Photochemical Energy Conversion with Artificial Molecular Machines

The exploitation of sunlight as a clean, renewable, and distributed energy source is key to facing the energetic demand of modern society in a sustainable and affordable fashion. In the past few decades, chemists have learned to make molecular machines, that is, synthetic chemical systems in which energy inputs cause controlled movements of molecular components that could be used to perform a task. A variety of artificial molecular machines operated by light have been constructed by implementing photochemical processes within appropriately designed (supra)molecular assemblies. These studies could open up new routes for the realization of nanostructured devices and materials capable to harness, convert, and store light energy

Effects of in vitro digestion on the antioxidant activity of three phenolic extracts from olive mill wastewaters

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of in vitro digestion on the antioxidant activity of three extracts rich in phenols (two purified organic extracts (A20, A21) and one powdered extract stabilized with maltodextrins (SP)) obtained from olive mill wastewaters (OMWW). The content and composition of phenols and antioxidant activity was determined before and after in vitro digestion. The phenol content of the A20 and A21 samples were higher (>75%) than that of the SP sample before in vitro digestion. After the entire in vitro digestion, 89.3, 76.9, and 50% loss of phenols was found in A20, A21 and SP, respectively. ABTS•+ and ORAC values decreased during in vitro digestion of A20 and A21 samples, while they remained almost constant in SP. IC50 increased during digestion of A20 and A21, evidencing a loss of antioxidant capacity after the intestinal phase; an opposite IC50 trend was noted in SP, confirming the protective role of maltodextrins. For these reasons, SP represents a promising formulation to be used in the food field

Impact of the malaxation temperature on the phenolic profile of cv. Cobrançosa olive oils and assessment of the related health claim

Phenolic compounds contribute to the bioactive properties of olive oil. However, olive oils can only support a health claim concerning the protection against oxidative stress depending on the polyphenolic concentration, requiring effective measures during extraction to preserve/enhance their concentrations. The effect of the malaxation temperature (22, 28 and 34 °C) on the phenolic profile was studied for industrially extracted cv. Cobrançosa oils. Higher malaxation temperatures decreased the contents of the majority of the chromatographically detected compounds (P<0.05, one-way ANOVA), enabling oils differentiation. This decreasing trend was observed for hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol bound forms, determinant for the health claim, which were also negatively affected by temperature, despite revealing that all the industrially extracted oils tested supported the health claim. The observed constant free to bound forms ratio showed that the temperature range tested had a minor effect on bound-forms hydrolysis, being both free and bound forms equally affected by temperature.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science andTechnology (FCT, Portugal) forfinancial support by national fundsFCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), to CEB (UIDB/04469/2020), to REQUIMTE-LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020) and to BioTecNorteoperation (NORTE‐01‐0145‐FEDER‐000004) funded by the EuropeanRegional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020‐Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. Ítala Marx acknowledges the Ph.D.research grant (SFRH/BD/137283/2018) provided by FCT. NunoRodrigues thanks the National funding by FCT- Foundation for Scienceand Technology, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Knowledge Management and Organisational Culture

This international Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of key topics, debates and issues within the now well-established field of Knowledge Management (KM)

A Measure of Perceived Performance to Assess Resource Allocation

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00500-015-1696-3Performance measurement is a key issue when a company is designing new strategies to improve resource allocation. This paper offers a new methodology inspired by classic importance-performance analysis (IPA) that provides a global index of importance versus performance for firms. This index compares two rankings of the same set of features regarding importance and performance, taking into account underperforming features. The marginal contribution of each feature to the proposed global index defines a set of iso-curves that represents an improvement in the IPA diagram. The defined index, together with the new version of the diagram, will enable the assessment of a firm's overall performance and, therefore, enhance decision making in the allocation of resources. The proposed methodology has been applied to a Taiwanese multi-format retailer and managerial perceptions of performance and importance are compared to assess the firm's overall performance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Maternal influences on food preferences in weanling mice (Mus domesticus)

This study has been designed to evaluate the role of social (maternal) influences on the development of feeding behaviour in mice. A large enclosure, allowing direct observation, was divided into three separate areas: a central area for the nest and two side feeding areas at opposite ends. In one the young could feed with their mother, in the other one the young had to feed on their own. Three different groups were studied: one had the same food in the two feeding areas: the second had a less palatable food in the mother feeding area: the third had two different kinds of food with similar palatability in the feeding areas. The development of infants' behaviour expressed as: a) order of exit from the nest; b) first direction taken on leaving the nest; c) first food consumed: d) frequency of contacts with mother or pup food was electronically recorded and analysed. The results clearly show that weanlingmice strongly prefer to follow their mother at her feeding sites even when the mother's food is less palatable than their own. Furthermore infants of one group, in a following binary choice test, preferred to eat the food they experienced in the mum's feeding area instead of what they experienced in their own feeding area. The fitness of such behaviour in more natural situations is discusse