L'impact de la transparence et de la texture d'un produit alimentaire sur sa salubrité et la confiance envers le produit

Consumers have witnessed several food safety incidents over the past decades, which led them to become more health conscious. In fact, consumers are worrying more and more about what they eat and drink resulting in a growing demand to see the product before making a decision. The results of our study show that there is a significant impact of transparent packaging on perceived healthiness, brand trust,  the attitude toward the product and purchase intent (the impact on the pleasure is not significant + 2 double mediation). Moreover, according to the results, there is a significant impact of the visual product texture on the brand trust. The study uses a 3 (Opaque packaging, semi transparent packaging and transparent packaging) x 2 (smooth texture vs. rough texture) experimental design on an apple sauce. The impact of transparent packaging on purchase intent is mediated by the perceived healthiness of the product, perceived quality and brand trust. In addition, the rougher the texture of the product is, the more consumers trust it

Quel rôle de l’intégration des données spatio-temporelles dans la gestion de la nappe de Saïss ?

At the heart of Sebou basin, the Saïss plain contains two superimposed and inter-communicating aquifers. These aquifers play a significant role in the socio-economic development of the region through the satisfaction of drinking water and irrigation needs. From the 80’s and with the advent of drought, this groundwater has experienced strong over-exploitation, resulting in an annual deficit of 100 million m3. This issue caught the interest of the scientific community, thus producing a large mass of dispersed and heterogeneous data which need to be integrated into a single data warehouse. Exploring of this warehouse has allowed us to assess the development of Saïss groundwater resources through maps showing the location of water points and graphic drawing up the spatial and temporal evolution of piezometry and water sources flows. Certainly, the integration of spatial and temporal data in one data warehouse, to analyze and exploit them is considered a milestone in the process of a decision support system construction. However, it still faces several constraints and limitations such as uncertainty in the various stages of the integration process

Dietary Supplementation of Calcium may Counteract Obesity in Mice Mediated by Changes in Plasma Fatty Acids

The scope of this study was to assess the impact of calcium and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation on plasma fatty acid profiles and to evaluate potential synergistic effects of both compounds against dietary obesity. Mice separated into five experimental groups were followed: control (C), high-fat diet (HF), HF with calcium (Ca), HF plus CLA and HF with both Ca and CLA. Plasma metabolites and fatty acids were determined by commercial kits and gas chromatography, respectively. Both dietary calcium and CLA supplementation contributed to lower body fat gain under a HF diet. Maximum efficacy was seen with calcium; no additional effect was associated with the combined treatment with CLA. Plasma leptin, adiponectin and HOMA index were in accordance with an altered glucose/insulin homeostasis in the HF and HF + CLA groups, whereas control levels were attained under Ca-enriched diets. Plasma fatty acids showed minor changes associated to CLA treatment, but a high impact on PUFA was observed under Ca-enriched diets. Our results show that the mechanism underlying the anti-obesity effects of calcium supplementation is mediated mainly by changes in PUFA plasma profile. In addition, the lack of synergy on body weight reduction in combination with associated lipid profiles of calcium and CLA suggests that calcium may interfere with absorption and/or bioactivity of CLA, which can be of relevance when using CLA-fortified dairy products against human obesity

Development of diffractive antireflection structures on ZnSe for high power CO2 laser applications

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