Implementing RRI in a Research and Innovation Ecosystem

Funding Information: We acknowledge the support from the European Commission through the ETHNA System project (Grant Nº 872360). Partial financial support was also provided by Portuguese FCT program UIDB/00066/2020 (CTS – Center of Technology and Systems). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).New organizational forms are emerging today at all levels of society, and more and more research is conducted in dynamic collaborative networks or ecosystems. Unlike traditional research centers, these new types of organization are very dynamic, with fluid boundaries, and volatile in terms of membership. This characteristic requires that more attention be paid to research ethics and RRI. This work reports on an implementation process carried out in a research and innovation ecosystem according to the principles and guidelines proposed by the ETHNA project. The process, its barriers and drivers are described, and finally, learned lessons and recommendations are presented.publishersversionpublishe

C6-alcohols as varietal markers for assessment of wine origin

A significant part of the compounds present in wines having six carbon atoms, the C6-compounds, derive from grape polyunsaturated fatty acids (primarily originated from membrane lipids), namely linoleic and α-linolenic acids, through a cascade of enzymatic reactions. This biochemical pathway yield C6-aldehydes, which are subsequently reduced to C6-alcohols, which can, in turn, be esterified to produce esters. As the C6- compounds derive from varietal precursors, they could hypothetically contribute to judge wine origin and affiliation. In this way, two C6-alcohols, (E)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenol, have been referred as the most important because its ratio can act as an indicator of the variety of origin. This study presents the results, concerning the concentration of the three main C6-alcohols, 1-hexanol, (E)-3-hexenol and (Z)-3-hexenol, as well as ratios between them, for 43 monovarietal wines from Vinhos Verdes demarcated region, belonging to six white – Alvarinho (8), Arinto (1), Avesso (9), Azal (1), Loureiro (17) and Trajadura (4) – and three red – Amaral (1), Borra¸cal (1) and Vinh˜ao (1) – grape varieties. Wines were produced at experimental scale using slightly different winemaking practices and representing various terroirs and vintages, being analyzed after different conservation periods. The results showed that (E)-3-hexenol/(Z)-3-hexenol ratio clearly discriminates Loureiro wines from those of Alvarinho, Avesso and Trajadura. Moreover, 1-hexanol/(E)-3-hexenol and 1-hexanol/(Z)-3-hexenol ratios may also be able to discriminate Vinhos Verdes monovarietal wines, and can act on a second level differentiation. The remaining monovarietal wines produced results which may be observed as indicative, since only one sample of each was analysed.Comissão de Viticultura da Região dos Vinhos Verdes—EVAG, the Direcção Regional de Agricultura de Entre Douro e Minho—DVF, the Solar de Serrade and the Casa da Tapada Sociedade Agrícola Lda. PO AGRO

New benzilidenimine and amido derivatives: evaluation of antioxidant activity

The use of compounds with antioxidant activity is expected to be useful for the treatment of diseases were active oxygen species and free radicals play an important role [1,2]. Phenolic antioxidants react with free radicals by a process that usually involves the transfer of a hydrogen atom, resulting in a stable phenolic radical [1,2]. Aromatic amines and imines also contain active hydrogen atoms (NH) and by analogy it is expected that these atoms can be transferred to free radicals behaving the aromatic amines and imines as antioxidants.Numerous methods can be applied to evaluate the potential use of a new compound as an antioxidant and both chemical and electrochemical methods have been developed with this purpose [3,4]. The use of electrochemical methods, in particular voltammetric techniques, provides information regarding its reducing power. In this work benzilidenoimine and amido derivatives, presented in figure 1 and 2 respectively, were synthesized and their potential use as antioxidants was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. The structure–activity relationships of the synthesised compounds were investigated in order to understand how the different functionalities affect their antioxidant activity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Structure and molecular dynamics in metal-containing polyamide 6 microparticles

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.Polymer microparticles are used in additive manufacturing, separation and purification devices, biocatalysis, or for the recognition of biomolecules. This study reports on the effect of metal fillers on the structure and molecular dynamics of polyamide 6 (PA6) microparticles (MPs) containing up to 19 wt.% of Al, Cu, or Mg. These hybrid MPs are synthesized via reactive microencapsulation by anionic ring-opening polymerization in solution, in the presence of the metal filler. 13C high-resolution solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy is employed as the primary characterization method using magic angle spinning (MAS) and cross-polarization (CP)/MAS. Depending on the metal filler, the ssNMR crystallinity index of the MP varies between 39–50%, as determined by deconvolution of the 13C MAS and CP/MAS spectra. These values correlate very well with the crystallinity derived from thermal or X-ray diffraction data. The molecular dynamics study on PA6 and Cu-containing MP shows similar mobility of carbon nuclei in the kHz, but not in the MHz frequency ranges. The paramagnetic Al and Mg have an observable effect on the relaxation; however, conclusions regarding the PA6 carbon motions cannot be unequivocally made. These results are useful in the preparation of hybrid microparticles with customized structures and magneto-electrical properties.This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), project UID/CTM/50025/2019. N. Dencheva is also grateful for the personal program contract CTTI-51/18-IPC. FMO wishes to thank the AdvaMTech—Ph.D. Program in Advanced Materials and Processing for the Ph.D. grant PD/BD/114372/2016 (FCT)

Tunable electromagnetic interference shielding properties of binary thermoplastic composites prepared by reactive microencapsulation

The Supporting Information is available free of charge at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsapm.2c00084Thermoplastic composites integrating carbon nanotubes (CNT) and micron-sized metal particles dispersed in polymer matrices can address emerging multifunctional needs, e.g., good electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding combined with easy processing and affordable costs. Herein, an approach based on reactive microencapsulation is reported to prepare polyamide 6 (PA6)-based composites comprising binary loads of CNT and Al, Cu, or Fe particles. The microencapsulation is performed by activated anionic polymerization of ε-caprolactam in solution, in the presence of the metal/CNT loads. The resulting hybrid microparticles are compression-molded into plates containing effective metal/CNT loads in the range of 12–17 wt %. Among the materials synthesized, the one containing Al/CNT binary load (3:7 wt %) displays the highest EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of 43.5 dB at 12 GHz, with a 2 mm thickness and an electrical conductivity σdc of 6.61 × 10–3 S/cm. A synergetic effect is observed in all of the metal/CNT PA6 samples in terms of both σdc and SE increase. Evidently, the presence of metal particles well dispersed in the conductive CNT network contributes to the mobility of the carriers and thus to the effective attenuation of the electromagnetic waves. Therefore, the binary composites of this study can be efficient thermoplastic EMI shielding materials.The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical support of Hugo Mostardinha from the Instituto de Telecomunicações Aveiro during the EMI shielding measurements and the financial support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Project UID/CTM/50025/2019. F.M.O. thanks FCT for the Ph.D. grant PD/BD/114372/2016 (AdvaMTech Ph.D. Program in Advanced Materials and Processing). The assistance of Prof. Nuno Carvalho from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, in the EMI shielding experiments is also gratefully acknowledged

Crystallization and preliminary structure determination of the membrane-bound complex cytochrome c nitrite reductase from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough

The cytochrome c nitrite reductase (cNiR) isolated from Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough is a membrane-bound complex formed of NrfA and NrfH subunits. The catalytic subunit NrfA is a soluble pentahaem cytochrome c that forms a physiological dimer of about 120 kDa. The electron-donor subunit NrfH is a membrane-anchored tetrahaem cytochrome c of about 18 kDa molecular weight and belongs to the NapC/NirT family of quinol dehydrogenases, for which no structures are known. Crystals of the native cNiR membrane complex, solubilized with dodecylmaltoside detergent (DDM), were obtained using PEG 4K as precipitant. Anomalous diffraction data were measured at the Swiss Light Source to 2.3 Å resolution. Crystals belong to the orthorhombic space group P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 79.5, b = 256.7, c = 578.2 Å. Molecular-replacement and MAD methods were combined to solve the structure. The data presented reveal that D. vulgaris cNiR contains one NrfH subunit per NrfA dimer.publishe

Perceived cognitive functioning in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy compared to matched healthy women: evidence from a Portuguese study

Aim: Cognitive concerns are one of the most frequently reported symptoms by breast cancer survivors. This study aimed to evaluate perceived cognitive functioning in Portuguese women with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy. Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolling 146 women (73 with breast cancer and 73 healthy) was conducted from August to October 2017, invited to participate through online dissemination. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires to collect sociodemographic and clinical data and assess perceived cognitive functioning and psychological adjustment variables (anxiety and depression). Results: Compared to healthy women, women with breast cancer showed significantly lower scores on the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Cognitive Function (FACT-Cog) subscales and higher levels of depression. Both groups showed significant negative correlations between perceived cognitive functioning and anxiety and depression. Health status and depression seem to better explain perceived cognitive functioning, with health status adding significantly more explained variance beyond sociodemographic and psychological adjustment variables. Conclusion: The current findings provide evidence for the existence of more cognitive complaints among Portuguese women with breast cancer, compared to healthy individuals. Anxiety, depression, age and education also explain perceived cognitive functioning. Considering that health status and psychological adjustment seem to significantly explain perceived cognitive functioning, special attention should be given by health-care professionals, including nurses, to designing clinical interventions for breast cancer patients to help manage cognitive impairment.Foundation for Science and Technology SFRH/BD/138785/2018.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

CdSe quantum dots using polyselenide precursor in soft chemical conditions

CdSe quantum dots were prepared by a simple microemulsion templating technique at low temperature and using common inorganic precursors. Size control was obtained by small variations in reactant concentrations. The chalcogenide source was a polyselenide solution. Narrow (30-40nm fwhm) band gap photoluminescence low defect level and high quantum yield were obtained.FCT and FEDER for financial support to the Research Centre, CFUM [PEst-C/FIS/UI0607/2011 (F-COMP-01-0124-FEDER-022711)] and to the research project PTDC/FIS/113199/200

Determination of the cell-free layer in circular PDMS microchannels

In microcirculation the cell-free layer is believed to reduce the friction between red blood cells (RBCs) and endothelial cells and consequently reduce blood flow resistance. However, the complex formation of the cell-free layer has not yet been convincingly described mainly due to multi-physical and hemorheological factors that affect this phenomenon. In this experimental work, we study the effect of hematocrit (Hct) on the thickness of the cell-free layer in straight circular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels. The channels studied are 73 ± 2 mm in diameter, flexible and circular to mimic blood vessels. The images are captured using confocal microscopy and are post-processed using Image J and MATLAB. The formation of a cell-free layer is clearly visible in the images captured and by using a combination of image analysis techniques we are able to detect an increase in the cell-free layer thickness as Hct decreases