Meat, beyond the plate: data-driven hypotheses for understanding consumer willingness to adopt a more plant-based diet

A shift towards reduced meat consumption and a more plant-based diet is endorsed to promote sustainability, improve public health, and minimize animal suffering. However, large segments of consumers do not seem willing to make such transition. While it may take a profound societal change to achieve significant progresses on this regard, there have been limited attempts to understand the psychosocial processes that may hinder or facilitate this shift. This study provides an in-depth exploration of how consumer representations of meat, the impact of meat, and rationales for changing or not habits relate with willingness to adopt a more plant-based diet. Multiple Correspondence Analysis was employed to examine participant responses (N = 410) to a set of open-ended questions, free word association tasks and closed questions. Three clusters with two hallmarks each were identified: (1) a pattern of disgust towards meat coupled with moral internalization; (2) a pattern of low affective connection towards meat and willingness to change habits; and (3) a pattern of attachment to meat and unwillingness to change habits. The findings raise two main propositions. The first is that an affective connection towards meat relates to the perception of the impacts of meat and to willingness to change consumption habits. The second proposition is that a set of rationales resembling moral disengagement mechanisms (e.g., pro-meat justifications; self-exonerations) arise when some consumers contemplate the consequences of meat production and consumption, and the possibility of changing habits.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Attached to meat? (Un)Willingness and intentions to adopt a more plant-based diet

In response to calls to expand knowledge on consumer willingness to reduce meat consumption and to adopt a more plant-based diet, this work advances the construct of meat attachment and the Meat Attachment Questionnaire (MAQ). The MAQ is a new measure referring to a positive bond towards meat consumption. It was developed and validated through three sequential studies following from an in-depth approach to consumer representations of meat. The construct and initial pool of items were firstly developed drawing on qualitative data from 410 participants in a previous work on consumers’ valuation of meat. Afterwards, 1023 participants completed these items and other measures, providing data to assess item selection, factor structure, reliability, convergent and concurrent validity, and predictive ability. Finally, a sample of 318 participants from a different cultural background completed the final version of the MAQ along with other measures to assess measurement invariance, reliability and predictive ability. Across samples, a four-factor solution (i.e., hedonism, affinity, entitlement, and dependence) with 16 items and a second-order global dimension of meat attachment fully met criteria for good model fit. The MAQ subscales and global scale were associated with attitudes towards meat, subjective norm, human supremacy beliefs, eating habits, and dietary identity. They also provided additional explanatory variance above and beyond the core TPB variables (i.e. attitudes, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control) in willingness and intentions concerning meat substitution. Overall, the findings point towards the relevance of the MAQ for the study of meat consumption and meat substitution, and lend support to the idea that holding a pattern of attachment towards meat may hinder a shift towards a more plant-based diet.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The elaboration of indices to assess biological water quality. A case study

Here we tested the application of a nodal analysis for the elaboration of biotic indices for particular stressing conditions. The work was carried out in an intermittent Mediterranean stream where superficial flow was absent during summer. The river was perturbed by an effluent with high pH, sulphates, nitrates and conductivity. "Summer" and "winter" samples were treated separately. We first identified groups of sites differing in taxonomical composition by cluster analysis. Then we tested whether groups of sites also differed in their abiotic characteristics. In the following step, groups of cooccurring taxa were also identified by cluster analysis. The indicator value of a taxa group was measured by fidelity measurements for site groups. Indicator taxa were incorporated in a water quality table. The biotic index in the water quality table clearly discriminated impacted from reference sites in the two following years and was correlated with the first axis of a correspondence analysis biplot which also discriminated impacted from clean sites. We suggest that nodal analysis can be a reliable technique for the identification of bioindicators and the elaboration of biotic indices.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V73-3SX5H1V-F/1/2ddcd6137e173976c270b458bbb4c99

The elaboration of indices to assess biological water quality. A case study

Here we tested the application of a nodal analysis for the elaboration of biotic indices for particular stressing conditions. The work was carried out in an intermittent Mediterranean stream where superficial flow was absent during summer. The river was perturbed by an effluent with high pH, sulphates, nitrates and conductivity. "Summer" and "winter" samples were treated separately. We first identified groups of sites differing in taxonomical composition by cluster analysis. Then we tested whether groups of sites also differed in their abiotic characteristics. In the following step, groups of cooccurring taxa were also identified by cluster analysis. The indicator value of a taxa group was measured by fidelity measurements for site groups. Indicator taxa were incorporated in a water quality table. The biotic index in the water quality table clearly discriminated impacted from reference sites in the two following years and was correlated with the first axis of a correspondence analysis biplot which also discriminated impacted from clean sites. We suggest that nodal analysis can be a reliable technique for the identification of bioindicators and the elaboration of biotic indices.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V73-3SX5H1V-F/1/2ddcd6137e173976c270b458bbb4c99

Reducing meat consumption and following plant-based diets: current evidence and future directions to inform integrated transitions

Background: There is increasing consensus that transitioning towards reduced meat consumption and more plant-based diets is a key feature to address important health and sustainability challenges. However, relevant evidence that may inform these transitions remains fragmented with no overarching rationale or theoretical framework, which limits the ability to design and deliver coordinated efforts to address these challenges. Scope and approach: Eleven databases were systematically searched using sets of keywords referring meat curtailment, meat substitution and plant-based diets, as well as consumer choice, appraisal or behavior (2602 articles selected for title and abstract screening; 161 full-texts assessed for eligibility; 110 articles selected for extraction and coding). Barriers and enablers were identified and integrated into an overarching framework (i.e., COM-B system), which conceptualizes behavior as being influenced by three broad components: capability, opportunity and motivation. Key findings and conclusions: This review mapped potential barriers and enablers in terms of capability, opportunity, and motivation to reduce meat consumption and follow more plant-based diets. These included lack of information for consumers and difficulty to acquire new cooking skills (barrier, capability), changes in service provision in collective meal contexts (enabler, opportunity), and positive taste expectations for plant-based meals (enabler, motivation). Evidence on variables referring to the motivation domain is clearly increasing, but there is a striking need for studies that include capability and opportunity variables as well. The results of this review are relevant to a variety of fields and audiences interested in promoting sustainable living and health improvements through dietary choice.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

The role of parental illness representations and parental coping in metabolic control of adolescents with type 1 diabetes

Background: Parental illness representations and parental coping influence the adaptation process of adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Thus, the purpose of this study was to study the role of family representations in the metabolic control of adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Methods: The sample included 100 adolescents with type 1 diabetes and their parents while waiting for a routine endocrinology appointment. Parents answered the Brief-Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ; Broadbent, Petrie, Main & Weinman, 2006) and Coping Health Inventory for Parents (McCubbin, McCubbin, Patterson, Cauble, Wilson, & Warwick, 1983). Glycosylated hemoglobin was assessed before the medical appointment. Results: Parental coping (understanding medical situation) was negatively correlated with metabolic control, i.e., higher parental coping was associated with better metabolic control. Parental illness representations (consequences, personal control, illness coherence and emotional representation) were positively associated with metabolic control, i.e., more consequences, less personal control, less illness coherence and worse emotional response were related to worse metabolic control. Parental illness representation (emotional response) and parental coping (understanding the medical situation) were predictors of metabolic control, explaining 18.2% of the variance. Conclusion: Intervention programs should address parental coping strategies to deal with the complex management of diabetes self-care in the family daily activities and focus on parental representations of diabetes in order to increase metabolic control, and prevent diabetes complications, thus contributing to a better adaptation to type 1 diabetes for both parents and adolescents

Influência de reguladores de crescimento e adubação no florescimento e crescimento de Eucalyptus dunnii Maid.

A influência de reguladores de crescimento e da adubação sobre o florescimento e crescimento de Eucalyptus dunnii Maid., de cinco anos de idade, foi determinada em árvores selecionadas de um talhão experimental localizado no Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Florestas/EMBRAPA, PR. Neste, foram realizadas aplicações de ácido giberélico (GA3) na concentração de 300 mg. l -1 , cinetina a 50 mg. l -1 , combinação das concentrações de GA3 + cinetina, Ethrel a 240 mg. l -1 e 400 g de 10-30-15 (NPK) mais 10 g de micronutrientes. O florescimento não foi influenciado pelos tratamentos empregados. Entretanto, para o crescimento, verificou-se que os maiores incrementos para altura e diâmetro foram obtidos com a aplicação de GA3 + cinetina. A cinetina, isoladamente, teve um efeito negativo, enquanto que a adubação não trouxe acréscimo significativo no crescimento de E. dunnii. Com base nesses resultados, sugere-se que estudos posteriores, envolvendo outros tratamentos, sejam realizados para o estabelecimento da técnica de indução do florescimento nessa espécie

Design of a lab-on-a-chip for clinical tests of human physiological fluids

Labs-on-a-chip are useful to perform in situ clinical tests with instantaneous results. In this work, the design phase of the development of a lab-on-a-chip is presented. The device will be used to perform tests on physiological fluids. It will be able to test 8 components: calcium, chloride, creatinine, glucose, magnesium, total protein, urea and uric acid. A sample of the physiological fluid reacts with several reagents and the device measures the absorbance of the reaction products. The lab-on-a-chip is composed of a microfluidic system and an optical detection system. The first contains microchannels and micro-reactors fabricated using SU-8 techniques. The second includes CMOS photodetectors and readout electronics, as well as optical filters fabricated using CMOS-compatible post-processing on top of the photodetectors. Careful design of the microfluidic system of a lab-on-a-chip requires knowledge of the transport phenomena in the microchannels. Numerical methods are used to simulate the electroosmotic flow, reaction and mixture in the system. Velocitypressure formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations is solved by a finite difference method. Mass transport equation is solved by a second order finite difference method. For enzymatic reactions, biochemical reaction kinetics is considered. Design choices are presented and explained. The final design of the microfluidic system complies with layout restriction and kinetic, mass transport and other physical limitations. The dimensions of the micro-reactors are optimized to maximize mixing. The design of the optical detection system involves selection of the dielectric layers available in the CMOS process for the photodetectors and selection of the dielectric thin-films layers for the optical filters. An array of 8 selective optical filters is designed for parallel testing of the 8 reported components. They are structurally optimized for an optical response at the absorption peak of each reaction product. The lab-on-a-chip output provides a digital signal for computer interfacing.R&D Centre Algoritmi.Escola de Engenharia da Universidade do Minho - Program IN2TEC.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Grant SFRH/BPD/17689/2004

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.): A medicinal plant with myriad biological properties - A short review

The pomegranate, Punica granatum L., which can be found throughout the Mediterranean region, in Southeast Asia, California and Arizona in USA was in ancient times referred as possessing powers of fertility, abundance and good luck (fruit). The biological properties of extracts (antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, among other properties) obtained from several parts of pomegranate is reported in the present work. Due to such properties, the extracts have been used in therapeutics, such as in the prevention of infection, inflammation, cancer, among other applications. However, other aspects are also referred in the present work such as the good practices of culture and fruit preservation, search of new compounds, selection of cultivars through biotechnological techniques for obtaining juice or fruits ready to eat. Such compilation of information was based on the search in the ISI Web of Knowledge (Thomson Reuters) from 2009 up to the beginning of October 2010