Beta-glucanos e manoproteínas do excedente de levedura cervejeira para formulação de filmes biodegradáveis e edíveis aplicados à indústria alimentar

A Estratégia Europeia para os Plásticos na Economia Circular refere que até 2030, todas as embalagens plásticas devem ser reutilizáveis ou recicláveis de uma forma economicamente eficiente. Assim, revela-se imperativo o desenvolvimento de soluções de embalagens inteligentes. O presente trabalho apresenta uma revisão bibliográfica sobre a aplicação dos βglucanos e das manoproteínas, oriundos do excedente de levedura cervejeira (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), na formulação de filmes edíveis/coatings para aplicação na indústria alimentar. O potencial de mercado para a aplicação de filmes edíveis biodegradáveis e renováveis em embalagens alimentares é enorme e implica o estudo exaustivo das suas propriedades mecânicas, químicas e biológicas. Neste sentido, o capítulo II desta dissertação aborda algumas propriedades dos filmes, com principal destaque para as propriedades antimicrobiana, antioxidante e anti-inflamatória, estabilidade térmica, permeabilidade ao vapor de água e ao oxigénio, e propriedades mecânicas. No capítulo III são abordadas as características estruturais dos β-glucanos e das manoproteínas, sendo também explorados os principais métodos de extração e isolamento de β-glucanos e das manoproteínas da parede celular da levedura, com enfoque no rendimento extrativo. Reportam-se também as principais propriedades atribuídas aos filmes/coatings preparados a partir de β-glucanos e manoproteínas, bem como casos homólogos de filmes compostos por polissacarídeos e proteínas. Por fim, no capítulo IV, é apresentado o atual panorama de aplicação dos β-glucanos e manoproteínas na formulação de filmes/coatings para aplicação na indústria alimentar e farmacêutica. A literatura encontrada refere que os filmes edíveis à base de β-glucanos e manoproteínas apresentam propriedades promissoras. Contudo, até ao momento não existe investigação focada no desenvolvimento de um filme edível que combine ambos os compostos. Em teoria, a formulação de um filme à base de β-glucanos e manoproteínas não só será compatível com vários plastificantes, como também apresentará um conjunto de propriedades funcionais superiores comparativamente a filmes edíveis convencionais. É sugerido que o uso de diferentes plastificantes pode influenciar os resultados das propriedades do filme edível. Assim, poder-se-á optar por outro plastificante que não seja o convencional (glicerol), como por exemplo polietileno de baixo peso molecular, de forma a obter melhores propriedades mecânicas.The European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy refers that until 2030, all plastic packaging must be reusable or recyclable in an economically efficient way. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to develop smart packaging solutions. The main scope of this dissertation consisted in the investigation of edible films/coatings composed by β-glucans and mannoproteins from brewer’s spent yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The market potential for the application of edible films that are biodegradable and renewable in food packaging and encapsulating agents for the pharmaceutical industry appears to be huge. Thus, it is compulsory to study the mechanical, physical, and biological properties of the film. For this effect, at Chapter II, the main film properties were broadly studied, such as antimicrobial and antioxidant activity, thermal stability, water vapor/oxygen permeability, mechanical properties, and antiinflammatory activity. Chapter III aimed to understand the structural characteristics of βglucans and mannoproteins, as well as their individual properties. The main extraction and isolation methods of cell wall’s β-glucans and mannoproteins are analyzed, as well as their corresponding extractive yield. The main properties obtained in β-glucans and mannoproteins films are also reported, as well as homologous cases of films containing polysaccharides and proteins. Lastly, at Chapter IV, the current industrial landscape in the application of β-glucans and mannoproteins is reviewed, as well as the mention of some industries that commercialize β-glucans and mannoproteins. The patents associated to these two materials are also investigated. The literature found mentions formulations of edible films of β-glucans and mannoproteins with promising functional properties, revealing in some cases an increase of the food product’s shelf-life. However, up to this point there is no investigation focused in developing an edible film that combines the properties of both β-glucans and mannoproteins. Theoretically, the film formulation would present a superior set of functional properties compared to those presented by conventional edible films. It is suggested that using different plasticizers will influence the final properties of edible films. Therefore, in order to obtain more desirable properties, a substitution of the conventional plasticizer (glycerol) can be made, using for example polyethylene glycol of low molecular weight

O Conselho Municipal de Assistência Social de Palmas-TO: uma análise de sua atuação sob a perspectiva da cidadania deliberativa e da gestão social

The democratic, deliberative and participatory model of the Municipal Councils in Brazil was prompted by the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988. These environments became fields of excellence for the exercise of citizenship and legitimate spaces of participation, with open doors for civil society to be able to give an opinion, deliberate and be an active part of the decision-making process and in the construction of public policies. Based on this context, the objective of this study is to analyze the performance of the different social actors - counselors - in the Municipal Council of Social Assistance (CMAS) in the city of Palmas, capital of Tocantins, under the perspective of Deliberative Citizenship and Social Management. As CMAS was the stage of our investigation, it was also a question of understanding the perception of the Directors (biennium 2016-2018) regarding the functioning, dynamics and objectives of CMAS. Among the investigative methods, the research was based on direct non-participant observation, application of semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and documentary analysis. The results of the research indicate that most deliberative citizenship criteria were identified and well attended; while other criteria need to be considered in order to raise the levels of social participation in the Council studiedO modelo democrático, deliberativo e participativo dos Conselhos Municipais no Brasil foi impulsionado com a promulgação da Constituição Federal de 1988. Tais ambientes tornaram-se campos de excelência para o exercício da cidadania e espaços legítimos de participação, com portas abertas para que a sociedade civil pudesse opinar, deliberar e ser parte ativa do processo de decisão e na construção de políticas públicas. Partindo deste contexto, objetiva este estudo, realizar uma análise sobre a atuação dos diferentes atores sociais – conselheiros – no Conselho Municipal de Assistência Social (CMAS) do município de Palmas, capital do Tocantins, sob a perspectiva da Cidadania Deliberativa e da Gestão Social. Sendo o CMAS o palco da nossa investigação, tratou-se também de compreender a percepção dos Conselheiros (biênio 2016-2018) a respeito do funcionamento, dinâmica e objetivos do CMAS. Dentre os métodos investigativos, a pesquisa se valeu de observação direta não participante, aplicação de entrevistas semiestruturadas, questionários e análise documental. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam que a maioria dos critérios de cidadania deliberativa foram identificados e bem atendidos; enquanto outros critérios carecem de reflexão no sentido de elevar os níveis de participação social no Conselho estudad

Airway vascular damage in elite swimmers

SummaryWe postulated that high level swimming can promote airway inflammation and thus asthma by enhancing local vascular permeability. We aimed to test this hypothesis by a cross-sectional study comparing swimmers (n = 13, 17 ± 3 years, competing 7 ± 4 years, training 18±3 h per week), asthmatic-swimmers (n = 6, 17 ± 2 years, competing 8 ± 3 years, training 16 ± 4 h per week), and asthmatics (n = 19, 14 ± 3 years).Subjects performed induced sputum and had exhaled nitric oxide, lung volumes, and airway responsiveness determined. Airway vascular permeability index was defined as the ratio of albumin in sputum and serum.Results from the multiple linear regression showed each unit change in airway vascular permeability index was associated with an increase of 0.97% (95%CI: 0.02 to 1.92; p = 0.047) in sputum eosinophilis, and of 2.64% (95%CI:0.96 to 4.31; p = 0.006) in sputum neutrophils after adjustment for confounders. In a general linear model no significant differences between airway vascular permeability between index study groups existed, after controlling for sputum eosinophilis and neutrophils.In conclusion, competitive swimmers training in chlorine-rich pools have similar levels of airway vascular permeability than asthmatics. Although competitive swimming has been associated with asthma, airway inflammation and airway hyperesponsiveness do not seem to be dependent on increased airway vascular permeability

A comparison of machine learning approaches for predicting in-car display production quality

In this paper, we explore eight Machine Learning (ML) approaches (binary and one-class) to predict the quality of in-car displays, measured using Black Uniformity (BU) tests. During production, the industrial manufacturer routinely executes intermediate assembly (screwing and gluing) and functional tests that can signal potential causes for abnormal display units. By using these intermediate tests as inputs, the ML model can be used to identify the unknown relationships between intermediate and BU tests, helping to detect failure causes. In particular, we compare two sets of input variables (A and B) with hundreds of intermediate quality measures related with assembly and functional tests. Using recently collected industrial data, regarding around 147 thousand in-car display records, we performed two evaluation procedures, using first a time ordered train-test split and then a more robust rolling windows. Overall, the best predictive results (92%) were obtained using the full set of inputs (B) and an Automated ML (AutoML) Stacked Ensemble (ASE). We further demonstrate the value of the selected ASE model, by selecting distinct decision threshold scenarios and by using a Sensitivity Analysis (SA) eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) method.This work is supported by: European Structural and Investment Funds in the FEDER component, through the Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme (COMPETE 2020) [Project nº 39479; Funding Reference: POCI-01-0247-FEDER-39479]

Projecto de edifício de escritórios em estrutura pré-fabricada

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Civil (especialização em Materiais e Processos de Construção). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

A machine learning approach for spare parts lifetime estimation

Under the Industry 4.0 concept, there is increased usage of data-driven analytics to enhance the production process. In particular, equipment maintenance is a key industrial area that can benefit from using Machine Learning (ML) models. In this paper, we propose a novel Remaining Useful Life (RUL) ML-based spare part prediction that considers maintenance historical records, which are commonly available in several industries and thus more easy to collect when compared with specific equipment measurement data. As a case study, we consider 18,355 RUL records from an automotive multimedia assembly company, where each RUL value is defined as the full amount of units produced within two consecutive corrective maintenance actions. Under regression modeling, two categorical input transforms and eight ML algorithms were explored by considering a realistic rolling window evaluation. The best prediction model, which adopts an Inverse Document Frequency (IDF) data transformation and the Random Forest (RF) algorithm, produced high-quality RUL prediction results under a reasonable computational effort. Moreover, we have executed an eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) approach, based on the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method, over the selected RF model, showing its potential value to extract useful explanatory knowledge for the maintenance domain.- This work has been supported by FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020

Canalizing Kauffman networks: non-ergodicity and its effect on their critical behavior

Boolean Networks have been used to study numerous phenomena, including gene regulation, neural networks, social interactions, and biological evolution. Here, we propose a general method for determining the critical behavior of Boolean systems built from arbitrary ensembles of Boolean functions. In particular, we solve the critical condition for systems of units operating according to canalizing functions and present strong numerical evidence that our approach correctly predicts the phase transition from order to chaos in such systems.Comment: to be published in PR

Influência de diferentes idades de desmame na terminação de novilhos de corte

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