Used food oils: physical-chemical indicators of quality degradation

Comunicação apresentada em 11th Baltic Conference on Food Science and Technology “Food science and technology in achanging world” FOODBALT 2017 Conference Proceedings. Jelgava, LLUUsed food oil (UFO), designated as frying oil, is a residue. Degradation by reuse or during storage, may occur by contacting, chemical, enzymatic and microbiological pathways, but oxidation is a major concern of the industry, as it affects sensory and nutritional quality of edible oils, with potentially toxic compounds formation. In Portugal, UFO's main destination still is the sewerage system, an environmental problem and waste of raw material, which can be re-qualified for non-food uses. However, quality control applied to UFO's, often results into expensive analysis inappropriate for small laboratories and catering industry. This project, developed with the Musketeers Group Portugal co-promotion (2012-2016), aimed to identify low-cost physicochemical parameters for further implementation as UFO's Quality Degradation Indicators (QDI) indicating defects quickly and accurately. UFO's analysis was tested on the use, for industrial frying, and by degradation induced in the laboratory (frying and heat stability tests) by applying following parameters: moisture, water activity (a(w)), total acidity, peroxide index, iodine index, colour (CIE, CIE Lab), UV absorbency, total polar compounds and microbiological indicators. Internal procedures (ESAS) were validated, redefining working ranges and test conditions, as standards procedures did not provide reliable results for the entire life cycle of oils, whose profile changes with time and reuse. Results demonstrate significant differences with quick response parameters as Total Acidity, Peroxide Index and CIE Lab colour, outlined as QDI's. Moisture, aw and CIE Lab colour proved to be inadequate for this purpose. Iodine Index and UV Absorbency are more complex and time-consuming and were profiled as reference methods.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Stability and decolourization ability of trametes villosa laccase in liquid ultrasonic fields

We report in this study that the sonication of laccase from Trametes villosa and bovine serum albumin promotes the formation of protein aggregates with high molecular weight. The formation of aggregates leads to the deactivation of the enzyme, fact that was confirmed by the analysis of the enzyme stability (half-life time) upon ultrasound treatment. This inactivation was mainly caused by the radicals formed by the cavitation phenomenon. It was verified that the addition of polyvinyl alcohol to laccase had a protecting effect against enzyme inactivation. The performance of laccase in the decolourization of indigo carmine was studied. It was observed that the best results were attained when the dye solution was treated with ultrasound and enzyme stabilized with polyvinyl alcohol, where more than 65% of decolourization was achieved. This value is remarkably higher than that attained for the enzyme alone, which was only able to decolourize 20% of the dye solution within 1 h of treatment. These results have important implications for the exploitation of sonication in textile industry, where the pollution caused by the release of dyes into effluents is one of the major concerns.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/8651/2002União Europeia - Projecto ULTRATEC (NMP2- CT-2003-505892)

Shape-controlled monolayer MoSe2 flakes by chemical vapor deposition towards tuning the photoluminescence emission

In this study, we report on the controllable chemical vapor deposition (CVD) synthesis of monolayer MoSe2 flakes with different shapes such as hexagons, triangles, sawtooth hexagons, dendrites and fractals deposited on SiO2/Si substrates. This broad range of morphologies is due to the change in the vapor composition resulting from the confinement of the MoO3 and Se vapor and to the variation in the growth rate of the variable shaped MoSe2 crystals. It is also revealed that the photoluminescence (PL) response of the MoSe2 flakes is strongly affected by their shape and size. Our findings will open new avenues towards achieving morphology-controlled monolayer MoSe2 flakes for optoelectronic and energy harvesting systems.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding Contracts UIDB/04540/2020, UIDB/00100/2020 and UIDB/04650/2020. The author C. G. acknowledges a scholarship funded by the UIDB/04540/2020 contract. The author K. G. would like to thank the statutory grant (No. 8211104160) of Department of Quantum Technologies of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Retinal Arterial Occlusion: Epidemiology, Clinical Approach, and Visual Outcomes

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in patients with acute retinal artery occlusion (RAO). Secondarily, to analyse the epidemiology and the clinical approach. METHODS: Retrospective study of 13 patients submitted to HBOT between 2013 and 2018. The analysed parameters consisted of: systemic history, time between symptoms onset and treatment, initial approach, number of HBOT sessions, complications of HBOT and best corrected visual acuity-BCVA (of the total sample, central RAO-CRAO-group, and branch RAO-BRAO group). RESULTS: Arterial hypertension was the most prevalent systemic risk factor (53.8%). Initial therapies were 100% normobaric oxygen administration, topical and oral hypotensive medication, eye massage and aspirin. CRAO was observed in 69.2% and BRAO in 30.8% of the cases, with clinically significant visual improvement (a decrease in logMAR of 0.3) in 55.5% and 75%, respectively. Time between symptoms onset and treatment had a median of 9 hours. The median number of HBOT sessions was 7, without complications. CONCLUSIONS: HBOT provide BCVA improvement in patients with RAO, when it is performed in an early time after the symptom onset. It seems to be an effective and safe therapeutic option for a pathology that still remains without approved treatment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii

PTDC/CVT-CVT/31840/2017EXPL/CVT-EPI/1945/2013Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous zoonotic parasite with an obligatory intracellular lifestyle. It relies on a specialized set of cytoskeletal and secretory organelles for host cell invasion. When infecting its felid definitive host, T. gondii undergoes sexual reproduction in the intestinal epithelium, producing oocysts that are excreted with the feces and sporulate in the environment. In other hosts and/or tissues, T. gondii multiplies by asexual reproduction. Rapidly dividing tachyzoites expand through multiple tissues, particularly nervous and muscular tissues, and eventually convert to slowly dividing bradyzoites which produce tissue cysts, structures that evade the immune system and remain infective within the host. Infection normally occurs through ingestion of sporulated oocysts or tissue cysts. While T. gondii is able to infect virtually all warm-blooded animals, most infections in humans are asymptomatic, with clinical disease occurring most often in immunocompromised hosts or fetuses carried by seronegative mothers that are infected during pregnancy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Interactions between Plasmopara viticola infection and stilbene synthesis in leaves and berries of ten 'Cabernet Sauvignon' clones

Combining the knowledge that Plasmopara viticola causes considerable damages to Vitis vinifera L. worldwide production and that stilbenes have a regulatory influence on Plasmopara viticola - grapevine interaction, this study compares infection time course and stilbenes production in leaves and berries of ten different clones of 'Cabernet Sauvignon'. Following increasing infection rates, different stilbenes were produced and accumulated in leaves and berries of the same clone. Higher absolute values were found in leaves, where trans-resveratrol reaches up to 8 μg g-1 fw and ε-viniferin up to 30 μg g-1 fw while in berries, the values accumulated only up to a maximum of 3 μg g-1 fw of trans-piceid and 1,5 μg g-1 fw ε-viniferin

Modelagem de preços de provedores de IaaS utilizando regressão múltipla

Uma alternativa para usuários reduzirem custos de aquisição e manutenção de infraestrutura computacional para desenvolver, implementar e executar suas aplicações é a computação em nuvem. Os serviços de computação em nuvem são oferecidos por provedores e podem ser classificados em três modalidades: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) e Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Em IaaS, os provedores oferecem os serviços divididos em instâncias e o usuário tem à disposição uma máquina virtual com os recursos computacionais que desejar a um determinado valor. O principal desafio enfrentado pelas empresas é escolher, além do provedor, a instância que melhor se adapta as suas necessidades. Frequentemente, estas empresas precisam de uma grande infraestrutura computacional para gerir e aperfeiçoar seus processos de negócio e, diante do alto custo para manter uma infraestrutura local, têm migrado suas aplicações para a nuvem. Este trabalho busca fornecer subsídios capazes de auxiliar as empresas no processo de seleção do melhor provedor/instância para implantar e executar suas soluções de integração na nuvem. Para isso, um estudo preliminar para a elaboração de uma nova proposta de modelagem dos preços das instâncias de máquinas virtuais usando regressão linear é apresentado. Nesta abordagem são considerados os provedores Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine e Microsoft Windows Azure.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Propuesta metodol?gica para gerenciar la ejecuci?n exitosa del proyecto para la creaci?n de una planta procesadora y comercializadora de frutas liofilizadas "SNACK" en la ciudad de Ibagu?"

152 p. Recurso Electr?nicoEn el presente trabajo de grado, se plante? el proceso de ejecuci?n para el montaje y puesta en marcha de una planta procesadora y comercializadora de frutas liofilizadas tipo "snack" en la ciudad de Ibagu?, con el ?nimo de exponer la importancia de la Gerencia de Proyectos para la ejecuci?n exitosa del mismo. Aqu? se documentan una serie de directrices metodol?gicas para la planeaci?n y ejecuci?n de proyectos, utilizando los enfoques y temas estudiados y aprendidos durante la Especializaci?n en Gerencia de Proyectos. Se define la metodolog?a empleada para la elaboraci?n del proyecto, junto con una descripci?n del proyecto y un an?lisis contextual del mismo. De igual manera, se presenta c?mo se reaaliza el proceso de reclutamiento y selecci?n del talento humano y su papel protag?nico en la gerencia del proyecto. El modelo gerencial definido para el proyecto es la Administraci?n por Objetivos ? A.P.O.; llamado tambi?n Administraci?n por Resultados. Se establece la palneaci?n, programaci?n y control para el proyecto, mediante la definici?n de una Estructura de Divisi?n del Trabajo (EDT) y el diagrama de Gantt y finalmente, se selecciona el tipo de contrataci?n utilizada para el proyecto.In this undergraduate work, it was proposed de process for installation and start up of a processing plant and marketer of fruit lyophilized type ?snack? in the Ibagu? city, with the aim of exposing the importance of project management for successful implementation. Here are documented a number of methodological guidelines for the planning an execution of projects, using the approaches an topics studied and learned during the specialization in project management. The methodology used for the elaboration of the project is defined, with a project description and contextual analysis of this. Similarly, is presented as the process is carried out the recruitment and selection of human talent and its starring role in the project management. The management model defined for the project is Management by Objectives ? MBO; aldo called Results ? based Management. It?s established the Planning, programming and control for the project, by defining a Work BreakdownStructure (WBS) and the Gantt Chart, and finally, is selected the type of contract used for the project. Keywords: project management, fruit lyophilized, plannnig, implementation, management model, management by objectives, work breakdown structur

Propuesta metodol?gica para gerenciar la ejecuci?n exitosa del proyecto para la creaci?n de una planta procesadora y comercializadora de frutas liofilizadas tipo ?Snack? en la ciudad de Ibagu?

152 p. Recurso Electr?nicoEn el presente trabajo de grado, se plante? el proceso de ejecuci?n para el montaje y puesta en marcha de una planta procesadora y comercializadora de frutas liofilizadas tipo "snack" en la ciudad de Ibagu?, con el ?nimo de exponer la importancia de la Gerencia de Proyectos para la ejecuci?n exitosa del mismo. Aqu? se documentan una serie de directrices metodol?gicas para la planeaci?n y ejecuci?n de proyectos, utilizando los enfoques y temas estudiados y aprendidos durante la Especializaci?n en Gerencia de Proyectos. Se define la metodolog?a empleada para la elaboraci?n del proyecto, junto con una descripci?n del proyecto y un an?lisis contextual del mismo. De igual manera, se presenta c?mo se reaaliza el proceso de reclutamiento y selecci?n del talento humano y su papel protag?nico en la gerencia del proyecto. El modelo gerencial definido para el proyecto es la Administraci?n por Objetivos ? A.P.O.; llamado tambi?n Administraci?n por Resultados. Se establece la palneaci?n, programaci?n y control para el proyecto, mediante la definici?n de una Estructura de Divisi?n del Trabajo (EDT) y el diagrama de Gantt y finalmente, se selecciona el tipo de contrataci?n utilizada para el proyecto.In this undergraduate work, it was proposed de process for installation and start up of a processing plant and marketer of fruit lyophilized type ?snack? in the Ibagu? city, with the aim of exposing the importance of project management for successful implementation. Here are documented a number of methodological guidelines for the planning an execution of projects, using the approaches an topics studied and learned during the specialization in project management. The methodology used for the elaboration of the project is defined, with a project description and contextual analysis of this. Similarly, is presented as the process is carried out the recruitment and selection of human talent and its starring role in the project management. The management model defined for the project is Management by Objectives ? MBO; aldo called Results ? based Management. It?s established the Planning, programming and control for the project, by defining a Work BreakdownStructure (WBS) and the Gantt Chart, and finally, is selected the type of contract used for the project. Keywords: project management, fruit lyophilized, plannnig, implementation, management model, management by objectives, work breakdown structur