From berry plant cropping to a cosmetic formula: sustainable upcycling of active ingredients

Due to the interest in berry fruit's antioxidant properties, its worldwide production has been increasing in the past two decades, as has its waste. Bioresidues produced by the agri-food industry are increasingly intrinsic to the world’s economy, and researchers are looking for new ways to enhance their use. Innovations are being developed to transform these residues into high-value raw materials with industrial applications, promoting the circular economy concept. Bioactive extracts from blueberry and raspberry aerial parts using green methodologies were obtained for this work. Different extraction techniques were considered and different conditions were tested to achieve optimal extraction conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ultrasonographic evaluation of the eyes' posterior segment of diabetic and non-diabetic dogs with cataracts

Cataracts jeopardize the light penetration into the eye and may restrain direct exam of eye structures. It is necessary to identify very early any eye disease that could cause the failure of cataract surgery. The ocular ultrasonography or echography is a safe, non invasive, inexpensive and easy procedure that complements ocular examination. Two hundred and twenty five eyes of 123 dogs were evaluated using a 10 Mhz linear transducer ultrasound. The dogs were divided into three groups, as there is Group 1: 36 healthy control dogs; Group 2: 52 non diabetic dogs with cataracts; and Group 3: 35 diabetic dogs with cataracts; all of them were patients of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, University of São Paulo. The ultrasonographic findings were in Group 1: vitreous degeneration in 43%, posterior vitreous detachment in 7.7%, asteroid hyalosis in 4.6% of the eyes; in Group 2: vitreous degeneration in 58.9%, posterior vitreous detachment in 8.4%, asteroid hyalosis in 2.1%, inflammatory or haemorrhagic process in 2.1%, retinal detachment in 4.3% of the eyes; and in Group 3: vitreous degeneration in 50.7%, posterior vitreous detachment in 13.8%, asteroid hyalosis in 12.3%, inflammatory or haemorrhagic process in 3.1%, retinal detachment in 3.1% of the eyes. It could be concluded that (1) diabetic dogs, mainly the ones with diabetes for more than 2 years, have greater chances to develop asteroid hyalosis; (2) there were no significant differences in retinal detachment frequencies for the diabetic and non diabetic dogs; and (3) the ocular ultrasonography is a safe, effective and important exam for the pre-operatory evaluation of dogs with cataracts.A catarata impossibilita a passagem de luz dentro do olho, dificultando o exame físico direto das estruturas oculares. É necessária a identificação prévia de quaisquer alterações oculares que contra-indiquem a cirurgia de catarata. A ultra-sonografia, ou ecografia ocular, é um exame seguro, de baixo custo, não invasivo, de fácil realização, que completa o exame oftálmico. Foi realizada avaliação ultra-sonográfica, com transdutor linear, freqüência de 10 MHz, de 225 olhos de 123 cães, sendo cães controle (Grupo 1), 52 cães não diabéticos portadores de catarata (Grupo 2) e 35 cães diabéticos portadores de catarata (Grupo 3), todos eles atendidos no Hospital Veterinário da Universidade de São Paulo. Foram encontradas as seguintes alterações ultra-sonográficas no Grupo 1: degeneração vítrea em 43%, descolamento de vítreo posterior em 7,7%, hialose asteróide em 4,6% dos olhos; no Grupo 2: degeneração vítrea em 58,9%, descolamento de vítreo posterior em 8,4%, hialose asteróide em 2,1%, processo inflamatório e/ou hemorrágico em 2,1% e descolamento de retina em 4,3% dos olhos; e no Grupo 3: degeneração vítrea em 50,7%, descolamento de vítreo posterior em 13,8%, hialose asteróide em 12,3%, processo inflamatório e/ou hemorrágico em 3,1% e descolamento de retina em 3,1% dos olhos. Concluiu-se, que (1) cães diabéticos, principalmente os que apresentam a doença há mais de 2 anos, tem maior predisposição para o desenvolvimento de hialose asteróide; (2) não houve diferença entre a freqüencia de descolamento de retina encontrada em cães diabéticos e não diabéticos; e (3) a ultra-sonografia ocular é em exame seguro, eficaz e importante na avaliação pré-operatória de cães portadores de catarata.Universidade de São Paulo Departamento de Cirurgia da Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e ZootecniaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de Medicina Departamento de OftalmologiaUSP Hospital Veterinário Serviço de OftalmologiaUSP FMVZ Departamento de CirurgiaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de OftalmologiaSciEL

Chemical and bioactive characterization of blueberry bioresidues

Blueberry production has increased exponentially in recent decades due to its known high nutritional characteristics, and bioresidues originating from its culture have also increased. It is critical to limit its buildup. One strategy for directing these residues is to turn them into high-value products while investigating their potential bioactivity. The goal of this study was to produce bioactive extracts from blueberry aerial parts using environmentally friendly methods. Different extracts, such as infusion, maceration, and decoction, were considered, as well as emerging extraction technologies, such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, in which different conditions (potency, temperature, and solvent type) were tested to achieve optimal extraction conditions (high yields and purity). The obtained extracts were studied regarding their chemical profile through phenolic compound´s identification and quantification by HPLC-DAD-MS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Note On Asymptotic Smoothness Of The Extensions Of Zadeh

The concept of asymptotic smooth transformation was introduced by J. Hale [10]. It is a very important property for a transformation between complete metric spaces to have a global attractor. This property has also consequences on asymptotic stability of attractors. In our work we study the conditions under which the Zadeh's extension of a continuous map f : R n → R n is asymptotically smooth in the complete metric space JF(R n) of normal fuzzy sets with the induced Hausdorff metric d ∞ (see Kloeden and Diamond [8]).212141153Barros, L.C., Bassanezi, R.C., Tonelli, P.A., On the continuity of Zadeh's extension (1997) Proceedings Seventh IFSA World Congress, 2, pp. 3-8. , PragueBarros, L.C., Bassanezi, R.C., Tonelli, P.A., Fuzzy modeling in populations dynamics (2000) Ecological Modeling, 128, pp. 27-33Brumley, W.E., On the asymptotic behavior of solutions of differential difference equations of neutral type (1970) J. of Differential Equations, 7, pp. 175-188Cabrelli, C.A., Forte, B., Molter, U., Vrscay, E., Iterated Fuzzy Sets Systems: A new approach to the inverse for fractals and other sets (1992) J. of Math. Anal, and Appl., 171, pp. 79-100Cooperman, G., (1978) α-Condensing Maps and Dissipative Processes, , Ph. D. Thesis, Brown University, Providence, R. IDiamond, P., Chaos in iterated fuzzy systems (1994) J. of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, 184, pp. 472-484Diamond, P., Time Dependent Differential Inclusions, Cocycle Attractors and Fuzzy Differential Equations (1999) IEEE Trans. on Fuzzy Systems, 7, pp. 734-740Diamond, P., Kloeden, P., (1994) Metric Spaces of Fuzzy Sets: Theory and Applications, , World Scientific PubFriedmann, M., Ma, M., Kandel, A., Numerical solutions of fuzzy differential and integral equations (1999) Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 106, pp. 35-48Hale, J.K., Asymptotic Behavior of Dissipative Systems (1988) Math. Surveys and Monographs, 25. , American Mathematical Society, ProvidenceHüllermeier, E., An Approach to Modeling and Simulation of Uncertain Dynamical Systems (1997) J. Uncertainty, Fuzziness, Know Ledge-Bases Syst., 5, pp. 117-137Kloeden, P.E., Fuzzy dynamical systems (1982) Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 7, pp. 275-296Kloeden, P.E., Chaotic iterations of fuzzy sets (1991) Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 42, pp. 37-42Nguyen, H.T., A note on thé extension principle for fuzzy sets (1978) J. Math. Anal. Appl., 64, pp. 369-380Puri, M.L., Ralescu, D.A., Fuzzy Random Variables (1986) J. of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, 114, pp. 409-422Roman-Flores, H., Barros, L.C., Bassanezzi, R., A note on Zadeh's Extensions (2001) Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 117, pp. 327-331Roman-Flores, H., On the Compactness of E(X) (1998) Appl. Math. Lett., 11, pp. 13-17Zadeh, L.A., Fuzzy sets (1965) Inform. Control, 8, pp. 338-35

From topological to parametrized field theory

It has been proposed to study the theory resulting from setting the gravitational constant to zero in the first order formalism for general relativity. In this letter we investigate this theory in the presence of matter fields, establish its equivalence with parametrized field theory on a flat background, and relate it to previous results in topological field theory (BF theory).Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figure

Flexural strengthening of RC continuous slab strips using NSM CFRP laminates

To assess the effectiveness of the near surface mounted (NSM) technique, in terms of load carrying and moment redistribution capacities, for the flexural strengthening of continuous reinforced concrete (RC) slabs, an experimental program was carried out. The experimental program is composed of three series of three slab strips of two equal span length, in order to verify the possibility of increasing the negative (at the intermediate support region) resisting bending moment in 25% and 50% and maintaining moment redistribution levels of 15%, 30% and 45%. Though the flexural resistance of the NSM strengthened sections has exceeded the target values, the moment redistribution was relatively low, and the increase of the load carrying capacity of the strengthened slabs did not exceed 25%. This experimental program is analyzed to highlight the possibilities of NSM technique for statically indeterminate RC slabs in terms of flexural strengthening effectiveness, moment redistribution and ductility performance. Using a FEM-based computer program, which predictive performance was appraised using the obtained experimental results, a high effective NSM flexural strengthening strategy is proposed, capable of enhancing the slab’s load carrying capacity and maintaining high levels of ductility.The study reported in this paper forms a part of the research program "CUTINEMO - Carbon fiber laminates applied according to the near surface mounted technique to increase the flexural resistance to negative moments of continuous reinforced concrete structures" supported by FCT, PTDC/ECM/73099/2006. The authors wish to acknowledge the support also provided by the S&P, Casais and Artecanter Companies. The first Author acknowledges the financial support of National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) - Brazil, Ph.D. Grant no. 200953/2007-9. The second Author wishes to acknowledge the support provided by FCT, by means of the SFRH/BSAB/818/2008 and SFRH/BSAB/913/2009 sabbatical grants

Resonant structure of space-time of early universe

A new fully quantum method describing penetration of packet from internal well outside with its tunneling through the barrier of arbitrary shape used in problems of quantum cosmology, is presented. The method allows to determine amplitudes of wave function, penetrability $T_{\rm bar}$ and reflection $R_{\rm bar}$ relatively the barrier (accuracy of the method: $|T_{\rm bar}+R_{\rm bar}-1| < 1 \cdot 10^{-15}$), coefficient of penetration (i.e. probability of the packet to penetrate from the internal well outside with its tunneling), coefficient of oscillations (describing oscillating behavior of the packet inside the internal well). Using the method, evolution of universe in the closed Friedmann--Robertson--Walker model with quantization in presence of positive cosmological constant, radiation and component of generalize Chaplygin gas is studied. It is established (for the first time): (1) oscillating dependence of the penetrability on localization of start of the packet; (2) presence of resonant values of energy of radiation $E_{\rm rad}$, at which the coefficient of penetration increases strongly. From analysis of these results it follows: (1) necessity to introduce initial condition into both non-stationary, and stationary quantum models; (2) presence of some definite values for the scale factor $a$, where start of expansion of universe is the most probable; (3) during expansion of universe in the initial stage its radius is changed not continuously, but passes consequently through definite discrete values and tends to continuous spectrum in latter time.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 4 table