scholarly journals Opuntia ficus-indica as an Ingredient in New Functional Pasta: Consumer Preferences in Italy

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 803
Author(s):  
Nadia Palmieri ◽  
Alessandro Suardi ◽  
Walter Stefanoni ◽  
Luigi Pari
Keyword(s):  
Food Habits ◽  
Consumer Preferences ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Opuntia Ficus Indica ◽  
Web Based ◽  
A Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Italian Sample

Opuntia ficus-indica is a source of minerals and vitamins and has recently been used as ingredient to make a new functional variety of pasta. Italy was the first country in the world to produce pasta and is also the second largest producer of Opuntia in the world. According to an Italian sample, this study considers the main factors that could influence consumers when choosing functional pasta (featuring Opuntia) and characterizes distinct hypothetical consumer segments in terms of their food habits, pasta choices, and perceptions toward functional pasta featuring Opuntia. Data were collected using a web-based survey and with 328 respondents. Factor analysis (FA) with orthogonal rotation (varimax) was used to simplify the observed variables and hierarchical cluster analysis was performed with the FA results. Seven clusters were identified and the main results show that the level of education plays an important role in the perception of functional pasta. In fact, the perceptions of well-educated people differed from poorly-educated people. Moreover, the results showed significant respondent interest regarding health benefits and the nutritional and environmental aspects of functional pasta, which should encourage people’s acceptance and consumption of this new functional food. In addition, the respondent preferences reflect a value of experience towards the pasta, i.e., the belief of cooking typical Italian pasta. This means that Opuntia used for the production of functional pasta should maintain the organoleptic and physical properties of durum wheat-based pasta. In addition, respondent preferences for pasta featuring Opuntia could also be driven by its price.

scholarly journals An Italian Explorative Study of Willingness to Pay for a New Functional Pasta Featuring Opuntia ficus indica

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 701
Author(s):  
Nadia Palmieri ◽  
Walter Stefanoni ◽  
Francesco Latterini ◽  
Luigi Pari
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Marketing Strategies ◽  
Opuntia Ficus Indica ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
Explorative Study ◽  
Food Research ◽  
Ordered Logistic Regression ◽  
The World

Opuntia ficus indica is a source of vitamins and minerals, and recently, it has been used as ingredient to make a new functional pasta. Italy produces the highest amount of pasta in the world and it is also the second-highest producer of opuntia globally. This study sought to identify the consumer willingness to pay for pasta featuring Opuntia ficus indica and to understand what factors influence their choice. This study is the first in food research to analyze consumers’ willingness to pay for a new functional pasta featuring Opuntia ficus indica. Data were collected by using a web-based survey; the sample was composed of 342 consumers and an ordered logistic regression model was applied. The findings showed that the educational and higher income levels of respondents play important roles in the willingness to pay for functional pasta. Moreover, the healthy and nutritional features of functional pasta together with the respondents’ willingness to eat it, their curiosity towards this new food and their need to get more information about functional pasta should improve consumers’ willingness to pay for it. The findings should be useful for firms to draw marketing strategies considering the positive consumers’ attitude toward the use of Opuntia ficus indica in pasta production.

The world and Russia: Inflation is minimal, economic growth is slowing, risks are rising

2019 ◽  
pp. 5-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail V. Ershov ◽  
Anna S. Tanasova
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Domestic Demand ◽  
New Combination ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
World Economic ◽  
Money Creation ◽  
Main Factors

Russian economy has reached the low level of inflation, but economic growth has not accelerated. Moreover, according to official forecasts, in the following years it will still be low. The article concludes that domestic demand, which is one of the main factors of growth, is significantly constrained by monetary, budgetary and fiscal spheres. The situation in the Russian economy is still hampered by the decline of the world economic growth. The prospects of financial markets are highly uncertain. This increases the possibility of crisis in the world. Leading countries widely use non-traditional measures to support their economies in the similar environment. In the world economy as well as in Russia a principally new combination of factors has emerged, which create specific features of economic growth. It requires special set of measures to stimulate such growth. The article proves that Russian regulators have large unused potential to stimulate growth. It includes monetization, long-money creation, budget and tax stimuli. It is important that the instruments, which will be used, should be based on domestic mechanisms. This will strengthen financial basis of the economy and may encourage economic growth. Some specific suggestions as to their use are made.

HASTANELERİN HİZMET KALİTESİNİN HASTA TATMİN ÖLÇEĞİ İLE ÖLÇÜLMESİ: KARABÜK DEVLET HASTANESİNDE YATAN HASTALAR ÜZERİNDE BİR ARAŞTIRMA THE MEASUREMENT SERVICE QUALITY OF THE HOSPITALS BY THE PATIENT SCALE: A RESEARCH ON THE PATIENTS IN KARABUK STATE HOSP

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Selçuk Yurtsever
Keyword(s):  
Patient Satisfaction ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
State Hospital ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
Satisfaction Scale ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Factors

It has been known that both in the world and in Turkey a continuous change has been experienced in the provision of health services in recent years. In this sense by adopting the customer(client) focused approach of either public or private sector hospitals; it has been seen that they are in the struggle for presenting a right, fast, trustuble, comfy service. The purpose of this research is to measure the satisfaction degree, expectations and perceptions of the patients in Karabük State Hospital through comparison. In this context, the patient satisfaction scale which has been developed as a result of literature review has been used and by this scale it has been tried to measure the satisfaction levels of the patients in terms of material and human factors which are the two main factors of the service that was presented. In the study, with the scales of Servqual and 0-100 Points together, in the part of the analysis MANOVA have been used. The expectations and the perceptions of the patient has been compared first by generally and then by separating to different groups according to the various criterias and in thisway it has been tried to be measured their satisfaction levels. According to the results that were obtained, although, the satisfaction levels of the patients who have taken service from Karabük State Hospital are high in terms of thedoctors and the nurses; it has been reached to the result that their satisfaction levels are low in terms of the materials that have been used at the presenting of the service and the management.

Mechanisms Involved in Glycemic Control Promoted by Exercise in Diabetics

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Francelino Andrade ◽  
Víviam de Oliveira Silva ◽  
Débora Ribeiro Orlando ◽  
Luciano José Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Metabolic Disease ◽  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Glycemic Control ◽  
Sedentary Lifestyle ◽  
World Population ◽  
Pharmacological Interventions ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Factors

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease characterized by high glycemic levels for long periods. This disease has a high prevalence in the world population, being currently observed an increase in its incidence. This fact is mainly due to the sedentary lifestyle and hypercaloric diets. Non-pharmacological interventions for glycemic control include exercise, which promotes changes in skeletal muscle and adipocytes. Thus, increased glucose uptake by skeletal muscle and decreased insulin resistance through modulating adipocytes are the main factors that improve glycemic control against diabetes. Conclusion: It was sought to elucidate mechanisms involved in the improvement of glycemic control in diabetics in front of the exercise.

scholarly journals Will We Soon Run Out of Water?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ghislain de Marsily
Keyword(s):  
Food Habits ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Good Health ◽  
World Population ◽  
Total Food ◽  
Food Deficit ◽  
The World ◽  
Average Water ◽  
Per Capita

In 2000, the World population was 6.2 billion; it reached 7 billion in 2012 and should reach 9.5 billion (±0.4) in 2050 and 11 billion (±1.5) in 2100, according to UN projections. The trend after 2100 is still one of global demographic growth, but after 2060, Africa would be the only continent where the population would still increase. The amount of water consumed annually to produce the food necessary to meet the needs varies greatly between countries, from about 600 to 2,500 m<sup>3</sup>/year per capita, depending on their wealth, their food habits (particularly meat consumption), and the percentage of food waste they generate. In 2000, the total food production was on the order of 3,300 million tons (in cereal equivalents). In 2019, about 0.8 billion inhabitants of the planet still suffer from hunger and do not get the nutrition they need to be in good health or, in the case of children, to grow properly (both physically and intellectually). Assuming a World average water consumption for food of 1,300 m<sup>3</sup>/year per capita in 2000, 1,400 m<sup>3</sup>/year in 2050, and 1,500 m<sup>3</sup>/year in 2100, a volume of water of around 8,200 km<sup>3</sup>/year was needed in 2000, 13,000 km<sup>3</sup>/year will be needed in 2050, and 16,500 km<sup>3</sup>/year in 2100. Will that much water be available on earth? Can there be conflicts related to a food deficit? Some preliminary answers and scenarios for food production will be given from a hydrologist viewpoint.

scholarly journals Port Greening: Discrete Choice Analysis Investigation on Environmental Parameters Affecting Container Shipping Companies’ Behaviors

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7010
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Franchi ◽  
Thierry Vanelslander
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Discrete Choice Analysis ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Ecological Performance ◽  
Port Operations ◽  
Choice Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
Green Port

For centuries, ports have functioned as an economic engine, facilitating maritime transport, offering prosperity and social development to the host communities. Ports are gateways for international trade playing a vital role in the world economy, but it is not excluded that port operations can also have adverse effects on the environment. Air and water emissions, marine sediments, noise, waste generation, loss and degradation of terrestrial habitats and changes to marine ecosystems are just some of the leading environmental challenges with port’s operations. Environmental management within port operations has been a rapidly growing trend, with many ports around the world adopting different types of approaches and initiatives to improve ecological performance. Despite that many ports around the world have implemented greening strategies for growth and sustainable development, there are still many other ports that work less than they should do on environmental aspects and on the generation of ‘green ports’. These latter have fallen behind in the development of the theme. Therefore, the work reported here aims at analyzing what the best way to act should be, even starting from the beginning for a port that is not very innovative, in order to pursue the practical and theoretical levels of ‘green port’.

scholarly journals High-throughput quantitation of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in a single-dilution homogeneous assay

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus H. Kainulainen ◽  
Eric Bergeron ◽  
Payel Chatterjee ◽  
Asheley P. Chapman ◽  
Joo Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Specific Antibodies ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
A Value ◽  
Elisa Testing ◽  
The World ◽  
Antibody Titers ◽  
Qualitative Assay ◽  
Homogeneous Assay ◽  
Asymptomatic Infections

AbstractSARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019 and has since spread around the world, causing a pandemic of the respiratory disease COVID-19. Detecting antibodies against the virus is an essential tool for tracking infections and developing vaccines. Such tests, primarily utilizing the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) principle, can be either qualitative (reporting positive/negative results) or quantitative (reporting a value representing the quantity of specific antibodies). Quantitation is vital for determining stability or decline of antibody titers in convalescence, efficacy of different vaccination regimens, and detection of asymptomatic infections. Quantitation typically requires two-step ELISA testing, in which samples are first screened in a qualitative assay and positive samples are subsequently analyzed as a dilution series. To overcome the throughput limitations of this approach, we developed a simpler and faster system that is highly automatable and achieves quantitation in a single-dilution screening format with sensitivity and specificity comparable to those of ELISA.

Envisaged transfer projects: New technologies in the water sustainability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naseer Ahmed Abbasi ◽  
Xiangzhou Xu
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Water Shortage ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Water Shortages ◽  
The World

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstracts:&lt;/strong&gt; Influenced by global climate change, water shortages and other extreme weather, water scarcity in the world is an alarming sign. This article provides evidences regarding the Tunnel and Tianhe project&amp;#8217;s feasibility and their technical, financial, political, socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Such as how to utilize the water vapour in the air and to build a 1000 km long tunnel project to fulfill the goal of solving water shortage in China. The projects are promising to solve the problem of water, food and drought in the country. In addition, the telecoupling framework helps to effectively understand and manage ecosystem services, as well as the different challenges associated with them. Such efforts can help find the ways for proper utilization of water resources and means of regulation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Key words: &lt;/strong&gt;Sustainability; water shortage; transfer project&lt;/p&gt;

E-cigarettes use behaviors among heavy users in Japan: An online survey (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihoko Koyama ◽  
Takahiro Tabuchi ◽  
Isao Miyashiro
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistance ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Tobacco Product ◽  
Cigarette Use ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Concurrent Use ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
The World ◽  
Device Type ◽  
Comprehensive Survey

BACKGROUND Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become increasingly widespread throughout the world, including Japan. However, little is known about how e-cigarettes are used in Japan, a country with heavy restrictions on nicotine-containing e-liquids, vaping products. OBJECTIVE This study comprehensively examined e-cigarette use, including e-cigarette use duration, frequency of use, device type, electrical resistance, nicotine use, favorite e-liquid flavors and concurrent use with cigarettes and/or HTPs in Japan. METHODS This study examined the detail of e-cigarette use (e-cigarette use duration, frequency of use, device type, electrical resistance, nicotine use, favorite e-liquid flavors) among users in Japan, through an online survey using a web-based self-reported questionnaire which included questions about sex, age, combustible cigarette and heated tobacco product (HTP) use behaviors. RESULTS Of 4,689 e-cigarettes users analyzed, 93.5% were men and 52.9% had been using e-cigarettes for 1-3 years. Over 80% used e-cigarettes every day; 62.4% used nicotine liquid, and half of the nicotine liquid users used nicotine salt. The most popular liquid flavor was fruit (prevalence: 68.1%), followed by tobacco (prevalence: 48.4%). While 9.0% were e-cigarette single users, 35.2% were dual users (e-cigarettes and cigarettes or HTPs) and 13.8% were triple user (e-cigarettes, cigarettes and HTPs). CONCLUSIONS This is the first comprehensive survey of Japanese e-cigarette users and our finding suggest more than half use nicotine liquid, although e-cigarettes containing nicotine liquid have been prohibited by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act since 2010 in Japan. The study also showed 49.1% of participants used cigarettes and/or HTPs concurrently (dual or triple users).

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