A formal analysis of interest-based negotiation

In multi-agent systems (MAS), negotiation provides a powerful metaphor for automating the allocation and reallocation of resources. Methods for automated negotiation in MAS include auction-based protocols and alternating offer bargaining protocols. Recently, argumentation-based negotiation has been accepted as a promising alternative to such approaches. Interest-based negotiation (IBN) is a form of argumentation-based negotiation in which agents exchange (1) information about their underlying goals; and (2) alternative ways to achieve these goals. However, the usefulness of IBN has been mostly established in the literature by appeal to intuition or by use of specific examples. In this paper, we propose a new formal model for reasoning about interest-based negotiation protocols. We demonstrate the usefulness of this framework by defining and analysing two different IBN protocols. In particular, we characterise conditions that guarantee their advantage (in the sense of expanding the set of individual rational deals) over the more classic proposal-based approaches to negotiation.     

Kinetic Resolution of 1‐Biaryl‐ and 1‐(Pyridylphenyl)alkan‐1‐ols Catalysed by the Lipase B from Candida antarctica

Lipase B from Candida antarctica (CAL‐B) catalyses the highly enantioselective (E>200) transesterification of some 1‐biaryl‐2‐yl‐, ‐3‐yl‐, and ‐4‐ylethanols and ‐propan‐1‐ols, as well as 1‐(o‐, m‐, and p‐pyridylphenyl)ethanols, 6 , with vinyl acetate, Kazlauskas' rule being obeyed in all cases. meta and para‐Substituted substrates were transformed within several hours (conversion degree ranging from 23–50%), reaction rates for propan‐1‐ol derivatives being slower than those for ethanol derivatives. Transesterifications of ortho‐substituted alcohols took several days and were accompanied by a chemoenzymatic side reaction: the formation of another acetate derived from the hemiacetal between 6 and acetaldehyde coming from vinyl acetate. This side reaction was suppressed in the presence of isopropenyl acetate as acyl donor, conversion degrees for transesterification ranging from 20–40% after ten days (E>200). The usefulness of (R)‐ 6p as ligand in the asymmetric addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde was also demonstrated.     

Improving the nutritional and phytochemical compounds of a plant-based milk of sapucaia nut cake using block freeze concentration

The nutrient profile and the phytochemical composition of the sapucaia nut cake milk (SNCM) were evaluated after applying five consecutive stages of block freeze concentration (C1, C2, C3, C4 and C5). The profile of phenolic compounds by LC-ESI-MS/MS and the antioxidant activity (ABTS and FRAP) of SNCM were also determined. The freeze concentration increased proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, ash, soluble solids (°Brix) and total phenolic compounds (TPC) in all stages and in the ice fractions obtained from C1, C2 and C3 stages. The antioxidant activity (ABTS) in C3, C4 and C5 fractions was highly significant (P < 0.05). The antioxidant activity (FRAP) and the phenolic compounds (gallic, vanillic, ferulic, sinapic and salicylic acids, catechin, taxifolin and sinapaldehyde) increased significantly (P < 0.05) for all five fractions. The freeze concentration was successfully used for enriching the SNCM, generating a promising ingredient for the food industry.     

The people's heritage: Democratising our memory institutions

Evolving requirements from their users, increased technical capability, and access to new sources of funding are all playing a part in ensuring that our memory institutions change; sometimes beyond recognition. This paper explores some of the ways in which these institutions are changing, and questions the effect such changes are likely to have upon the institutions themselves, and upon those who use and work within them.     

Fashion marketing

This issue of Textile Progress provides a critical literature review and reflection relating to academic research in the field of fashion marketing. As the topic has not been reviewed before in Textile Progress, the paper takes the concepts of marketing and fashion in turn, exploring the literature from its origins to the present day and then considers how and why these two concepts have become merged to form a discrete academic research theme.

The exploration of marketing includes a discussion of the origins of the marketing concept which emerged in the 1950s alongside the growth in mass consumerism. The paper discusses the ubiquitous ‘marketing mix’ theory and explains how research in marketing shifted its focus in the 1980s and 1990s as new paradigms developed, and their applicability to the marketing concept were debated.

The concept of fashion is considered in terms of the context of historical research on fashion, for example, from the sociological or psychological perspective, and how the concept of fashion can be considered both academically and commercially.

The review then goes on to evaluate the concept of fashion marketing as a discrete area for academic research, arguing that it has distinct theoretical perspectives from those of pure ‘marketing’ or ‘fashion’ theory, and culminating in a review of contemporary research in the field of fashion marketing, specifically that relating to fast fashion and ‘digital’ fashion marketing.