Investigation of the presence of bioactive, phenolic and mineral compounds in foods analogous to the cheese based on baru almonds for the public vegan

In order to broaden the knowledge about the functional potential of baru almond in new vegan products, the present study sought to perform a chromatographic and spectrophotometric characterization of the presence of bioactive compounds, profile of phenolic compounds, physicochemical composition and minerals composition, of the sensorial profile and microbiological characteristics of foods analogous to the cheese based on baru almonds with different types of food condiments. Two formulations of vegetable food analogous to the baru almond based cheese were developed, differing only by the raw materials used for seasoning (AV1 - with pepperoni and oregano, and AV2 - with onion and garlic). Among the main results, Ten types of phenolic compounds were found, among them the presence of gallic acid, and the rutin, in addition, they showed high index of dietary fibers, lipids, calcium, iron, zinc and suitable characteristics microbiological and sensory in AV1 and AV2. Thus, it is understood that it is possible to develop cheese-type products using only vegetable ingredients, with base ingredients such as baru almonds

OPTIMIZATION OF SWEET GUAVA (Psidium guajava, L) USING THE ACCEPTANCE TEST, RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY AND PREFERENCE MAP

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the independent variables concentration of citric acid, concentration of potassium sorbate, and pulp/sugar ratio on consumer acceptance for sweet guava. The results were analyzed using statistical methods such as preference map and response surface methodology to determine the influence of the independent variables. Response surface methodology alone proved insufficient to achieve an optimal formulation for the preparation of sweet guava. Based on preference mapping analysis, consumer preference was observed for treatments using higher concentrations of sugar and citric acid. Parameters of sweetness, appearance and texture influenced consumer preferences.  

AVALIAÇÃO SENSORIAL E MAPA DE PREFERÊNCIA INTERNO DE MARCAS COMERCIAIS DE REFRIGERANTE SABOR GUARANÁ

O objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar sensorialmente sete marcas de refrigerante sabor guaraná, sendo seis produzidas por pequenas empresas e uma por empresa líder de mercado. A Análise Descritiva Quantitativa (ADQ) foi utilizada para descrever e quantificar os atributos sensoriais das amostras. A aceitabilidade sensorial das marcas de refrigerante foi determinada mediante escala hedônica e os resultados avaliados pela Análise de Componentes Principais, Mapa de Preferência Interno e ANOVA. A maioria dos consumidores preferiu o refrigerante da marca líder de mercado, que apresentou os atributos sabor e aroma característico em maior intensidade e sabor e aroma tutti-fruti em menor intensidade

Encefalografia quantitativa em indivíduos saudáveis e pacientes pós-ave crônico: um estudo transversal

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Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Impact of soybean oil pachaging on the consumer’s purchase intention via conjoint analysis

Vários atributos da embalagem influenciam na decisão de compra dos consumidores. Uma das formas de se otimizar o processo de escolha de produtos, no momento da compra, é a identificação dos atributos valorizados pelos consumidores. Para identificar os atributos do rótulo de óleo de soja, mais importantes para os consumidores, e obter informações sobre o seu comportamento de compra, foram conduzidas três sessões de focus group, com oito participantes em cada. Os resultados dessas sessões revelaram que o preço, a marca, a informação nutricional e a informação sobre o tipo de soja foram os atributos mais valorizados na decisão de compra pelos consumidores. Estes atributos foram escolhidos para fazer parte do estudo sobre o impacto da embalagem de óleo de soja na intenção de compra do consumidor. Para cada atributo foram definidos dois níveis: preço (alto e baixo); marca (conhecida e desconhecida); informação nutricional (sem e com as informações sem colesterol e rico em vitamina E); e informação sobre o tipo de soja (sem e com a informação transgênico). Utilizando-se o método de coleta de dados perfil completo e o delineamento de tratamento do tipo fatorial completo, combinaram-se os níveis dos quatro atributos, obtendo-se 16 embalagens. Na elaboração dessas embalagens, inicialmente, foram confeccionados 16 rótulos, nos quais variaram marca, informação nutricional e sobre o tipo de soja. Estes rótulos foram utilizados na rotulagem de 16 garrafas idênticas de PET de 900 mL, contendo óleo de soja. Em seguida, adicionou-se o preço com máquina etiquetadora manual, obtendo-se as 16 embalagens utilizadas no estudo. Estas foram avaliadas, quanto à intenção de compra, por 144 consumidores, que responderam, também, a questionários relacionados ao meio ambiente, saúde, engenharia genética e demografia. Os resultados da intenção de compra dos consumidores foram analisados de acordo com o modelo clustering segmentation, ou seja, os dados foram analisados por consumidor (análises individuais) e, também, de forma agregada. Nas análises individuais, por intermédio da conjoint analysis, foram calculadas as part-worths para os 144 consumidores e 18 consumidores, os quais não se adequaram ao modelo foram excluídos. Considerou-se que um consumidor não estava adequado ao modelo quando a análise de variância, dos dados do consumidor, indicava que nenhum dos atributos foi significativo (p> 0,10). Com base na análise de agrupamento, com as part-worths dos 126 consumidores que se adequaram ao modelo (p 0.10) for any of the attributes. We considered that these 18 consumers did not fit to the model and we did not consider data from these 18 consumers for any further analysis The estimated part-worths obtained from the conjoint analysis, for the 126 consumers that did fit to the model (P < 0.10), were used to run multivariate cluster analysis that resulted in seven groups of consumers. Group 1 included 25.7% of the consumers with purchase intention primarily based on information regarding transgenic soybean content, for which the Estimated Relative Importance (RI) was 89%. Group 2 included 30.6% of the consumers and presented RI of 62.7% for transgenic content information, 23.9% for price and 10.6% for brand. Group 3 included 19.4% of the consumers and for this group the four attributes (price, brand, nutritional and transgenic information) presented RI approximately the same (around 25%). Group 4 included only 9.7% of the consumers and price was the main attribute with estimated RI of 73.3%. Groups 5, 6 and 7 had only 1 consumer in each and we consider these consumers as not typical or unusual ones. Based on the surveys, most of the consumers of this study were classified as concerned with environmental issues and with their health. Groups 1 and 2 included more consumers with opinions not favorable or against the use of transgenic products then in groups 3 and 4 and hence the results support the estimated RI reported for these groups. Demografic survey data revealed that younger and with lower income consumers had more importance given to price then other consumers. It is also worth to mention that all of the consumers considered in this study presented significant (P < 0.10) effect for price with obvious preference for low rather than for high price. The brand had RI superior to 10% for more than 50% of the consumers included in groups 3 and 4. For these consumers the brand LIZA (well known in the market) was preferred suggesting that brand might indicate better quality for some consumers. For 56.3% of the consumers from groups 1 and 2 the relative importance of nutritional information was less than 10%. The information “contains transgenic soybean” had a negative effect on purchase intention for 76% of all the consumers in this study. Overall we confirmed that conjoint analysis is a very useful technique in studies designed to study consumers opinion about possible attributes of a product. Useful in the sense that it is simple to implement and that the results presented in the form of part-worths and relative importance of attributes are easy to understand.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerai

Effects of the factors packaging and label on cachaça consumer behavior

A embalagem e o rótulo possuem fundamental importância na escolha do produto durante a compra, uma vez que eles representam o primeiro contato entre o consumidor e o produto. Assim, para se otimizar o processo de escolha e aceitação da cachaça, é interessante que se identifique os fatores da embalagem e do rótulo valorizados pelos consumidores. Para isto foram conduzidas três sessões de grupos de foco. Por meio dos resultados desse estudo qualitativo, foram selecionados cinco fatores com dois níveis cada para serem avaliados na análise conjunta de fatores. Esses fatores foram: tipo de embalagem, marca, ilustração do rótulo, e informações a respeito do tempo de envelhecimento e do tipo de madeira do tonel utilizado para envelhecer a cachaça. De acordo com o delineamento de tratamento do tipo fatorial fracionado, elaboraram-se oito rótulos/embalagem de cachaça, obtendo-se os tratamentos avaliados neste estudo. Estes foram avaliados, quanto à intenção de compra por 144 freqüentadores da 76a Semana do Fazendeiro e por 144 freqüentadores do X Festival da Cachaça Abaíra. Os resultados da intenção de compra dos consumidores foram submetidos à análise conjunta de fatores individualmente, estimando-se os coeficientes da preferência para cada um dos consumidores. Esses coeficientes foram usados na simulação da participação de mercado tendo como cenário competitivo 32 tratamentos e realizada em dois segmentos de mercado distintos: 76a Semana do Fazendeiro e X Festival da Cachaça Abaíra. Observou-se que os fatores da embalagem e do rótulo influenciaram na intenção de compra dos consumidores, sendo que os consumidores dos dois segmentos de mercado avaliados apresentaram preferência semelhante em relação aos fatores tipo de embalagem, tempo de envelhecimento, tipo de madeira e ilustração, e diferente quanto ao fator marca. Esses consumidores preferiram as cachaças acondicionadas na garrafa de vidro transparente com capacidade igual a 700 mL e tampa metálica rosqueável (participação de mercado igual a 85,0%) e que traziam no rótulo ilustração não relacionada ao processo produtivo de cachaça (participação de mercado igual a 55,0%) e a informação envelhecida por 36 meses em tonéis de carvalho (participação de mercado igual a 43,0%). Em relação ao fator marca, as cachaças da marca Seleta tiveram participação de mercado igual a 70,0% no segmento composto pelos freqüentadores da 76a Semana do Fazendeiro e as cachaças da marca Abaíra tiveram participação de mercado igual a 53,3% no segmento formado pelos freqüentadores do X Festival da Cachaça Abaíra. Como os consumidores tiveram comportamento diferente em relação ao fator marca, avaliou-se a influência desse fator na aceitação sensorial de cachaça, comparando-se a aceitação de amostras de cachaça em duas situações: teste cego e avaliação das cachaças identificadas com as respectivas marcas. Verificou-se que as marcas conhecidas (C1, C2 e C3) influenciaram positivamente na aceitação dos consumidores e as marcas pouco conhecidas (PC2 e PC3) influenciaram negativamente na aceitação dos mesmos. Logo, conclui-se que os fatores da embalagem e do rótulo influenciaram no comportamento dos consumidores de cachaça. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho auxiliarão os produtores de cachaça no desenvolvimento, modificação e escolha de embalagens e rótulos, escolha do tipo de madeira do tonel utilizado para envelhecer cachaça e determinação do tempo de envelhecimento. Estes ajudarão também na elaboração de estratégias de marketing eficientes, as quais contribuirão para aumento da competitividade da cachaça no mercado.Packaging and label are of primary importance in product choice during purchase, as they represent the first contact between the consumer and the product. Thus, in order to optimize the choice and acceptance process of cachaça, it is useful to identify the packaging and label factors that are valued by consumers. For this purpose, we conducted three focus group sessions. The results of this qualitative study allowed us to select five factors, with two levels each, to be evaluated by the joint factor analysis. The factors were: packaging type, brand, label illustration and information regarding the aging time and wood type of barrels used to age the cachaça. According to the fractional factorial design, eight labels/packaging of cachaça were created as the treatments tested in this study. These treatments were evaluated for purchase intention of 144 visitors to the 76a Semana do Fazendeiro and 144 visitors to the X Festival da Cachaça Abaíra. The results of consumer purchase intentions were individually subjected to the joint factor analysis, considering the coefficients of preference of each consumer. The coefficients were used for the market share simulation, in 32 treatments of competitive scenarios, carried out in two different market segments: the 76a Semana do Fazendeiro and the X Festival da Cachaça Abaíra. The factors packing and label influenced consumer purchase intentions. The consumers of the two market segments showed similar preferences in relation to the factors packaging type, aging time, wood type and illustration and different preferences with relation to brands. Consumers preferred the cachaças held in 700-mL transparent glass bottles with metal screw caps (85% of market share), label illustration not related to the cachaça productive process (55% of market share) and the information aged 36 months in oak barrels (43% of market share). Regarding the brand factor, the brands Seleta had 70% of the market share in the segment of visitors to the 76a Semana do Fazendeiro, whereas the brands Abaíra had 53.3% of market share in the segment of visitors to the X Festival da Cachaça Abaíra. As the consumers showed different behavior in relation to the brands, the influence of this factor on the sensorial acceptance of cachaça was evaluated by comparing sample acceptance in two situations: blind-test and evaluation of cachaças identified with the respective brands. It was verified that the well-known brands (C1, C2 and C3) influenced consumer acceptance positively, whereas the less-known brands (PC2 and PC3) had negative influence on their acceptance. This leads to the conclusion that the factors packaging and label influence the cachaça consumer behavior. The results of this work will help producers in the development, modification and choice of packaging and labels, type of barrel wood used to age the cachaça and determination of aging time. They will also help in creating efficient marketing strategies, contributing to increase cachaça competitiveness in the market.Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado da Bahi