Fruit remains such as cherries, plums, sloes and peaches are frequently recovered from archaeolog... more Fruit remains such as cherries, plums, sloes and peaches are frequently recovered from archaeological waterlogged contexts. During an archaeological excavation in the city centre of Sassari (Italy), in 2007, a medieval well, dated at 1330-1360 AD, was discovered. The sediment appeared very rich in waterlogged plant remains and a consistent presence of Prunus endocarps, attributed to different species, was recorded. Thanks to the exceptional state of preservation of the remains, the morphological and morphometric analysis was performed. The discrimination among Prunus species is routinely based on visual evaluations of some traditional morphological characters of the endocarps. Currently, computer vision and image analysis techniques represent a more accurate, reliable and repeatable method to distinguish wild species from cultivated ones. Digital images, acquired with a flatbed scanner, were processed and analysed using the image analysis software KS-400 (Carl Zeiss Vision, Germany). A macro, specifically developed to measure endocarps of the Prunus L. genus, allowed measuring 33 morpho-colorimetric features and 80 elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFDs). In this work, the results obtained from the comparison between archaeological endocarps and the modern samples of Prunus collected in Sardinia, are presented. A clear statistical discrimination among 17 P. domestica, 111 P. domestica subsp. insistitia and 130 P. spinosa archaeological endocarps, was achieved. Moreover, from the comparison with the modern endocarps samples, the medieval ones were correctly identified with an overall percentage of 98.4 %. The LDA applied an archaeological Prunus endocarps preserved in waterlogged contexts have allowed us to investigate the taxonomic level of Prunus species present in the medieval period in Sardinia
Durum wheat semolina is mostly used for the preparation of pasta and couscous and, in the Mediter... more Durum wheat semolina is mostly used for the preparation of pasta and couscous and, in the Mediterranean area, it is also used to make bread. Several studies have assessed the ability of image analysis techniques to study bread quality. This is affected by several factors, such as the flour nature, the milling techniques and bread-making process, yeast type, water content of dough and the use of enzymes and other additives. However, the physico-chemical changes occurring during storage of flour and semolina might affect their technological properties; in particular, it is established that starch damage (or depolymerization) at a certain extent has a negative effect on bread structure. Many studies have addressed the shelf life of bread as a function of the bread-making process, raw materials and additives, however no study has investigated the role of semolina ageing on the bread-making performances. The aim of the present research was to assess the influence of durum wheat semolina ageing on the physical characteristics of bread by image analysis. Bread loaves were produced from semolina samples stored in 4 different packaging materials up to 150 days. Sampling and bread-making trials were performed every 15 days. Results show that ageing does affects durum wheat semolina bread-making performances, highlighting that storage time, rather than the type of packaging material, is the main factor determining quality changes in the final bread samples. In particular, a reduction of the bread slice area and height was observed with increasing semolina storage time, while a slight increase of crust and pore % areas was observed
ABSTRACT Kupicha(1976) recognized in the genus Vicia two subgenera Vicilla and Vicia with 17 and ... more ABSTRACT Kupicha(1976) recognized in the genus Vicia two subgenera Vicilla and Vicia with 17 and 5 sections respectively. More recently Maxted( 1993) re-examined the subgenus Vicia and proposed a new classification with nine sections. To improve the understanding of there relationship with the subgenus Vicia our team started the analysis of its nine sections The relationships within and among sections Bithynicae, Narbonensis and Faba have been investigated by karyological and molecular approaches and the results of the analysis of the indices of symmetry and the related spatial representation confirmed the classification of Maxted emphasizing the remoteness of V. faba and V. bithynica from the species of Narbonensis section (Venora et al.,2000).Later kariomorphological and molecular phylogeny of section Hypechusa have been investigated (Caputo et al 2006, Ruffini et al.,2007). Maxted( 1993) subdivided the section Hypechusa in two series Hyrcanicae and Hypechusa and pointed out the heterogeneity of these series. A multivariated analysis using 34 new karyomorphological parameters in addition to the indices TF%, SYi and Rec has been carried out and the dendrogram of linkage distance is more resolved compared to previous elaborations This analysis confirms the grouping of the species of section Hypechusa according to the chromosome number but highlights different clusters corresponding to the two series.
Fruit remains such as cherries, plums, sloes and peaches are frequently recovered from archaeolog... more Fruit remains such as cherries, plums, sloes and peaches are frequently recovered from archaeological waterlogged contexts. During an archaeological excavation in the city centre of Sassari (Italy), in 2007, a medieval well, dated at 1330-1360 AD, was discovered. The sediment appeared very rich in waterlogged plant remains and a consistent presence of Prunus endocarps, attributed to different species, was recorded. Thanks to the exceptional state of preservation of the remains, the morphological and morphometric analysis was performed. The discrimination among Prunus species is routinely based on visual evaluations of some traditional morphological characters of the endocarps. Currently, computer vision and image analysis techniques represent a more accurate, reliable and repeatable method to distinguish wild species from cultivated ones. Digital images, acquired with a flatbed scanner, were processed and analysed using the image analysis software KS-400 (Carl Zeiss Vision, Germany). A macro, specifically developed to measure endocarps of the Prunus L. genus, allowed measuring 33 morpho-colorimetric features and 80 elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFDs). In this work, the results obtained from the comparison between archaeological endocarps and the modern samples of Prunus collected in Sardinia, are presented. A clear statistical discrimination among 17 P. domestica, 111 P. domestica subsp. insistitia and 130 P. spinosa archaeological endocarps, was achieved. Moreover, from the comparison with the modern endocarps samples, the medieval ones were correctly identified with an overall percentage of 98.4 %. The LDA applied an archaeological Prunus endocarps preserved in waterlogged contexts have allowed us to investigate the taxonomic level of Prunus species present in the medieval period in Sardinia
Durum wheat semolina is mostly used for the preparation of pasta and couscous and, in the Mediter... more Durum wheat semolina is mostly used for the preparation of pasta and couscous and, in the Mediterranean area, it is also used to make bread. Several studies have assessed the ability of image analysis techniques to study bread quality. This is affected by several factors, such as the flour nature, the milling techniques and bread-making process, yeast type, water content of dough and the use of enzymes and other additives. However, the physico-chemical changes occurring during storage of flour and semolina might affect their technological properties; in particular, it is established that starch damage (or depolymerization) at a certain extent has a negative effect on bread structure. Many studies have addressed the shelf life of bread as a function of the bread-making process, raw materials and additives, however no study has investigated the role of semolina ageing on the bread-making performances. The aim of the present research was to assess the influence of durum wheat semolina ageing on the physical characteristics of bread by image analysis. Bread loaves were produced from semolina samples stored in 4 different packaging materials up to 150 days. Sampling and bread-making trials were performed every 15 days. Results show that ageing does affects durum wheat semolina bread-making performances, highlighting that storage time, rather than the type of packaging material, is the main factor determining quality changes in the final bread samples. In particular, a reduction of the bread slice area and height was observed with increasing semolina storage time, while a slight increase of crust and pore % areas was observed
ABSTRACT Kupicha(1976) recognized in the genus Vicia two subgenera Vicilla and Vicia with 17 and ... more ABSTRACT Kupicha(1976) recognized in the genus Vicia two subgenera Vicilla and Vicia with 17 and 5 sections respectively. More recently Maxted( 1993) re-examined the subgenus Vicia and proposed a new classification with nine sections. To improve the understanding of there relationship with the subgenus Vicia our team started the analysis of its nine sections The relationships within and among sections Bithynicae, Narbonensis and Faba have been investigated by karyological and molecular approaches and the results of the analysis of the indices of symmetry and the related spatial representation confirmed the classification of Maxted emphasizing the remoteness of V. faba and V. bithynica from the species of Narbonensis section (Venora et al.,2000).Later kariomorphological and molecular phylogeny of section Hypechusa have been investigated (Caputo et al 2006, Ruffini et al.,2007). Maxted( 1993) subdivided the section Hypechusa in two series Hyrcanicae and Hypechusa and pointed out the heterogeneity of these series. A multivariated analysis using 34 new karyomorphological parameters in addition to the indices TF%, SYi and Rec has been carried out and the dendrogram of linkage distance is more resolved compared to previous elaborations This analysis confirms the grouping of the species of section Hypechusa according to the chromosome number but highlights different clusters corresponding to the two series.
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