Comparing the Productive Efficiency of Cooperatives and Private Enterprises: The Portuguese Wine Industry as a Case Study

This paper compares the efficiency of cooperatives and private enterprises in the Portuguese wine industry, employing data envelopment analysis (DEA). The use of DEA for the analysis of comparative efficiency within a sector is a key tool in evaluating organizational competitiveness. Competitiveness should be based on benchmarking the different types of organizations that comprise the viniculture sector. We conclude that Portuguese wine cooperatives, on average, are more efficient than their private counterparts. Economic implications arising from the study are discussed.cooperatives, private enterprises, technical efficiency, DEA, wine industry, Portugal, Agribusiness,

Mechanisms of salt stress tolerance in Casuarina: a review of recent research

ReviewSalinization is a global concern whose extent is predicted to progressively increase over this century. In this context, biosaline agriculture has been included in the set of climate-smart solutions to support sustainable and resilient ecosystems. The Casuarinaceae family is widely known for its intrinsic ability to thrive under saline environments. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying salt-tolerance in this family is of utmost importance for landscape integration and soil rehabilitation. In this mini-review, we present the state of the art of Casuarina research – from gene to ecosystem – in response to salinity, towards green growth and sustainable development. Based on literature retrieval from 2000 to 2021, a general overview of salt-stress tolerance in the Casuarinaceae is presented, and the extent of the contribution of root-nodule and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses, as well as the related eco-physiological and molecular changes are discussedinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Three novel mutations in the CFTR gene identified in Galician patients

AbstractWe report three novel CFTR missense mutations detected in Spanish patients from Galicia (North West of Spain). In the first case, a patient homozygous for a novel S1045Y mutation died due to pulmonary problems. In the other two cases, both heterozygous for novel mutations combined with the F508del mutation, clinical symptoms were different depending on the mutation, detected as M595I and A107V

Ingestão De Carnes Em Adultos: Estudo De Base Populacional Na Cidade De Campinas, Brasil. Um Estudo Transversal

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Meat is a food with high nutritional density that has significant participation in the Brazilian diet. However, in excess it can cause harm to health. The aim of this study was to analyze the meat intake (g/day) among adults according to sociodemographic, behavioral and health situation characteristics, and to assess the types of meat most consumed. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional population-based study conducted in the city of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, in 2008 and 2009. METHODS: Two-stage cluster sampling was used. The analysis included 948 adults between 20 and 59 years, who were participants in the Campinas Health Survey. Meat intake was assessed using 24-hour dietary recall. RESULTS: The mean meat intake adjusted for sex and age was 182.3 g (95% CI: 170.6-193.9 g), with significantly lower intake among women, individuals aged 50 years or over, those with the presence of two or more self-reported chronic diseases and those with three or more health complaints. Higher meat intake was found in segments with intermediate monthly family income (between 1 and 3 minimum wages), those with 16 or more appliances per household and those who consumed soft drinks seven days a week. Beef was consumed most frequently (44%) among the meats in the diet, followed by poultry, fish and pork. CONCLUSION: The data from this study reveal high meat intake in the population of Campinas and identify the segments that need to be prioritized for strategies directed towards appropriate meat intake. © 2016, Associacao Paulista de Medicina. All rights reserved.1342138145409747-2006-8, CNPq, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e TecnológicoConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Docking studies to evaluate mushrooms low molecular weight compounds as inhibitors of the anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2

Several reports indicate that mushrooms have the ability to promote apoptosis in tumour cell lines, but the mechanism of action is not quite well understood. Inhibition of the interaction between Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein) and pro-apoptotic proteins could be an important step that leads to apoptosis. Therefore, the discovery of compounds with the capacity to inhibit Bcl-2 is an ongoing research topic on cancer therapy. Herein, Autodock4 virtual screening was applied to a dataset of 40 low molecular weight compounds present in mushrooms, using 3D Bcl-2 protein structure (PDB:2XA0) as target. Results suggested that steroids mainly ergosta-4,6,8(14),22-tetraen-3-one, lucidenic lactone, cerevisterol, ganoderic acid w and ganoderic acid x, with a binding energy lower than -10 kcal/mol, had the ability to interact with Bcl-2

Classical analogous of quantum cosmological perfect fluid models

Quantization in the mini-superspace of a gravity system coupled to a perfect fluid, leads to a solvable model which implies singularity free solutions through the construction of a superposition of the wavefunctions. We show that such models are equivalent to a classical system where, besides the perfect fluid, a repulsive fluid with an equation of state $p_Q = \rho_Q$ is present. This leads to speculate on the true nature of this quantization procedure. A perturbative analysis of the classical system reveals the condition for the stability of the classical system in terms of the existence of an anti-gravity phase.Comment: Latex file, 10 pages, 3 figure

Spray-drying microencapsulation of synergistic antioxidant mushroom extracts and their use as functional food ingredients

In this work, hydroalcoholic extracts of two mushrooms species, Suillus luteus (L.: Fries) (Sl) and Coprinopsis atramentaria (Bull.) (Ca), were studied for their synergistic antioxidant effect and their viability as functional food ingredients tested by incorporation into a food matrix (cottage cheese). In a first step, the individual extracts and a combination of both, showing synergistic effects (Sl:Ca, 1:1), were microencapsulated by spray-drying using maltodextrin as the encapsulating material. The incorporation of free extracts resulted in products with a higher initial antioxidant activity (t0) but declining after 7 days (t7), which was associated with their degradation. However, the cottage cheese enriched with the microencapsulated extracts, that have revealed a lower activity at the initial time, showed an increase at t7. This improvement can be explained by an effective protection provided by the microspheres together with a sustained release. Analyses performed on the studied cottage cheese samples showed the maintenance of the nutritional properties and no colour modifications were noticed.Financial support was provided by FCT/MEC and FEDER under Programme PT2020 (LSRE: Project UID/EQU/50020/2013and CIMO: PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2014) and QREN, ON2 and FEDER (Project NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000050 and NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000014). G. Ruphuy thanks Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones de Costa Rica (MICITT) for her scholarship and L. Barros FCT for her contract (Compromisso para a Ciência 2008). A special thanks to Cargill for having provided us with the maltodextrin sample used in this work (reference C*Dry MD 01915)

Condições de conservação pós-colheita de frutos de pimentão (Capsicum annum L.)

Two packing types and exponsure to ethylene, in room and refrigerator conditions, were studied for fruits of sweet pepper Agronomico 10G. After 5 day intervals the fruits were weighed. It was concluded that the best temperature range for sweet pepper preservation is 7 to 9°C; at these temperatures, the best packaging was aluminium trays covered with 0,0165 mm PVC film. Potassium permanganate in perforated capsules showed no evident effect as ethylene absorbent. After 30 days fruit losses were very high due to senescence and/or disease incidence.Com o objetivo de verificar a conservação de frutos de pimentão, foi estudada a utilização de dois tipos de embalagem e um seqüestrador de etileno, em condições ambientais e em geladeira. As avaliações foram realizadas a cada cinco dias, obtendo-se as seguintes conclusões: a melhor temperatura para conservação de pimentões situa-se entre 7 e 9°C; o armazenamento de pimentões em bandejas envolvidas com filme de PVC, constitui-se na melhor alternativa para sua conservação, naquela faixa de temperatura. O permanganato de potássio, colocado em cápsulas perfuradas no interior das embalagens, não apresentou efeito evidente como absorvente de etileno. Após 30 dias, foram verificadas perdas de frutos por senescência e/ou pela incidência de doenças

Three-dimensional cinematic analysis of the horse movement in treadmill

A methodology used for the study of human movement was adapted to analyze the movement of equines in a high performance treadmill. An electronic high precision theodolite was used to construct a calibration system to demarcate the volume occupied by the animal. It was taken the three dimensions coordinates of each marker present in the calibrator, composing the calibration archive. Two video cameras (60 Hz) were located approximately 5m from the left lateral side of the treadmill at 1.8m height. The images had been fit using a video monitor. For the validation of the method, a member of the team moved into the calibrated space, a 43.8cm long rigid stick with markers settled in its extremities. For the analysis of the images, the Dvideow program developed by the Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica - UNICAMP was used. After the three-dimensional reconstruction of the images, the calculation of the distance between the markers of the stick was done in 100 frames. The mean was 43.7 cm with a variation coefficient of 0.8%. These results confirm that this methodology is precise and adequate for the study of the locomotion in horses.Adaptou-se uma metodologia utilizada no estudo do movimento humano para analisar o movimento de eqüinos em esteira rolante de alto desempenho, construindo-se um sistema de calibração utilizando-se um teodolito eletrônico de alta precisão e calibradores que demarcavam o espaço ocupado pelo animal. Dessa forma, foram obtidas as coordenadas espaciais dos marcadores presentes nos calibradores, compondo o arquivo de calibração. Duas câmeras de vídeo (60Hz) foram posicionadas em vista lateral esquerda, distantes 5m da manta de rolagem da esteira a 1,8m de altura. As imagens foram enquadradas utilizando-se um monitor de vídeo. Para a validação do método, um membro da equipe movimentou, no espaço calibrado, uma haste rígida com marcadores fixados nas suas extremidades, distantes um do outro 43,8cm. Para a análise das imagens, utilizou-se o programa Dvideow, desenvolvido pelo Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica - UNICAMP. Após a reconstrução tridimensional das imagens utilizou-se um programa matemático para o cálculo do valor médio da distância entre os marcadores. Obteve-se, após a mensuração em 100 quadros, o valor médio de 43,7cm com coeficiente de variação de 0,8%. Estes resultados mostram que a metodologia desenvolvida é precisa e adequada para o estudo da locomoção de eqüinos.86286