Grass pea miso: Development of miso based on a portuguese legume - microbiota and preservation capacity

Fermented foods are extremely popular nowadays mainly thanks to their health benefits and diversity. One example of a fermented food is miso, a fermented soybean paste very famous in Japan, also considered a functional food and used to make soups or as a seasoning for several dishes. In Japan, miso is made by traditional backslope methods. With the arrival of miso to West-ern countries, more standard, controlled, sustainable and safe processes are needed, starting by switching the soybean by Portuguese legumes (e.g. grass pea) and by developing starters. The aim of this project is to develop an innovative, tastier and safe grass pea miso, using a yeast starter culture and soybean miso as control. The characteristics and evolution of miso were evaluated, based on color and microbiota studies. Results obtained point to an important role of Aspergillus oryzae at the beginning of fer-mentation, and to the maintenance of the viability of yeasts (Candida versatilis) used as a starter along the whole process of miso’s maturation. Also, the obtained product presented good senso-rial characteristics being largely accepted by consumers. The self-preservation capacity of grass pea miso was also evaluated in order to ensure that the product is safe when stored at the consumer’s house and shop shelves. Using challenge tests at several temperatures (4ºC, 25ºC and 37ºC), it was observed a substantial reduction in the pathogenic microorganisms’ population, in most cases leading to its complete elimination. At the temperatures of 37ºC and 25ºC, all the microorganisms were eliminated (except for Bacillus cereus) after 2 days while at 4ºC it takes more than 30 days for them to be eliminated

Improved PWM A/D conversion technique: working principle and model validation

Analog-to-digital conversion plays a central role in any application of digital sensors and sensor systems that require an interface between analog devices, namely analog sensors, and digital devices, namely, microprocessors, digital signal processors or microcontrollers. With the advent of smart sensing, the integration of signal conditioning, analog-to-digital and digital data processing in single hardware devices became a reality. Moreover, the usage of low-cost discrete A/D conversion techniques for applications that are not critic in terms of accuracy, resolution or conversion rate, are considering increasingly mixed hardware and software A/D solutions tailored for specific application demands. In this context, this chapter presents a discrete low-cost A/D conversion solution based on pulse width modulation particularly suited for microcontrollers' integration with smart sensing devices.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Foundation fieldbus : from theory to practice

This paper describes the main characteristics of the Foundation Fieldbus (FF) technology considering both communication levels, namely H1 and H2, which have bit rates of 31.25 K and 100 Mbit/s, respectively. Several details about the physical layer, communication stack and user layer will be highlighted. Topics related with the configuration of instruments, as well as the design and implementation of supervision software, based on a LabVIEW interface, will be presented. A pilot plant that includes temperature, pressure, level and flow variables will be used to test and validate the capabilities of FF systems. Experimental results will be analyzed, their meaning discussed and the overall performance evaluated

THE INFLUENCE OF SWIMMING VELOCITY ON THE KINEMATIC CHARACTERISTICS OF BACKSTROKE SWIMMING

Under standard workout conditions, swimmers spend most of their time swimming at rates significantly lower than racing speed. Specificity of training is not just a metabolic problem, but also a technical and a kinesiological one. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent swimming the backstroke at different speeds implies a change in the stroke pattern and in the kinematics of the propulsive movements. We also studied the technical characteristics associated with performance in short distance efforts. A third aim of this study was to compare the intra-cycle velocity variation of the center of gravity of the body to the intra-cycle velocity variation of the hip point. Seven well-trained male swimmers participated in this study (age: 14.71±0.76 years, height: 1.74±0.39 m, body mass: 63.14±5.52 kg, %FAT: 15.40±1.81). Each subject performed 3 x 50 m backstroke repeats with 15 min of rest at a velocity corresponding to 90% (v90), 95% (v95) and 100% (vmax) of best performance in the 50 m backstroke. The swimmers were filmed on the sagittal plane, underwater and above the water, with synchronized cameras (60 Hz). Images were mixed and then digitized for further analysis using the APAS system. Peak mean horizontal velocities of the hand occurred during the upsweep at v90 and v95 and during the finish/exit at vmax. Total stroke duration decreased from v90 to v100 due to the shorter duration of the downsweep, the final downsweep and the finish/exit, but the relative duration of the phases did not show any significant changes. Increasing velocity caused an increase in the distance between point of entry into the water and point of exit of the hand from the water, but mean horizontal pulling length decreased. Swimming velocity at sub-maximal paces correlated well to mean body velocity at the upsweep, but at vmax, the highest association was to body velocity at the final downsweep. Maximal velocity in the 50 m backstroke was inversely correlated to the range of intra-cycle velocity variations of the body center of gravity. This parameter showed a poor individual correlation to the hip velocity variation (r=0.58 ± 0.18). The correlation between the coefficient of variation of the hip and the center of gravity intra-cycle velocities had, on the contrary, a high significance. Movement of temporal and spatial structures seem to vary little with velocity changes in swimmers who have attained a good stabilization of motor execution. In fast swimming, nevertheless, swimmers apparently achieve a greater anterioposterior stabilization of the hand, which may indicate more pronounced lift oriented sculling actions, and performance becomes more dependent on the final portion of the underwater path. The variation of the mean velocity of the hip cannot be used for quantification of the changes of body velocity from phase to phase, but a coefficient of variation (SD . mean-1 . 100) of intra-cycle hip velocity seems to be an adequate indicator of the intra-cycle velocity variation of the body center of gravity

Balanced Scorecard: A Powerful Method to Improve the Management of Educational Institutions

Trabalho apresentado em 2nd International Academic Conference on Teaching, Learning and Education (TLE 2020), Novembro 2020; Munique, AlemanhaTeaching, learning and education are the main activities related with any higher education institution (HEI), be they public or private. In this context, the balanced scorecard (BSC) is a powerful method that helps the successful application of performance measurements in terms of the efficiency of the programs, processes and people of any educational institution. The key performance indicators (KPI) are crucial indicators to translate the strategy into action, improving the synergies of all the people that contribute to management success. This paper underlines the importance of the BSC model in private, governmental and non-profit organizations highlighting its implementation in a HEI. In order to clarify the main concepts of the application of the BSC method in a HEI, a hypothetical institution (IPX) is considered and a set of strategic objectives are considered in terms of financial, clients, business, learning and growth perspectives. The key parameter indicators and the action plan are defined according to the HEI vision.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BeSmart2: A multicriteria decision aid application

This paper presents an improved version of an application whose goal is to provide a simple and intuitive way to use multicriteria decision methods in day-to-day decision problems. The application allows comparisons between several alternatives with several criteria, always keeping a permanent backup of both model and results, and provides a framework to incorporate new methods in the future. Developed in C#, the application implements the AHP, SMART and Value Functions methods

Criação da página web dos serviços de obstetrícia do Hospital Doutor José Maria Grande, Portalegre

A gravidez por si só é caracterizada por um conjunto de alterações a vários níveis, por isso torna-se de extrema importância criar meios que tragam respostas às dúvidas e receios da grávida/ casal. Com a internet surge uma nova forma de transmitir informação em várias áreas, inclusive na saúde. O presente trabalho descreve a criação da página web do serviço de obstetrícia do Hospital Doutor José Maria Grande integrado na Unidade Local de Saúde do Norte Alentejano, EPE, como forma de transmissão de informação fidedigna, ao conjunto de grávidas e casais em idade fértil existentes no distrito de Portalegre, tentando desta forma aumentar a literacia em saúde desta população. Consegue-se compreender através dos dados recolhidos, que tanto Enfermeiros do serviço de Obstetrícia como utentes que frequentaram a página web durante o mês seguinte à sua criação, valorizam a existência da mesma enquanto forma de transmissão de conhecimento; ### ABSTRACT Title: Web page creation of obstetric service of the Hospital Doutor José Maria Grande, Portalegre Pregnancy itself is characterized by a set of changes at various levels, so it is extremely important to create means to bring answers to the doubts and fears of pregnant woman / couple. With the internet comes a new way to convey information in several areas, including health. This work describes the web page creation of obstetric service of the Hospital Doutor José Maria Grande integrated in Unidade Local de Saúde do Norte Alentejano, EPE, as a means of transmission of reliable information to all the pregnant women and couples of childbearing age that are in the district of Portalegre, and thus increasing the health literacy of this population. Through the collected data, it is a fact that both Nurses and Obstetric service users who used the website during the month following its creation value it as a trustworthy knowledge resource

Defect detection on painted surfaces

Com o aumento exponencial da competitividade na indústria atual, a contínua procura pela automação e digitalização é um processo indispensável para o aumento da qualidade. Nos dias que correm, e na grande maioria dos casos, a inspeção de qualidade de superfícies pintadas é feita com recurso à visão humana. Dado que as características dos defeitos em superfícies pintadas são muito diversas e aleatórias, a visão humana consegue ainda ser superior na relação qualidade/preço na maioria dos processos da indústria atual. Contudo esta inspeção visual passa normalmente, sobretudo em grandes objetos, pela necessidade do operador se colocar em posições pouco ergonómicas e desconfortáveis por grandes quantidades de tempo. Por outro lado, a inspeção de defeitos automática traduz-se na eliminação da variação nos critérios de inspeção que está inerente à natureza humana. A Bosch Termotecnologia produz esquentadores e caldeiras cujas frentes são pintadas e, para melhorar a precisão e rigor na inspeção de qualidade das mesmas, pretende-se desenvolver um sistema automático de deteção dos defeitos de forma a aumentar o rigor e a consistência da inspeção, eliminando assim o erro humano do sistema e diminuindo os tempos de análise. Deste modo, neste projeto foi usada a técnica de deflectometria, que consiste em projetar padrões sinusoidais nas superfícies e capturar o seu reflexo para posteriormente ser analisado. Desta forma foi possível criar um dataset de imagens relativo a cada defeito. Assim, o sistema usou uma camara de visão industrial que fazia a captura continua das imagens para serem analisadas com base num modelo criado com recurso a Deep Learning. O resultado da sua classificação é enviado para o Nexeed MES e além disso é possível a visualização em tempo real das classificações através de uma GUI. O modelo final apresentou precisões acima dos 95% nos subsets de teste e demora menos de um segundo a realizar a classificação e enviar a informação para o MES.With the exponential increase in competitiveness in today’s industry, the continuous search for automation and digitalization is an indispensable process for increasing quality. Nowadays, in the vast majority of cases, quality inspection of painted surfaces is done using human vision. Given that the characteristics of defects on painted surfaces are very diverse and random, human vision can still be superior in the quality/price ratio in most processes in industry today. However this visual inspection usually involves, especially with large objects, the need for the operator to stand in unergonomic and uncomfortable positions for large amounts of time. On the other hand, automatic defect inspection means eliminating the variation in inspection criteria that is inherent to human nature. Bosch Termotecnologia produces water heaters and boilers whose fronts are painted and, to improve the accuracy and rigor in the quality inspection of them, it is intended to develop an automatic system for defect detection in order to increase the accuracy and consistency of inspection, thus eliminating human error from the system and reducing analysis times. Therefore, in this project the deflectometry technique was used, which consists in projecting sinusoidal patterns on surfaces and capturing their reflection to be later analyzed. This way it was possible to create a dataset of images relative to each defect. Thus, the system used an industrial vision camera that continuously captured the images to be analyzed based on a model created using Deep Learning. The result of its classification is sent to Nexeed MES and in addition it is possible to visualize in real time the classifications through a GUI. The final model showed accuracies above 95% on the test subsets and takes less than a second to perform the classification and send the information to the MES.Mestrado em Engenharia Mecânic

Sistema de aquisição de ECG capacitivo

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e de TelecomunicaçõesA necessidade da existência de um sistema de aquisição do sinal vital completamente não invasivo, foi a motivação principal para o desenvolvimento deste projeto. Inicialmente foi realizado trabalho de pesquisa e de comparação dos sistemas ECG existentes, para dessa forma ser adquirido um conhecimento do sistema em si. Posteriormente são proposto dois circuitos para fazer a aquisição do ECG sem contacto, baseados em acoplamento capacitivo. Estes foram simulados e finalmente implementados. Desta forma foram feitos testes experimentais nos dois protótipos e comparados os resultados entre eles. Por outro lado são apresentados transceivers de um sistema de comunicação capacitivo que foi desenvolvido na Universidade de Aveiro, que foram alvo de melhorias, nomeadamente na redução do seu volume e consumo. Por último foram interligados os dois sistemas demonstrando-se ser possível adquirir e transmitir o ECG num sistema puramente capacitivo.The need for the existence of a vital signal acquisition system completely noninvasive, was the main motivation for the development of this project. Initially research work has been made and compared to the existing ECG systems to be acquired knowledge of the system. Subsequently two circuits were proposed for making non-contact ECG acquisition based on capacitive coupling. These were simulated and finally implemented. Thus experimental tests were done on both prototypes and compared the results between them. On the other hand are shown transceivers in a capacitive communication system that was developed at the University of Aveiro, which were targeted for improvement, notably in reducing its volume and consumption. Finally the interconnection of the two systems demonstrated to be possible to acquire and transmit the ECG in a purely capacitive system