Simultaneously prediction of sheep and goat carcass composition and body fat depots using in vivo ultrasound measurements and live weight

The present study established multiple linear regression models using two ultrasound in vivo measurements (at lumbar and sternal regions, with different real-time ultrasonography machines and probes) and live weight, to predict simultaneously carcass composition and body fat depots of different breeds of sheep and goat. This study is important for the small ruminant industry, considering the feasibility of using the ultrasound methodology in field conditions, as well as an online system of the carcass evaluation. The multiple linear regression models were obtained by selecting the best subset of variables between using the in vivo measurements (raw variables), their second degree and interactions, evaluated in terms of prediction performance using cross-validation “K-folds” and validated by a test group. Overall, high accuracy (adj R2) was obtained from the linear relationship between predicted and experimental values of the group test for each of the nine dependent variables, with values varying between adj R2 0.88 and 0.98.The authors are grateful to Laboratory of Carcass and Meat Quality of Agriculture School of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança ‘Cantinho do Alfredo’. The authors are members of the CYTED network HEALTHY MEAT (119RT0568).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Propolis: antimicrobial activity, phenolic compounds and role in the inflammation

Propolis is a beehive product prepared by bees of the Apis mellifera species, using resinous substances collected from various plants. These substances are mixed with β-glycosidase enzyme of their saliva, partially digested and added to bee wax to form the final product. In the present study, it was evaluated the antimicrobial activity against multi-resistant microorganisms and the anti-inflammatory activity, assessed by the effect on the hyaluronidase enzyme, of propolis samples from Portugal. Simultaneously, it was studied the effect of extraction solvents on this biological activities. It was chosen the hydro-alcoholic extract because this was the most effective for extracting phenolic compounds. The antimicrobial activity was accessed in Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli) and yeasts (Candida albicans), isolated from different biological fluids and the results were then compared with the obtained for reference microorganisms. Regarding the pollen profiles, marked differences were found among the samples from the different regions under study. In the propolis from Bragança the dominant pollen was Erica sp., whereas the dominant species in Coimbra and Beja were Populus tremula and Eucalyptus sp., respectively. The propolis from Bragança was the one that possessed the highest polyphenols’ content. It was verified that all the extracts inhibited the hyaluronidase enzyme in a dose-dependent manner. The propolis that showed higher inhibitory activity was the one from Bragança and the product from Beja was the less effective. Despite the differences amongst the polyphenols concentrations, the anti-inflammatory activity of the samples did not differ significantly, suggesting that polyphenols are not the only factor responsible for the bioactive properties of this beehive product. Concerning the antimicrobial activity, Candida albicans was the most resistant and Staphylococcus aureus the most sensitive. Propolis showed greater activity against Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative ones, something that may be explained by structural differences of the cell wall of these two types of bacteria. In addition, the reference microorganisms were more sensitive than the ones isolated from biological fluids. This study suggests that the simultaneous use of propolis and antibiotics may reduce the acquisition of resistances and consequently avoid the use of more powerful therapies, even though further studies are required

Intramuscular fat prediction using color and image analysis of bísaro pork breed

This work presents an analytical methodology to predict meat juiciness (discriminant semi-quantitative analysis using groups of intervals of intramuscular fat) and intramuscular fat (regression analysis) in Longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscle of Bísaro pigs using as independent variables the animal carcass weight and parameters from color and image analysis. These are non-invasive and non-destructive techniques which allow development of rapid, easy and inexpensive methodologies to evaluate pork meat quality in a slaughterhouse. The proposed predictive supervised multivariate models were non-linear. Discriminant mixture analysis to evaluate meat juiciness by classified samples into three groups—0.6 to 1.1%; 1.25 to 1.5%; and, greater than 1.5%. The obtained model allowed 100% of correct classifications (92% in cross-validation with seven-folds with five repetitions). Polynomial support vector machine regression to determine the intramuscular fat presented R2 and RMSE values of 0.88 and 0.12, respectively in cross-validation with seven-folds with five repetitions. This quantitative model (model’s polynomial kernel optimized to degree of three with a scale factor of 0.1 and a cost value of one) presented R2 and RSE values of 0.999 and 0.04, respectively. The overall predictive results demonstrated the relevance of photographic image and color measurements of the muscle to evaluate the intramuscular fat, rarther than the usual time-consuming and expensive chemical analysis.Work included in the Portuguese PRODER research Project BISOPORC—Pork extensive production of Bísara breed, in two alternative systems: fattening on concentrate vs. chesnut. The CIMO authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) and are members of the Healthy Meat network by (CYTED-119RT0568). The CECAV authors are thankful to the project UIDB/CVT/00772/2020 funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal). The authors are grateful to Laboratory of Carcass and Meat Quality of Agriculture School of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança “Cantinho do Alfredo”.UIDB/CVT/00772/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diagnóstico sobre el cultivo de la soya en el departamento del Meta.

Se indica que las contadas explotaciones se han localizado en las vegas de los ríos Negro y Guayuriba y en las terrazas medias del Municipio Acacías, en siembras de segundo semestre como resultado de los programas de fomento llevados a cabo por iniciativa de Almaviva. S presenta la magnitud y composición de la producción en términos de magnitud física y económica. Bajo la primera se considera el rendimiento físico/ha y la producción total obtenida en la serie histórica que va de 1970 a 1972. Los ensayos bajo el convenio Almaviva-ICA, se referían únicamente a fertilización preliminar en suelos de vega y terraza media, no se conocían otras prácticas de cultivo como control de plagas, enfermedades y malezas, ni había experiencia de maquinaria agrícola. Luego se presentan costos de producción/ha para el Meta 1971-B y 1973-B. Se presentan las propiedades físicas y químicas de suelos de vega y terrazas aluviales. Se recomienda sembrar entre Septiembre 20 y Octubre 20, para iniciar recolección a principios de Enero. Durante el cultivo se relacionan las siguientes plagas : tierreros, comedores de hojas, cucarroncito del foallej, barrenadores del tallo, heliothis sp. Se recomienda proveer de máquinas apropiadas para siembra y cosecha, realizar cursos para asistentes técnicos. Solicitar ajuste de financiación, ofrecer seguridad en precios de mercado, establecer pruebas semicomerciales demostrativas en áreas de producción, establecer investigaciones de leguminosas de grano y oleaginosas anuales en el Llano, y reglamentación de crédito para adecuación de tierrasSoya-Soja- Glycine ma

Análise do plano de gestão integrada de resíduos sólidos de Imperatriz (MA) para o gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos urbanos

This paper aims to define how the disposal of solid waste occurs and to analyze the public policy for the treatment of solid waste in the city of Imperatriz, state of Maranhão. It is a documentary study, with a descriptive approach and qualitative design. It is worth mentioning that the city of Imperatriz is among those already implemented in the Municipal Plan for the Management of Urban Solid Waste (USW). The collection process promotes a state of reference for other cities, for having aroused a look at environmental issues and the connection with the industrial process. Therefore, the study shows that USW still reflects dissatisfaction between the population and the public administration. It can be understood that this is not a public USW policy, the municipality of Imperatriz has been cooperating for management. In developing the plan, in addition to the contribution to the environment in which it is inserted, the federal incentives for the further development of related activities are highlighted.Este artigo tem como objetivo descrever como ocorre o descarte dos resíduos sólidos e analisar a política pública de tratamento de resíduos sólidos na cidade de Imperatriz, estado do Maranhão. Trata-se de um estudo documental, com abordagem descritiva e delineamento qualitativo. Cabe mencionar que a cidade de Imperatriz se encontra entre aquelas que já implantaram o Plano Municipal de Gerenciamento de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos (RSU). O processo de coleta promove a cidade status de referência para outras cidades, por ter despertado um olhar acerca das questões ambientais e a ligação com o processo industrial. Assim, o estudo evidencia que os RSU refletem ainda insatisfação entre a população e a administração pública. Pode-se entender que no que concerne a política pública de RSU, o município de Imperatriz tem cooperado para o gerenciamento. Ao desenvolver o plano, além da contribuição com o meio ambiente em que está inserido, destaca-se os incentivos federais para a continuação do desenvolvimento das atividades relacionadas

A novel computer application for scrap reporting and data management in the manufacturing of components for the automotive industry

30th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM2021) 15-18 June 2021, Athens, Greece.The automotive industry is constantly growing with the continuous creation of new technologies in the components industry, also requiring a greater quality control during their manufacturing process. The scrap data management is fundamental to being able to have a sense of where the main production problems are and when to act on them in order to improve processes and reduce scrap costs, getting continuous improvement. In this work, a computer application was created and implemented to manage the information regarding scrap data reporting. Current procedures for reporting and processing scrap data followed a very complex set of steps that made much of the reported information inconsistent and in some cases not even correctly reported, leading eventually to a dataset whose reliability was affected. To address these problems, a computer application for scrap reporting and data management was then created which integrated all existing procedures into one application and standardized all reporting and data processing procedures. In this way, it was possible to optimize scrap reporting and data analysis processes, improving reliability by 76% and, combined with all of this, reduce the time and associated costs related to scrap data treatment procedures by about 75%.The authors would like to thanks FicoCables company due to its commitment in allowing ISEP’s students to carry out interesting applied works in the company during their internship. Thus, we would like to thanks to Dr. Sandra Vaz and Dr. Lurdes Teixeira due to their availability and collaboration in many works already developed under their responsibility.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contribution to Characterizing the Meat Quality of Protected Designation of Origin Serrana and Preta de Montesinho Kids Using the Near-Infrared Reflectance Methodology

The aims of this study were to describe and compare the meat quality characteristics of male and female kids from the "Serrana" and "Preta de Montesinho" breeds certified as "Cabrito Transmontano" and reinforce the performance of near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectra in predicting these quality characteristics and discriminating among breeds. Samples of Longissimus thoracis (n = 32; sixteen per breed; eight males and eight females) were used. Breed significantly affected meat quality characteristics, with only color and fatty acid (FA) (C12:0) being influenced by sex. The meat of the "Serrana" breed proved to be more tender than that of the "Preta de Montesinho". However, the meat from the "Preta de Montesinho" breed showed higher intramuscular fat content and was lighter than that from the "Serrana" breed, which favors its quality of color and juiciness. The use of NIR with the linear support vector machine regression (SVMR) classification model demonstrated its capability to quantify meat quality characteristics such as pH, CIELab color, protein, moisture, ash, fat, texture, water-holding capacity, and lipid profile. Discriminant analysis was performed by dividing the sample spectra into calibration sets (75 percent) and prediction sets (25 percent) and applying the Kennard-Stone algorithm to the spectra. This resulted in 100% correct classifications with the training data and 96.7% accuracy with the test data. The test data showed acceptable estimation models with R2 > 0.99.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021), and the Laboratory of Carcass and Meat Quality of Agriculture School of Polytechnic Institute of Braganca "Cantinho do Alfredo". Grants to L.V. and A.L. are from NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-072234. Some authors (L.G.D., S.R., and A.T.) are members of the Healthy Meat network, funded by CYTED (ref. 119RT0568). This study is part of a project between a research center (LTQCC-IPB) and the National Breed Producers Association of Serrana Goat (ANCRAS) to develop and add value for animals reared in an extensive system and to add value for indigenous breeds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio