Mastites caprinas: Utilização do Teste Californiano de Mastites.

A mastite é uma das patologias mais desafiantes no setor de lacticínios, esta patologia está diretamente relacionada com perdas de produção, decréscimo da qualidade e higiene do leite, elevados custos na terapêutica e com problemas para a saúde pública. Para o diagnóstico de MSC, como não há alterações visíveis nem no úbere nem no leite, faz-se uma análise ao leite. O método de diagnóstico mais utilizado é o Teste Californiano de Mastites (TCM). Este teste faz uma estimativa da contagem de células somáticas (CCS) presente no leite. No caso do leite de cabra, existe controvérsia devido ao facto de a secreção do leite ser apócrina, em que é eliminado o produto de secreção e parte do citoplasma da célula. Foi realizado um estudo em 308 metades mamárias, respeitantes a 158 cabras para avaliar a utilização do TCM como indicador de infeção intramamária.FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia no âmbito do Projecto UID/AGR/00115/2013

Experimental evaluation of PM emission from red mud basins exposed to wind erosion

The disposal of industrial and mineral processing residues represents a major concern for human health and the environment as a whole. In order to reduce the impact on soil and groundwater due to the waste leachability, the implementation of environmental regulations worldwide has favored the conversion of the disposal techniques from wet to dry (i.e., dry stacking or dry disposal). Such a change in the storage practice may cause the increase of particulate matter (PM) emission from the dry surfaces of the tailings exposed to wind erosion. Considering the significance of the environmental issue on a global scale and the increasingly stricter orientation of environmental policies, the need for modeling tools capable of estimating the contribution of tailing basins to air pollution becomes apparent. The paper deals with the disposal of red mud resulting from the bauxite processing in the alumina industry. An experimental research was carried with an environmental wind tunnel to estimate the Emission Factor (EF) of the basin surfaces as a function of the main affecting variables (i.e., residue water content and wind velocity). The article reports the results of the experimental test carried out on the red mud from a major basin located in Sardinia (Italy)

Transporting Bits or Transporting Energy: Does it matter? A comparison of the sustainability of local and remote computing

This document presents the results of a study of the sustainability of data management and data movement between data centres, the ultimate goal being to minimize the CO2 footprint

Thermal properties of semolina doughs with different relative amount of ingredients

The impact of the relative amount of ingredients, wheat variety, and kneading time on the thermal properties of semolina doughs were investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The doughs were prepared by mixing water, semolina, yeast, and salt in different proportions. The gelatinized flour fraction plays an important role in the thermal properties' definition, while the water amount influences the development of the dough network and, consequently, the starch gelatinization phenomena. Furthermore, the amount of yeast and salt influences the dough network force and, consequently, the thermal properties. The TGA technique was applied in order to evidence the mass loss as a function of the increasing temperature, considering that this behavior depends on the dough network force and extension. In such a way, it was possible to find some information on the relationship between the dough characteristics and the thermogravimetric analysis outputs. The study is devoted to acquiring deeper knowledge about the thermophysical characteristics of doughs in the breadmaking industrial processes, where the controllability and the energy performances need to be improved. A deeper knowledge of the dough properties, in terms of measurable parameters, could help to decrease the amounts of off-specification products, resulting in a much more energy-efficient and sustainable processing