Assessment of Brazilian consumers' perception about the presence of stabilisers in UHT milk: A study using virtual focus groups

Several countries use stabilisers in the product to avoid undesirable alterations, such as aggregation/gelation of proteins after thermal processing of UHT milk. Brazilian consumers' perception of these additives was investigated using virtual focus groups. Several relevant factors to the decision of consumers were elicited. The results show that most consumers do not have the habit of reading the UHT milk label and demonstrate a lack of knowledge about using stabilisers in UHT milk, even confusing it with preservatives. It is noted that the dairy sector must improve its communication strategies for UHT milk consumers.     

Bio-electrochemical production of hydrogen and electricity from organic waste: preliminary assessment

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - This study investigated the performance of a novel integrated bio-electrochemical system for synergistic hydrogen production from a process combining a...     

Acoustic Properties of Aerogels: Current Status and Prospects

Noise reduction remains an important priority in the modern society, in particular, for urban areas and highly populated cities. Insulation of buildings and transport systems such as cars, trains, and airplanes has accelerated the need to develop advanced materials. Various porous materials, such as commercially available foams and granular and fibrous materials, are commonly used for sound mitigating applications. In this review, a special class of advanced porous materials, aerogels, is examined, and an overview of the current experimental and theoretical status of their acoustic properties is provided. Aerogels can be composed of inorganic matter, synthetic or natural polymers, as well as organic/inorganic composites and hybrids. Aerogels are highly porous nanostructured materials with a large number of meso- and small macropores; the mechanisms of sound absorption partly differ from those of traditional porous absorbers possessing large macropores. The understanding of the acoustic properties of aerogels is far from being complete, and experimental results remain scattered. It is demonstrated that the structure of the aerogel provides a complex three-dimensional architecture ideally suited for promising high-performance materials for acoustic mitigation systems. This is in addition to the numerous other desirable properties that include low density, low thermal conductivity, and low refractive index.