Customer knowledge and behavior on the use of food refrigerated display cabinets: A Portuguese case

This article presents a study on customer knowledge and habits regarding the use of refrigerated display cabinets (RDC). The study was carried out on a sample of Portuguese retail stores’ customers, using a questionnaire survey available through an Internet platform. The sample consisted of 136 individuals, who voluntarily participated in the study. Questions included the characterization of the sociodemographic population involved. The questionnaire included different questions to related with RDC, namely customer knowledge about the appearance of each RDC equipment, questions to evaluate the respondents’ perception about the advantages and disadvantages related to open or glass-door closed RDC, questions to assess the participants’ habits and behavior when purchasing food products from glass-door closed RDC (frequency and duration of door open), questions to characterize the consumers’ habits on purchasing food products from RDC, and also questions to characterize the consumers’ shopping attitudes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2. The results seem to indicate that customers prefer closed RDC; for example, 61.8% of participants prefer products preserved in glass-door closed RDC, against 6.6% that admit to preferring products preserved in open RDC. Therefore, we can deduce that the existence of doors does not appear to be an obstacle to purchasing food products. Regarding the use of glass-door closed RDC, 80.1% of the participants say they just open the door once, and 53.7% of the costumers believe they keep the door open in the interval [4‒6 s]. This indicates that Portuguese customers are quite well informed about food safety issues and seem to follow assertive attitudes when purchasing food products from RDC. This study reinforces the benefits of replacing open RDC by closed glass-doors allowing significant energy savings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Acetylcholine release and choline uptake by cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) optic lobe synaptosomes

Acetylcholine (ACh), which is synthesized from choline (Ch), is believed to hold a central place in signaling mechanisms within the central nervous system (CNS) of cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and other coleoid cephalopods. Although the main elements required for cholinergic function have been identified in cephalopods, the transmembrane translocation events promoting the release of ACh and the uptake of Ch remain largely unsolved. The ACh release and Ch uptake were quantitatively studied through the use of in vitro chemiluminescence and isotopic methods on a subcellular fraction enriched in synaptic nerve endings (synaptosomes) isolated from cuttlefish optic lobe. The ACh release evoked by K+ depolarization was found to be very high (0.04 pmol ACh.s-(1).mg(-1) protein). In response to stimulation by veratridine, a secretagogue (a substance that induces secretion) that targets voltage-gated Na+ channels, the release rate and the total amount of ACh released were significantly lower, by 10-fold, than the response induced by KCl. The high-affinity uptake of choline was also very high (31 pmol Ch.min(-1).mg(-1) protein). The observed ACh release and Ch uptake patterns are in good agreement with published data on preparations characterized by high levels of ACh metabolism, adding further evidence that ACh acts as a neurotransmitter in cuttlefish optic lobe.FCTPOCTI/BSE/46721/2002SFRH/BPD/14677/2003SFRH/BD/1079/2000SFRH/BD/6403/2001SFRH/BD/18101/2004EC (to Y.D.) - LIPIDIET - QLK1-CT-2002-0017

Periostin as a modulator of chronic cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE: After acute myocardial infarction, during the cardiac repair phase, periostin is released into the infarct and activates signaling pathways that are essential for the reparative process. However, the role of periostin in chronic cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction remains to be elucidated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between tissue periostin and cardiac variables in the chronic cardiac remodeling induced by myocardial infarction. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were assigned to 2 groups: a simulated surgery group (SHAM; n = 8) and a myocardial infarction group (myocardial infarction; n = 13). After 3 months, morphological, functional and biochemical analyses were performed. The data are expressed as means±SD or medians (including the lower and upper quartiles). RESULTS: Myocardial infarctions induced increased left ventricular diastolic and systolic areas associated with a decreased fractional area change and a posterior wall shortening velocity. With regard to the extracellular matrix variables, the myocardial infarction group presented with higher values of periostin and types I and III collagen and higher interstitial collagen volume fractions and myocardial hydroxyproline concentrations. In addition, periostin was positively correlated with type III collagen levels (r = 0.673, p = 0.029) and diastolic (r = 0.678, p = 0.036) and systolic (r = 0.795, p = 0.006) left ventricular areas. Considering the relationship between periostin and the cardiac function variables, periostin was inversely correlated with both the fractional area change (r = -0.783, p = 0.008) and the posterior wall shortening velocity (r = -0.767, p = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Periostin might be a modulator of deleterious cardiac remodeling in the chronic phase after myocardial infarction in rats

Determination of the b quark mass at the M_Z scale with the DELPHI detector at LEP

An experimental study of the normalized three-jet rate of b quark events with respect to light quarks events (light= \ell \equiv u,d,s) has been performed using the CAMBRIDGE and DURHAM jet algorithms. The data used were collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP on the Z peak from 1994 to 2000. The results are found to agree with theoretical predictions treating mass corrections at next-to-leading order. Measurements of the b quark mass have also been performed for both the b pole mass: M_b and the b running mass: m_b(M_Z). Data are found to be better described when using the running mass. The measurement yields: m_b(M_Z) = 2.85 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.13 (exp) +/- 0.19 (had) +/- 0.12 (theo) GeV/c^2 for the CAMBRIDGE algorithm. This result is the most precise measurement of the b mass derived from a high energy process. When compared to other b mass determinations by experiments at lower energy scales, this value agrees with the prediction of Quantum Chromodynamics for the energy evolution of the running mass. The mass measurement is equivalent to a test of the flavour independence of the strong coupling constant with an accuracy of 7 permil.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Measurement and Interpretation of Fermion-Pair Production at LEP energies above the Z Resonance

This paper presents DELPHI measurements and interpretations of cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries, and angular distributions, for the e+e- -> ffbar process for centre-of-mass energies above the Z resonance, from sqrt(s) ~ 130 - 207 GeV at the LEP collider. The measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and are used to study a variety of models including the S-Matrix ansatz for e+e- -> ffbar scattering and several models which include physics beyond the Standard Model: the exchange of Z' bosons, contact interactions between fermions, the exchange of gravitons in large extra dimensions and the exchange of sneutrino in R-parity violating supersymmetry.Comment: 79 pages, 16 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

A Determination of the Centre-of-Mass Energy at LEP2 using Radiative 2-fermion Events

Using e+e- -> mu+mu-(gamma) and e+e- -> qqbar(gamma) events radiative to the Z pole, DELPHI has determined the centre-of-mass energy, sqrt{s}, using energy and momentum constraint methods. The results are expressed as deviations from the nominal LEP centre-of-mass energy, measured using other techniques. The results are found to be compatible with the LEP Energy Working Group estimates for a combination of the 1997 to 2000 data sets.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Study of Inclusive J/psi Production in Two-Photon Collisions at LEP II with the DELPHI Detector

Inclusive J/psi production in photon-photon collisions has been observed at LEP II beam energies. A clear signal from the reaction gamma gamma -> J/psi+X is seen. The number of observed N(J/psi -> mu+mu-) events is 36 +/- 7 for an integrated luminosity of 617 pb^{-1}, yielding a cross-section of sigma(J/psi+X) = 45 +/- 9 (stat) +/- 17 (syst) pb. Based on a study of the event shapes of different types of gamma gamma processes in the PYTHIA program, we conclude that (74 +/- 22)% of the observed J/psi events are due to `resolved' photons, the dominant contribution of which is most probably due to the gluon content of the photon.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Accepted by Phys. Lett.

A Measurement of the Tau Hadronic Branching Ratios

The exclusive and semi-exclusive branching ratios of the tau lepton hadronic decay modes (h- v_t, h- pi0 v_t, h- pi0 pi0 v_t, h- \geq 2pi0 v_t, h- \geq 3pi0 v_t, 2h- h+ v_t, 2h- h+ pi0 v_t, 2h- h+ \geq 2pi0 v_t, 3h- 2h+ v_t and 3h- 2h+ \geq 1pi0 v_t) were measured with data from the DELPHI detector at LEP.Comment: 53 pages, 18 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Evidence for an Excess of Soft Photons in Hadronic Decays of Z^0

Soft photons inside hadronic jets converted in front of the DELPHI main tracker (TPC) in events of qqbar disintegrations of the Z^0 were studied in the kinematic range 0.2 < E_gamma < 1 GeV and transverse momentum with respect to the closest jet direction p_T < 80 MeV/c. A clear excess of photons in the experimental data as compared to the Monte Carlo predictions is observed. This excess (uncorrected for the photon detection efficiency) is (1.17 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet in the specified kinematic region, while the expected level of the inner hadronic bremsstrahlung (which is not included in the Monte Carlo) is (0.340 +/- 0.001 +/- 0.038) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet. The ratio of the excess to the predicted bremsstrahlung rate is then (3.4 +/- 0.2 +/- 0.8), which is similar in strength to the anomalous soft photon signal observed in fixed target experiments with hadronic beams.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.