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A strong interest in fare evasion is currently emerging in all proof-of-payment transit systems owing to its severe implications. Recent research has investigated from the passenger perspe...

Chemical fingerprinting of commercial Pelargonium capitatum (Geraniaceae) essential oil samples of south African origin was performed by GC, GC/MS, and (13) C- and (1) H-NMR. Thirty-seven compounds were identified, among which citronellol (32.71%) and geraniol (19.58%) were the most abundant. NMR Spectra of characteristic chemicals were provided. Broad-spectrum bioactivity properties of the oil were evaluated and compared with those of commercial Thymus vulgaris essential oil with the aim to obtain a functional profile in terms of efficacy and safety. P. capitatum essential oil provides a good performance as antimicrobial, with particular efficacy against Candida albicans strains. Antifungal activity performed against dermatophyte and phytopathogen strains revealed the latter as more sensitive, while antibacterial activity was not remarkable against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. P. capitatum oil provided a lower antioxidant activity (IC(50) ) than that expressed by thyme essential oil, both in the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene bleaching tests. Results in photochemiluminescence (PCL) assay were negligible. To test the safety aspects of P. capitatum essential oil, mutagenic and toxicity properties were assayed by Ames test, with and without metabolic activation. Possible efficacy of P. capitatum essential oil as mutagenic protective agent against NaN(3) , 2-nitrofluorene, and 2-aminoanthracene was also assayed, providing interesting and significant antigenotoxic properties.

Fare evasion is a major problem for transit companies due to lost fare revenues and damage to their corporate images. Therefore, the establishment and proper management of ticket inspection teams deployed to tackle fare dodgers is highly important and represents a severe challenge. In this paper, an existent profit maximization model for estimating the optimum level of inspection has been extended, calibrated, and tested in a real case, using data available from an Italian transit operator, resulting from 98 days of checks and 3659 completed on-board interviews. Given the current network-wide inspection level per single verifier, and considering the level of fines currently applied, the optimal value of the total inspection rate is found to amount to 4.5%. The model provides empirical evidence towards understanding the fare evasion problem, besides highlighting the need for collaboration with the managers of the transit company. An overview of the manipulation of some control variables related to risk perception and the main implications of the findings are presented to transport companies using “honour” ticketing systems.

Six lavender essential oils, L. angustifolia and five Lavandula x hybrida cultivars (Super Z, Abrialis, R.C., Alardii and Ordinario), were evaluated from a phytochemical and biological standpoint, and the results were computed by using multivariate data analysis. The essential oils were analysed by gas chromatography, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and headspace gas-chromatography. Multivariate analyses (principal component analysis) identified three main phytochemical clusters among lavender essential oils, represented by 1,8-cineole, linalyl acetate and linalool. Functional properties of the essential oils were checked by (1) estimating cytotoxicity and genotoxicity using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae D7 strain; (2) determining antifungal activity against three common phytopathogens (Pythium ultimum, Magnaporthe grisea and Botrytis cinerea), by performing an agar vapour bioassay; and (3) calculating the antioxidant capacity by using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene bleaching tests. No mutagenic effects were detected, but multivariate analyses (PLS, partial least squares regression) showed that the essential oils belonging to the linalool cluster were the most cytotoxic. Antifungal activity against phytopathogens confirmed the predictive results of PLS. The differences among lavender essential oils regarding weak antioxidant capacity showed a positive relationship between the high polarity compounds and the DPPH method, as determined by PLS. The opposite effect was shown for the same type of compound and β-carotene. Ketones and esters did not exert any significant antioxidant activity. In conclusion, taking lavender essential oils as a model and computing multivariate data of a reduced number of parameters, the proposed approach assured the description of the relationship between a phytocomplex, its constituents and bioactivities, and allowed a comprehensive, predictive approach to be defined, for which the chemical profile provides a possible synergic overall effort in terms of applicative perspectives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The electronic spectra of gas-phase cationic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), trapped in the Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance cell of the PIRENEA experiment, have been measured by multiphoton dissociation spectroscopy in the 430–480 nm spectral range using the radiation of a mid-band optical parametric oscillator laser. We present here the spectra recorded for different species of increasing size, namely the pyrene cation ( C 16 H 10 + ) , the 1-methylpyrene cation ( CH 3 C 16 H 9 + ) , the coronene cation ( C 24 H 12 + ) , and its dehydrogenated derivative C 24 H 10 + . The experimental results are interpreted with the help of time-dependent density functional theory calculations and analysed using spectral information on the same species obtained from matrix isolation spectroscopy data. A kinetic Monte Carlo code has also been used, in the case of pyrene and coronene cations, to estimate the absorption cross-sections of the measured electronic transitions. Gas-phase spectra of highly reactive species such as dehydrogenated PAH cations are reported for the first time.

[EN] Giovanni Battista Antonelli before his arrival in Spain in 1559, being in his thirties, had spent the first part of his life in his native country, Italy. The present research concentrates on this territory and those years: a context of wars, captains, architects, theorists and treatises, many known and less known personalities who influenced Antonelli military engineering education. More detailed information appear in Italian archives about Giovan Francesco Guidi di Bagno and Antonelli: the first, Count of Montebello, was an important mercenary captain for the more powerful personalities, while the second was, at that time, at his service. Fiduciary and family relationships interlinked around the Count Guidi and others eminent personalities such as Giovanni Battista Belluzzi called “Sanmarino”, Cosimo I Medici up to Juan Manrique de Lara and Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna, to mention the main ones. This investigation tries to shed light on the first part of Antonelli learning, as he took part to the War between Florence and Siena and in the Naples Kingdom. He subsequently left for Flanders with the Spanish army and reaching eventually Spain. During Felipe II Reign, after having written the Epitomi, he started the well known career of Antonelli family as military engineers. It was especially Battista, the younger brother, one of the main representatives in the history of military engineering, especially between the 16th and 17th centuries.

Six lavender essential oils, L. angustifolia and five Lavandula x hybrida cultivars (Super Z, Abrialis, R.C., Alardii and Ordinario), were evaluated from a phytochemical and biological standpoint, and the results were computed by using multivariate data analysis. The essential oils were analysed by gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and headspace gas-chromatography. Multivariate analyses (principal component analysis) identified three main phytochemical clusters among lavender essential oils, represented by 1,8-cineole, linalyl acetate and linalool. Functional properties of the essential oils were checked by (1) estimating cytotoxicity and genotoxicity using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae D7 strain; (2) determining antifungal activity against three common phytopathogens (Pythium ultimum, Magnaporthe grisea and Botrytis cinerea), by performing an agar vapour bioassay; and (3) calculating the antioxidant capacity by using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene bleaching tests. No mutagenic effects were detected, but multivariate analyses (PLS, partial least squares regression) showed that the essential oils belonging to the linalool cluster were the most cytotoxic. Antifungal activity against phytopathogens confirmed the predictive results of PLS. The differences among lavender essential oils regarding weak antioxidant capacity showed a positive relationship between the high polarity compounds and the DPPH method, as determined by PLS. The opposite effect was shown for the same type of compound and β-carotene. Ketones and esters did not exert any significant antioxidant activity. In conclusion, taking lavender essential oils as a model and computing multivariate data of a reduced number of parameters, the proposed approach assured the description of the relationship between a phytocomplex, its constituents and bioactivities, and allowed a comprehensive, predictive approach to be defined, for which the chemical profile provides a possible synergic overall effort in terms of applicative perspectives.

East Africa (EA) has witnessed pivotal steps in the history of human evolution. Due to its high environmental and cultural variability, and to the long-term human presence there, the genetic structure of modern EA populations is one of the most complicated puzzles in human diversity worldwide. Similarly, the widespread Afro-Asiatic (AA) linguistic phylum reaches its highest levels of internal differentiation in EA. To disentangle this complex ethno-linguistic pattern, we studied mtDNA variability in 1,671 individuals (452 of which were newly typed) from 30 EA populations and compared our data with those from 40 populations (2970 individuals) from Central and Northern Africa and the Levant, affiliated to the AA phylum. The genetic structure of the studied populations—explored using spatial Principal Component Analysis and Model-based clustering—turned out to be composed of four clusters, each with different geographic distribution and/or linguistic affiliation, and signaling different population events in the history of the region. One cluster is widespread in Ethiopia, where it is associated with different AA-speaking populations, and shows shared ancestry with Semitic-speaking groups from Yemen and Egypt and AA-Chadic-speaking groups from Central Africa. Two clusters included populations from Southern Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Despite high and recent gene-flow (Bantu, Nilo-Saharan pastoralists), one of them is associated with a more ancient AA-Cushitic stratum. Most North-African and Levantine populations (AA-Berber, AA-Semitic) were grouped in a fourth and more differentiated cluster. We therefore conclude that EA genetic variability, although heavily influenced by migration processes, conserves traces of more ancient strata. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

BACKGROUND: Next-Generation Sequencing methods have led to a great increase in phylogenetically useful markers within the male specific portion of the Y chromosome, but previous studies have limited themselves to the study of the X-degenerate regions. METHODS: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of adult males whose paternal grandfathers were born in Sardinia. The DNA samples were sequenced, genotyped and subsequently analysed for variant calling for approximately 23.1 Mbp of the Y chromosome. A phylogenetic tree was built using Network 4.6 software. RESULTS: From low coverage whole genome sequencing of 1,194 Sardinian males, we extracted 20,155 phylogenetically informative single nucleotide polymorphisms from the whole euchromatic region, including the X-degenerate, X-transposed, and Ampliconic regions, along with variants in other unclassified chromosome intervals and in the readable sequences of the heterochromatic region. CONCLUSIONS: The non X-degenerate classes contain a significant portion of the phylogenetic variation of the whole chromosome and their inclusion in the analysis, almost doubling the number of informative polymorphisms, refining the known molecular phylogeny of the human Y chromosome. We thank the CRS4 HPC group for their IT support, and in particular, Lidia Leoni and Carlo Podda. This research was supported in part by the Sardinian Autonomous Region (L.R. n°7/2009) grants cRP2-597 to PF and cRP3-154 to FC, by NIH contract NO1-AG-1-2109 from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) to the IRGB institute

Nowadays, in proof-of-payment transit systems, fare evasion is provoking strong interest in public transport companies (PTCs) due to the relevant economic losses, social inequity and increased levels of violence affecting personal security. Therefore, there is the need to recognize possible fare evaders. By using 2177 on-board personal interviews, gathered from an Italian PTC, and logistic regression models, we isolate determinants of possible free-rider passengers and, hence, those whom it might be advisable to target in order to capitalize on the effect of the application of countermeasures on fare evasion put forward by the local PTC. We show that males, younger than 26 years, with a low education level, unemployed and/or students and without an alternative mode of transport other than the bus are more probably fare evaders. Moreover, people who make trips of shorter than 15 min, who are systematic users and are not satisfied with the service are possible fare evaders. Finally, we found that a low level of inspection, knowledge of fines and previous ticket violations are determinants which make people more prone to evade fares. These outcomes are very useful, because, to the best of our knowledge, they represent the first empirical contribution showing the determinants which help evaluate the propensity to be a fare evader, in probabilistic terms. Moreover, they could help PTCs understand who might be a fare evader, in order to anticipate suitable countermeasures.

Background: Next-Generation Sequencing methods have led to a great increase in phylogenetically useful markers within the male specific portion of the Y chromosome, but previous studies have limited themselves to the study of the X-degenerate regions. Methods: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples of adult males whose paternal grandfathers were born in Sardinia. The DNA samples were sequenced, genotyped and subsequently analysed for variant calling for approximately 23.1 Mbp of the Y chromosome. A phylogenetic tree was built using Network 4.6 software. Results: From low coverage whole genome sequencing of 1,194 Sardinian males, we extracted 20,155 phylogenetically informative single nucleotide polymorphisms from the whole euchromatic region, including the X-degenerate, X-transposed, and Ampliconic regions, along with variants in other unclassified chromosome intervals and in the readable sequences of the heterochromatic region. Conclusions: The non X-degenerate classes contain a significant portion of the phylogenetic variation of the whole chromosome and their inclusion in the analysis, almost doubling the number of informative polymorphisms, refining the known molecular phylogeny of the human Y chromosome.

We recently developed a general recipe to extrapolate the expected photoluminescence (PL) of small particles from the knowledge of available laboratory results obtained on bulk samples. Starting from the semi-classical formalism of inelastic scattering by single molecules embedded in small particles, we model the emission as a distribution of uncorrelated oscillating electric dipoles, whose density is a functional of the locally absorbed energy. The PL spectrum is found to depend on the size of the dust particle and on the angle between the incoming exciting light and the direction of observation. We expect the present model to be a useful tool which will allow the study of PL phenomena of interstellar dust to move beyond the straight and possibly misleading comparison with experimental data obtained for bulk samples. We discuss the astrophysical implications of our results, their impact on current hypotheses on the carriers of the Extended Red Emission and their relevance in testing dust rotational properties.

Sicily, due to its strategic geographical position, located in the heart of Mediterranean Basin, has received the passage of various human groups both in pre-historical and historical times, acting as a bridge in different major migratory events. In addition to the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures, several migrations have affected the genetic composition of the island after the Neolithic transition (Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and Normans), thus contributing to complicate the genetic landscape of the largest Mediterranean island. Made up of different superimposed historical genetic layers, Sicily offers a unique opportunity to test hypotheses connected with the peopling of Mediterranean shores. Both the presence (Romano et al. 2003, Di Gaetano et al. 2008) and absence (Rickards et al. 1998) of an internal genetic differentiation along the east-west axis has been previously described in Sicily, and several hypotheses, connected with the aforementioned dynamics of peopling, have been proposed to explain the heterogeneity observed. Nevertheless the extent of each independent historical contributions to the current genetic composition of Sicilian population is still highly debated. The present study aims to contribute to this debate using new samples and deeper analyzing the Y chromosome genetic markers. More precisely, a total of 24 Y-SNPs and 17 Y-STRs have been typed in more than 300 individuals from 8 different provinces, 5 in Sicily (Agrigento, Catania, Ragusa-Siracusa, Enna, Trapani) and 3 in Southern Italy (Matera, Lecce, Cosenza). Y-chromosome preliminary results reveal a substantial lack of genetic structure within the island, coupled with high levels of within-population genetic variability. These findings well agree with Sicily's historic role as major migration crossroads. Comparing our results with other Mediterranean populations (Southern Europe, Northern Africa and the Levant) we observe a marked geography-related global structure within the Mediterranean Basin. Two well separated clusters have been identified, suggesting a shared genetic background between north-western Mediterranean populations (Iberian Peninsula and Northern Italy) on one side, and south-eastern ones (Sicily and Southern Italy, Balkan Peninsula, North Africa and Levant) on the other side. The completion of Y-chromosome analysis, as well as the future study of mtDNA variation, will consent to explore more in detail specific issues related to the peopling of Sicily and to clarify its role in Mediterranean genetic context.

International audience; A recent workshop entitled ‘‘The Family Name as Socio-CulturalFeature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods” was held inParis in December 2010, sponsored by the French National Centre forScientific Research (CNRS) and by the journal Human Biology. Thisworkshop was intended to foster a debate on questions related to the familynames and to compare different multidisciplinary approaches involvinggeneticists, historians, geographers, sociologists and social anthropologists.This collective paper presents a collection of selected communications.

An informative set of biallelic polymorphisms was used to study the structure of Y-chromosome variability in a sample from the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sicily, and compared with data on Sardinia to gain insights into the ethnogenesis of these island populations. The results were interpreted in a broader Mediterranean context by including in the analysis neighboring populations previously studied with the same methodology. All samples studied were enclosed in the comparable spectrum of European Y-chromosome variability. Pronounced differences were observed between the islands as well as in the percentages of haplotypes previously shown to have distinctive patterns of continental phylogeography. Approximately 60% of the Sicilian haplotypes are also prevalent in Southern Italy and Greece. Conversely, the Corsican sample had elevated levels of alternative haplotypes common in Northern Italy. Sardinia showed a haplotype ratio similar to that observed in Corsica, but with a remarkable difference in the presence of a lineage defined by marker M26, which approaches 35% in Sardinia but seems absent in Corsica. Although geographically adjacent, the data suggest different colonization histories and a minimal amount of recent gene flow between them. Our results identify possible ancestral continental sources of the various island populations and underscore the influence of founder effect and genetic drift. The Y-chromosome data are consistent with comparable mtDNA data at the RFLP haplogroup level of resolution, as well as linguistic and historic knowledge.

Background: The Arbereshe are an Albanian-speaking ethno-linguistic minority who settled in Calabria (southern Italy) about five centuries ago. Aim: This study aims to clarify the genetic relationships between Italy and the Balkans through analysis of Y-chromosome variability in a peculiar case study, the Arbereshe. Subject and methods: Founder surnames were used as a means to identify a sample of individuals that might trace back to the Albanians at the time of their establishment in Italy. These results were compared with data of more than 1000 individuals from Italy and the Balkans. Results: The distributions of haplogroups (defined using 31 UEPs) and haplotypes (12 STRs) show that the Italian and Balkan populations are clearly divergent from each other. Within this genetic landscape, the Arbereshe are characterized by two peculiarities: (a) they are a clear outlier in the Italian genetic background, showing a strong genetic affinity with southern Balkans populations; and (b) they retain a high degree of genetic diversity. Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis that the surname-chosen Arbereshe are representative of the Y-chromosome genetic variability of the Albanian founder population. Accordingly, the Arbereshe genetic structure can contribute to the interpretation of the recent biological history of the southern Balkans. Intra-haplogroup analyses suggest that this area may have experienced important changes in the last five centuries, resulting in a marked increase in the frequency of haplogroups I2a and J2.

We briefly review the current status of anthropological and genetic studies of isolated populations and of their micro-evolutionary and biomedical applications, with particular emphasis on European populations. Thereafter, we describe the ongoing collaborative research project "Isolating the Isolates: geographic and cultural factors of human genetic variation" regarding Italian extant geographical and/or linguistic isolates, aimed at overcoming the limitations of previous studies regarding geographical coverage of isolates, number and type of genetic polymorphisms under study and suitability of the experimental design to investigate gene-culture coevolutionary processes. An interdisciplinary sampling approach will make it possible to collect several linguistic isolates and their geographic neighbours from Trentino, Veneto, Friuli, Tuscany, Sardinia and Calabria. This will be coupled with a shared genotyping strategy based on mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal polymorphisms. The results will be analyzed with a focus on the role of geographical and cultural factors in shaping human biodiversity. The aims of the project go beyond the simple reconstruction of the genetic structure and history of the examined groups. In fact, the study will also include an assessment for future bio-medical studies and the development of genetic and bio-demographic databases. Ethical and educational aspects are also foreseen by the project, by using informed consents together with disseminating activities in loco, completed by the creation of a dedicated web site for both scientific and public audiences.

Giara and Sarcidano are 2 of the 15 extant native Italian horse breeds with limited dispersal capability that originated from a larger number of individuals. The 2 breeds live in two distinct isolated locations on the island of Sardinia. To determine the genetic structure and evolutionary history of these 2 Sardinian breeds, the first hypervariable segment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was sequenced and analyzed in 40 Giara and Sarcidano horses and compared with publicly available mtDNA data from 43 Old World breeds. Four different analyses, including genetic distance, analysis of molecular variance, haplotype sharing, and clustering methods, were used to study the genetic relationships between the Sardinian and other horse breeds. The analyses yielded similar results, and the FST values indicated that a high percentage of the total genetic variation was explained by between-breed differences. Consistent with their distinct phenotypes and geographic isolation, the two Sardinian breeds were shown to consist of 2 distinct gene pools that had no gene flow between them. Giara horses were clearly separated from the other breeds examined and showed traces of ancient separation from horses of other breeds that share the same mitochondrial lineage. On the other hand, the data from the Sarcidano horses fit well with variation among breeds from the Iberian Peninsula and North-West Europe: genetic relationships among Sarcidano and the other breeds are consistent with the documented history of this breed.

The unimolecular dissociation of the pyrene radical cation, C16H10(+•), has been explored using a combination of computational techniques and experimental approaches, such as multiple photon absorption in the cold ion trap Piege a Ions pour la Recherche et l'Etude de Nouvelles Especes Astrochimiques (PIRENEA) and imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectrometry (iPEPICO). In total, 22 reactions, involving the fragmentation cascade (H, C2H2, and C4H2 loss) from the pyrene radical cation down to the C14(+•) fragment ion, have been studied using PIRENEA. Branching ratios have been measured for reactions from C16H10(+•), C16H8(+•), and C16H5(+). Density functional theory calculations of the fragmentation pathways observed experimentally and postulated theoretically lead to 17 unique structures. One important prediction is the opening of the pyrene ring system starting from the C16H4(+•) radical. In the iPEPICO experiments, only two reactions could be studied, namely, R1 C16H10(+•) → C16H9(+) + H (m/z = 201) and R2 C16H9(+) → C16H8(+•) + H (m/z = 200). The activation energies for these reactions were determined to be 5.4 ± 1.2 and 3.3 ± 1.1 eV, respectively.

The analysis of the variability of the uniparentally transmitted genetic systems, as the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the non-recombining region of Y chromosome (NRY), is considered a useful tool to study evolutionary processes. In the present PhD Thesis both haploid systems were analyzed in different organisms by a phylogenetic and phylogeographic approaches. In the first part, the variability of mtDNA has been analyzed in domestic Horse. In particular, two Sardinian native breeds -the Giara and Sarcidano horse- were studied in order to determine their genetic structure and phylogenetic history by a comparison in a global framework. The project regarding the creation of a new informatics tool- HapSign Software- to assign mtDNA haplotypes is also reported with the first results of application in horse breeds. The second part encompasses a study focused on the mtDNA variation of a Sardinian endemic genus of Carabidae (Coleoptera) of the subterranean fauna, with the aim to establish the phylogenetic relations among species already known and potentially new ones, coming from some Sardinian caves. Finally, some studies about mtDNA and Y chromosome variation in human populations were conducted; the first one concern the high resolution phylogeny of the NRY of Sardinian population by the sequencing of a large portion of Y chromosome. The other studies has been focused on Italian and African populations in order reconstruct their history from a genetic perspective.

In proof-of-payment systems, fare evasion represents a crucial topic for public transport companies (PTCs) due to lost fare revenues, damaged corporate image, and increased levels of violence on public transport, which might also have negative economic repercussions on PTCs. Therefore, there is a need to establish the level of inspection (i.e. the number of inspectors) to tackle fare dodgers as a possible option. By building on previous models, this paper develops a formal economic framework to derive the optimum inspection level in a long time window, based on system-wide profit maximization when fare evasion exists. The framework takes into account: (i) the refined segmentation of passengers and potential fare evaders, (ii) the variability of perceived inspection level by passengers, and (iii) the fact that an inspector cannot fine every passenger caught evading. Its implementation is illustrated by using three years of real data from an Italian PTC. Based on 27,514 stop-level inspections and 10,586 on-board personal interviews, the results show that the optimum inspection level is 3.8%. Put differently, it is sufficient to check 38 passengers out of every 1000 to maximize profit in the presence of fare evasion. This outcome is very useful, because it improves the one obtained in previous formulations. Indeed, profit maximization is achieved with a lower number of inspectors, thus reducing inspection costs, which are relevant determinants in proficient PTCs. Finally, the framework is flexible and may be applied to public transport modes other than buses as long as proof-of-payment systems are in use.

Populations derived from the Atlantic slaving process provide unique opportunities for studying key evolutionary determinants of current patterns of human cultural and biological variation. Examination of the genetic patterning of the small plantation island of São Tomé (Gulf of Guinea) using a study design that avoids the use of preconceived ethno-linguistic labels to define genetic sampling units reveals that, despite the fact that maximum distance between any two sampled sites is less than 50 km, the island has an unusual level of genetic structure that is mainly caused by the grouping of Angolar Creole-speakers in a separate cluster carrying a distinctive imprint of genetic drift. This pattern may have been shaped by a kin-structured founder effect associated with the flight of a patrilineal clan of rebel slaves who established a remarkably successful maroon community in the vicinity of the plantation complex. The observation that population-discontinuous jumps may occur even under social conditions of massive coercive amalgamation provides an illustration of the way in which human clusters emerge and eventually shape the genetic background of human populations.

Examining Y The evolution of human populations has long been studied with unique sequences from the nonrecombining, male-specific Y chromosome (see the Perspective by Cann ). Poznik et al. (p. 562 ) examined 9.9 Mb of the Y chromosome from 69 men from nine globally divergent populations—identifying population and individual specific sequence variants that elucidate the evolution of the Y chromosome. Sequencing of maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA allowed comparison between the relative rates of evolution, which suggested that the coalescence, or origin, of the human Y chromosome and mitochondria both occurred approximately 120 thousand years ago. Francalacci et al. (p. 565 ) investigated the sequence divergence of 1204 Y chromosomes that were sampled within the isolated and genetically informative Sardinian population. The sequence analyses, along with archaeological records, were used to calibrate and increase the resolution of the human phylogenetic tree.

BACKGROUND: This research has its background in Cooperation and Development projects, organized and sponsored by University of Ferrara. In this context, four Amazonian essential oils (i.e. Ocimum micranthum, Cimbopogon citratus, Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale) and Rwandese avocado oil (Persea americana) extracted both by hexane maceration (HM) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), have been explored for their chemical and biological properties, with the target to employ these derivates as formulations (blended essential oils). AIMS: The research has been focused on: o checking best and easy handling extraction technology to transfer to Developing Countries (essential oils and avocado fixed oil); o chracterizing phytochemically these natural derived products o confirming safety and assaying biological activities; o suggesting an easy handling formulation which could give economic relapses to Developing Counties.