Books in the SpringerBriefs in Molecular Science series

This Brief aims at providing a general understanding of the rationale - scientific as well as political - behind EU policy and related risk management decisions in the area on non-animal food imports.

This book introduces vibronic coupling density and vibronic coupling constant analyses as a way to understand molecular structure and chemical reactions.

Historically, the reaction was used in chemical analysis and to highlight the nature of chemical reactions, the laws of chemistry, models and theories of chemistry, chemical nomenclature, mathematics and data analysis, and instrumentation, which are important ingredients of what one might call the nature of chemistry.

This book explains the role of food-oriented (or 'food-centric') quality system standards in the modern food and beverage industry. It discusses food safety schemes based on the international norm ISO 9001 and the "Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points" approach, and also introduces the new Global Standard for Food Safety (GSFS) and the International Featured Standard (IFS, 7th ed.), outlining standardization for international equivalence (while maintaining the necessary flexibility and independence - which is not always easy an easy task).Providing selected specific examples, it examines the problems of chemical additives and possible cross-contaminations between different production lines, as well as adequate reactions to and handling of intentional adulterations. In addition, it includes a chapter focusing on quality audits and technical data sheets in the food industry, and a final chapter describing the certification of food-grade lubricants in the food industry, especially with regard to allergenic substances.

This book describes the consequences of an increased demand for food for human consumption for the global food industry. Chapter two discusses how the expansion of cropland and pastures to meet the rising demand for food is damaging the environment, while chapter three examines the impact of bee viruses on food crops and production.

This Brief is devoted to clean drinking water, which is (one of) the most important asset(s) in the food and beverage industry. In the present time of increasing water scarcity in many areas of the world, supply of clean water especially in the production and packaging chain of foods and beverages, is a crucial issue. This Brief hence outlines why functioning purification and reuse systems for wastewater are becoming more and more interesting and promising technologies in solving the challenge.  Readers find in this Brief an introduction to different innovative treatment methodologies. The authors discuss key parameters (such as the water volume to be treated, types and chemical and physico-chemical characteristics of pollutants, but also the intended use of the recycled water) and present various methodologies, such as separation or concentration systems, centrifugation, evaporation, filtration, flotation, gravity separation, membrane techniques, aerobic and anaerobic biological treatments, as well as combined or hybrid systems. Selected specific methods are presented in detail, specifically a new adsorption method for the removal of metal ions.

This Brief explains and discusses honey and its production from a chemical perspective. In this Brief, the author addresses the factors that influence the composition of the honey as well as the consequences that the composition has on properties such as color, crystallization, density, viscosity, or the refractive index.

This Brief is devoted to the CFTR protein and cystic fibrosis, and it provides an updated perspective of the genetic, functional and cellular processes involved in this conformational disorder.

Following an introduction and bibliography of Scheele's published works, the author analyses Scheele's publications paragraph by paragraph, explaining the procedures and the results in modern terms, and summarising and elucidating Scheele's conclusions.

Through four chapters, the authors describe the chemistry of food additives, the regulatory classification of additives on a large-scale, the risks involved in using chemicals for food preparation - including implications this has on food hygiene, and case-study examples taken from the dairy industry.

This book reveals how polymer blending and grafting now offer a growing range of new applications for advanced films and fibers.

This Brief presents a chemical perspective on frozen vegetables, also known as "ready-to-use" foods. Particular attention is given to the microbiological colonization of vegetables during the freezing treatments and to the chemical and physical modifications associated.

This Brief discusses aspects of the increasingly complex production of legal and reliable food products of non-animal origin.  It introduces to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in the USA (from January 2011), which requires the food industry to follow risk-based approaches with stronger self-regulation of food safety through measures such as the foreign supplier verification programs (FSVPs). The Brief addresses important chemical hazards of vegetable products: their peculiar microbial ecology, that can become responsible for the occurrence of specific foodborne disease outbreaks, and the chemistry of the involved neurotoxins and other dangerous molecules, that can potentially lead to lethal pathological reactions.Finally, the Brief also critically discusses the technology of ready-to-eat vegetable products and chemical and physical modifications used for packed products (respiration of vegetables, colorimetric modifications, etc.).

This brief outlines the most recent advances in the production of polyols and polyurethanes from renewable resources, mainly vegetable oils, lignocellulosic biomass, starch, and protein.

This snapshot volume is designed to provide a smooth entry into the field of protein folding. Presented in a concise manner, each section introduces key concepts while providing a brief overview of the relevant literature. Outlook subsections will pinpoint specific aspects related to emerging methodologies, concepts and trends.

They emphasize the great efforts that have been made to synthesize new bio-based polymers or additives or to replace glass fibers by natural fibers in composites. The flame retardancy of biobased polymers, the flame retardancy of natural fibers composites, and the synthesis and efficiency of biobased flame retardants.

This Brief explores the importance of lactic acid and fermentation in the modern food industry. Although it is usually associated with milk and dairy products, lactic acid can also be found in many other fermented food products, including confectionery products, jams, frozen desserts, and pickled vegetables.

This brief explains the principles and fundamentals of carbon dioxide utilization and highlights the transformation to fuels and value-added chemicals such as formic acid and methanol.

This book describes various carbon nanomaterials and their unique properties, and offers a detailed introduction to graphene-carbon nanotube (CNT) hybrids. Further, it discusses the preparation, structures and properties of graphene-CNT hybrids, providing interesting examples of three types of graphene-CNT hybrids with different nanostructures.

This brief reviews the fundamentals, recent developments, challenges and prospects of Li-S and Li-O2 batteries, including fundamental research and potential applications.

This brief offers a novel vision of the city of Florence, tracing the development of chemistry via the biographies of its most illustrious chemists.

This collection of essays examines the question of theory from the perspective of the history of chemistry.

This book begins by giving a summary of sonochemistryand explains how a chemical reaction can be induced by the interaction of soundwaves and gas bubbles in liquids. The work outlines how primary and secondaryradicals combined with the physical effects generated during acousticcavitation are active in the ultrasonic synthesis of a variety of functionalmaterials. The brief covers hot topics that include ultrasonic synthesis ofvarious functional materials covering the following broad areas: acoustic cavitationand sonochemistry, synthesis of functional polymers and their applications, synthesisof functional inorganic materials and their applications, improving functionality of food/dairy systems, synthesis of functionalbiomaterials and their applications, synthesis of graphene based catalytic materials.Theory is kept to a minimum. The book is aimed at individuals at universitiesand will also interest those in industry. It is suitable for all levels.

This Brief is concerned with the material chemistry of food packaging materials. The Brief describes how the final properties of a food packaging material can be influenced through chemical modifications in the structure and composition of the used components.

metallidurans proteins are reviewed in detail, including RND and membrane fusion proteins (from tripartite chemiosmotic cation/proton efflux systems), sigma and anti-sigma regulatory proteins of the cnr efflux system (resistance to cobalt and nickel) and various periplasmic proteins mainly involved in the response to copper and mercury.

This Brief concerns the chemical risk in food products from the viewpoint of microbiology. The chemical risks described in this book are related to food additives, contaminants by food packaging materials, chemicals from cleaning systems and microbial toxins.

This Brief summarizes the current research on the novel BRICHOS domain, which is a chaperone domain found in a variety of proteins and is shown to exhibit anti-amyloidogenic chaperone-like functions.

Hygiene, i.e., the prevention of contamination and microbial infections, is of greatest importance in the industry, as are disinfection techniques, to prevent or to fight microbial contaminations and infections, and practical emerging concerns are centered around these fundamental concerns.