Emulsion formation and stabilization by biomolecules: the leading role of cellulose

Emulsion stabilization by native cellulose has been mainly hampered because of its insolubility in water. Chemical modification is normally needed to obtain water-soluble cellulose derivatives. These modified celluloses have been widely used for a range of applications by the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutic, paint and construction industries. In most cases, the modified celluloses are used as rheology modifiers (thickeners) or as emulsifying agents. In the last decade, the structural features of cellulose have been revisited, with particular focus on its structural anisotropy (amphiphilicity) and the molecular interactions leading to its resistance to dissolution. The amphiphilic behavior of native cellulose is evidenced by its capacity to adsorb at the interface between oil and aqueous solvent solutions, thus being capable of stabilizing emulsions. In this overview, the fundamentals of emulsion formation and stabilization by biomolecules are briefly revisited before different aspects around the emerging role of cellulose as emulsion stabilizer are addressed in detail. Particular focus is given to systems stabilized by native cellulose, either molecularly-dissolved or not (Pickering-like effect).Financially support by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, via the projects PTDC/AGR-TEC/4814/2014, PTDC/ASP-SIL/30619/2017 and researcher grant IF/01005/2014. RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB and PERFORM, a competence platform in Formulation Science at RISE, are acknowledged for additional financing. This research has been supported by Treesearch.se.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The ABC method – proposed implementation in a structural steel industry

Nowadays there are a large variety of contributions in the area of costing systems describing a lot of different possibilities. The difficulty lies in choosing the best one for each company. As a matter of fact each company is different from another and it is necessary to “look inside” each one and understand very clearly how their costing structures function. Know where company’s costs lie is the best way to reduce them and to determine the correct price of the product. It is thus essential that the company may have a good costing system that will allow it to possess the highest level of information and will be a support to the decision making process. From among all the new approaches, this paper will analyze the costing system based on Activities (ABC). Its objective is to understand the application of ABC as a costing system and to classify implementation methodologies. The ABC costing system was implemented in Martifer Construções, a Portuguese industrial company that manufactures metallic structures, as an alternative method. Work took place within company production facilities and a check has been carried out of costing problem details and the company’s expenses system. The purpose of this study is to validate the ABC method in this company, to provide a tool to support work and to reach a conclusion about the real advantages and disadvantages of implementing this method. This study will help leaders and managers of the company to make decisions about implementation of the method, as well as helping to increase knowledge of the matter, providing a useful tool to the company

Using the fuzzy linguistic computing in the evaluation of the value creation in an innovative product

Although innovation usually involves the assumption of high risk levels, it assumes itself as a vital tool for growth, enhancing value creation representing a competitive advantage. The aim of this chapter is to propose a methodology to evaluate the potential for value creation in innovation of a new product, relatively to intangible and tangible assets. For intangible assets the proposed methodology combines a multiple criteria decision-making method with an adaptation of Tai and Chen (2009) model using 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic approach. This methodology was applied to the EToll product developed by the Portuguese company Brisa Innovation and Technology. It was concluded that the benefits that most contributed to value creation are the development and entrepreneurship of national companies and a better cooperation with suppliers and partners. The EToll also allowed a significant reduction in operating costs in the company. The originality of this study is based in the challenge for business managers to assess the real impact of new products based not only on financial reports, but also in terms of intangible assets and also, how to consider the more appropriate qualitative dimensions to evaluate the performance of intangible assets resulting from innovation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Franchising: A study about the intention of the Iberian companies to internationalize

A study has been made for the internationalization of the franchising Iberian companies. Our aim was to analyze the most important variables for the internationalization. We studied it using several statistical methods applied to the answers given by companies to a questionnaire. We have concluded that are some relevant variables to be considered in the internationalization such as age, dimension, bond, dispersion, structure of the network and some variable connected with environment and motivational factors.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Competing globally with cost accounting: a case study

In recent years, information has played a key role in business competitiveness, allowing not only to inform managers about external contexts, but also to internal problems. Thus, cost accounting has relevant tools, with the ability to provide information about how the resources of a company are used, making it possible to evaluate and improve their performance. The main goal of this research is to develop a different costing system model to a company, in order to provide distinct information on the costs of production processes, to help managers make better operational and strategic decisions. This company business is processing and packaging fruit and vegetables, in particular they are organized by three main sectors: fruit, potatoes and 4th range products. Those cost allocation methodologies could be identified, on one hand, the profitability of each product, helping to define the best medium-term strategy and, on the other hand, some operational faults. Basically, this work aims to prove the importance of costing models to improve the performance and the competitiveness in a real context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modelling the dissipative effect of fisheries

When managing marine fish resources in the present context of world generalized exploitation of resources, in which many species are overexploited, management processes have to consider research theoretical results. In this paper, a model is proposed for fisheries in the context of chaos. It is shown how the theory of chaos and a model based on chaos may explain and model the fisheries. This model shows that fisheries may dissipate marine species in certain circumstances. The model permits to show that overfishing may cause a problem of irreversibility in several species recovering, after certain stages for the stocks

A strategic profit model to measure the Indian apparel retail performance

The strategic profit model (SPM) has been used to measure the performance of three Indian retail companies that focus in apparel. In the study three companies have been chosen to represent three groups of companies viz., large, medium and small corporate. In the case of large size, medium size and small size corporate, Pantaloon retail is considered with a turnover of Rs.3,031 crores, Shoppers’ stop retail with a turnover of Rs.849 crores and Provogue with a turnover of Rs.228 for the year 2007 have been included for the study, respectively. In order to find out the suitable strategies for the companies in the categories, the comparison has been done with its best performance as well as the indicators in relation to peer averages. The ROA has been noticed around 5 percent and the study attempt to reveal the appropriate strategy to increase it by 10 percent. The study has been carried out to indicate suitable strategies to maximize the performance in the future years for Indian apparel retail sector in line with the measure of RONW.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio