Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-95).

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Thesis (DTech (Biomedical Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / Many environmental, physiological, and genetic factors have been shown to impair sperm function through oxidative damage. Oxidative stress (OS) arises as a consequence of excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and/or impaired antioxidant defence mechanisms. The decline in male reproductive health generated considerable public and scientific concerns about the possible role of environmental contaminants. A better understanding of how OS affects sperm function will be beneficial as it might help in the design of new and effective treatment strategies to combat the problem of increasing male subfertility. Studies have suggested that antioxidant nutrients and/or medicines play a protective role in human health. Crude red palm oil (RPO) is known to be the richest natural plant source of antioxidants such as carotenoids, tocopherols and metalloporpheryns. The aims of this study were twofold: (i) To establish an in vivo animal model of OS by exposing rat to organic hydroperoxide such as t-butyl hydroperoxide (tbHP) and cumene hydroperoxide (cHP) through repeated intraperitoneal injections that can be used for studying these effects on testicular tissue, epididymal sperm and sperm function as well as male reproductive parameters in general. (ii) To investigate the effects of a RPO supplemented diet on male reproductive parameters and tissue in animals exposed to OS. In the first part of the study, male Wistar rats aged 10-12 weeks were randomly placed in groups and received standard rat chow (SRC) and water ad lib. Animals were injected intraperitoneally with saline (0.5 ml), t-butyl hydroperoxide (5µM, 10µM, 20µM and 40µM; 0.5 ml) or cumene hydroperoxide cHP (2.5µM, 5µM, 10µM and 20µM; 0.5 ml) over a 60 day period. In the second part, male Wistar rats aged 10-12 weeks were placed randomly in three groups and fed with SRC. Group 1 received no supplement while the food of groups 2 and 3 were supplemented with 2 mL and 4 mL RPO (in 25 gm SRC/day) respectively. Each group was further divided into 3 subgroups and injected intraperitoneally daily with either saline, 10µM cHP or 20µM tbHP respectively. This was done for 5 consecutive days per week over a 60 day period. Sperm concentrations, and motility, lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH) activities as well as apoptosis were assessed.

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京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 甲第21897号 / 地博第243号 / 新制||地||90(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科東南アジア地域研究専攻 / (主査)教授 水野 広祐, 教授 岡本 正明, 教授 高橋 基樹 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DGAM

Palm oil is a growing market, and environmental and social concerns have led to a global demand of sustainable palm oil. In this study I investigate the certification process of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) from the experiences of independent smallholders. I perform interviews and observations in two independent smallholder associations in the Riau province in Indonesia who are in the end of the RSPO certification process. What I find is that most smallholders have extrinsic motivators (an increase in price) for wanting to join the certi fication, but that a few smallholders express intrinsic motivators as well (a care for the environment). I find that the certification process is creating a lot of changes to the agricultural practices of the smallholders, mainly regarding harvest, fertilisation, pesticide usage, and pruning. The challenges that the independent smallholders experience mainly regard their knowledge, level of organisation, institutional support, fertilisation, and documentation. I find that many of the smallholders use traditional knowledge while the RSPO is an organisation that mainly use modern knowledge, and I claim that some of the dif ficulties that independent smallholders experience when certifying derives from this collision of knowledge systems. Lastly, I claim that the organisation is an expression of modernity and risk society, and that the rise of voluntary sustainability certi fications the last decade can be seen as a response to the modern risk of climate change.

Introdução A hipovitaminose A é reconhecida mundialmente como um dos problemas nutricionais mais importantes, causando impacto negativo na saúde pública por afetar alguns setores da população e pelas sérias conseqüências à saúde. Seus efeitos deletérios justificam o compromisso do governo brasileiro no controle e erradicação da deficiência desta vitamina. Objetivo Comparar o teor de vitamina A de alimentos comuns para a população brasileira com aqueles desenvolvidos com a substituição parcial do óleo/gordura utilizados na sua preparação por azeite de dendê, e avaliar suas características sensoriais e sua aceitação. Metodologia Foram desenvolvidas as seguintes preparações: sequilho salgado, sequilho doce e biscoito de polvilho. Para a caracterização das amostras dos produtos desenvolvidos, com e sem dendê, foram realizadas análises de umidade, atividade de água, composição centesimal, estabilidade oxidativa, cor, textura e perfil de ácidos graxos. A vitamina A foi determinada pela quantificação de -caroteno presente nas amostras. Todas as análises foram realizadas quando o alimento foi elaborado (T0) e após 30 dias (T30). As preparações desenvolvidas foram submetidas à análise sensorial. Resultados Os resultados das análises de umidade, atividade de água, composição centesimal e estabilidade oxidativa dos biscoitos sem dendê não diferiram significativamente das amostras com dendê, excetuando-se o biscoito de polvilho, onde possivelmente uma vedação deficitária da embalagem alterou algumas destas variáveis no T30. Quanto à cor, à textura e ao perfil de ácidos graxos, observou-se que as alterações ocorridas nos biscoitos com dendê foram em função da composição do próprio azeite. Com relação ao teor de vitamina A, todos os produtos com dendê apresentaram concentrações significativas deste nutriente quando comparados aos biscoitos sem dendê. No T30, o biscoito de polvilho não apresentou boa retenção da vitamina A, provavelmente em função da tecnologia adotada, que promoveu a aeração do produto, e pela vedação deficitária. Mesmo assim o produto pode, de acordo com a ANVISA, ser considerado fonte de vitamina A e, portanto, capaz de atender parcela importante das necessidades nutricionais. Todos os produtos tiveram boa aceitação no T0, porém foram rejeitados no T30. Conclusão- o azeite de dendê é uma potencial fonte de vitamina A e pode ser utilizado no enriquecimento de alimentos visando o controle da hipovitaminose A. / Introduction Vitamin A deficiency is recognized as one of the most important nutritional problems, and its causing negative effects in public health because it affects some population sections as well as the serious consequences to health. Its deleterious effects justify the Brazilian government commitment to control and vitamin deficiency eradication. Objective Compare the vitamin A content from the brazilian population ordinary foods with those developed with partial substitution of the oil/fat normally used for palm oil, and assess its sensorial characteristics and acceptance. Methodology The follow prepares were developed: salt starchy biscuit, sweet starchy biscuit and cookies made from cassava flour. To describe the samples of the developed products with and without palm oil, moisture, water activity, centesimal composition, oxidative stability, color, texture and fatty acids profile were performed. The vitamin A was determined by -carotene quantification in samples. All analysis were done when the food was made (T0) and after 30 days (T30). All the developed prepares were submitted to a sensorial analysis. Results The biscuits with no palm oil, contents of moisture, water activity, centesimal composition, oxidative stability, results were not significantly different from biscuits with palm oil. It has excepted the cookies made from cassava flour, a possible pack defective seal changed some of these variables during T30. The color, texture and fatty acids profile changes on biscuits with palm oil happened because of the own oil composition. All products with palm oil have shown significantly vitamin A content concentrations compared with biscuits with no palm oil. The cookies made from cassava flour didnt show a good vitamin A retaining during T30. It happened probably because of the technology used that organized the product aeration and by the defective seal. According to ANVISA the product could be considerate vitamin A source anyway, and, therefore it is able to reach important part of nutritional necessities. All products had good acceptation during T0, however they were rejected during T30. Conclusion- The palm oil is a vitamin A powerful source and can be used to foods fortification aimed at vitamin A deficiency control.

Novos materiais poliméricos foram desenvolvidos utilizando como uma das matérias-primas o óleo de palma (OP). Para tanto, um novo monômero de norborneno, denominado norbornenil óleo de palma (NOP), foi obtido a partir da inserção de norborneno substituído com grupo carboxílico nos triglicerídeos do óleo da palma. O óleo de palma, assim como os produtos de cada etapa de síntese do NOP foram caracterizados por RMN-1H. Foi determinado um teor de 52% de ácidos graxos insaturados no OP, resultando no NOP com 1,0 norborneno por triglicerídeo. Reações de ROMP de NOP com norborneno, na presença de catalisador de Grubbs de segunda geração, resultaram em materiais insolúveis em uma diversidade de solventes polares e apolares. Testes de inchamento em clorofórmio extraíram frações solúveis dos materiais, compostas por poliNBE e unidades NOP não polimerizadas. Dados obtidos por TGA sugerem a presença de cis e trans poliNBE, além de uma etapa de degradação desconhecida, atribuída ao copolímero poli(NOP-co-NBE) o qual seria o componente insolúvel resultante dos experimentos de inchamento. Assim, os materiais desenvolvidos foram classificados como blendas poliméricas de poliNBE e poli(NOP-co-NBE). Foram avaliados os tempos de gelificação de amostras com diferentes concentrações de catalisador e combinações NOP/NBE através de RMN em baixo campo magnético, obtendo-se comportamentos regulares que podem permitir a previsão do tempo de gelificação de outras amostras. A análise da distribuição dos valores de T2 mostrou aumento na rigidez dos materiais finais ao se aumentar o teor inicial de NOP. / New polymeric materials have been developed using palm oil as a raw material. For this, a new monomer of norbornene, called norbornene palm oil (NPO) was obtained from insertion of norbornene containing the carboxylic group in the palm oil triglycerides. Palm oil as well as products of each step NPO synthesis were characterized by 1H-NMR. It was determined 52% unsaturated fatty acids content in the OP, resulting in NPO with 1.0 norbornene per triglyceride. ROMP reactions of norbornene with NPO, in the presence of the Grubbs second generation catalyst, resulting insoluble materials in a variety of polar and nonpolar solvents. Soluble fractions were extracted in swelling, containing polyNBE and unpolymerized NPO units. TGA data suggests the presence of cis and trans polyNBE, plus an unknown degradation step, attributed to poly(NPO-co-NBE) copolymer which would be insoluble component resulted from the swelling experiments. Thus, the developed materials were classified as polymer blends of polyNBE and poly(NPO-co-NBE). The gelation times of samples having different catalyst concentrations and NPO/NBE combinations were evaluated by low magnetic field NMR, obtaining regular behaviors that may allow the gelation time prediction of other samples. The analysis of T2 values distribution showed increased in the stiffness of the final material by increasing the initial NPO content.

Palm Oil is the highest produced edible oil globally, with over 66 million tonnes produced annually. It has been estimated that up to 50% of all products sold in the supermarket contain palm oil in some form. Palm oil has attractive properties such as a high melting point and texture due to a balanced ratio of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. It contains approximately 40% oleic acid (monounsaturated fatty acid), 10% linoleic acid (polyunsaturated fatty acid), 45% palmitic acid and 5% stearic acid (saturated fatty acid), that results in an edible oil that is suitable for use in a variety of food, detergent and cosmetics products. In addition, palm oil is the least expensive oil produced due to its high productivity and extensive production. Due to the high demand for the product, vast amounts of rainforest have been cleared to make way for more plantations, reducing biodiversity and releasing huge levels of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. There is a clear need for an alternative lipid that can match palm oils properties but can be produced sustainably. Recent work suggests that some yeasts are capable of producing a similar oil to palm oil and can be grown on waste resources. In this thesis a novel bioprospecting protocol was developed to isolate yeasts that can survive the harsh conditions necessary for industrial biotechnology. In this way a vineyard and the local area was sampled for yeasts which were then cultured under extremes of pH, multiple sugars and inhibitors caused from the breakdown of lignocellulose. The wild yeast were cultured in four stages: minimal medium with Lysine; minimal medium with inhibitors; minimal medium with xylose as sole carbon-source; and lastly minimal medium with only arabinose and cellobiose as carbon-sources. Only strains that survived each stage were taken forward to the next, to isolate species that were truly suited to these conditions. Out of the estimated 1000s of strains screened this resulted in 12 strains of yeast, mostly in the Metschnikowia pulcherrima, group being able to cope with the conditions. The 12 strains were further analyzed by culturing them in an array of 4 different model lignocellulosic feedstocks namely wheat straw, corn Stover, sugarcane bagasse, and palm kernel cake hydrolysates. Other conditions incorporated in these analysis were a range of pH from pH 1.5 to pH 7.0; four levels of a mixture of 5 inhibitors; and two different temperatures. All of the 12 strains showed similar behaviour where inhibitor tolerance was only marked at higher pH, and at low pH the strains could not grow at all. Though all strains were able to grow on the hydrolysate models, even those with little glucose and/or xylose content. The lipid profile of the strains was also assessed and proved to be similar to most terrestrial crops, with suitable lipid profiles for a rapeseed oil, and in some cases palm oil substitute. Lastly, to further evaluate the accurate identification of the strains as there are some ambiguity in the Metschnikowia pulcherrima group, we applied an approach only widely used for Pathogenic Bacteria/Yeast identification, Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST). Using 25 strains (7 of this collection), 6 type species and some isolates from the original culture collection in Bath. Sequences of 6 genes was analysed using the Bayesian statistical method. The result showed grouping of M. pulcherrima into 3-4 groups 9 different for each gene. M. Corniflorae being the outgroup. In all 3 genes successfully sequenced: M. Fruticola; R6; Mp DAH 3; and ICS48 were consistently shown to be clonal. The work presented here demonstrates a new method for bioprospecting strains capable of isolating strains for industrial biotechnology, and for characterisation of the yeast in the Metschnikowia genus. Some of the yeasts identified were oleaginous, and could potentially be used as a novel source of palm oil substitute.

Doctor of Philosophy / The apparent increase in market concentration and vertical integration in the Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) industry has led to concerns about the presence of market power. For the Indonesian CPO industry, such concerns attract more attention because of the importance of this sector to the Indonesian economy. CPO is used as the main raw material for cooking oil (which is an essential commodity in Indonesia) and it contributes significantly to export earnings and employment. However, dominant producers argue that the increase in economies of scale and scope lead to an increase in the efficiency, which eventually will be beneficial for the end consumers and export earnings. This research seeks to examine whether the dominant producers do behave competitively and pass the efficiency gains to the end consumers, or they enhance inefficiency through market power instead. In order to identify the most suitable model to measure market power in the Indonesian CPO industry, different market power models are explored. These models can be divided into static and dynamic models. In general, all of them accept the price–cost margins as a measure of market power. However, static models fail to reveal the dynamic behaviour that determines market power; hence the dynamic models are likely to be more appropriate to modelling market power. Among these dynamic models, the adjustment model with a linear quadratic specification is considered to be a more appropriate model to measure market power in the Indonesian CPO industry. In the Indonesian CPO industry, producers can be divided into three groups, namely the public estates, private companies and smallholders. However, based on their ability to influence market price, smallholders are not considered as one of the dominant groups. By using the adjustment cost model, the market power of the dominant groups is estimated. The model is estimated using a Bayesian technique annual data spanning 1968–2003. The public estates and private companies are assumed to engage in a noncooperative game. They are assumed to use Markovian strategies, which permit firms to respond to changes in the state vector. In this case, the vector comprises the firms and their rivals’ previous action, implying that firms respond to changes in their rivals’ previous action. The key contribution of this thesis is the relaxation of the symmetry assumption in the estimation process. Although the existence of an asymmetric condition often complicates the estimation process, the different characteristics of the public estates and private companies lead to a need for relaxing such an assumption. In addition, the adjustment system—which can be seen as a type of reaction function—is not restricted to have downward slopes. Negative reaction functions are commonly assumed for a quantity setting game. However, the reverse may occur in particular circumstances. Without such restrictions, the analysis could reveal the type of interaction between the public estates and private companies. In addition, it provides insights into empirical examples of conditions that might lead to the positive reaction function. Furthermore, the analysis adds to the understanding of the impact of positive reaction functions to avoid the complicated estimation of the asymmetric case. As expected, the public estates act as the leader, while the private companies are the follower. Interestingly, results indicate that as well as the private companies, public estates do exert some degree of market power. Moreover, the public estates enjoy even higher market power than the private companies, as indicated by market power indices of -0.46 and -0.72, respectively. The exertion of market power by both the public estates and the private companies cast some doubts about the effectiveness of some current policies in the Indonesian CPO industry. With market power, the underlying assumption of a perfectly competitive market condition—that serves as the basis for the government interventions—is no longer applicable. Hence, many government interventions are unlikely to have the desired effect. The Indonesian competition law that has been imposed since 1999 might be effective in preventing firms to sign collusive contracts. In fact, even without such an agreement, firms in the CPO industry are likely to exert some degree of market power. As an alternative, eliminating the ‘sources’ of market power might be a better solution. If the public estates have the aim of maximising welfare, privatisation might improve their efficiency, hence they have ability to suppress the private companies’ market power. However, if in fact, the public estates deliberately reduce output to gain higher profit, privatisation might increase the degree of market power of both groups of companies even further. In such a condition, addressing the long term barriers of entry stemming from the requirement of high investment might be a better alternative to address the market power problem in the CPO industry.