http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/16 Search the Channel search http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/simple-search http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/6577 Title: Some evidence about the physiological basis of flesh reddening symptoms in plum fruit<br/><br/>Authors: Manganaris, George A.; Vicente, Ariel R.; Crisosto, Carlos H.<br/><br/>Abstract: Flesh reddening has been described as one of the manifestations of chilling injury (CI) symptoms in stone fruits, including plum, peach and nectarine fruit. Flesh reddening in peach and nectarine fruit is most evident around the pit cavity, while symptoms in plum appear initially as discoloration in the fruit flesh periphery that later is extended towards the pit cavity, covering the whole mesocarp. Intriguingly, ethylene has different effects on the incidence of flesh reddening symptoms in these phenotypically related, yet distinct species. While it is exacerbated in plums stored at 5°C under continuous ethylene exposure and is significantly reduced by 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatments, in nectarines the opposite is true. This review study indicates that the nature of flesh reddening differs among stone fruits and suggests that in the case of plum ethylene synthesis is not merely an additional consequence of CI symptoms, it is important for the development of the disorder. Finally, the fact that flesh reddening has been observed in non-refrigerated plums during ripening after harvest suggests that flesh reddening in this fruit should be considered a general response to the stresses associated with postharvest storage and not only a CI disorder Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:58:59 GMT http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/6561 Title: Comparative transcriptomic analysis of plum fruit treated with 1-MCP<br/><br/>Authors: Manganaris, George A.; Ziosi, Vanina; Costa, Guglielmo<br/><br/>Abstract: Microarray technology has allowed the large scale transcriptomic analysis of fruit ripening. The μPEACH1.0 microarray containing 4,806 probes corresponding to genes expressed in peach fruit tissues has been used in a heterologous fashion in two studies of plums ripening behavior. Gene expression of different cultivars of plums treated with the ethylene antagonist, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and stored for short periods at room temperature or for longer periods of cold storage was examined. In the first study, mature fruit of a suppressed ethylene climacteric cultivar 'Shiro' and a cultivar characterized by a typical increase of ethylene production during ripening ('Santa Rosa') were harvested and incubated for 24h in air (control) or 1-MCP and allowed to ripen at room temperature. Different levels of transcripts of genes implicated in cell wall metabolism, hormone (ethylene and auxin) regulation, stress and defense, and in the transcription/translation machinery, as well as others involved with ripening were identified. In the second study, the effects of 1-MCP on gene expression in relation to the development of chilling injury (CI) in the climacteric cultivars 'Ruby Red' (RR) and 'October Sun' (OS) and 'Zee Lady' peaches (ZP) were analyzed. The fruit were treated for 24h at room temperature with 1-MCP prior to storage at 0°C. For RR, there was no significant effect of 1-MCP on the level of CI symptoms, while 1-MCP significantly reduced CI symptoms in OS fruit and an increase of CI in treated ZP fruit. Microarray analysis showed that immediately following treatment, 186, 134 and 56 genes were differentially expressed between the control and 1-MCP-treated fruit of these cultivars, respectively: after 4 weeks cold storage, 311, 52 and 224 genes for RR, OS and ZP, respectively, were differentially expressed between control and treated fruit. Thus, for OS, the number of differentially expressed genes reduced during storage while the number increased in RR and ZP. Comparisons of the data suggest that the transcript profile is altered by 1-MCP more in plums than peaches. These studies, carried out within an international collaborative network, will increase our understanding of the regulation of pathways involved in plum fruit ripening and in metabolic processes related to storage and shelf life Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:58:59 GMT http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/6544 Title: Environmental, economical and marketing aspects of the operation of a waste-to-energy plant in the Kotsiatis landfill in Cyprus<br/><br/>Authors: Costa, Costas; Savva, Petros; Charalambides, Alexandros<br/><br/>Abstract: Based on the current 2008/98/EC Directive, EU Member States are obliged to establish a waste management plan, waste prevention programmes by the end of 2013 and ensure that the general public will have the opportunity to participate in the elaboration of such plans and programmes. Energy recovery is one of the options laid down in the Directive as a possible solution and thus, the current study focuses on the environmental, technical, economical and marketing aspects of the operation of a modern Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant in the Kotsiatis landfill. The present study includes the analysis of WtE plant aspects, such as the public’s opinions, marketing and promotional activities, environmental depollution, financing options and operational costs. Personal interviews were conducted in the villages around the Kotsiatis landfill, and the techno economical study was based on the available literature. Results have shown that the construction of a WtE plant in the area will improve the quality of life of the habitants, reduce the current environmental problems, and that it is economically viable without governmental subsidy. The construction of a WtE plant that will be capable of incinerating 100,000 tonnes of waste/year will result to 11 MW of reliable power, in addition to the environmental benefits. The Net Present Value of such an investment will be €2,655,730 with an Internal Rate of Return of 10.5 %. However, the general public in the Kotsiatis village is against the construction of such a plant, but this is due to the lack of trustworthy information about incineration technologies (and renewable energy in general) from the local media. On the contrary, the general public in the vicinity of the area is in favour of a WtE plant, as they acknowledge the potential benefits. Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:58:59 GMT http://ktisis.cut.ac.cy/handle/10488/6535 Title: Nanofiltration : towards a breakthrough<br/><br/>Authors: Gekas, Vassilis; Giagou, D.; Foudoulis, G.<br/><br/>Abstract: Membrane unit operations with a pressure gradient as the driving force have already known a breakthrough in the past decades. Reverse osmosis in the 60s, Ultrafiltration in the 70s, Crossflow Microfiltration in the 90s. The newcomer among those methods, the Nanofiltration strives also to gain a wide application field that would justify the occurrence of a breakthrough! Recent experimental work in our Laboratory of Transport Phenomena and Applied Thermodynamics, at the Technical University of Crete, show that this field of wide application is the brackish water desalination Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:58:59 GMT