Optimization of β-cyclodextrin-based extraction of antioxidant and anti-browning activities from thyme leaves by response surface methodology

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) has been demonstrated to extend the shelf-life of food products, being also a potential source of bioactive compounds. The aim of this research was to optimize the ultrasound assisted extraction employing β-cyclodextrin aqueous solutions as no-contaminant technology and Response Surface Methodology to obtain thyme extracts with the maximum antioxidant capacity. The optimal extraction conditions were: a solution of β-ciclodextrin 15 mM, an ultrasonic treatment time of 5.9 min at a temperature of 36.6 °C. They resulted in an extract with a polyphenolic content of 189.3 mg GAE/mL, an antioxidant activity (DPPH[rad]) of 14.8 mg GAE/mL, and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) of 3.3 mg GAE/mL. Interestingly, the extract demonstrated to inhibit the production of Maillard browning products and can be considered a potential antiglycant agent. The obtained data is important for developing eco-friendly technologies in order to obtain natural antioxidant extracts with a potential inhibitory capacity of Maillard glycation reaction.Fil: Favre, Leonardo Cristian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; ArgentinaFil: dos Santos, Cristina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Lopez Fernandez, Maria Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Mazzobre, Maria Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; ArgentinaFil: Buera, Maria del Pilar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentin

Mozambique: The Rise of a Micro Dual State

The decade from 1990 to 2000 was a period of sustained political activity in Africa, leading towards democratisation. Under this scope, Mozambique is widely seen as one paradigmatic success story. Yet, the country’s multiparty democratic system remains challenged by a strong authoritarianism that hampers open deliberation in political public discourse. This paper discusses some reasons for this democratic hold-up in Mozambique’s political and social transition within the broad and ongoing democratisation process in Sub-Saharan Africa. With an emphasis on the analysis of the political situation in the northern town of Angoche, this article argues that the persistence of central government authoritarianism is a reminder of a political liberalisation without democratising the political systems. Indeed, local municipal officials are now elected and receive revenue transfers, but remain limited by other measures.2 The central state successfully resists attempts to devolve broader decision-making authority to municipalities. Far from the ideal Weberian type of state bureaucracy, public administration is highly politicised in the sense that the building up of the administrative capacities of the state are seen as a way of consolidating the political leverage of the ruling party – Frelimo. The paper defends, however, that indeed, a detailed analysis of the public political actions at local level, between distinct political structures, shows that successive authoritarian regimes have not totally erased the freedom of speech and thought, even if they have relegated opposition to ever more marginal spaces.La décennie 1990/2000 a été caractérisée en Afrique par une activité politique soutenue orientée vers la démocratisation. Dans ce cadre, le Mozambique est plutôt vu comme une réussite paradigmatique. Or, ce système démocratique de multipartisme continue à afficher des velléités d’un fort autoritarisme peu propice au relèvement du niveau de la réflexion dans le discours politique public. Cette étude s’interesse aux raisons de ce blocage démocratique du processus de transition politique et social au Mozambique dans le cadre plus général du processus de démocratisation en cours en Afrique au sud du Sahara. En s’appuyant en particulier sur l’analyse de la situation politique de la ville d’Angoche, située au nord du pays, l’étude estime que le fait que le gouvernement central persiste dans l’autoritarisme est assez révélateur d’une libéralisation politique non suivie de la démocratisation des systèmes politiques. En effet, si les fonctionnaires municipaux locaux sont maintenant élus et reçoivent des fonds de transfert, ils restent, en revanche, limités par d’autres mesures.2 Le gouvernement central résiste avec succès à toute tentative d’élargir le mandat des municipalités en matière de prise de décision. Loin du modèle idéal wébérien de bureaucratie d’Etat, l’administration publique est fortement politicisée, en ce sens que le renforcement des capacités administratives de l’Etat est perçue comme un moyen de renforcer l’influence politique du parti au pouvoir – Frelimo. L’étude défend le fait qu’une analyse exhaustive des actions politiques publiques au niveau local, entre des structures politiques bien distinctes, montre que les régimes autoritaires successifs n’ont pas totalement supprimé la liberté d’expression et de pensée même s’ils ont repoussé l’opposition encore plus loin dans les espaces marginaux

Escola, cidadania e formação de sujeitos éticos

Este texto propõe uma reflexão sobre formação ética dos jovens e cidadania, numa perspectiva relacionada com a participação nas diferentes decisões da vida da escola. Neste sentido, e considerando a participação dos alunos na escola como eixo fundamental para o seu desenvolvimento integral, importa identificar que espaços formais e informais lhes são proporcionados na tomada de decisões da vida organizativa da escolar para compreendermos o papel da escola na promoção e capacitação dos jovens para o exercício de uma cidadania activa, bem como na formação de todas as dimensões do ser humano. Em 2009 terminámos um estudo em duas escolas públicas do Ensino Básico, de Aveiro, Portugal, abrangendo uma população composta por 240 alunos do 8º e 9º ano de escolaridade e 14 delegados de turma. Os resultados mostram que os alunos possuem uma débil participação formal e informal, apesar de o Decreto-Lei n.º 115-A/98 prever a possibilidade de cada escola, no âmbito da sua autonomia, promover e criar espaços de efectiva participação dos alunos. A análise dos instrumentos de autonomia das escolas estudadas revela que a participação dos alunos é assumida como um ideal e não como um efectivo projecto de concretização. Parece, assim, existir um défice de experiências participativas por parte dos jovens em estudo, assumindo estes, ainda, um papel passivo, situação que em nada contribui para o desenvolvimento de capacidades que possibilite uma intervenção activa e humanizadora na sociedade

A methodology to incorporate risk and uncertainty in electricity power planning

Deterministic models based on most likely forecasts can bring simplicity to the electricity power planning but do not explicitly consider uncertainties and risks which are always present on the electricity systems. Stochastic models can account for uncertain parameters that are critical to obtain a robust solution, requiring however higher modelling and computational effort. The aim of this work was to propose a methodology to identify major uncertainties presented in the electricity system and demonstrate their impact in the long-term electricity production mix, through scenario analysis. The case of an electricity system with high renewable contribution was used to demonstrate how renewables uncertainty can be included in long term planning, combining Monte Carlo Simulation with a deterministic optimization model. This case showed that the problem of including risk in electricity planning could be explored in short running time even for large real systems. The results indicate that high growth demand rate combined with climate uncertainty represent major sources of risk for the definition of robust optimal technology mixes for the future. This is particularly important for the case of electricity systems with high share of renewables as climate change can have a major role on the expected power output.COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043University of Minho. ALGORITM

Least-cost 100% renewable electricity scenarios

Renewable energy sources (RES) are becoming the main players for the sustainability of the planet and achieving a 100% RES energy system has been attested as a good strategy to go forward in many countries. This target however defies the system to integrate highly variable RES in a system that does not allow for shortage on the energy supply. This work presents a possible 100% RES scenario for an electricity system close to the Portuguese estimating and analysing the economic and technical impacts. The sensitivity of the results to aspects related to RES availability, electricity demand, peak load and interconnection capacity for electricity trading were also analysed. The results highlighted the excess of electricity produced in 100% RES systems and the importance of including interconnection capacity to contribute to overcome this problem.The authors wish to acknowledge the support of ALGORITMI research Centre at University of Minho. This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-OI-0145- FEDER-007043 and FCT - Funda<;iio para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/I00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio