Search results

Intro -- Sex and Cohabitation Among Early Humans: Anthropological and Genetic Evidence for Interbreeding Among Early Humans -- Copyright -- Contents -- About the authors -- Chapter 1: Origin and diversity of hominins -- Origin of the apes -- The earliest apes -- Apes out of Africa -- Repatriated apes -- The common ancestors -- The genesis of hominins -- Was Sahelanthropus a hominin? -- Was Orrorin tugenensis bipedal? -- Were ardipithecines arboreal, terrestrial, or both? -- Reassessment of the Paleoenvironment of early hominins -- How diversified were hominins-Is the tree linear or bushy? -- The single species hypothesis -- Hominin diversity in time and space -- Temporal overlap -- Cases of coexistence among hominins -- Ardipithecus ramidus/Australopithecus anamensis/Australopithecus afarensis -- Lucy and company -- Two's company, four's a crowd -- Homo naledi and other recent hominins in South Africa -- Dmanisi: Extreme anatomical differences within a species or coexistence among different populations? -- One-night stands or prolonged coexistence? -- Transitional industries and technology transfer -- Neanderthals: Acculturated or the acculturators? -- References -- Chapter 2: The species concept and the reality of introgression -- Evolution and the species concept -- What constitutes a species -- Historical definitions of species -- Species classification and the variety of species concepts -- Importance of species identification -- Speciation -- Geographical modes of speciation: Allopatric, peripatric, parapatric, and sympatric -- Allopatric speciation and peripatric speciation -- Parapatric speciation -- Sympatric speciation -- Prezygotic mechanisms of reproductive isolation -- Sexual selection -- Ecological isolation -- Behavioral isolation -- Gametic isolation -- Hybrid speciation.

Front Cover -- ANCESTRAL DNA, HUMAN ORIGINS, AND MIGRATIONS -- ANCESTRAL DNA, HUMAN ORIGINS, AND MIGRATIONS -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 - The Nature of Evolution -- SUMMARY -- ON THE NATURE OF EVOLUTION -- Mechanisms -- Mutations, the Raw Material of Evolution -- The Random Nature of Mutations -- Beneficial or Deleterious Mutations -- When the Genetic Load Becomes Too Heavy? -- The Evolution of Complex Genetic Traits -- HOMININS: EVOLUTION ON STEROIDS -- Transposons -- Core Duplicons -- The GOLGA Duplicon -- The SRGAP2 Gene -- Duplicon DUF1220 -- Rapidly Expanding Short Tandem Repeats -- References -- 2 - Early Hominins -- SUMMARY -- SUB-SAHARAN NORTHEAST AFRICA: VARIABLE HABITAT AND SELECTION PRESSURES -- The Hominin Lineage Was Born at a Time of Dramatic Environmental Changes -- The East African Rift -- Upright Posture and Bipedalism -- Encephalization and the Hominin Brain -- WHO ARE THE HOMININS? -- Theme and Variations in Hominin Evolution -- Was Sahelanthropus a Great Ape or a Hominin? -- Orrorin tugenensis -- Ardipithecines: In-Between Worlds -- Australopithecines -- Homo naledi -- Homo erectus, the First Out of Africa Migrants -- Further Reading -- 3 - Origin of Modern Humans -- SUMMARY -- TOOLS, ENVIRONMENTS, AND ASSUMPTIONS USED TO STUDY THE ORIGINS OF HOMO SAPIENS -- Some Tools Mentioned in This Chapter -- WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN? -- Different Perspectives on Being Human, Self-Awareness, Degrees of Consciousness -- The Evolution of the Human Brain -- The Anatomy and the Physiology of the Human Brain -- Some of the Characteristics That Make Us Human -- Human Intellect -- Speech and Language -- Self-Awareness -- Emotions -- Culture -- Technology -- ORIGINS OF MODERN HUMANS: HOW IT ALL BEGAN -- In the Beginning -- Human Variation From Great Apes and Extinct Human Ancestors

Funding Information: The author gratefully acknowledges the European Commission for funding the InnoRenew project [Grant Agreement # 739574 ] under the Horizon 2020 Widespread-Teaming program, the Republic of Slovenia (investment funding from the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union European Regional Development Fund) and infrastructural ARRS program IO-0035. Part of this work was conducted during the project Multi-spec (BI-IT/18-20-007) funded by ARRS . Additionally, O.G. is grateful for the financial support received from the University of the Basque Country (post-doctoral grant of Ms. Gordobil DOCREC18/29) and R.H. acknowledges to the Department of Education of the Basque Government (post-doctoral grant). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. ; Kraft lignin, an industrially available by-product from the pulp and paper industry, has revealed enormous potential to be valorised into a wide range of chemicals and biomaterials in the last two decades. However, the understanding of lignin chemistry remains challenging due to its chemical complexity. The goal of this work was to investigate the effect of drying temperature on the chemical, physical, and hygroscopic properties of hardwood kraft lignin isolated from industrial black liquor and elucidate the molecular interactions occurring between water and kraft lignin. Sorption-desorption isotherms determined by dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) technique revealed that the drying process considerably affected the hygroscopicity of the lignin polymer. Moreover, analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC-MS), dynamic NIR spectra collected as a function of relative humidity (0-95%) during sorption-desorption cycles and principal component analysis (PCA), evidenced chemical differences between lignin dried at room (25 °C) temperature and mild oven (55 °C) conditions. The main spectral changes associated with the water sorption in kraft lignin samples were analyzed using difference spectrum technique. 2D NIR spectral correlation analysis provided water sorption mechanism of lignin polymer, disclosing for the first time the sequential order in which water vapour molecules interact with active sorption sites in kraft lignin. ; Peer reviewed

WOS: 000440243600050 ; The growing interest in substituting synthetic products coming from non-renewable sources with products from biomass has focused attention on the lignin biopolymer. Its high availability, low price and properties make the development of new and valuable uses for lignin interesting, thus improving the economic and environmental aspects of the biomass conversion. To achieve this objective, the potential use of industrial kraft and organosolv lignins as antioxidants, antimicrobials and sunscreen products has been evaluated. The results of a detailed antibacterial and antifungal study demonstrated the high potential of kraft lignins against a variety of foodborne and human pathogenic microorganisms. Moreover, both organosolv and kraft lignins presented an effective protection factor (SPF values from 10-20), demonstrating their effectiveness as natural additives for the sun lotion market. In addition, lignin samples presented high antioxidant capacity compared to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), one common commercial antioxidant industrially used. Therefore, the development of innovative applications of lignins as a commodity for the chemical, pharmaceutical or cosmetic industries could expand their possible uses in the market giving new added values to lignin. ; University of the Basque Country [PIF 13/050]; Basque Government [IT1008-16] ; The authors are grateful for the financial support received from the University of the Basque Country (doctoral grant of Ms Gordobil Grant No. PIF 13/050) and to the Basque Government (scholarship of young researchers training and project IT1008-16).