Novel, edible melanin-protein-based bioactive films for cheeses: antimicrobial, mechanical and chemical characteristics

The cheese rind is the natural food packaging of cheese and is subject to a wide range of external factors that compromise the appearance of the cheese, including color defects caused by spoilage microorganisms. First, eight films based on whey protein isolate (WPI) coatings were studied, of which IS3CA (WPI 5% + sorbitol 3% + citric acid 3%) was selected for presenting better properties. From the IS3CA film, novel films containing melanin M1 (74 g/mL) and M2 (500 g/mL) were developed and applied to cheese under proof-of-concept and industrial conditions. After 40 days of maturation, M2 presented the lowest microorganism count for all the microbial parameters analyzed. The cheese with M2 showed the lowest lightness, which indicates that it is the darkest cheese due to the melanin concentration. It was found that the mechanical and colorimetric properties are the ones that contribute the most to the distinction of the M2 film in cheese from the others. Using FTIR-ATR, it was possible to distinguish the rinds of M2 cheeses because they contained the highest concentrations of melanin. Thus, this study shows that the film with M2 showed the best mechanical, chemical and antimicrobial properties for application in cheese.This work was financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) with financial support from IPCB-CERNAS (UID/AMB/00681/2020) Research Unit Grant from FCT, and from UIDB/00239/2020 (CEF). Work was supported by UIDB/04046/2020 and UIDP/04046/2020 Centre grants from FCT, Portugal (to BioISI). The work was co-funded by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. This work is the recipient of a project (PTDC/Bia- BQM/28355/2017) grant, and Ana Rita Ferraz acknowledges a Ph.D. fellowship (SFRH/BD/135692/2018) from FCT (Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Study of a Water-Energy Integrated System: Challenges of Prototyping

In a society where Energy and Water walk side by side in practically all sectors of activity, it becomes necessary to analyze them from a productive, economic and sustainable point of view. Although independently developed and regulated, it is known that water needs energy and energy needs water. The increasing demand for energy and its exponential trend will have repercussions at all levels in the short term. and consequently, will increase the strain on freshwater resources. All these concerns and associated decision-making policies create an opportunity to improve the management of both sectors. There is an urgent need to improve the water-energy system and reduce energy consumption, using advanced technological changes and an optimized management strategy, leading to a more sustainable future. By improving the efficiency of water and energy use through integrated smart strategies, there are very positive repercussions on savings and impact on the local economy, especially in decentralized cases. The present paper aims to address the theme of the nexus of water-energy in the scope of promoting alternatives of management and development of integrated systems and study the dynamics of the development of the theoretical concept vs. prototyping in case of urban context and real environment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of the Concept vs Prototyping: Implementation of a real scale Water-Energy Integrated System

Currently, the concept of smart cities and renewable energy are more consolidated and developed. With each passing day, new technological advances are emerging within both themes. At the same time, the water sector has becoming increasingly demanding in terms of quality and compliance with all existing legislation. That said, it is understandable that both sectors and their management entities come together in search of more sustainable operations that go against the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, decentralization of energy production and the improvement of efficiency, quality and use of resources. It is important to understand the synergies between water and energy to contradict what has been said so far about the increasing demand for energy, its exponential trend and the negative repercussions on freshwater resources. As such, this article aims to address the interconnection between both sectors to promote alternative scientific and technological improvements to the management and development of Integrated Water-Energy systems, while studying the dynamics between the theoretical development of the problem and the challenges of prototyping of such complex systems in real and urban context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Influência do Acesso à Alimentação e da Condição Socioeconômica no Estado Nutricional de Escolares

The present work was developed with the objective to evaluate the relationship between the socio-economic condition and the nutritional state of students ranging from seven to ten years old. We have carried out a transversal study with 60 children enrolled in a public school in the city of Ribeirão Preto. The nutritional state of the children was evaluated through weight and height measurements; the socio-economic condition of each family was classified considering the per capita income and the security situation and food insecurity was diagnosed according to the Brazilian Scale Measure of Food Insecurity. Most children were eutrophic, but there was a considerable number of individuals who were overweight. Great part of the families had low per capita income and almost half the sample had access to the benefit of the "Bolsa Família" Program. Only 25% of the families were in food security situation and the prevalence of food insecurity was higher among families with lower monthly income. The results confirm the hypothesis of the study, indicating a positive association of socioeconomic condition on the food security situation and, consequently, on the nutritional status of individuals.O presente trabalho foi desenvolvido com o objetivo de avaliar a relação entre a condição socioeconômica e o estado nutricional de alunos com idade entre 7 e 10 anos. Foi realizado um estudo transversal com 60 crianças matriculadas em uma escola pública do município de Ribeirão Preto. O estado nutricional foi avaliado por meio de aferições de peso e de estatura; a condição socioeconômica de cada família foi classificada considerando-se a renda per capita; e a situação de segurança e insegurança alimentar foi diagnosticada de acordo com a Escala Brasileira de Medida da Insegurança Alimentar. A maioria das crianças estava eutrófica, porém, foi considerável o número de indivíduos com excesso de peso. Grande parte das famílias possuía renda per capita mensal baixa e quase metade da amostra tinha acesso ao benefício do Programa Bolsa Família. Apenas 25% das famílias se encontravam em situação de segurança alimentar e a prevalência de insegurança alimentar foi maior entre as famílias com rendimento mensal mais baixo. Os resultados confirmam a hipótese do estudo, indicando associação positiva da condição socioeconômica sobre a situação de segurança alimentar e, consequentemente, no estado nutricional dos indivíduos

Iberia01: A new gridded dataset of daily precipitation and temperatures over Iberia

The present work presents a new observational gridded dataset (referred to as Iberia01) for daily precipitation and temperatures produced using a dense network (thousands) of stations over the Iberian Peninsula for the period 1971?2015 at 0.1∘ regular (and 0.11∘ CORDEX-compliant rotated) resolutions. We analyze mean and extreme indices and compare the results with the E-OBS v17 dataset (using both the standard and ensemble versions, at 0.25 and 0.1∘ resolutions, respectively), in order to assess observational uncertainty in this region. We show that Iberia01 produces more realistic precipitation patterns than E-OBS for the mean and extreme indices considered, although both are comparable for temperatures. To assess the differences between these datasets, a new probabilistic intercomparison analysis was performed, using the E-OBS ensemble (v17e) to characterize observational uncertainty and testing whether Iberia01 falls within the observational uncertainty range provided by E-OBS. In general, uncertainty values are large in the whole territory, with the exception of a number of kernels where the uncertainty is small, corresponding to the stations used to build the E-OBS grid. For precipitation, significant differences ? at the 10 % level ? between both datasets were found for fewer than 25 % of days over the Iberian Peninsula. For temperature, a very inhomogeneous spatial pattern was obtained, with either a small (in most of the regions) or large fraction of significantly different days, thus indicating sensible regions for observational uncertainty.This research has been partially funded by the Spanish R&D program MINECO/FEDER (grant no. CGL2015-66583-R, project MULTI-SDM), the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (grant no. PTDC/GEOMET/7078/2014, SOLAR project; grant no. UID/GEO/50019/2019, Instituto Dom Luiz)

Between traditional and social media: news repertoires in Portugal

In the study reported in this article, the diverse news media repertoires in Portugal are investigated using a Q-methodological approach. We analyse the participants’ perceptions of the experienced values of the cross-media news landscape (Schrøder, 2012) and identify seven news media repertoires: quality media lovers (R1); broadcast media consumers (R2); television news addicts, press consumers and social media avoiders (R3); news snackers (R4); online based-media and social media addicts (R5); online newspaper lovers and radio news avoiders (R6); and television, press and social/online-based media consumers (R7). A preference for traditional media, especially television, and increasing use of social media, constitute the salient features of the Portuguese national news repertoires.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Audiences and cross-media: study of news consumption patterns in Portugal

As práticas digitais que decorrem da ubiquidade dos media e da sua utilização possibilitaram a combinação de múltiplas plataformas no consumo de notícias. Neste artigo, procurámos identificar repertórios mediáticos (padrões de uso dos media noticiosos) em Portugal, de modo a compreender como são construídas as preferências mediáticas das audiências e de que forma o consumo noticioso integra os seus hábitos quotidianos. Neste sentido, desenvolvemos uma análise a padrões de consumo de media noticiosos a partir de uma abordagem mista de métodos qualitativos e quantitativos baseada na Metodologia Q (Davis & Michelle, 2011), a partir de uma amostra constituída por 36 participantes. A análise dos padrões de consumo de notícias permitiu identificar e analisar sete repertórios mediáticos em função do uso, relevância e utilidade atribuída pelos sujeitos aos media noticiosos. Os resultados revelam perfis híbridos de consumo mediático e uma tendência para consumos de notícias numa lógica móvel e multiplataforma, embora os media tradicionais continuem a desempenhar um papel determinante nos repertórios mediáticos em Portugal.The digital practices that arise from the ubiquity of the media and their use enabled the combination of different platforms within news consumption, in a cross-media logic. In this article we sought to identify media repertoires (patterns of use of news media) in Portugal, in order to understand how do people make sense of their media preferences and how does news consumption integrate the daily habits of the audience. In this sense, we have developed an analysis of news media consumption patterns grounded on a mixed approach of qualitative and quantitative methods based on Q-Methodology (Davis & Michelle, 2011), using a sample of 36 participants. The analysis of news consumption patterns allowed the identification and analysis of seven media repertories according to the use, relevance and usefulness attributed by the subjects to the news media. The results show hybrid media consumption profiles and a tendency for the consumption of news in a mobile and multiplatform logic, although traditional media continue to play a determining role in the media repertoires in Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Access to drinking water and sewage treatment in Brazil: a challenge for the control of waterborne infectious diseases

Not Applicabl