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Pistacia lentiscus L. is a dioecious shrub or small tree with high drought resistance, native in the entire Mediterranean basin. The variety ‘Chia’ (mastic tree) is cultivated for the production of mastic gum (a resin produced after wounding of the trunks and thick branches) in the Island of Chios (Greece), but it also has a significant ornamental value. In the present study, ten male and ten female genotypes of P. lentiscus var. Chia from the natural habitats of Chios were selected and examined with respect to the rooting efficiency of their shoot cuttings. The germination ability of the seeds was also tested. The 20 plants were morphologically described, mainly with respect to traits related to their ornamental value. Furthermore, leaves were collected from the 20 genotypes, from which genomic DNA (gDNA) was isolated, followed by amplification of gDNA fragments using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) primers. This was done aiming both at the determination of their genetic distance and the establishment of possible correlations between the amplified bands and certain morphological traits. The results of the study showed that there were differences among the genotypes for both methods of propagation. Regarding the rooting of the shoot cuttings, the best genotype was 8M (cv. ‘Psilophyllos’), achieving a rooting rate of 62.5% in winter with the application of indolebutyric acid (potassium salt of IBA), while regarding the seed germination capacity the genotype 2F exhibited the highest germination rate (57%). Genetic analysis using ISSRs separated the plants into four groups, one group consisting of male genotypes, one of the female genotypes, one consisting of members from both genders and a fourth containing a single male genotype. The genetic analysis of the male genotypes only produced a dendrogram showing the cultivars clustering in three different groups. Regardless of the genetic analysis, it seems that there were correlations between the ISSR markers and the leaf traits and also the gender and the asexual propagation. These correlations can assist future breeding programs of P. lentiscus var. Chia.

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) is considered an ability which helps to recognize and regulate of one's own and others' emotions. EI was suggested to be one of the important factors for maintaining a successful personal and professional life. EI is considered as an ability that can be developed through practice. Thus, numerous studies attempted to examine effects of EI training programs. This study examined the effects of an intensive three-day training program on EI, difficulties in emotional regulation, reflective functioning, and psychological symptoms. The participants were 18 adults in the treatment group and 18 adults in the control group. The results showed that the EI training have led to a significant decrease in difficulties in emotional regulation over three days of training among participants in the treatment group. In particular, participants' in the treatment group impulse control difficulties decreased, whereas such a decrease was not observed in the control group. There was some increase in the Reflective Functioning Uncertainity scores of the participants' in the treatment group. There were no significant changes in overall emotional intelligence and psychological symptoms. The findings suggested that the intensive EI training led to better impulse control ability and an increase in mentalizing capacity.

Smart packaging of food products is a new promising technology aiming to the preservation of consumer’s health and safety while prolonging the products’ self-life in transport and mass storage. Smart packaging can be applied by using chemical and/or biological sensors for monitoring indicators associated with bacterial growth and spoilage, as well as pathogen contamination. Poultry meat is a nutrient-rich matrix which supports the growth of various micro-organisms and the extended storage time can allow the proliferation of different microbial species on meat surfaces. The nature of the packaging approaches and storage factors can dictate the nature of the spoilage that transpires, with respect to the dominant microflora of the end-product. In the present study an innovative approach is explored for the development of cost-effective 3D-printed biosensors for monitoring known indicators associated with bacterial growth and spoilage in poultry meat. Spoilage was also independently measured using MSI and FT-IR spectroscopic methods. The development of a protocol for pathogen screening was also investigated with real-time polymerase chain reactions (qPCR).

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