From a strategy perspective, the growth of social media accelerates the need for tourism organisations to constantly re-appraise their competitive strategies. This study contributes theoretically to ...the tourism performance literature by validating a new approach to examining the determinants of hotel performance. Drawing from and extending prior hotel determinants studies, this study uses artificial neural network model with ten input variables to investigate the relationships among user generated online reviews, hotel characteristics, and Revpar. The sample includes 235 Swiss hotels for the period 2008–2010, with 59,688 positive reviews from 69 online sources.
The empirical findings reveal four hidden nodes that have a significant impact on RevPar. Three of these have negative impacts: room quality, positive regional review, hotel regional reputation, and regional room star rating has a positive impact. Further, the findings imply that there may be boundaries to reputational benefits for Swiss hotels.
•We examine the determinants of Swiss hotel performance.•We use an artificial neural network model to build on prior eWOM studies.•Regional room star rating has a positive impact on RevPar.•Room quality, regional review, hotel regional reputation negatively affect RevPar.•Findings imply boundaries to reputational benefits for Swiss hotels.
After 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the protocols used to control infection lack attention and analysis. We present data about deposits of complete genomic sequences of SARS-CoV-2 in the Global ...Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database made between January 2021 and May 31, 2022. We build the distribution profile of SARS-CoV-2 variants across South America, highlighting the contribution and influence of each variant over time. Monitoring the genomic sequences in GISAID illustrates negligence in the follow up of infected patients in South America and also the discrepancies between the number of complete genomes deposited throughout the pandemic by developed and developing countries. While Europe and North America account for more than 9 million of the genomes deposited in GISAID, Africa and South America deposited less than 400 000 genome sequences. Genomic surveillance is important for detecting early warning signs of new circulating viruses, assisting in the discovery of new variants and controlling pandemics.
Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a facultative cross-pollinating legume crop with a great importance for food and feed due to its high protein content as well as the important role in soil fertility and ...nitrogen fixation. In this work we evaluated genetic diversity and population structure of faba bean accessions from the Western Mediterranean basin and wild related species. For that purpose we screened 53 V. faba, 2 V. johannis and 7 V. narbonensis accessions from Portugal, Spain and Morocco with 28 faba bean Single Sequence Repeats (SSR). SSR genotyping showed that the number of alleles detected per locus for the polymorphic markers ranged between 2 and 10, with Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) values between 0.662 and 0.071, and heterozygosity (HO) between 0-0.467. Heterozygosity and inbreeding coefficient levels indicate a higher level of inbreeding in wild related species than in cultivated Vicia. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed a superior genetic diversity within accessions than between accessions even from distant regions. These results are in accordance to population structure analysis showing that individuals from the same accession can be genetically more similar to individuals from far away accessions, than from individuals from the same accession. In all three levels of analysis (whole panel of cultivated and wild accessions, cultivated faba bean accessions and Portuguese accessions) no population structure was observed based on geography or climatic factors. Differences between V. narbonensis and V. johannis are undetectable although these wild taxa are clearly distinct from V. faba accessions. Thus, a limited gene flow occurred between cultivated accessions and wild relatives. Contrastingly, the lack of population structure seems to indicate a high degree of gene flow between V. faba accessions, possibly explained by the partially allogamous habit in association with frequent seed exchange/introduction.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has infected 630 million people and led to 6.59 million deaths worldwide since its outbreak. To control COVID-19 advance, finding new molecules with potential ...to inhibit viral spread is pivotal. Papain-like protease (PLpro) is one of the most interesting targets of pharmacological inhibition since it is implicated not only in viral replication but also in modulation of host immune response. Natural products are of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry due to their diverse structure and biological activities. The NuBBEDB (Nuclei of Bioassays, Biosynthesis and Ecophysiology of Natural Products Database) is an excellent source of natural products (NPs) from the Brazilian flora. In this study, we performed virtual screening, molecular dynamics, and binding energy analyses of the NuBBEDB library to target severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) papain-like protease (PLpro), the virus’s protease essential for replication. Among the top-ranked molecules, the indole alkaloids raputindoles A, C, and D emerged as potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors, showing significant interactions with the pivotal Beta-Loop-2 (BL2) region, including the catalytic Y268 residue. Notably, raputindole D displayed enhanced stabilization of the BL2 region, while raputindole C exhibited superior overall stability. These in silico findings suggest that raputindoles, especially D, might offer therapeutic value against COVID-19, laying the groundwork for further experimental evaluations.
Colour is one of the most relevant organoleptic attributes that directly affects consumers' acceptance and food selection. However, as food colouring pigments are generally unstable and become ...modified during processing, in order to maintain or restore product colour uniformity, colourants are added to food products around the world. In this context, although they are still widely used, synthetic food colorants, due to their potential hazards, are being replaced by those obtained from natural origins. Indeed, numerous side effects and toxicities, at both the medium and long-terms-namely allergic reactions, and behavioral and neurocognitive effects-have been related to the use of synthetic colourants, whereas their naturally-derived counterparts seem to provide a somewhat high-quality and effective contribution as a health promoter. In order to further understand the implications of the use of synthetic and naturally derived food colourants, this review aims to provide a synoptical approach to the chemical characteristics, properties, uses and side effects on health of those which are currently allowed and applied during food processing.
Physical Properties of MTA Fillapex Sealer Vitti, Rafael Pino, DDS, MSc, PhD; Prati, Carlo, DDS, MSc, PhD; Silva, Emmanuel João Nogueira Leal, DDS, MSc, PhD ...
Journal of endodontics,
07/2013, Letnik:
39, Številka:
7
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Abstract Introduction The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare several physicochemical properties including working and setting times, flow, solubility, and water absorption of a recent ...calcium silicate–based sealer (MTA Fillapex; Angelus, Londrina, Brazil) and an epoxy resin–based sealer (AH Plus; Dentsply, Konstanz, Germany). Methods The materials were handled following the manufacturer's instructions. The working time and flow were tested according to ISO 6876:2001 and the setting time according to American Society for Testing and Materials C266. For solubility and water absorption tests, the materials were placed into polyvinyl chloride molds (8 × 1.6 mm). The samples ( n = 10 for each material and test) were placed in a cylindrical polystyrene-sealed container with 20 mL deionized water at 37°C. At 1, 7, 14, and 28 days, the samples were removed from the solutions and blotted dry for solubility and water absorption tests. The data were analyzed using 1-way analysis of variance with the Tukey test ( P < .05). Results MTA Fillapex showed the lowest values of flow, working and setting times, solubility, and water absorption ( P < .05). The solubility and water absorption increased significantly over time for both materials in a 1- to 28-day period ( P < .05). Conclusions MTA Fillapex showed suitable physical properties to be used as an endodontic sealer.
Prussian Blue (PB) thin films were prepared by DC chronoamperometry (CHA), symmetric pulse, and non-symmetric pulse electrodeposition techniques. The formation of PB was confirmed by infrared ...spectroscopy (FTIR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and UV-Vis transmission measurements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows the stabilization of the insoluble form of PB. From scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies, an increase in porosity is obtained for the shorter pulse widths, which tends to improve the total charge exchange and electrochemical stability of the films. While the film prepared by CHA suffered a degradation of 82% after 260 cycles, the degradation reduced to 24% and 34% for the samples prepared by the symmetric and non-symmetric pulse methods, respectively. Additionally, in the non-symmetric pulse film, the improvement in the charge exchange reached ~522% after 260 cycles. According to this study, the deposition time distribution affects the physical/chemical properties of PB films. These results then render pulse electrodeposition methods especially suitable to produce high-quality thin films for electrochemical devices, based on PB.
One third of the global population suffers Zn deficiency, which directly affects their health and the health-bill of all world countries. In this study, the application of Zn sulphate at the latest ...developing stages (anthesis and milk-dough stages) of bread wheat in Mediterranean conditions were tested for grain and leaves enrichment capacity and antioxidant activities prompting. Variety effects were found to be significant to success in enriching leaves and grains with Zn. While Almansor and Roxo varieties increased more than 50% and close to 40% respectively their amount in grain Zn, no significant differences were found for Paiva variety with or without Zn treatment. Regarding the leaves, Zn amount increases of 110, 230 and 300 ppm of Zn were figured out in Almansor, Roxo and Paiva varieties respectively. Antioxidant compounds in leaves showed to be higher when zinc treatment was applied in Almansor variety. Quality traits of the grain wheat were barely affected by the increase of the Zn amount; Roxo variety grains increased the protein and the dry gluten concentration, while Almansor grains were heavier and Almansor flour showed higher tenacity. It can be concluded that Zn enrichment in wheat plants caused variation in both grain and leaves mineral profile, and antioxidants in leaves.
In this paper we report the work that jeKnowledge (Júnior Empresa da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias da Universidade de Coimbra), a student-led initiative, has done in the ‘jeKnowledge academy’ ...courses to actively engage Portuguese high-school students in STEM education through hands-on projects based on the low-cost Arduino platform. F2F activities, based on a peer-assisted learning strategy, were complemented with tutorials and more advanced project suggestions in a blog. Pre and post surveys on students' attitudes towards programming and peer-coaching were administered to pre-university and first year college participants, finding an overall increase in the Likert scale for all the programming-related constructs under study (confidence, interest, gender, usefulness and professional) after the introductory course. As regards the peer-based learning approach, younger students seemed to be more eager to be taught in a less formal way than their older counterparts. The course resulted in high degrees of satisfaction for both the student tutors and their tutees.
•Student-led introductory programming course for high-school students using Arduino.•Project-based approach for acquisition of computational thinking skills via PAL.•Pre and post surveys showed overall increase for all programming-related constructs.•Students totally agreed that women are as capable as men to excel in programming.•Significant age- and gender-related differences in attitude towards PAL were found.
Open access to sequence data is a cornerstone of biology and biodiversity research, but has created tension under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Policy decisions could ...compromise research and development, unless a practical multilateral solution is implemented.Ensuring international benefit-sharing from sequence data without jeopardising open sharing is a major obstacle for the Convention on Biological Diversity and other UN negotiations. Here, the authors propose a solution to address the concerns of both developing countries and life scientists.
PDF
