Effect of stevia supplementation of kale juice spheres on their quality changes during refrigerated shelf life

Kale is a vegetable with high contents of health–promoting compounds although its consumption as a beverage is highly limited due to its bitter flavour. Nonetheless, the bitter flavour of Brassicas may be masked by sweetening. Then, the effects of different stevia extracts (CTRL, S0.5 (g L–1), S1.25 and S2.5), added to an innovative kale beverage presentation, were studied on the kale juice spheres quality during 7 days at 5ºC. Kale juice spheres were produced with a double spherification technique, which allowed to obtain hydrogel spheres with high mechanical resistance.The authors express their gratitude to CNPq (Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil) for a doctoral grant (232758/2014−0) made to Tâmmila Venzke Klug. The authorsare grateful to S.G. Hasa for her skillful technical assistance. The authors are also grateful to Sakata Seeds Ibérica SLU and to Sacoje SCL for providing the plant material

RELACIONES BANCARIAS Y SUS EFECTOS SOBRE LOS TÉRMINOS DE LA DEUDA EN LAS PYMES

This paper analyses the effect of bank relationships on the interest rate and personaland real guarantees borne by a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises in theirindebtedness. The results of this paper indicate that the SMEs that work with fewer financialintermediaries obtain debt at a lower cost. This reflects that the advantages linked to debtconcentration are greater than the disadvantages. Additionally, financial institutions show aclear tendency towards raising the interest rate and the use of personal guarantees as therelationship becomes longer. Finally, the companies that have a more intense relationship oftrust with their lender obtain loans at a lower cost, but supplying more real guarantees Este trabajo analiza el efecto de las relaciones bancarias sobre el coste y las garantías reales y personales que las pequeñas y medianas empresas soportan en su endeudamiento con entidades de crédito. Los resultados de este estudio indican que las PYMEs que trabajan con menos intermediarios financieros obtienen deuda a un tipo de interés inferior. Esto refleja que las ventajas asociadas a la concentración del endeudamiento son superiores a las desventajas. Además, se aprecia una clara tendencia de las entidades de crédito a elevar el coste y el uso de garantías personales a medida que avanza la relación. Por último, las empresas que mantienen una relación de confianza más intensa con su prestamista obtienen créditos con un menor coste, pero aportando más garantías reales.relaciones bancarias, tipo de interés, garantía personal, garantía real, intermediario financiero, información asimétrica, PYME. bank relationships, interest rate, personal guarantees, real guarantees, financial institution, asymmetric information, SME.

Coastal zones and cities: relations between different territories in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

El comienzo del siglo XXI constituye una etapa con profundas transformaciones en el espacio urbano situado en el litoral de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. En este entorno costero se han producido múltiples acontecimientos sociales y económicos a lo largo del siglo XX. Desde la ciencia geográfica se observan con gran interés estos aspectos del funcionamiento de la ciudad, dadas sus implicaciones medioambientales, demográficas, económicas y culturales. Se analiza la aparición de un nuevo territorio, a través de la figura de los grandes proyectos urbanos y la planificación pública. En este discurso, se valora la experiencia de esta ciudad en las estrategias de rehabilitación del espacio urbano y el litoral.Le commencement du XXIéme siècle est une période des profundes transformatiòns dans l’espace urbain situé dans le littoral de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Dans etendroit de la cóte il se sont produit beancoup de phínomènes sociaux et économiquest out au long du XXéme siècle. Dès la science de la géographie, on observe, avec beancoup d’intérêt ces phénomines du fonctionnement de la cité, ses conséquences écologiques, démographiques, économiques et culturelles. On analyse l’áparítion d’un nouveau territoire grâce à la figure des grands proyects urbains et grâce, aussi, à la planification publique. Dans ce discours on évalue l’expérience de cette cité en ce gui concerne aux stratégies dé réhabilitation de l’espace urbain et du littoral

The venture capital contract and the Institutional Theory in a Spanish setting

Purpose: This paper examines the principles of the Institutional Theory in order to increase the understanding of the contractual covenants that Spanish venture capital firms use in their relationship with the portfolio companies. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on the data obtained by means of a postal survey addressed to the 70 Spanish venture capital firms registered in the ASCRI (Asociación Española de Entidades de Capital Riesgo) in June, 2002, with a response rate of 68.33%. As a theoretical framework we base on the Institutional Theory as a mechanism to understand the venture capital contractual process. Findings: The results show that a large part of the Spanish venture capital contracts are homogeneous. However, between public and private venture capital firms there is some heterogeneity not only in relation to the industry but also within the field in the design of contracts. It might be due to the coercive pressures exerted by the government on public entities. Research Limitations: Although survey data might create potential biases and possible measurement problems, we consider that our sample has large enough coverage of the venture capital industry (68.33%) that, although cautiously, valid conclusions can be drawn. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first empirical contributions analyzing financial contracts of venture capital firms in Spain. A better understanding of covenants included in venture capital contracts can help Spanish firms to understand the particular terms and restraints of venture capitalists before providing capital. Moreover, this paper also has clear benefits for policy makers and venture capitalists.Fundación Séneca (Project 15403/PHCS/10), and by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Project ECO2011-29080

Classification and Analysis of Criteria Used in the Due Diligence Process

This paper uses a survey dataset of 51 Venture Capital Companies to address a segmentation of the venture capital industry. Our paper yields two specific contributions. First, we analyze in a Continental European bank-based system the most important investment criteria identified by previous empirical literature. Second, we show that existing differences in the use of the investment criteria depend on the existence of asymmetric information problems associated to specific characteristics of the venture capital companies. Knowing what investment criteria are the most important for venture capitalists might help both entrepreneurs to elaborate better proposals, and venture capitalists to improve their decision process and achieve better survival rates.Fundación Séneca (Project 15403/PHCS/10) and by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Project ECO2011-29080

Effect of fresh-cut apples fortification with lycopene microspheres, revalorized from tomato by-products, during shelf life

Fresh–cut apple browning has been conventionally tried to control with the help of ascorbic acid dips, although such antioxidant effect is limited. Lycopene, absent in apple flesh, is the carotenoid in nature with the highest antioxidant capacity, in special for its cis−isomers. Tomato skin is a low cost by-product with very high lycopene content (7.23 g kg−1) and high potential to be incorporated as an antioxidant agent in antibrowning dipping treatments. High lycopene extraction from tomato skin was achieved with a thermal treatment (75 ºC, 1 h) favouring trans−to−cis lycopene isomerization with TiO2 nanoparticles. Lycopene extracts were highly encapsulated (encapsulation efficiency: 92.2 %) with the complex coacervation method and the obtained microspheres were then incorporated in dipping treatments (0.5 (L0.5), 1 (L1) or 2 g L–1 (L2)) during fresh–cut apples processing, compared with an ascorbic acid dipping (AA; 10 g L–1). Quality changes (colour, microbial, physicochemical and bioactive compounds) were studied up to 9 d at 5 ºC. The L2 dipping controlled better the browning during storage, showing the lowest browning index among treatments (BI=43.8) after 9 d. Furthermore, L2 dipping did not affect the physicochemical quality of samples, while maintaining a good microbial quality. Incorporation of lycopene microspheres also improved the bioactive quality of samples, still showing total cis−lycopene isomer content of ≈ 20 mg kg−1 after 9 d. Furthermore, chlorogenic acid, the predominant phenolic acid, content was enhanced by 56 % in L2 samples after 6–9 d. In conclusion, a dipping treatment of fresh–cut apples including 2 g L–1 lycopene microspheres reduced browning, while quality was maintained and some bioactive compounds even enhanced after 9 d at 5 ºC.The authors are grateful to the Institute of Plant Biotechnology of the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena for the use of its equipment. The concession of a predoctoral grant to N. Castillejo (FPU16/04763) by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of Spain is appreciated. Thanks are also due to Agricola Gaobe S.L. for providing the tomatoes. The technical support of R. Pérez–Álvarez and J.M. García–Rojo is highly appreciated

Venture capitalists in Spain: cluster analysis of criteria used in the screening process

This paper uses a survey dataset of 51 Venture Capital Companies to address a segmentation of the venture capital industry. Our paper yields two specific contributions. First, we analyze in a Continental European bank-based system the most important investment criteria identified by previous empirical literature. Second, we show that existing differences in the use of the investment criteria depend on the specific characteristics of the venture capital companies. Therefore, the same business proposal might obtain different decisions depending on the venture company that the entrepreneur approaches. Our paper provides a better insight into the screening process of venture capitalists and the results have clear implications for entrepreneurs and venture capital companies. The knowledge of what investment criteria are most important to venture capitalists might help entrepreneurs to elaborate better proposals, addressing them to the most suitable venture capital company. El presente estudio usa una encuesta postal realizada a 51 entidades de capital riesgo (ECR) con el objetivo de establecer diferentes tipologías de gestores y de empresas en la industria del capital riesgo. Nuestro trabajo realiza dos contribuciones específicas. En primer lugar, analizamos para el modelo bancario de la Europa Continental aquellos criterios de selección de inversiones más importantes identificados en la literatura empírica previa. En segundo lugar, mostramos que las diferencias en el uso de los criterios de selección de inversiones dependen de las características de las ECR. Por tanto, una misma propuesta de negocio podría obtener diferentes respuestas según la ECR que la evalúe. Nuestro trabajo proporciona una mejor comprensión del proceso de selección realizado por los gestores, y los resultados tienen claras implicaciones tanto para los empresarios como para las ECR. Conocer cuáles son los principales criterios de selección de inversiones podría ayudar a los empresarios a elaborar mejores propuestas, y buscar la financiación en ECR más adecuadas.capital riesgo, análisis de conglomerados, toma de decisiones venture capital, cluster analysis, screening criteria, decision-making

Innovative minimal processing of mini broccoli for keeping quality and safety and enhancing bioactive compounds

[ENG] Broccoli has been described as the ‘super–vegetable’ in the media after a great number of epidemiological and laboratory studies on this Brassica specie. These studies have shown numerous health–promoting properties of broccoli such as chemopreventive, antioxidant, antitumor, antimutagenicity, anti–inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral and reduction of coronary heart disease risk. These properties are related to the high content of broccoli in phenolic compounds, glucosinolates (isothiocyanates –ITC–), carotenoids, vitamins, fatty acids, minerals, etc. For these reasons, the broccoli consumption has been promoted, unless the Spanish consumers are still reluctant to this vegetable due to its slightly bitter and astringent flavour and sulphur aromas (when cooked). In order to promote its consumption, the breeding companies have developed natural broccoli hybrids with other Brassica species with milder flavour than conventional varieties, such as the kailan or Chinese broccoli. This new kailan–hybrid broccoli is a vegetable with remarkable more pleasant flavour and aroma than the conventional broccoli varieties, and with a bioactive and nutritive profile similar to that of broccoli and kailan. Kailan–hybrid broccoli assembles the requirements for an excellent vegetable for the minimal processing or fresh–cut (FC) and fifth range product industries. However, the processing and storage of FC and fifth range commodities imply important changes on the physicochemical, microbial, sensory, bioactive and nutritional quality of them. Furthermore, the association of foodborne outbreaks with these products has considerably increased during the last years. In this way, and due to the undesirable by–products derived of the commonly used NaClO as sanitizer agent by the FC and fifth range industry, it is imperative to optimise the emerging NaClO–alternative sanitising treatments for the kailan–hybrid broccoli. Among them, the electrolysed water (EW), ultraviolet C light (UV–C) and the superatmospheric oxygen packaging (HO) have been studied. This Ph. D. Thesis covers many of the above mentioned research needs. In addition, the real health benefits of the consumption of this kailan–hybrid broccoli (raw or cooked) have been studied in vivo, obtaining a complete scientific–technologic knowledge of this particular vegetable from farm to human cells. The research works have been performed within the Postharvest and Refrigeration Group and the Food Quality and Health Department of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology of the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (UPCT, Cartagena, Spain). Some equipment of the Centro Tecnológico Nacional de la Conserva y la Alimentación (Molina de Segura, Murcia, Spain) and the Centro de Cualificación Turística (Murcia, Spain) have been also used in the experiments. The volunteer’s recruitment and sampling for the in vivo studies were accomplished in the Nutrition Department of the Hospital General Universitario Reina Sofía (Murcia, Spain).Universidad Politécnica de Cartagen

Fresh-Cut Fruit and Vegetables: Emerging Eco-friendly Techniques for Sanitation and Preserving Safety

The current high demand of minimally processed or fresh-cut fruit and vegetables results from the consumer’s desire for healthy, convenient, fresh, and ready-to-eat plant food-derived commodities. Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables are usually packaged under active- or passive-modified atmosphere packaging, while its shelf life must be under refrigerated conditions. The most important goal to preserve quality and safety focuses on releasing the microbial spoilage flora, since every unit operation involved will influence the final load. Sanitation in the washing step is the only unit operation able to reduce microbial load throughout the production chain. Chlorine is widely used as an efficient sanitation agent, but some disadvantages force to find eco-friendly emerging alternatives. It is necessary to deal with aspects related to sustainability because it could positively contribute to the net carbon balance besides reducing its use. Several innovative techniques seem to reach that target. However, industrial changes for replacing conventional techniques request a fine knowledge of the benefits and restrictions as well as a practical outlook. This chapter reviews the principles of emerging eco-friendly techniques for preserving quality and safety of fresh-cut products in order to meet the expected market’s demand