Behavior of the complex micro-ecology in maize and rye flour and mother-dough for broa throughout storage

Besides water, maize and rye flour are the main constituents of broa a unique sourdough bread, manufactured following traditional protocols at the farm level in Portugal. Mother-dough, i.e., a piece of leavened dough kept aside from batch to batch under refrigeration conditions, constitutes the only starter culture used throughout breadmaking. Maize and rye flour, as well as mother-dough, were accordingly assayed for their microbiological profiles throughout storage time, to characterize the evolution in viability of the adventitious microorganisms: total viable counts, as well as viable yeasts, molds, gram-negative rods, gram-positive rods (endospore-forming and nonsporing) and gram-positive cocci (catalase+ and catalase). In general, all microbial groups exhibited an outstanding resistance to storage, so use of mother-dough appears technologically effective in this form of breadmaking, and an appropriate storage of flour does not convey any important changes to their microbiological profile.Several members of the Regional Directorate of Agriculture of Entre-Douro-e-Minho (DRAEDM, Portugal) and several local farmers are hereby gratefully acknowledged for their cooperation, on a volunteer basis, in supplying samples for analysis. Financial support for author J. M. R. was provided by a Ph.D. fellowship within the program PRAXIS XXI – ref. PRAXIS XXI/BD/16060/98, administered by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) and supervised by author F. X. M. Partial financial support was received within program PAMAF – IED, through research grant “Pão de milho: caracterização do processo tradicional de produção e melhoramento tecnológico” – ref. PAMAF 1022, administered by Ministério da Agricultura, Desenvolvimento Rural e Pescas (Portugal) and coordinated by author F. X. M

Caracterização dinâmica da ponte Luiz Bandeira em Sejães

A Ponte Luiz Bandeira, localizada na N333-3 sobre o Rio Vouga próxima da localidade de Sejães (Oliveira de Frades), é hoje considerada como a mais antiga ponte de betão armado em utilização no nosso país, e uma das mais velhas da Europa. Recentemente foram realizados na Ponte Luiz Bandeira um conjunto de ensaios de inspecção e diagnóstico estrutural que incluíram, entre outros, uma identificação dinâmica para a determinação das frequências naturais, modos de vibração e coeficientes de amortecimento. Para a elaboração da campanha experimental, primeiramente foi efectuada uma análise numérica de sensibilidade da resposta dinâmica da ponte, que permitiu melhor definir os procedimentos de ensaio em campo. Na ponte foram efectuados dois tipos de ensaios dinâmicos: ensaios com ruído ambiente e ensaios para a determinação dos coeficientes de amortecimento com recurso à passagem de um automóvel sobre uma prancha no pavimento a diferentes velocidades. Posteriormente, os resultados da identificação dinâmica foram utilizados para a calibração do modelo numérico que permitiu aferir, juntamente com os restantes ensaios de inspecção e diagnóstico, o estado de conservação estrutural da ponte Luiz Bandeira. A presente comunicação apresenta e descreve detalhadamente todas as fases de estudo referentes à caracterização dinâmica da ponte

Caracterização do betão da Ponte Luiz Bandeira em Sejães

A Ponte Luiz Bandeira, localizada na N333-3 sobre o Rio Vouga próxima da localidade de Sejães (Oliveira de Frades), é hoje considerada como a mais antiga ponte de betão armado em utilização no nosso país, e uma das mais velhas da Europa. Segundo relatos históricos, a ponte terá sido construída num tempo recorde de 3 meses pela empresa Moreira de Sá & Malevez, em 1907. Esta ponte em arco, com um vão de cerca de 44 m, foi construída de acordo com o sistema patenteado Hennebique datado do final do século XIX. Cerca de 50 anos após a construção da ponte, esta sofreu obras de requalificação tendo os diversos elementos estruturais sido reforçados por encamisamento, i.e. adição de novas armaduras e aumento das secções de betão. Apesar da idade e do reduzido número de intervenções, a ponte apresenta, de uma forma geral, um nível de danos relativamente reduzido. Nos últimos tempos o Departamento de Engenharia Civil da Universidade do Minho tem vindo a efectuar diversos estudos a esta ponte envolvendo diversas entidades públicas e privadas, de forma a caracterizar a técnica de construção utilizada, os materiais utilizados, e o desempenho estrutural da ponte. No âmbito do presente trabalho, é feita uma descrição das metodologias usadas, bem como os principais resultados obtidos na caracterização do betão existente na ponte. Esta caracterização foi realizada para os diferentes elementos estruturais que compõem a ponte e a diferentes níveis, nomeadamente: geométrica, mecânica e material. Neste artigo é apresentado o contributo para a caracterização material do betão original empregue na ponte. Assim, é determinado a composição física do traço (relação entre o teor de material inerte e de ligante), composição química do ligante e do agregado, bem como a distribuição granulométrica e a mineralogia deste último. Adicionalmente, foi caraterizado do ponto de vista químico o aço original. Pretende-se, desta forma, contribuir para a actualização do estado do conhecimento sobre pontes em betão armado construídas no início do século passado

Contact lens care solutions and ocular surface

Safe wear of non-daily disposable contact lenses require care systems to ensure disinfection and cleaning to allow the lens to be reused after a period of non lens wear (typically overnight). To do so, modern care systems, also known as multipurpose solutions (MPS) or multipurpose disinfecting solutions (MPDS) try to mimic the environment of the ocular surface regarding pH, osmolality, surface tension or viscosity while introducing other singular properties as a wide-spectrum antimicrobial activity and high cleaning performance. This delicate equilibrium or properties is challenging and sometimes results in adverse events that have drawn the attention of the CL industry and scientifi c community to these systems with an increased intensity during the past decade. Even with disposable lenses, safety is still a concern and presently we are in front of a new paradigm of solutions development, which must provide reinforced disinfecting capabilities and at the same time improve the compatibility with the ocular surface. Indeed, disinfection effi cacy against different new strains of microorganisms and compatibility with the ocular surface have been two aspects widely covered in the recent scientifi c literature, topics that will also be addressed in this chapter

The flow-performance relationship around the world

We use a new dataset to study how mutual fund flows depend on past performance across 28 countries. We show that there are marked differences in the flow-performance relationship across countries, suggesting that US findings concerning its shape do not apply universally. We find that mutual fund investors sell losers more and buy winners less in more developed countries. This is because investors in more developed countries are more sophisticated and face lower costs of participating in the mutual fund industry. Higher country-level convexity is positively associated with higher levels of risk taking by fund managers

Application of fractional algorithms in the control of a robotic bird

In this paper, it is studied the dynamics of the robotic bird in terms of time response and robustness. It is analyzed the wing angle of attack and the velocity of the bird, the tail influence, the gliding flight and the flapping flight. The results are positive for the construction of flying robots. The development of computational simulation based on the dynamic of the robotic bird should allow testing strategies and different algorithms of control such as integer and fractional controllers

A stochastic dynamic programming approach to optimize short-rotation coppice systems management scheduling: An application to eucalypt plantations under wildfire risk in Portugal

This article presents and discusses research with the aim of developing a stand-level management scheduling model for short-rotation coppice systems that may take into account the risk of wildfire. The use of the coppice regeneration method requires the definition of both the optimal harvest age in each cycle and the optimal number of coppice cycles within a full rotation. The scheduling of other forest operations such as stool thinning and fuel treatments (e.g., shrub removals) must be further addressed. In this article, a stochastic dynamic programming approach is developed to determine the policy (e.g., fuel treatment, stool thinning, coppice cycles, and rotation length) that maximizes expected net revenues. Stochastic dynamic programming stages are defined by the number of harvests, and state variables correspond to the number of years since the stand was planted. Wildfire occurrence and damage probabilities are introduced in the model to analyze the impact of the wildfire risk on the optimal stand management schedule policy. For that purpose, alternative wildfire occurrence and postfire mortality scenarios were considered at each stage. A typical Eucalyptus globulus Labill. stand in Central Portugal was used as a test case. Results suggest that the proposed approach may help integrate wildfire risk in short-rotation coppice systems management scheduling. They confirm that the maximum expected discounted revenue decreases with and is very sensitive to the discount rate and further suggest that the number of cycles within a full rotation is not sensitive to wildfire risk. Nevertheless, the expected rotation length decreases when wildfire risk is consideredinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Addressing wildfire risk in a landscape-level scheduling model: an application in Portugal

Fundamental Research - Forest ManagementThe paper presents and discusses research aiming at the development of a forested landscape management scheduling model that may address the risk of wildfires. A general indicator is built from wildfire occurrence and damage probabilities to assess stand-level resistance to wildfires. This indicator is developed to further address the specificity of each stand configuration (e.g., shape and size) and spatial context (neighboring stands characteristics). The usefulness of the development of such an indicator is tested within a mixed integer programming (MIP) approach to find the location and timing of management options (e.g., fuel treatment, thinning, clearcut) that may maximize the forested landscape expected net revenues. The Leiria National Forest, a Portuguese forest in central Portugal, was used as a case study. Results suggest that the proposed approach may help integrate wildfire risk in forested landscape management planning and assess its impact on the optimal plan. Results further show that prescriptions that include fuel treatments are often chosen over others that do not include them, thus highlighting the importance of wildfire management efforts. Finally, they provide interesting insights about the role of thinnings and fuel treatment in mitigating wildfire riskinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

External Corrosion of the bottom plate of Petroleum and Derivative Storage tanks on Compacted Soils

Inspections carried out on petroleum and derivative storage tanks on compacted soils have shown external corrosion on the bottom plates of the tanks despite cathodic protection by an impressed current. The holes or cavities in the outer plates of the bottom of the tank (in contact with the soil) result in oil leakage, thereby having significant environmental impacts. The objective of this paper is to show, in laboratory experiments, that cathodic protection is not reliable when there are voids or spaces between the plates and the soil. In addition, it proposes the application of a thermal spray with aluminium in the parts of the bottom plates that are in contact with the soil to protect these plates from localised corrosion. It is important to note that the welding temperature was 320°C, without affecting the aluminium coating applied by the thermal spray