Per Møller was educated in physics and mathematics at the University of Copenhagen (M.Sc.). He later received his M.A. degree in Psychology and Ph.D. degree in Cognitive Science from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.. He works on psychological and neurological problems of the senses using psychophysical and neurophysiological methods. Among other problems he works on relationships between the senses, reward, and appetite.

Export of cocoa beans is of great economic importance in Ghana and several other tropical countries. Raw cocoa has an astringent, unpleasant taste, and flavor, and has to be fermented, dried, and roasted to obtain the characteristic cocoa flavor and taste. In an attempt to obtain a deeper understanding of the changes in the cocoa beans during fermentation and investigate the possibility of future development of objective methods for assessing the degree of fermentation, a novel combination of methods including cut test, colorimetry, fluorescence spectroscopy, NIR spectroscopy, and GC-MS evaluated by chemometric methods was used to examine cocoa beans sampled at different durations of fermentation and samples representing fully fermented and dried beans from all cocoa growing regions of Ghana. Using colorimetry it was found that samples moved towards higher a* and b* values as fermentation progressed. Furthermore, the degree of fermentation could, in general, be well described by the spectroscopic methods used. In addition, it was possible to link analysis of volatile compounds with predictions of fermentation time. Fermented and dried cocoa beans from the Volta and the Western regions clustered separately in the score plots based on colorimetric, fluorescence, NIR, and GC-MS indicating regional differences in the composition of Ghanaian cocoa beans. The study demonstrates the potential of colorimetry and spectroscopic methods as valuable tools for determining the fermentation degree of cocoa beans. Using GC-MS it was possible to demonstrate the formation of several important aroma compounds such 2-phenylethyl acetate, propionic acid, and acetoin and the breakdown of others like diacetyl during fermentation. Practical Application: The present study demonstrates the potential of using colorimetry and spectroscopic methods as objective methods for determining cocoa bean quality along the processing chain. Development of objective methods for determining cocoa bean quality will be of great importance for quality insurance within the fields of cocoa processing and raw material control in chocolate producing companies.

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Background Nursing home residents are in high risk of vitamin D deficiency, which negatively affects bone health. Vitamin D and calcium supplements haves shown to increase bone density and reduce fracture risk. Therefore, The Danish Health Authority recommends all nursing home residents a daily supplement of 20 μg vitamin D and 800–1000 mg calcium. However, adherence to the recommendation and knowledge of it is unknown. The aims of this study were to investigate adherence, knowledge, and potential barriers to this recommendation in Denmark. Methods A cross-sectional electronic survey was conducted in May–June 2020 among 50 randomly selected nursing homes widely distributed in Denmark. Questions included degree of adherence to the recommendation at each nursing home as well as respondent’s knowledge and attitudes towards it, and experienced barriers in relation to adherence. Results Respondents from 41 nursing homes answered the questionnaire, and these were mainly nurses (63%) or nursing home leaders (20%). Low adherence (≤ 40% of residents receiving both supplements) was reported at 35% of nursing homes, and only 8% of the nursing homes had a high adherence (> 80% of residents receiving both supplements). Most respondents (88%) had knowledge of the recommendation and 62% rated importance of increased implementation as high. Common explanations of low implementation were a lack of prescription by the general practitioner in the central electronic database (60%), resident-refusal to eat tablets (43%), chewing-swallowing difficulties (40%), and a high number of tablets given to the residents daily (34%). Conclusions The recommendation of daily vitamin D and calcium supplements to Danish nursing home residents is poorly implemented even though knowledge of the recommendation is relatively high. Barriers relate to an ambiguity of responsibility between the general practitioners and the nursing home staff, as well as the high number of tablets to be consumed in total by the residents. These barriers must be targeted to improve adherence in this vulnerable group of institutionalized older adults.

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