The DS-Pnet modeling formalism for cyber-physical system development

This work presents the DS-Pnet modeling formalism (Dataflow, Signals and Petri nets), designed for the development of cyber-physical systems, combining the characteristics of Petri nets and dataflows to support the modeling of mixed systems containing both reactive parts and data processing operations. Inheriting the features of the parent IOPT Petri net class, including an external interface composed of input and output signals and events, the addition of dataflow operations brings enhanced modeling capabilities to specify mathematical data transformations and graphically express the dependencies between signals. Data-centric systems, that do not require reactive controllers, are designed using pure dataflow models. Component based model composition enables reusing existing components, create libraries of previously tested components and hierarchically decompose complex systems into smaller sub-systems. A precise execution semantics was defined, considering the relationship between dataflow and Petri net nodes, providing an abstraction to define the interface between reactive controllers and input and output signals, including analog sensors and actuators. The new formalism is supported by the IOPT-Flow Web based tool framework, offering tools to design and edit models, simulate model execution on the Web browser, plus model-checking and software/hardware automatic code generation tools to implement controllers running on embedded devices (C,VHDL and JavaScript). A new communication protocol was created to permit the automatic implementation of distributed cyber-physical systems composed of networks of remote components communicating over the Internet. The editor tool connects directly to remote embedded devices running DS-Pnet models and may import remote components into new models, contributing to simplify the creation of distributed cyber-physical applications, where the communication between distributed components is specified just by drawing arcs. Several application examples were designed to validate the proposed formalism and the associated framework, ranging from hardware solutions, industrial applications to distributed software applications

Evaluating potential olive orchard sugar food sources for the olive fly parasitoid Psyttalia concolor

Olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a major olive pest in the Mediterranean basin where increasing insecticide resistance has enhanced damage and necessitates more reliance on other control strategies, such as biological control. Provision of floral resources has been reported to improve the effectiveness of natural enemies. Here, we tested the effect of six plant nectars and two honeydew sources on the survival of Psyttalia concolor (Szépligeti) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a parasitoid wasp used in the biological control of olive fruit fly. Our results showed a positive effect on survival associated with nectars of Anchusa azurea Mill., Rosmarinus officinalis L., Lavatera cretica L. and Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi, while honeydew proved to be a valuable alternative food source. When offering flowers directly to insects, Anchusa azurea, Lavatera cretica, and Foeniculum vulgare L. were found to be the most beneficial species, indicating also that P. concolor feeds predominantly on shallow corollas.Research was financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), with partial funding from the European Fund for Regional Development, through the project PTDC/AGR‐AAM/100979/200

Mensagem - Casa dos Estdantes do Império 1944-1994, Número Especial

A Casa dos Estudantes do Império (CEI) foi criada em 1944 pelo então Ministério das Coló- nias e pelo Comissariado Nacional da Mocidade Portuguesa sendo destinada ao enquadramento dos estudantes oriundos das Colónias portuguesas (de África, Índia, Macau e Timor). O eco das independências africanas ocorridas ao longo da década de 50 repercutiu-se no império colonial português, onde o regime do Estado Novo registava então grande contestação. Neste contexto histórico muitos jovens estudantes associados à CEI procuraram caminhos de descoberta / construção da identidade dos territó- rios de que eram originários com diversas iniciativas culturais, entre as quais a atividade editorial. A Associação Casa dos Estudantes do Império (ACEI), constituída por associados da CEI, em 1994 e com existência até 1997, reeditou, pela passagem do 50.o aniversário da Casa, dois volumes das Antologias de Poesia de Angola, Moçambique e São Tomé e Príncipe e elaborou um Nú- mero Especial da MENSAGEM, um Boletim publicado pela CEI, de forma irregular, de acordo com as vicissitudes vividas, entre 1948 e 1964. A União das Cidades Capitais de Língua Portuguesa (UCCLA) deliberou levar a efeito uma homenagem aos associados da CEI, iniciada numa cerimónia que teve lugar no Auditório da Reitoria da Universidade de Coimbra, em outubro de 2014, ano em que se perfizeram 70 anos da criação da CEI. Nessa homenagem iniciou-se a distribuição das reedições das referidas Antologias, com novo formato e ainda a distribuição de uma pen com os nomes de todos os associados da CEI, resultado de uma pesquisa levada a efeito na Torre do Tombo. Para 2015, ano em que se perfazem 50 anos sobre a extinção da CEI pela PIDE programaram-se vários eventos. De entre esses eventos constam debates, um Colóquio Internacional, a realizar na Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, uma exposição na Câmara Municipal de Lisboa e, por fim, a sessão de encerramento no dia 25 de maio, Dia de África, em que intervirão como oradores todos os associados da CEI que vieram a ser Presidentes da República ou Primeiros Ministros dos territórios de onde eram originários. A reedição deste Número Especial da Revista MENSAGEM integra-se nesta justa homenagem.À Memória de Amílcar Cabral Mário de Andrade Carlos Ervedosa e daqueles que partiram cedo demais. Ao Dr. Arménio Ferreira, cuja generosidade e apoio nos anos difíceis prolongaram a existência da Casa. Aos ESTUDANTES AFRICANOS de hoje e do futuro.Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, CPLP, Instituto Camões, Câmara Municipal de Lisboainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Potential Attractiveness of Olive Beneficial Insects to Flowering Weeds

Nowadays, there is a growing concern about keeping olive groves in a good sanitary health with a decreasing input of pesticides. Increasing beneficial insect fauna is a novel, non-intrusive way to achieve this objective. To increase beneficial insect fauna, non-prey food availability must be enhanced, and that purpose can be attained by manipulating olive groves inter-rows natural weed vegetation. Amongst weeds naturally occurring in South Portugal olive grove inter-rows, 20 were chosen provided that they are nectar producers. Flowering period time and duration were additional choice criteria, ensuring that insects can feed on, at least, one flowering species at any time. In order to establish which weeds are more suitable to this purpose, their nectar production and accessibility for two natural olive beneficial insects - the parasitoid Psyttalia concolor and the pest predator Anthocoris nemoralis - were evaluated. Evaluation of floral morphology included measurements of the length of corolla tube (the distance between corolla insertion and the beginning of corolla lobes), length of whole corolla, major and minor width of corolla tube and diameter of corolla limb; all measurements were repeated on 30 corollas per species. Nectar production, concentration and sugar composition are also evaluated on 30 flowers per species. To protect flowers from insects visit and, therefore, nectar depletion, they were covered with bridal veil 24 h before collection. Nectar was extracted and quantified with capillary micropipettes (Drummond Microcaps®), and the sugar concentration was determined with a hand held refractometer (Atago®). Nectar was lyophilized for posterior composition determination through gas chromatography. Descriptive statistics of flower traits were calculated for each of the analyzed species. Classical statistical tests will be applied to correlate morphometric analyses of floral characteristics and nectar volume, concentration and composition will be searched for. After this initial phase, weed species attractiveness for Psyttalia concolor and Anthocoris nemoralis will be further evaluated with using an olfactometer. Research was financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), with partial funding from the European Fund for Regional Development, through the project PTDC/AGRAAM/ 100979/2008

Avaliação da capacidade antioxidante de extratos de Fucus vesiculosus para aplicação a embalagens alimentares ativas

A indústria alimentar usa antioxidantes sintéticos para prevenir a degradação natural dos alimentos com alto teor lipídico causada, em grande parte, por fenómenos de oxidação. Estes antioxidantes, incluindo o BHT e o BHA, têm sido nas últimas décadas associados a efeitos negativos sobre a saúde humana, como a promoção da carcinogénese e reações alérgicas [1,2]. Atualmente, a maioria dos alimentos é adquirida numa embalagem que, na sua grande maioria, são feitas de plástico, obtido através de fontes não renováveis. O grave problema ambiental que se coloca com estas embalagens, aliado à procura e exigência dos consumidores por produtos naturais e com mínimo impacto ambiental, tem impulsionado a indústria e a comunidade científica a procurar alternativas, quer para as embalagens, quer para os antioxidantes sintéticos. Nesta linha de pensamento, foram criadas as embalagens alimentares ativas antioxidantes que interagem intencionalmente com o alimento embalado, libertando para o mesmo compostos bioativos capazes de retardar ou inibir a oxidação dos mesmos, aumentando assim o seu tempo de vida útil. A Fucus vesiculosus, também conhecida como fava-do-mar, é uma macroalga castanha (Phaeophyceae) presente em zonas frias e temperadas do Oceano Atlântico Norte, com uma poderosa capacidade antioxidante [3,4]. Na sua constituição, esta macroalga tem vários compostos bioativos, como os polissacarídeos sulfatados, que possuem poderosas atividades biológicas como atividades anti-tumorais, antioxidantes e antimicrobianas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a capacidade antioxidante de cinco extratos hidro-etanólicos de F. Vesiculosus para avaliar o seu potencial de aplicação a embalagens alimentares ativas. Os extratos foram obtidos da alga seca e da alga liofilizada. Os ensaios de avaliação da capacidade antioxidante utilizados foram o Sistema de Inibição do Radical DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) e o Ensaio do Branqueamento do β-caroteno. Os extratos obtidos a partir da alga liofilizada obtiveram uma melhor capacidade antioxidante do que os extratos obtidos a partir da alga seca. Esta diferença pode ser explicada pela diferença de temperatura, uma vez que no caso da alga liofilizada, esta é seca através de um processo com baixas temperaturas, o que acaba por conservar os compostos bioativos da alga. O mesmo não acontece com a alga seca através de um processo normal de secagem.Este trabalho foi financiado pelo projeto de investigação “i.FILM- Multifunctional Films for Intelligent and Active Applications” (nº 17921), cofinanciado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) através do Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização no âmbito do Programa “Portugal 2020” (Sistema de Incentivos à Investigação e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (SI I&DT), Aviso nº 33/SI/2015, Projetos em Co-Promoção). Mariana Andrade e João Reboleira agradecem a bolsa de investigação (2016/iFILM/BM) no âmbito do projeto iFILM. Adicionalmente, os investigadores MAREIPLeiria agradecem o financiamento da Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), através do programa estratégico UID/MAR/04292/2013 concedido ao MAREN/

Novel Active Food Packaging Films Based on Whey Protein Incorporated with Seaweed Extract: Development, Characterization, and Application in Fresh Poultry Meat

Algae and seaweeds are used in cookery since the beginnings of human civilization, par ticularly in several Asian cultures. Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites produced by aquatic and terrestrial plants for their natural defense against external stimuli, which possess pow erful antimicrobial and antioxidant properties that can be very important for the food industry. The main objective of this study was to develop a whey protein concentrate active coating, incorporated with a Fucus vesiculosus extract in order to delay the lipid oxidation of chicken breasts. Ten hydroeth anolic extracts from F. vesiculosus were obtained and their antioxidant capacity was evaluated through two antioxidant activity assays: the DPPH radical scavenging activity and β-carotene bleaching assay. The total content in phenolics compounds was also determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method. The chosen extract was the one obtained from the freeze-dried F. vesiculosus using 75% (v/v) ethanol as extraction solvent. The extract was successfully incorporated into a whey protein film and successfully strengthened the thickness, tensile strength, and elastic modulus. The active film also was able to inhibit the chicken breasts lipid oxidation for 25 days of storage.This work was supported by the research project “i.FILM–Multifunctional Films for Intel ligent and Active Applications” (n° 17921) cofounded by European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program under the “Portugal 2020” Program, Call no. 33/SI/2015, Co-Promotion Projects and by the Integrated Pro gramme of SR&TD “Smart Valorization of Endogenous Marine Biological Resources Under a Changing Climate” (reference Centro-01-0145-FEDER-000018), co-funded by Centro 2020 program, Portugal 2020, European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund. Mariana An drade is grateful for her research grant (SFRH/BD/138730/2018) funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). João Reboleira is grateful for his research grant (2016/iFILM/BM) in the frame of iFILM project. This work was supported by MEtRICs unit which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/04077/2020) and by CECA unit which is financed from FCT/MCTES through national funds (UIDB/00211/2020) [[email protected] (V.G.L.S.); [email protected] (A.L.F.); [email protected] (A.S.S.)]. This work was supported by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry - LAQV which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio