Avelã: composição química e efeitos benéficos associados ao seu consumo

Among the different nuts grown worldwide, hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) is considered one of the most popular and consumed. Hazelnut is mainly used by the food industry in chocolates, cakes and desserts, with only a small part of the world’s produc"on being consumed as table hazelnut. Hazelnut is considered to be a highly nutri"ous food, providing macronutrients (fat, protein and carbohydrates), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and several bioac"ve phytochemicals, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins and phytosterols, among others. Despite presen"ng a high content in fat, hazelnut lipids mainly include monounsaturated fa$y acids (MUFA), which have been associated with beneficial health effects, par"cularly regarding the cardiovascular system. Moreover, different interes"ng proper"es, such as an"oxidant, an"-inflammatory, an"-prolifera"ve and hipocholesterolemic ac"vi"es have been ascribed to several micronutrients and phytochemicals present in hazelnuts. To date, some studies have shown that the consump"on of hazelnuts can have a beneficial effect on health, namely by reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, its inclusion has been recommended as part of a healthy-diet.Os autores agradecem o financiamento da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) através do projeto UID/ QUI/50006/2013 - POCI/01/0145/FEDER/007265 com apoio financeiro da FCT/MEC através de fundos nacionais e cofinanciamento FEDER.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Simulated emergence of cyclic sexual-asexual reproduction

Motivated by the cyclic pattern of reproductive regimes observed in some species of green flies (``{\it aphids}''), we simulate the evolution of a population enduring harsh seasonal conditions for survival. The reproductive regime of each female is also seasonal in principle and genetically acquired, and can mutate for each newborn with some small probability. The results show a sharp transition at a critical value of the survival probability in the winter, between a reproductive regime in the fall that is predominantly sexual, for low values of this probability, or asexual, for high values.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, requires RevTe

Fragmentation Experiment and Model for Falling Mercury Drops

The experiment consists of counting and measuring the size of the many fragments observed after the fall of a mercury drop on the floor. The size distribution follows a power-law for large enough fragments. We address the question of a possible crossover to a second, different power-law for small enough fragments. Two series of experiments were performed. The first uses a traditional film photographic camera, and the picture is later treated on a computer in order to count the fragments and classify them according to their sizes. The second uses a modern digital camera. The first approach has the advantage of a better resolution for small fragment sizes. The second, although with a poorer size resolution, is more reliable concerning the counting of all fragments up to its resolution limit. Both together clearly indicate the real existence of the quoted crossover. The model treats the system microscopically during the tiny time interval when the initial drop collides with the floor. The drop is modelled by a connected cluster of Ising spins pointing up (mercury) surrounded by Ising spins pointing down (air). The Ising coupling which tends to keep the spins segregated represents the surface tension. Initially the cluster carries an extra energy equally shared among all its spins, corresponding to the coherent kinetic energy due to the fall. Each spin which touches the floor loses its extra energy transformed into a thermal, incoherent energy represented by a temperature used then to follow the dynamics through Monte Carlo simulations. Whenever a small piece becomes disconnected from the big cluster, it is considered a fragment, and counted. The results also indicate the existence of the quoted crossover in the fragment-size distribution.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Avaliação nutricional e composição em ácidos gordos de 6 variedades de nozes, sementes de Juglans regia L., cultivadas em Trás-os-Montes

A dieta mediterrânea, considerada saudável e uma das melhores no que concerne à prevenção das doenças cardiovasculares inclui, como componentes importantes, os frutos secos. No entanto, e talvez devido ao facto deste tipo de alimentos ser rico em lípidos, assistiu-se a um declínio do seu consumo. Actualmente, associa-se o consumo de frutos secos à ingestão de ingredientes com propriedades funcionais. Quando comparadas com a maioria dos outros frutos secos, que contam principalmente ácidos gordos monoinsaturados, as nozes distinguem-se pelos teores elevados em ácidos gordos polinsaturados (omega-3 e omega-6)

Phase transition in a mean-field model for sympatric speciation

We introduce an analytical model for population dynamics with intra-specific competition, mutation and assortative mating as basic ingredients. The set of equations that describes the time evolution of population size in a mean-field approximation may be decoupled. We find a phase transition leading to sympatric speciation as a parameter that quantifies competition strength is varied. This transition, previously found in a computational model, occurs to be of first order.Comment: accepted for Physica

Classification PDO olive oils on the basis of their sterol composition by multivariate analysis

The sterol compositions (GLC/FID/capillary column) of monovarietal olive oils (51 samples) from the most important cultivars of northeastern Portugal (Cvs. Cobranc¸osa, Madural and Verdeal Transmontana) and 27 commercial samples of olive oils with protected denomination of origin (PDO) from the same region and cultivars were evaluated. Δ-sitosterol, Δ5-avenasterol and campesterol were the most representative sterols. Cholesterol, stigmasterol, clerosterol and Δ7-stigmastenol were also found in all samples. All studied samples respected EC Regulation N. 2568, and in all cases total sterols were remarkably higher than the minimum limit set by legislation, ranging from 2003 to 2682 mg/kg. Results were analysed with the help of several statistical techniques, including reduction of dimensionality by principal component analysis with cross-validation of the number of components, followed by the use of canonical variate predictive biplots for model development and canonical variate interpolative biplots for approximate classification of monovarietal and PDO olive oils. These biplots proved to be a very interesting solution in the present case study, overcoming the problems of interpretation and classification that arise whenever different multivariate analyses are coupled together

Critical Exponents for Nuclear Multifragmentation: dynamical lattice model

We present a dynamical and dissipative lattice model, designed to mimic nuclear multifragmentation. Monte-Carlo simulations with this model show clear signature of critical behaviour and reproduce experimentally observed correlations. In particular, using techniques devised for finite systems, we could obtain two of its critical exponents, whose values are in agreement with those of the universality class to which nuclear multifragmentation is supposed to belong.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Nuclear Physics

Determining the density of states for classical statistical models: A random walk algorithm to produce a flat histogram

We describe an efficient Monte Carlo algorithm using a random walk in energy space to obtain a very accurate estimate of the density of states for classical statistical models. The density of states is modified at each step when the energy level is visited to produce a flat histogram. By carefully controlling the modification factor, we allow the density of states to converge to the true value very quickly, even for large systems. This algorithm is especially useful for complex systems with a rough landscape since all possible energy levels are visited with the same probability. In this paper, we apply our algorithm to both 1st and 2nd order phase transitions to demonstrate its efficiency and accuracy. We obtained direct simulational estimates for the density of states for two-dimensional ten-state Potts models on lattices up to $200 \times 200$ and Ising models on lattices up to $256 \times 256$. Applying this approach to a 3D $\pm J$ spin glass model we estimate the internal energy and entropy at zero temperature; and, using a two-dimensional random walk in energy and order-parameter space, we obtain the (rough) canonical distribution and energy landscape in order-parameter space. Preliminary data suggest that the glass transition temperature is about 1.2 and that better estimates can be obtained with more extensive application of the method.Comment: 22 pages (figures included

On the energy growth of some periodically driven quantum systems with shrinking gaps in the spectrum

We consider quantum Hamiltonians of the form H(t)=H+V(t) where the spectrum of H is semibounded and discrete, and the eigenvalues behave as E_n~n^\alpha, with 0<\alpha<1. In particular, the gaps between successive eigenvalues decay as n^{\alpha-1}. V(t) is supposed to be periodic, bounded, continuously differentiable in the strong sense and such that the matrix entries with respect to the spectral decomposition of H obey the estimate |V(t)_{m,n}|0, p>=1 and \gamma=(1-\alpha)/2. We show that the energy diffusion exponent can be arbitrarily small provided p is sufficiently large and \epsilon is small enough. More precisely, for any initial condition \Psi\in Dom(H^{1/2}), the diffusion of energy is bounded from above as _\Psi(t)=O(t^\sigma) where \sigma=\alpha/(2\ceil{p-1}\gamma-1/2). As an application we consider the Hamiltonian H(t)=|p|^\alpha+\epsilon*v(\theta,t) on L^2(S^1,d\theta) which was discussed earlier in the literature by Howland

Tuberculosis determined by Mycobacterium bovis in captive waterbucks (Kobus ellipsiprymnus) in São Paulo, Brazil

Two waterbucks from São Paulo Zoo Foundation exhibited respiratory symptoms in July 2004. After euthanasia, granulommas in lungs and mediastinic lymph nodes were observed. Acid-fast bacilli isolated were identified as Mycobacterium bovis spoligotype SB0121 by PRA and spoligotyping. They were born and kept in the same enclosure with the same group, without any contact to other species housed in the zoo. This is the first detailed description of M. bovis infection in Kobus ellipsiprymnus.FAPES