Search

Research background: The growing segment of elderly consumers implies the need to permanently explore the needs and expectations of older people in relation to the offer of food products. This is because, as the research results show, the households of the elderly are characterized by the different fulfillment of needs compared to others.

Copyright of Handel Wewnêtrzny is the property of Institute for Market, Consumption & Business Cycles Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Handel Wewnêtrzny is the property of Institute for Market, Consumption & Business Cycles Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Thermo-responsive polymer hydrogels attract a great attention because of their unique behavior in response to changes in the thermal environment. It is related to metastable intermolecular interactions resulting in volume phase transitions (VPT). The hydration of poly(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl methacrylate) (PMEO2MA)-based materials was studied by Raman spectroscopy and further supported by density functional theory calculations. Hydrogels based on random networks prepared via radiationinduced free radical polymerization and cross-linking were compared with hydrogels withmore regular structure formed by atom transfer radical polymerization. Two types of regular networks were studied: bare one and decorated by linear dangling chains. It was found that both, the total bound water surrounding the polymer chains (~11 H2O per polymer unit) and accessibility of C=O groups for water molecules, are independent of topology of PMEO2MA network. Contrarily, network architecture strongly influences C=O-water complex stability, which decreases in a following order: regular bare network, irregular bare network, regular decorated network. It was also shown that the stability of C=O-water complex is correlated with VPT temperature in PMEO2MA hydrogels. These studies prove a key role of polymer hydration in its thermo-responsive properties. Copyright © 2016 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]