32 research outputs found
Phosphazene derivatives and use of same as stabilizers for oils and greases based on perfluoropolyethers.
No full textPhosphazene derivatives and use of same as stabilizers for oils and greases based on perfluoropolyethers
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TIMI RISK SCORE per UA/NSTEMI come predittore del rischio di MACE ad 1 anno e del rischio di morte a lungo termine
No full textTaste Your Consumer Audience. How Sensory Expertise Influences Food Choice
No full textPresentation of the thesis(es) covered by the paper – This paper explores how individual differences in food literacy and sensory perception influence consumer behavior, particularly in food choices. We investigate how varying levels of expertise in sensory analysis and education in human nutrition science impact these choices, with implications for brand strategy and consumer profiling. Our study is based on an empirical analysis of responses from 185 Italian expertise in sensory analysis, human nutrition science, and naive consumers. We observed how nutrition science experts consider taste less important (χ2 test p-value: 0.000) and observe nutritional labels (χ2 test p-value: 0.035) and types of nutrients (χ2 test p-value: 0.000) more frequently than other consumer groups. In contrast, sensory analysis experts assign higher importance to production methods than others (χ2 test p-value: 0.000), product origins (χ2 test p-value: 0.000) and the presence of additives (χ2 test p-value: 0.026), during their selection process. Sensory perception skills could explain high levels of procedural food literacy (t-test p.value: 0.002) which is also associated to morning chronotype (t-test p.value: 0.0019). Interestingly, age, gender, BMI, and chronotype do not correlate with sensory capacity (t-tests p-value > 0.15 for the four dimensions. As such, sensory capacity offers a distinct and orthogonal dimension to existing measures. We posit that marketers, product developers, and brand managers should pay greater attention to individual differences in sensory perception. We suggest and promote the integration of neurophysiological profiling methods in designing new products and brand identitie
Taste the emotions: pilot for a novel, sensors-based approach to emotional analysis during coffee tasting
No full textBACKGROUND: Coffee is a natural drink with important properties for the human body and mind, capable of delivering energy and strong emotions, thus being appreciated since ancient times. The qualitative and quantitative assessment of the coffee properties is normally performed by trained panelists, though relying on standardized questionnaires, with possible biases arising. In this study, for the first time in the scientific literature, we applied a technology-based approach, based on the use of wearable sensors, to study the implicit emotional responses of a small cohort of experienced coffee judges, thus taking this chance to assess the feasibility of this approach in such a scenario. The merging of different technologies for capturing biomedical signals, including electrocardiogram, galvanic skin response, and electroencephalogram, was therefore adopted to retrieve results in terms of the relationships between implicit (i.e. psychophysiological) and explicit (i.e. derived from questionnaires) measurements. RESULTS: Significant correlations were obtained between biomedical signals and data from the questionnaires within all the sensory domains (olfaction, vision, taste) investigated, particularly concerning autonomic-related features. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained confirmed the viability of this new approach in the psychophysical and emotional assessment in coffee tasting judges, paving the way for a new perspective into the universe of coffee quality assessment panels, eventually transferable to broader scale investigations, somewhat dealing with consumer satisfaction and neuromarketing at large. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry
Wearable Sensors to Evaluate Autonomic Response to Olfactory Stimulation: The Influence of Short, Intensive Sensory Training
No full textIn the last few decades, while the sensory evaluation of edible products has been leveraged to make strategic decisions about many domains, the traditional descriptive analysis performed by a skilled sensory panel has been seen to be too complex and time-consuming for the industry needs, making it largely unsustainable in most cases. In this context, the study of the effectiveness of different methods for sensory training on panel performances represents a new trend in research activity. With this purpose, wearable sensors are applied to study physiological signals (ECG and skin conductance) concerned with the emotions in a cohort of volunteers undergoing a short, two-day (16 h) sensory training period related to wine tasting. The results were compared with a previous study based on a conventional three-month (65 h) period of sensory training. According to what was previously reported for long panel training, it was seen that even short, intensive sensory training modulated the ANS activity toward a less sympathetically mediated response as soon as odorous compounds become familiar. A large-scale application of shorter formative courses in this domain appears possible without reducing the effectiveness of the training, thus leading to money saving for academia and scientific societies, and challenging dropout rates that might affect longer courses
Chemistry of some model compounds related to fluorinated polymers
No full textThe work described in this thesis is concerned with three areas which are the generation of stable carbocations from saturated model compounds related to poly- vinylidenefluoride, the development of synthetic routes to fluoro-organo-phosphazenes with intention of obtaining some potential additives for perfluoropolyether fluids operating at elevated temperatures, and pericyclic reactions involving fluorinated olefins.1. We reported that some remarkable conjugated cations, and di-cations (4a) are obtained by reaction of hydrofluorocarbon precursors (4) with an excess of antimony pentafluoride. Cations (4a) bear the fluorine atoms at the charged sites, which of course, leads to stabilisation of the systems We investigated the effect of both re-hybridisation and charge on (^13)C, (^19)F, (^1)H n.m.r. chemical shifts and we applied the empirical criterion of (^13)C chemical shifts additivity to these systems to confirm the structure of some carbo-mono-cations and.-di- cations.2. The mechanism of displacement reactions in halophosphazenes was rationalised by reacting the systems in study with selected nucleophiles in competition reactions. Some fluoro-organo-phosphazenes were synthesised using halophosphazenes as starting materials. Different methodologies were used and their effectiveness was limited by the reactivity of the halophosphazenes towards the fluoroalkylating agents. The methodologies used include nucleophilic displacement of the halogen with fluorinated alcohols (R(_F)CH(_2)OH), and perfluoroalkylating agents (eg.: CF(_3)SiMe(_3)); perfluoroalkylation of organo-phosphazene using hexafluoropropene under gamma ray irradiation. Potential stabilising agents for perfluoropolyether fluids were synthesised and their effectiveness was tested.3. Some pericyclic reactions of heptafluorobut-2-ene and hexafluorobut-2-ene with dienes have been studied in an attempt to synthesise a series of benzenoid and heteroaromatic compounds containing two trifluoromethyl groups in high yields
