Search Results (34)
Use of information and communication technologies, data and knowledge to increase the impact of digital environments on food choice
Food and eating environments play a crucial role in shaping consumers' food choices. As food decision-making shifts more into the digital environment, it is essential to understand the impact of this setting on consumer's dietary behaviours. Online platforms and mobile apps provide great opportunities for the promotion of healthier food …
Investigation of the environmental acceptability of geotechnical composites, made from different recycled materials investigation of the environmental acceptability of geotechnical composites, made from different recycled materials
Current and especially past industrial and mining activities, including underground and open pit mining, have often resulted in soil pollution that has become a global and alarming environmental problem. Among contaminants, heavy metals and metalloids are under environmental scrutiny due to their potential toxicity, persistence, and because they can be …
Unravelling the molecular mechanisms of plant-pathogen interactions in grapevine and potato through functional analysis
Plants are constantly exposed to various environmental stressors. Pathogen infections causing disease can affect economically important crops and impact global food production. To counter disease development and spread, it is imperative that we acquire a thorough knowledge of its pathogenesis, as well as of the mechanisms underlying plant immune response. …
Characterization of plant viromes using different viral nucleic acids enrichment strategies and high-throughput sequencing platforms
Plant viruses are very important plant pathogens, causing economic losses by infecting cultivated plants, causing diseases, and consequently reducing crop quality and quantity. In recent years, the development of high throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies has dramatically broadened the possibilities for plant virus research and diagnostics, enabling the discovery of new …
Study of inconsistencies in health risk assessment: the role of assessment context in decision analysis aimed at their reduction
The area of risk assessment continues to be challenged by foundational issues that limit its potential to inform public health decisions. This doctoral work improves our understanding of the interaction between science and public and environmental health policy by addressing specific challenges in risk assessment within and for decision-making. The …
Diversity of viruses infecting tomato and weed plants in agroecosystems
Viruses, satellite viruses, viroids, virusoids, and satellite nucleic acids (herewith, referred to collectively or in part as ‘viruses’) comprise the virosphere and are perhaps the most diverse and abundant, yet still under-sampled, microbes on Earth. They are primarily regarded as pathogens or parasites of their eukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts. In …
User experience evaluation of novel air quality sensing technologies for citizen engagement in environmental health studies
The use of low-cost sensing technologies increasingly used in participatory environmental health studies brings both opportunities and challenges. While previous research mostly focused on technical aspects, this thesis brings participants to the foreground and articulates their experiences. It aims to evaluate if low-cost sensing technologies are fitfor- purpose in environmental …
The use of high-throughput sequencing for detection of viral sequences in complex samples from environment and industry
Metagenomics based on high throughput sequencing (HTS) has opened a new era of discovery and genomic characterization of viruses associated with a given host or environment. The search for novel viral sequences provides an excellent opportunity to improve early detection of pathogens, and to predict viral hosts and environmental reservoirs …
Ostanki bisfenolov v vodnem okolju: pojavnost in kroženje
Bisphenols are a group of industrial chemicals increasingly recognized as contaminants of emerging concern because of their presence in the environment and endocrine disrupting effects. They are used in the production of polycarbonate plastic, epoxy resins and thermal paper, in most cases without restriction. The global exception is bisphenol A, …
Spectroscopic characterization of conformations of short alanine peptides, poly-L-lysine and insulin during formation of amyloid fibrils
The process of protein folding describes the transition by which an unordered polypeptide chain attains its functional native three-dimensional structure. A detailed understanding of the principles which govern the protein folding, such as conformational preferences of amino acid residues, the neighbour residue effect and the solvent effects, remains an important …