Air pollution is a worldwide environmental hazard that poses serious consequences not only for human health and the climate but also for agriculture, ecosystems, and cultural heritage, among other factors. According to the WHO, there are 8 million premature deaths every year as a result of exposure to ambient air pollution. In addition, more than 90% of the world's population live in areas wher…
Human beings need to breathe oxygen diluted in certain quantity of inert gas for living. In the atmosphere, there is a gas mixture of, mainly, oxygen and nitrogen, in appropriate proportions. However, the air also contains other gases, vapours and aerosols that humans incorporate when breathing and whose composition and concentration vary spatially. Some of these are physiologically inert. Air …
Abstract With the increasing requirements for energy, resources, and space, numerous rock engineering projects (e.g., mining, tunnelling, underground storage, and geothermal and petroleum engineering) are more often being constructed and operated in large-scale, deep underground, and complex geology environments. Meanwhile, more and more unconventional rock failures and rock instabilities (e.g…
Abstract This book gives a critical account of various methods used in music analysis. In the first chapter, a number of current approaches such as semiotics, musical implications, Schenkerian analysis, and generative theory are demonstrated on Mozart’s K. 331 theme. Five essays deal with important concepts in music analysis: ambiguity, formal proportions, and similarity within and between w…
Abstract Due to increasing global food needs as a result of population growth, the use of new food sources has gained interest in the last decade. However, the inclusion of new foods in our diet, as well as the increased interest of the population in consuming foods with better nutritional properties, has increased the need for adequate food analytical methods. This monographic issue presents …
Abstract This Special Issue is a collection of research topics on developing analytical and bioanalytical methods for isolation, identification, and determination of substances in biomedical and pharmaceutical matrices. Special attention is given to advancements in sample preparation, separation techniques and novel detection methods of small molecules, peptides, and monoclonal antibodies. The…
Abstract Analytical pyrolysis deals with the structural identification and quantitation of pyrolysis products with the ultimate aim of establishing the identity of the original material and the mechanisms of its thermal decomposition. The pyrolytic process is carried out in a pyrolyzer interfaced with analytical instrumentation such as gas chromatography (GC), mass spectrometry (MS), gas chrom…
Abstract The purpose of this volume is to show how in this area the technology, creativity and inventiveness are the basis of new and encouraging results not only in the environmental field but also in the monitoring of xenobiotics of organic and inorganic origin in complex matrices. The final objective will always be on determining the fundamental parameters of interest to set up an analytica…
Abstract This book consists of several selected chapters on important subjects in modern high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). The content addresses aspects related to both improvements in the mainstream HPLC/UPLC technology and utilization, as well as developments of exploratory new materials and equipment. The book presents useful d…
Chirality, or handedness, is a fundamental physical characteristic, which spans the length scales ranging from elementary particles to the chiral asymmetry of spiral galaxies. The way in which chirality in chemistry, or molecular handedness, may have emerged in a primitive terrestrial environment, and how it can be triggered, amplified, and transferred, are deeply challenging problems rooted in…