Relation of Biospeckle Activity with Quality Attributes of Apples

Biospeckle is nondestructive optical technique based on the analysis of variations of laser light scattered from biological samples. Biospeckle activity reflects the state of the investigated object. In this study the relation of biospeckle activity (BA) with firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) and starch content (SC) during the shelf life of seven apple cultivars was studied. The results showed that the quality attributes change significantly during storage. Significant and pronounced positive correlation between BA and SC was found. This result shows that degradation of starch granules, which could be stimulated to vibration by intracellular cyclosis, causes a lesser number of laser light scattering centers and results in smaller apparent biospeckle activity

Raman imaging of changes in the polysaccharides distribution in the cell wall during apple fruit development and senescence

Main conclusion Du ring on-tree ripening, the pectin distribution changed from polydispersed in cell wall to cumulated in cell wall corners. During apple storage, the pectin distribution returned to evenly dispersed along the cell wall. The plant cell wall influences the texture properties of fruit tissue for example apples become softer during ripening and postharvest storage. This softening process is believed to be mainly connected with changes in the cell wall composition due to polysaccharides undergoing an enzymatic degradation. These changes in polysaccharides are currently mainly investigated via chemical analysis or monoclonal labeling. Here, we propose the application of Raman microscopy for evaluating the changes in the polysaccharide distribution in the cell wall of apples during both ripening and postharvest storage. The apples were harvested 1 month and 2 weeks before optimal harvest date as well as at the optimal harvest date. The apples harvested at optimal harvest date were stored for 3 months. The Raman maps, as well as the chemical analysis were obtained for each harvest date and after 1, 2 and 3 months of storage, respectively. The analysis of the Raman maps showed that the pectins in the middle lamella and primary cell wall undergo a degradation. The changes in cellulose and hemicellulose were less pronounced. These findings were confirmed by the chemical analysis results. During development changes of pectins from a polydispersed form in the cell walls to a cumulated form in cell wall corners could be observed. In contrast after 3 months of apple storage we could observe an substantial pectin decrease. The obtained results demonstrate that Raman chemical imaging might be a very useful tool for a first identification of compositional changes in plant tissue during their development. The great advantage Raman microspectroscopy offers is the simultaneous localization and identification of polysaccharides within the cell wall and plant tissue

Crisis management and crisis situation in the organization

PURPOSE: The aim of the article is to present the problems of crisis management and crisis situation in an organisation, taking into consideration that crisis is an integral part of the functioning of any organisation.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Realisation of the goal indicated will help find an answer to the research problem: How does the occurrence of a crisis affect the functioning of an organisation, particularly in a time of chaos and uncertainty? Qualitative methods were applied to obtain an answer to the research question posed. The research made use of the latest report containing statistics concerning crisis and resilience of organisations, an analysis was also conducted based on both domestic and foreign scientific articles from recent years.FINDINGS: The authors formulated the following conclusions: Crisis is inevitable, but its effects can be mitigated. Organisations which are prepared for a crisis have a greater chance of successfully overcoming it. Crisis management is a complex process requiring the commitment of the entire team. Organisations should conduct regular reviews of their crisis plans to ensure that they have not become outdated and their effectiveness has not decreased. Organisations should also carry out crisis training to test their plans and prepare employees for the event of a crisis.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Crises may have various intensities and effects. Some may be short lasting and have no significant impact on the working of the organisation. Others may be long-term and lead to serious losses, or even the collapse of a company. In order to minimise the risk of a crisis, organisations should apply the appropriate crisis management strategies. which indicates the necessity to take these into account in the organisation’s practices, in plans and action strategies, stressing the creation of various scenarios for future development.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: An analysis of the materials gathered proves that crises may become a catalyst for change with regard to generating new solutions in the field of coping with crisis situations in an organisation. Particularly noteworthy are organisations in the energy, technology, media and communications sectors, and in the health industry, due to the experience they have in implementing integrated programmes to increase immunity, which may inspire other organisations to take such decisions.peer-reviewe

Research of speed and accuracy of speech synthesis methods for the purposes of deployment in embedded device

In the article, the methods concerning speech synthesis were analysed, having in mind their usage in an embedded device. Research was carried out on the devices with mixed parameters, and the criteria were accuracy and speed of the given method. The research is a part of the Toucan Eye project – an embedded device with an artificial intelligence system able to help people with impaired sight. It was shown how important is optimization of the applied methods in the phase of an engineer project to ensure better quality of a working device and the end-user’s comfort. Keywords: speech synthesis, assisting persons with impaired sight, Toucan Ey

Determination of the Elastic Properties of Tomato Fruit Cells with an Atomic Force Microscope

Since the mechanical properties of single cells together with the intercellular adhesive properties determine the macro-mechanical properties of plants, a method for evaluation of the cell elastic properties is needed to help explanation of the behavior of fruits and vegetables in handling and food processing. For this purpose, indentation of tomato mesocarp cells with an atomic force microscope was used. The Young’s modulus of a cell using the Hertz and Sneddon models, and stiffness were calculated from force-indentation curves. Use of two probes of distinct radius of curvature (20 nm and 10,000 nm) showed that the measured elastic properties were significantly affected by tip geometry. The Young’s modulus was about 100 kPa ± 35 kPa and 20 kPa ± 14 kPa for the sharper tip and a bead tip, respectively. Moreover, large variability regarding elastic properties (>100%) among cells sampled from the same region in the fruit was observed. We showed that AFM provides the possibility of combining nano-mechanical properties with topography imaging, which could be very useful for the study of structure-related properties of fruits and vegetables at the cellular and sub-cellular scale

Badania szybkości i skuteczności metod syntezy mowy na potrzeby zastosowania w urządzeniu przenośnym

W artykule przeanalizowano szereg metod dotyczących syntezy mowy, mając na uwadze ich wykorzystanie w urządzeniu przenośnym. Badania realizowano na urządzeniach o zróżnicowa-nych parametrach, a badanymi kryteriami były skuteczność danej metody i jej szybkość. Badania są częścią projektu ToucanEye – urządzenia przenośnego z systemem sztucznej inteligencji, mają-cego wspomóc osoby z dysfunkcją wzroku. Pokazano również, jak ważne jest zoptymalizowanie zastosowanych metod w fazie projektu inżynierskiego w celu zapewnienia lepszej jakości pracy urządzenia i komfortu użytkownika końcowego.In the article the methods concerning speech synthesis were analysed, having in mind their usage in embedded device. Research was carried out on devices with mixed parameters, and the criteria were accuracy and speed of given method. The research are part the Toucan Eye project – embedded device with artificial intelligence system able to help people with impaired sight. It was shown how important is optimization of applied methods in the phase of engineer project to ensure better quality of working device and comfort of end-user