There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

By Pierre Bourdieu (London: Routledge, 2010), xxx + 607 pp. £15.99 paper. A combination of social theory, statistical data, illustrations, and interviews, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judg...

Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste

The State of Food and Agriculture

The UK has passed legislation that introduces the world’s first long-term legally binding framework to tackle the dangers of climate change (The Climate Change Act 20084). The act requires Government to set carbon budgets, which are limits on greenhouse gas emissions in the UK for consecutive five year periods. 
Models analysed in IPCC AR4 have a range of 0-60% for an AMOC decrease over the next 100 years. The RAPID-WATCH 26˚N observations provide the only continuous measurements of the AMOC strength and vertical structure, and are thus a vital monitoring tool for this key climate variable'.
Analysis of the PSMSL data set, reviewed by scientific panels such as the IPCC, inform studies of impacts of climate change on both national and international levels (e.g. UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP), UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP), UK Foresight Flood and Coastal Defence Review, Charting Progress and Charting Progress 2, IPCC Working Group II).

Climate change impacts

The development of sustainable renewable polymers from natural resources has increasingly gained attention from scientists, engineers as well as the general public and government agencies. This review covers recent progress in the field of renewable bio-based monomers and polymers from natural resources: terpenes, terpenoids, and rosin, which are a class of hydrocarbon-rich biomass with abundance and low cost, holding much potential for utilization as organic feedstocks for green plastics and composites. This review details polymerization and copolymerization of terpenes such as pinene, limonene, and myrcene and their derivatives, terpenoids including carvone and menthol, and rosin-derived monomers. The future direction on the utilization of these natural resources is discussed.

Progress in Renewable Polymers from Natural Terpenes, Terpenoids, and Rosin

The aim of this study was to characterise the most typical flour mixture bread (wheat flour and rye flour) produced in the Portuguese region of Viseu and evaluate if there are relevant differences between the samples tested. Nine samples from local producers were analysed considering the morphology, physicochemical (density, alveolus percentage, texture, colour and water activity) and sensorial properties. The form and dimensions of all breads were determined, as well as proximate composition and total salt content. The forms of the breads were different, some round and others long. Nutritionally this type of bread turned out to be a food with high nutritional value, high percentage of ash (2.8-4.9%) and low values of fat, with a high range of salt content (0.4-1.4%). The physical properties were quite different between samples, although some of them are not perceptible by the consumer. This was the case of bread density whose results were 0.25-0.56 and the sensorial panel, constituted by a panel of 40 untrained tasters aged 7 to 63 years, did not find any difference. The traditional breads presented overall appreciation between 4.8 and 6.8, related with different colour and elasticity parameters.

Physicochemical and sensorial characterization of portuguese bread from viseu region

The drying of pears allows their conservation due principally to the inhibition of microbial growth, making the dried pear a safe food for consumers. The knowledge of microbial flora, as well as some biochemical factors, is very important for ensuring the consumers health. In this study samples of pears of the variety S. Bartolomeu were dried under different systems: traditional open air sun drying, a solar stove, a solar drier and a drying tunnel. It was intended to isolate yeasts and moulds from dried pears subject to different drying processes, and also to some other fruits dried industrially. In this way, the following biochemical characteristics of dried fruits were evaluated: water activity and moisture content. Furthermore, the morphological characteristics of the isolates were also analyzed. Finally, as previously stated, the results obtained for dried pears were compared with the results obtained for samples of prunes and raisins, dried by industrial methods. The results of the biochemical characterization of the samples under study showed that all samples had a water activity lower than 0.60. After inoculated incubation it was only observed the grow of a mould in one sample of dried pears obtained by the traditional open air sun drying method, allowing to conclude that only this last method may induce the pears deterioration by microbial growth. The other systems tested for the drying of pears produce fruits that when dried can be conserved and consumed safely.

Biochemical and fungal characterization of dried pears and other fruits

The aim of this work was to assess the degree of knowledge about dietary fibre (DF), as influenced by factors such as age, gender, level of education and living environment. For this, a descriptive crosssectional study was undertaken by means of a questionnaire and the total number of respondents was 382. The results revealed that the participants had a not satisfying global level of knowledge (3.59 ± 0.64, on a scale from 1 to 5). The overall knowledge was found lower for young adults aged 19 to 30 years, when compared to adults aged over 31 and up to 65 years, being this difference statistically significant (p=0.030). However, no statistical significant differences were found between genders, levels of education or living environments. The low level of knowledge demonstrated by the enquired alerts for the need to plan some additional actions to further inform the Portuguese population about dietary fibre.

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The assessment of the level of knowledge about dietary fibre among the portuguese population

Sodium intake higher than it is physiologically necessary has been associated with some non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. Bread is commonly consumed and is a major source of sodium in the human diet. Among the interventions to reduce the salt content in bread, the incorporation of salty taste halophyte powder could be a promising strategy. In the present work, Sarcocornia perennis was incorporated as a food ingredient to substitute the salt (sodium) of white wheat bread (1.2% NaCl/0.47% sodium, flour basis). Powdered dried S. perennis was incorporated into bread by replacing the same amount of sodium (0.47%, flour basis) and half of the sodium concentration (0.235%, flour basis), respectively, B100 and B50 bread samples. The bread samples were analyzed to evaluate the impact of the sodium chloride replacement by S. perennis powder on total baking loss, specific volume, crumb color, textural properties, microbial activity, nutritional and mineral composition and sensory evaluation. The incorporation of S. perennis increased the specific volume but had no relevant impact on the textural properties of bread. Furthermore, the substitution of sodium chloride by S. perennis powder allowed a more colored (greenish and yellowish) and dark crumb leading to a lower whiteness index. Compared with control bread, the addition of S. perennis powder promoted a significant increase of all bread’s nutrients and minerals, namely calcium, phosphor, iron, and manganese. Besides the improvement of bread quality, B100, and B50 bread samples were both sensorily well accepted and with similar scores to all the evaluated sensorial attributes. Moreover, the reduction of sodium to half (0.235% sodium (flour basis) in bread (B50) did not affect the acceptability of tasters, as compared with B100 (0.47% sodium (flour basis)). Both new bread formulation has microbiological quality as ready-to-eat product. However, taking into account greater stability over time for microbial spoilage, mainly caused by fungi and yeasts, B50 bread is more promising. The B50 bread sample is also a potential strategy to obtain a sodium reduction of 50% in bread, which could be essential to reduce the overall sodium daily intake and bring important economic and public health benefits.

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Re-Thinking Table Salt Reduction in Bread with Halophyte Plant Solutions

The benefits that may accrue from the adoption of organic farming on family farms in Mediterranean countries such as Portugal, Italy and Spain are analysed, together with its impact and major constraints, as well as the contribution that new forms of teaching and learning can give to its spread and success, including through m-learning, as it is the case of the project ECONewFARMERS Building a future for new farmers in ecological farming through vocational training.

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Raquel Guiné

Papers

Physicochemical and sensorial characterization of portuguese bread from viseu region

Biochemical and fungal characterization of dried pears and other fruits

The assessment of the level of knowledge about dietary fibre among the portuguese population

Re-Thinking Table Salt Reduction in Bread with Halophyte Plant Solutions

Family and organic farming. New apprenticeship through m-learning