examples of these pollutants include disinfection by-products, pharmaceutical and personal care products, persistent organic chemicals, as well as their degradation products. The occurrence of these contaminants in water has raised increasing concern due to their accumulation and persistence in the environment and the threat they pose to the ecological system and human health. In this Special Issue, papers regarding the advancements in materials and processes for use in the electro- and photoelectrochemical removal of different pollutants from water are collected. The synthesis, characterization and application of materials for use in electrochemical or photoelectrochemical techniques are presented, as well as studies concerning catalytic processes and reaction kinetics.

Symmetry is an intriguing phenomenon manifesting itself in art, nature, and the mind. This Special Issue book features 19 articles about discrete geometric and combinatorial polyhedral structures, with symmetry as the unifying theme. These articles present an attractive mix of topics and have appeared in two related Special Issues of Symmetry, on "Polyhedra" in 2012/2013 and on "Polyhedral Structures" in 2016/2017. Specific topic areas covered include polyhedra, tilings, and crystallography; abstract polyhedra, maps on surfaces, and graphs; and polyhedral structures, arts, and architectural design.

This report presents the result of the July 2014 Law Enforcement Futuring Workshop, in which a diverse group of law enforcement practitioners explored future visions of law enforcement and identified and prioritized needs in technology, policy, and practice based on those visions.

The volume, dedicated to the 44th International Conference of the Italian Union for Drawing, investigates the theme of ‘Transitions’, which particularly effectively represents our time and the current condition of the discipline of Drawing. The term, beyond its generic meaning of an intermediate stage in a process in which a condition changes from one state to another, has always been used in various fields, from music to geophysics. In fact, the disciplines of drawing have always been confronted with themes and issues relating to transitions from one condition to another. The history of representation tells us of transformations, even epochal ones, relating to ‘drawing’, with all that such transitions entail: suffice it to think of the evolution of forms of representation, of instrumental apparatuses, of the mutability of supports, of the analogical-digital transition underway, of the new modes of communication on platforms, of the hypertrophic offer of images also on the net that confirms Guy Debord’s intuitions relating to the new spectacularisation of society. Similarly, representation triggers transitions in the prefiguration and communication of design, the anticipation and foreshadowing of future events.The challenges posed by the digital pose open questions whose scope can only be glimpsed, such as the relationship between drawing and the act of modelling, and the construction of new paradigms of visual language and communication. ‘Transitions’, almost implicitly, points to possible futures, the evolution of technique and the search for new modes of expression; at the same time, however, it can suggest silences and reflections in a process of connection between history, theory, criticism and construction.

This text addresses the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the general development of international law. It focuses on three questions: What consequences does the Russian breach of the prohibition of violence have for international law as a legal order? Can Putin be held to account before the International Criminal Court? And are the individual EU sanctions being imposed on Russian citizens legal?

While medieval guilds failed to absorb and encapsulate the entire world of labour into their fold, the moral, civic and political impact in medieval societies and the role in articulating rank in an increasingly hierarchical society is unquestionable. Guildsmen believed that their associations promoted 'justice' and that decisions within the guild should express the will of the majority of peers. However, this moral ethic, this concept of brotherhood, led to the exclusion from the world of production and, by extension, civil society, of all those who were outside the guild system. This system limited the resourcefulness of some and entailed the survival of the mediocre, but it was an acceptable compromise to ensure the security, order and reliability of the economic and social system for the majority.

The book contains papers published in a Special Issue of Axioms, entitled "New Developments in Geometric Function Theory". An Editorial describes the 14 papers devoted to the study of complex-valued functions which present new outcomes related to special classes of univalent and bi-univalent functions, new operators and special functions associated with differential subordination and superordination theories, fractional calculus, and certain applications in geometric function theory.

The correspondence between Meinong and Kazimierz Twardowski highlights the relationship between two philosophers who influenced the history of philosophy and psychology in Austria and Poland. The two correspondents discuss, among other things, their epistemological approach and the university politics of their times. In addition, there is an extensive introduction that places the correspondence in its proper historical and philosophical context.

Bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila), with around 750 species in Portugal, are a group of pollinating insects that are crucial to the functioning of ecosystems and food security. However, bees face strong threats, with negative trends in the abundance of individuals and species diversity. In this context, there is an urgent need to develop conservation actions that guarantee the protection of biodiversity and the long-term sustainability of ecosystems. These conservation actions must, however, be designed and implemented based on robust action plans and monitoring programs implemented over the long term. At the same time, we have seen a lack of investment in insect taxonomy over several decades, resulting in a limited number of entomologists to monitor action plans. It is therefore crucial to train new generations in the field of entomology, particularly in the identification of bees. This work is an adaptation of Michez et al. (2024) and represents an updated version of the dichotomous keys to the bee genera of Portugal. This work provides a general characterization of the life cycle, ecology and external morphology, summarizes the families, subfamilies, tribes and genera present in Portugal, including the number of species and the main bibliographic references available for subsequent identification to species, and provides two keys for identifying genera, one for females and one for males. The aim of these keys is to make teaching and learning about the taxonomy of bees in Portugal more accessible and to promote entomology.

To improve the efficiency of ruminant and livestock production, ruminant feeding should use local feed resources to develop alternative feeds or implement bio-utilization technologies to make use of byproducts, reduce feeding costs and alleviate the food competition between humans and animals. Feed constitutes a major input to the animal production system, and the nutritional value of alternative forages varies greatly depending on the source, variety, processing or storage method. Therefore, it is critical to understand feed quality and its impact on ruminant production, livestock product quality and the environment. Most importantly, we must describe the nutritional value of alternative feedstuffs with greater precision, allowing nutritionists to incorporate them into balanced diets with fewer errors, and improve feed quality through technological advancement. This Reprint aims to improve our understanding of the nutritive value of ruminant feeds, particularly roughage and silage. The main topics presented in this Reprint are: the nutritional value of ruminant feeds; non-conventional feed bioconversion for ruminants (including silage, yellow silage, ammonification, bacterial and enzymatic co-fermentation, etc.); and novel feedstuffs or unconventional feeds for ruminants, as well as their effects and mechanisms.

Voici un livre qui vient à son heure. C’est un heureux événement pour la langue mbo et pour la linguistique africaine. Grâce à la somme des données dégagées par la description, il ouvre, pour la langue mbo, des perspectives prometteuses en termes d’aménagement orthographique, terminologique et grammatical, ce qui ne manquera pas de faciliter son emploi dans tous les domaines de la vie moderne au bénéfice de ses usagers : alphabétisation, scolarisation, création littéraire, communication dans la presse, à la radio et à la télévision. Ce livre sera utile aux chercheurs car il constitue une contribution importante à la connaissance des langues bantoues de la zone A considérée par les spécialistes comme l’une des plus complexes et des moins explorées de l’ensemble du domaine. Enfin il s’adresse à la fois à ceux qui parlent le mbo et à ceux qui voudraient l’étudier ou l’enseigner.