Future Challenges and Conclusions

Being an annotated database, WOMBAT continues to evolve in time - not only with the addition of more entries but also with updates and restructuring of the biological and chemical information, which is subject to change even after the data is captured. The 

The authors thank Prof Hugo Kubinyi (Heidelberg, Germany) for suggestions. 

Chemical Abstracts online and its search module, SciFinder, are available from the American Chemical Society, http //www.cas.org/SCIFINDER/ 2004. The Beilstein Information Systems is available from http //www.beilstein.com/. 

The Spresi Database is available from InfoChem GmbFt, Mtinchen, http //www.spresiweb.de/ and from Daylight Chemical Information Systems, http //www.daylight.com/products/ databases/Spresi.html. 

MDDR is available from MDL Information Systems, http //www.mdli.com/products/finders/ database-finder/ and from Prous Science Publishers, http //www.prous.com/ index.html. 

Although the synthesis of polymer colloids has been known for almost a century, the elaboration of organic/inorganic particles is only in its infancy. Some fifty years ago, early methods focused primarily on pigment encapsulation for the paint industry, and were mainly motivated by the problem of pigment dispersion. Since then, research interest in polymer-encapsulated minerals and the so-called colloidal nanocomposites has exploded such that the subject now relates to a wide variety panel of inorganic particles including mineral oxides, aluminosilicates, metal colloids, and semiconductors. 

PMMA-PMAA poly(methyl methacrylate-co-methacryhc add) PVP poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) 

RAFT reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer 

Caruso, Colloids and colloid assemblies synthesis, modification, organization and utilization of colloid particles, Wiley VCH, Weinheim, 2004. 

liz-Marzan, P.V. Kamat, Nanoscale Materials, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Springer Verlag, Boston, 2003. 

In a recent report (Alfoldi et al., 2006) seven recent literature reviews (Woese et al., 1997 Worthington, 1998 Heaton, 2001 Bourn and Prescott, 2002 Velimirov and Muller, 2003 Tauscher et al., 2003 Afssa, 2003) on the quality comparison of organic and conventional food were examined, compared and summarised. Major conclusions were that organic products  

In this chapter we have explained several system-inherent factors of organic fruit growing that can improve fruit quality. However, with the intensification of organic fruit production currently under way worldwide (e.g. more intensive nitrogen application on horticultural crops), there is a risk of quality decrease. Therefore, technical progress in organic farming should be closely and scientifically monitored for (side) effects on food quality, possibly in a holistic view that also includes environmental, social and human health criteria. 

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