Fluid-fluid demixing curves for colloid-polymer mixtures in a random colloidal matrix

We study fluid-fluid phase separation in a colloid-polymer mixture adsorbed in a colloidal porous matrix close to the \theta -point. For this purpose we consider the Asakura-Oosawa model in the presence of a quenched matrix of colloidal hard spheres. We study the dependence of the demixing curve on the parameters that characterize the quenched matrix, fixing the polymer-to-colloid size ratio to 0.8. We find that, to a large extent, demixing curves depend only on a single parameter f, which represents the volume fraction which is unavailable to the colloids. We perform Monte Carlo simulations for volume fractions f equal to 40% and 70%, finding that the binodal curves in the polymer and colloid packing-fraction plane have a small dependence on disorder. The critical point instead changes significantly: for instance, the colloid packing fraction at criticality increases with increasing f. Finally, we observe for some values of the parameters capillary condensation of the colloids: a bulk colloid-poor phase is in chemical equilibrium with a colloid-rich phase in the matrix.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures. In publication in Molecular Physics, special volume dedicated to Luciano Reatto for his 70th birthda

Consumers' behaviours and attitudes toward healthy food products: The case of organic and functional foods

Over the last decade consumers’ health consciousness is becoming an important factor driving the agrofood market. Healthier food products have entered the global markets with force in the past years and rapidly gained market share. Consequently, the food industry has reacted to this trend by developing a growing variety of new products with health-related claims and images, including organic and functional foods that are selected by consumers for their health-promoting properties. Currently, the healthy foods and drinks market is performing well, in terms of innovation and market penetration; healthy foods in Europe have a turnover of € 5.7 billion. Different researches conclude that a better understanding of consumers' perception of healthy foods and its determinants are key success factors for market orientation and development and for successfully negotiating market opportunities. The research proposes a survey of 300 Italian consumers in order to understand attitudes towards healthy foods, with particular reference to organic and functional products, through the implementation of a cluster analysis. The main aim of this paper is to derive indications that may contribute to better strategic and tactical marketing decisions. The findings of this study are also important for government bodies interested in designing public health programs.functional foods, organic products, cluster analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics,

Italian Consumer Attitudes Toward Products for Well-being: The Functional Foods Market

Functional foods, Italian consumers, Market segmentation, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Proximity effect with noncentrosymmetric superconductors

We describe the superconducting proximity effect taking place in a contact between a noncentrosymmetric superconductor and a diffusive normal/ferromagnetic metal within the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity. By solving numerically the Usadel equation with boundary conditions valid for arbitrary interface transparency, we show that the analysis of the proximity-modified local density of states in the normal side can be used to obtain information about the exotic superconductivity of noncentrosymmetric materials. We point out the signatures of triplet pairing, the coexistence of triplet and singlet pairing, and particular orbital symmetries of the pair potential. Exploiting the directional dependence of the spin polarization pair breaking effect on the triplet correlations, we show how the order relation between triplet and singlet gaps can be discriminated and that an estimation of the specific gap ratio is possible in some cases.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Simulation of copper-water nanofluid in a microchannel in slip flow regime using the lattice Boltzmann method with heat flux boundary condition

Laminar forced convection heat transfer of water–Cu nanofluids in a microchannel is studied using the double population Thermal Lattice Boltzmann method (TLBM). The entering flow is at a lower temperature compared to the microchannel walls. The middle section of the microchannel is heated with a constant and uniform heat flux, simulated by means of the counter slip thermal energy boundary condition. Simulations are performed for nanoparticle volume fractions equal to 0.00%, 0.02% and 0.04% and slip coefficient equal to 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1. Reynolds number is equal to 1, 10 and 50.The model predictions are found to be in good agreement with earlier studies. Streamlines, isotherms, longitudinal variations of Nusselt number and slip velocity as well as velocity and temperature profiles for different cross sections are presented. The results indicate that LBM can be used to simulate forced convection for the nanofluid micro flows. They show that the microchannel performs better heat transfers at higher values of the Reynolds number. For all values of the Reynolds considered in this study, the average Nusselt number increases slightly as the solid volume fraction increases and the slip coefficient increases. The rate of this increase is more significant at higher values of the Reynolds number

Do Consumers Want More Nutritional and Health Information on Wine Labels? Insights from the EU and USA

The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol launched in 2010 by the World Health Organization includes, amongst several areas of recommended actions, providing consumer information about, and labelling, alcoholic beverages to indicate alcohol-related harm. Labelling requirements worldwide for alcoholic drinks are currently quite diverse and somewhat limited compared to labelling on food products and on tobacco. In this context, the current paper contributes to the academic and political debate on the inclusion of nutritional and health information on wine labelling, providing some insights into consumer interest in, and preferences for, such information in four core wine-producing and -consuming countries: Italy, France, Spain, and the United States of America. A rating-based conjoint analysis was performed in order to ascertain consumer preferences for different formats of additional information on wine labels, and a segmentation of the sample was performed to determine the existence of homogeneous groups of consumers in relation to the degrees of usefulness attached to the nutritional and health information on wine labels. Our results highlight the interest expressed by European and United States consumers for introducing nutrition and health information on wine labels. However, the results of conjoint analysis show some signi\ufb01cant differences among stated preferences of the information delivery modes in different countries. In addition, segmentation analysis reveal the existence of signi\ufb01cant differences between consumer groups with respect to their interest in receiving additional information on wine labels. These differences are not only linked to the geographic origin of the consumers, or to socio-demographic variables, but are also related to wine consumption habits, attitudes towards nutritional information, and the degree of involvement with wine. This heterogeneity of consumer preferences indicates a need for a careful consideration of wine labelling regulations and merits further investigation in order to identify labelling guidelines in terms of the message content and presentation method to be used

How log-normal is your country? An analysis of the statistical distribution of the exported volumes of products

We have considered the statistical distributions of the volumes of the different products exported by 148 countries. We have found that the form of these distributions is not unique but heavily depends on the level of development of the nation, as expressed by macroeconomic indicators like GDP, GDP per capita, total export and a recently introduced measure for countries' economic complexity called fitness. We have identified three major classes: a) an incomplete log-normal shape, truncated on the left side, for the less developed countries, b) a complete log-normal, with a wider range of volumes, for nations characterized by intermediate economy, and c) a strongly asymmetric shape for countries with a high degree of development. The ranking curves of the exported volumes from each country seldom cross each other, showing a clear hierarchy of export volumes. Finally, the log-normality hypothesis has been checked for the distributions of all the 148 countries through different tests, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Cramer-Von Mises, confirming that it cannot be rejected only for the countries of intermediate economy.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IWcee15 conferenc

Spin-sensitive Long-ranged Proximity Effect for Triplet Superconductors

The discovery of noncentrosymmetric superconductors, such as CePt$_3$Si, and chiral superconductors, such as Sr$_2$RuO$_4$, calls for experimental methods to identify the presence of spin-triplet pairing. We here demonstrate a method which accomplishes this in an appealingly simple manner: a spin-sensitive proximity effect in a ferromagnet$\mid$triplet superconductor bilayer. It is shown how the orientation of the field can be used to unambiguously distinguish between different spin-triplet states. Moreover, the proximity effect becomes long-ranged in spite of the presence of an exchange field and even without any magnetic inhomogeneities, in contrast to conventional S$\mid$F junctions. Our results can be verified by STM-spectroscopy and could be useful as a tool to characterize the pairing state in unconventional superconducting materials.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure