Dereplication of Bromotyrosine-derived Metabolites by LC-PDA-MS and Analysis of the Chemical Profile of 14 Aplysina Sponge Specimens from the Brazilian Coastline

In order to investigate the chemical profile of 14 specimens of Aplysina spp. marine sponges, we have developed a method based on LC-PDA-MS for the detection of bromotyrosine-derived metabolites. The method enabled the dereplication of three distinct chemotypes of bromotyrosine-derived compounds based on UV absorptions, which were further refined by electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry analysis of the brominated quasi-molecular ion clusters. This procedure led to either a single compound assignment, or a maximum of two possible isobaric compounds. The dereplication study indicated that the chemical profile of the 14 specimens of Aplysina spp. analyzed presented practically the same dibromotyrosine-derived compounds. The results obtained suggested a possible biogenetic pathway for the formation of dibromotyrosine-derived compounds of wide occurrence in Verongida sponges.

Amino acids profile of sugar cane spirit (cachaca), rum, and whisky

An analytical procedure for the separation and quantification of 20 amino acids in cachacas has been developed involving C18 solid phase cleanup, derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde/2-mercaptoethanol, and reverse phase liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The detection limit was between 0.0050 (Cys) and 0.25 (Ser) mg L-1, whereas the recovery index varies from 69.5 (Lys) to 100 (Tyr)%. Relative standard deviations vary from 1.39 (Trp) to 13.4 (Glu)% and from 3.08 (Glu) to 13.5 (His) for the repeatability and intermediate precision, respectively. From the quantitative profile of amino acids in 41 cachacas, 5 turns, and 12 whisky samples, the following order of amino acids in significant quantities is observed: Gly = Ser < Cys < Ile < His < Pro = Asp < Asn < Tyr for cachaca; Phe < Glu = Gln = Val = Ala < His = Gly Thr = Arg = Tyr < Asn Ser = Lys = Pro < Cys = Asp for rum; and Ala = Asn < Trp < Gln = His = Met = Ile = Cys < Thr < Asp Leu < Phe = Lys < Ser = Gly = Tyr = Val < Glu = Pro < Arg for whisky samples. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical profile of rums as a function of their origin. The use of chemometric techniques for their identification

To identify chemical descriptors to distinguish Cuban from non-Cuban rums, analyses of 44 samples of rum from 15 different countries are described. To provide the chemical descriptors, analyses of the the mineral fraction, phenolic compounds, caramel, alcohols, acetic acid, ethyl acetate, ketones, and aldehydes were carried out. The analytical data were treated through the following chemometric methods: principal component analysis (PCA), partial least square-discriminate analysis (PLS-DA), and linear discriminate analysis (LDA). These analyses indicated 23 analytes as relevant chemical descriptors for the separation of rums into two distinct groups. The possibility of clustering the rum samples investigated through PCA analysis led to an accumulative percentage of 70.4% in the first three principal components, and isoamyl alcohol, n-propyl alcohol, copper, iron, 2-furfuraldehyde (furfuraldehyde), phenylmethanal (benzaldehyde), epicatechin, and vanillin were used as chemical descriptors. By applying the PLS-DA technique to the whole set of analytical data, the following analytes have been selected as descriptors: acetone, sec-butyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, methanol, isoamyl alcohol, magnesium, sodium, lead, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, 4-hydroxy3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (syringaldehyde), methaldehyde (formaldehyde), 5-hydroxymethyl-2furfuraldehyde (5-HMF), acetalclehyde, 2-furfuraldehyde, 2-butenal (crotonaldehyde), n-pentanal (valeraldehyde), iso-pentanal (isovaleraldehyde), benzaldehyde, 2,3-butanodione monoxime, acetylacetone, epicatechin, and vanillin. By applying the LIDA technique, a model was developed, and the following analytes were selected as descriptors: ethyl acetate, sec-butyl alcohol, n-propyl alcohol, n-butyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, caramel, catechin, vanillin, epicatechin, manganese, acetalclehyde, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid, 2-butenal, 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid, cyclopentanone, acetone, lead, zinc, calcium, barium, strontium, and sodium. This model allowed the discrimination of Cuban rums from the others with 88.2% accuracy.

3D roll-forming of hat-profile with variable depth and width

The use of roll-formed products in automotive, furniture, buildings etc. increases every year due to the low part-production cost and the complicated cross-sections that can be produced. The limitation with roll-forming until recent years is that one could only produce profiles with a constant cross-section in the longitudinal direction. About eight years ago ORTIC AB [1] developed a machine in which it was possible to produce profiles with a variable width (“3D roll-forming”) for the building industry. Experimental equipment was recently built for research and prototyping of profiles with variable cross-section in both width and depth for the automotive industry. The objective with the current study is to investigate the new tooling concept that makes it possible to roll-form hat-profiles, made of ultra high strength steel, with variable cross-section in depth and width. The result shows that it is possible to produce 3D roll-formed profiles with close tolerances.

Avaliação da aplicabilidade da escala New Involvement Profile para mensuração do envolvimento do consumidor na cidade de Porto Alegre

O estudo do envolvimento do consumidor representa um dos tópicos mais importantes de pesquisa para aqueles que visam entender a forma como os seres humanos realizam suas decisões de compra. O envolvimento determina a quantidade de esforços empregados no processo de tomada de decisão, e apresenta importantes implicações tanto para o âmbito acadêmico quanto para o meio gerencial. No que diz respeito ao ambiente brasileiro, no entanto, foram poucos os trabalhos que se dedicaram exclusivamente a esse tema, não havendo, até o início desta pesquisa, nenhuma escala para mensuração de envolvimento validada para este cenário. O objetivo deste estudo é a avaliação da aplicabilidade da escala de Jain & Srinivasan (1990) na cidade de Porto Alegre. Tal escala, denominada New Involvement Profile (NIP), pode ser utilizada para mensuração do envolvimento de consumidores com diferentes categorias de produtos. Para esta pesquisa, mensurou-se o envolvimento com relação aos produtos cerveja, chocolate, corte de cabelo, CD, aparelho de televisão, detergente, shampoo e pilha. A escala NIP foi reaplicada a uma amostra de 420 (quatrocentos e vinte) respondentes em diversos bairros desta cidade. A qualidade e a robustez da escala de Jain & Srinivasan (1990) foram comprovadas através de testes de confiabilidade e verificações da validade de conteúdo e de constructo, englobando validade convergente e discriminante de cada dimensão da escala. Tal avaliação foi complementada a partir da relação existente entre os níveis de envolvimento encontrados e os pressupostos teóricos acerca desse conceito – tipos e determinates, bem como da comparação entre esses níveis e aqueles obtidos pelos mesmos produtos em estudos semelhantes.

A robust poverty profile for Brazil using multiple data sources

This paper presents a poverty profile for Brazil, based on three different sources of household data for 1996. We use PPV consumption data to estimate poverty and indigence lines. “Contagem” data is used to allow for an unprecedented refinement of the country’s poverty map. Poverty measures and shares are also presented for a wide range of population subgroups, based on the PNAD 1996, with new adjustments for imputed rents and spatial differences in cost of living. Robustness of the profile is verified with respect to different poverty lines, spatial price deflators, and equivalence scales. Overall poverty incidence ranges from 23% with respect to an indigence line to 45% with respect to a more generous poverty line. More importantly, however, poverty is found to vary significantly across regions and city sizes, with rural areas, small and medium towns and the metropolitan peripheries of the North and Northeast regions being poorest.

The Profile of a Manager in Higher Education Institution in Latin America: The Case of the EBAPE

The aim of this study is to analyze the profile of today’s manager, according to the classical management literature, working on internationalized higher education institute. This paper draws together knowledge about the manager’s profile in a corporate environment and how it can be appreciated in a higher education institute all of this taking into consideration the environment that nowadays exists in these institutions. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, with professors of the Fundacao Getulio Vargas, more specific on their Public and Business Administration School (EBAPE), which had active roles on its development, internationalization and during some point in time their management. The findings obtained where analyzed under the perspective brought by the theoretical reference framework, and, based on this approach is represented the manager whom could have a better perspective to administrate a higher education institute.

European business schools and global leadership: an examination of the admission criteria of the european master in management programs ranked by the Financial Times 2010

O aumento de empresas que operam internacionalmente requer o desenvolvimento de líderes mundiais para colocar as estratégias em prática. Embora este processo de desenvolvimento é importante para o mundo corporativo, muitos futuros executivos são graduados de escolas de administração de empresas que estão intimamente ligados ao mundo de negócios e, portanto, desempenhão um papel importante no processo. Esta pesquisa examina se os programas europeus “Master in Management” classificado pelo Financial Times em 2010 selecionam aqueles candidatos que são mais adequados para o desenvolvimento de liderança global. Portanto, três anteriores meta-estudos são sintetizados para produzir um perfil de competências classificadas de um líder global. Então, informações sobre os critérios de admissão dos programas de mestrado são coletadas e comparadas com este perfil. Os resultados mostram que seis competências são medidas por mais da metade dos programas: proficiência em Inglês, capacidade analítica (racionamento lógico e quantitativo), capacidade de comunicação, conhecimento do negócio global, determinação para alcançar, motivação e capacidade interpessoal. Além disso, as habilidades operacionais requerentes pelos líderes globais não são significativas no processo de admissão e o foco é sobre as habilidades analíticas. Comparação dos resultados com o perfil anteriormente desenvolvido abrangente indica que uma quantidade significativa de programas pode subestimar o significado de habilidades pessoais e características para o desenvolvimento de líderes globais.

Nonlinear pricing beyond the demand profile approach

Wilson [16] introduced a general methodology to deal with monopolistic pricing in situations where customers have private information on their tastes (‘types’). It is based on the demand profile of customers: For each nonlinear tariff by the monopolist the demand at a given level of product (or quality) is the measure of customers’ types whose marginal utility is at least the marginal tariff (‘price’). When the customers’ marginal utility has a natural ordering (i.e., the Spence and Mirrlees Condition), such demand profile is very easy to perform. In this paper we will present a particular model with one-dimensional type where the Spence and Mirrlees condition (SMC) fails and the demand profile approach results in a suboptimal solution for the monopolist. Moreover, we will suggest a generalization of the demand profile procedure that improves the monopolist’s profit when the SMC does not hold.

General (in-house) counsels in Brazil: career, professional profile and a new role

This paper discusses who the legal directors are in private companies in Brazil, emphasizing their profile, career, and performance, focusing on the period of 2008- 2013, investigating changes which have occurred to legal departments in those companies, and to legal directors’ careers. Our argument is that since the expansion of legal departments in Brazil in the 1990s, with expanding privatizing of companies and further opening of the Brazilian market to foreign capital, the profiles and careers of legal directors have undergone several transformations, culminating in more value and prestige being given to those professionals inside companies. This paper explores these transformations and the a series of implications generated for the corporate legal market in the country, ranging from changing the criteria for hiring professionals, to creating new demands for more sophisticated legal services.

Comparative study of the whisky aroma profile based on headspace solid phase microextraction using different fibre coatings

A dynamic headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography coupled to ion trap mass spectrometry (GC–ITMS) method was developed and applied for the qualitative determination of the volatile compounds present in commercial whisky samples which alcoholic content was previously adjusted to 13% (v/v). Headspace SPME experimental conditions, such as fibre coating, extraction temperature and extraction time, were optimized in order to improve the extraction process. Five different SPME fibres were used in this study, namely, poly(dimethylsiloxane)(PDMS),poly(acrylate)(PA),Carboxen-poly(dimethylsiloxane)(CAR/PDMS),Carbowax-divinylbenzene(CW/DVB)and Carboxen-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-divinylbenzene (CAR/PDMS/DVB). The best results were obtained using a 75 m CAR/PDMS fibre during headspace extraction at 40◦C with stirring at 750rpm for 60min, after saturating the samples with salt. The optimised methodology was then appliedtoinvestigatethevolatilecompositionprofileofthreeScotchwhiskysamples—BlackLabel,BallantinesandHighlandClan.Approximately seventy volatile compounds were identified in the these samples, pertaining at several chemical groups, mainly fatty acids ethyl esters, higher alcohols, fatty acids, carbonyl compounds, monoterpenols, C13 norisoprenoids and some volatile phenols. The ethyl esters form an essential group of aroma components in whisky, to which they confer a pleasant aroma, with “fruity” odours. Qualitatively, the isoamyl acetate, with “banana” aroma,wasthemostinteresting.Quantitatively,significantcomponentsareethylestersofcaprilic,capricandlauricacids.Thehighestconcentration of fatty acids, were observed for caprilic and capric acids. From the higher alcohols the fusel oils (3-methylbutan-1-ol and 2.phenyletanol) are the most important ones.

Development of a dynamic headspace solid-phase microextraction procedure coupled to GC–qMSD for evaluation the chemical profile in alcoholic beverages

In the present study, a simple and sensitive methodology based on dynamic headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) followed by thermal desorption gas chromatography with quadrupole mass detection (GC–qMSD), was developed and optimized for the determination of volatile (VOCs) and semi-volatile (SVOCs) compounds from different alcoholic beverages: wine, beer and whisky. Key experimental factors influencing the equilibrium of the VOCs and SVOCs between the sample and the SPME fibre, as the type of fibre coating, extraction time and temperature, sample stirring and ionic strength, were optimized. The performance of five commercially available SPME fibres was evaluated and compared, namely polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, 100 μm); polyacrylate (PA, 85 μm); polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB, 65 μm); carboxen™/polydimethylsiloxane (CAR/PDMS, 75 μm) and the divinylbenzene/carboxen on polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/CAR/PDMS, 50/30 μm) (StableFlex). An objective comparison among different alcoholic beverages has been established in terms of qualitative and semi-quantitative differences on volatile and semi-volatile compounds. These compounds belong to several chemical families, including higher alcohols, ethyl esters, fatty acids, higher alcohol acetates, isoamyl esters, carbonyl compounds, furanic compounds, terpenoids, C13-norisoprenoids and volatile phenols. The optimized extraction conditions and GC–qMSD, lead to the successful identification of 44 compounds in white wines, 64 in beers and 104 in whiskys. Some of these compounds were found in all of the examined beverage samples. The main components of the HS-SPME found in white wines were ethyl octanoate (46.9%), ethyl decanoate (30.3%), ethyl 9-decenoate (10.7%), ethyl hexanoate (3.1%), and isoamyl octanoate (2.7%). As for beers, the major compounds were isoamyl alcohol (11.5%), ethyl octanoate (9.1%), isoamyl acetate (8.2%), 2-ethyl-1-hexanol (5.9%), and octanoic acid (5.5%). Ethyl decanoate (58.0%), ethyl octanoate (15.1%), ethyl dodecanoate (13.9%) followed by 3-methyl-1-butanol (1.8%) and isoamyl acetate (1.4%) were found to be the major VOCs in whisky samples.