Ricerc@Sapienza

Data generated from spectroscopy may be deformed by artefacts due to a range of physical, chemical and environmental factors that are not of interest for the characterization of the samples under study. For example, data acquired by near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in the diffuse reflectance mode can be affected by light scattering. This artefact, if not reduced or removed by spectral pre-processing, can complicate the multivariate data analysis. However, different pre-processing approaches correct these effects in different ways.

Heroin is one of the most frequently seized drugs in Southeastern Europe. Due to the position in the Balkan route, the Republic of Serbia keeps important role in suppression of the trafficking of heroin for domestic and foreign illegal market. This research is aimed to provide a good scientific approach in the field of seized heroin analysis. Two different forms of heroin are present in the illegal market, mostly in mixtures with typical "cutting" agents: caffeine, paracetamol, and sugars.

In this chapter, a survey of the chemometric (data analytical) methods most used for the characterization of plant varieties and cultivars based on spectroscopic measurements is presented. After an introductory section, illustrating the basics of data representation, the main tools for exploratory (descriptive) data analysis and predictive modeling are discussed. In particular, how to predict quantitative responses by multivariate calibration methods and how to assess qualitative attributes by means of classification techniques are addressed.

The family Ursidae is currently one of the taxonomic group with the lowest number of species among Carnivora. Extant bear species exhibit broad ecological adaptations both at inter and intra specific level and taxonomic issues within this family remain unresolved (i.e. the number of