Elaboração, cinética de secagem e caracterização físico-química e tecnológica de massas alimentícias.

Massa alimentícia é um alimento popularmente consumido em vários países. A utilização de ingredientes que alteram a cor, o sabor, o aroma e o conteúdo nutricional das massas alimentícias é uma boa alternativa para fabricação de um produto com características sensoriais e nutricionais atraentes ao consumidor. Todavia, os fatores temperatura, embalagem e tempo de armazenamento podem afetar a manutenção das características destes produtos. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi elaborar, avaliar a cinética de secagem e analisar as características físico-químicas e tecnológicas destes produtos. Para isso, massas alimentícias de 16 sabores foram armazenadas em embalagens transparentes e metalizadas e as cinéticas de variação global de cor (ΔE) foram acompanhadas ao longo da vida útil (120 dias). Além disso, foram realizadas as caracterizações físico-química e tecnológica após a fabricação e no final da vida útil dos produtos. A massa alimentícia de espinafre armazenada em embalagem transparente foi a que apresentou o maior valor de ΔE em relação aos demais sabores no final dos 120 dias. Posteriormente, esta massa foi elaborada, submetida à secagem nas temperaturas de 35, 45, 55, 65 e 75 °C, até no máximo 11% de umidade e, por fim, os produtos foram caracterizados quanto a cor, atividade de água, pH, acidez total titulável, umidade, textura, carotenoides totais, atividade antioxidante (ABTS e DPPH), compostos fenólicos, clorofila total, cinzas e quanto a qualidade tecnológica (tempo de cozimento, absorção de água, expansão de volume e perda de sólidos solúveis). Os modelos de Henderson e Pabis, Lewis e Page foram ajustados aos dados experimentais de cinética de secagem e o consumo energético do processo foi monitorado no decorrer do tempo de secagem. A função desejabilidade foi utilizada a fim de escolher a temperatura ótima de secagem. O modelo de Page foi o que melhor representou o processo de secagem, apresentando os maiores valores de R²adj e menores valores de erro padrão da regressão. Todas as massas alimentícias obtidas das diferentes temperaturas de secagem apresentaram teor de umidade entre a faixa de 10 a 11%, conforme preconiza a legislação brasileira. O valor da desejabilidade global foi de 0,44, resultando, assim, na temperatura ótima de secagem de 52 ºC

Privacy in Microdata Release: Challenges, Techniques, and Approaches

Releasing and disseminating useful microdata while ensuring that no personal or sensitive information is improperly exposed is a complex problem, heavily investigated by the scientific community in the past couple of decades. Various microdata protection approaches have then been proposed, achieving different privacy requirements through appropriate protection techniques. This chapter discusses the privacy risks that can arise in microdata release and illustrates some well-known privacy-preserving techniques and approaches

A manifesto for future generation cloud computing: research directions for the next decade

The Cloud computing paradigm has revolutionised the computer science horizon during the past decade and has enabled the emergence of computing as the fifth utility. It has captured significant attention of academia, industries, and government bodies. Now, it has emerged as the backbone of modern economy by offering subscription-based services anytime, anywhere following a pay-as-you-go model. This has instigated (1) shorter establishment times for start-ups, (2) creation of scalable global enterprise applications, (3) better cost-to-value associativity for scientific and high performance computing applications, and (4) different invocation/execution models for pervasive and ubiquitous applications. The recent technological developments and paradigms such as serverless computing, software-defined networking, Internet of Things, and processing at network edge are creating new opportunities for Cloud computing. However, they are also posing several new challenges and creating the need for new approaches and research strategies, as well as the re-evaluation of the models that were developed to address issues such as scalability, elasticity, reliability, security, sustainability, and application models. The proposed manifesto addresses them by identifying the major open challenges in Cloud computing, emerging trends, and impact areas. It then offers research directions for the next decade, thus helping in the realisation of Future Generation Cloud Computing

Access Control for Data Integration in Presence of Data Dependencies

International audienceDefining access control policies in a data integration scenario is a challenging task. In such a scenario typically each source specifies its local access control policy and cannot anticipate data inferences that can arise when data is integrated at the mediator level. Inferences, e.g., using functional dependencies, can allow malicious users to obtain, at the mediator level, prohibited information by linking multiple queries and thus violating the local policies. In this paper, we propose a framework, i.e., a methodology and a set of algorithms, to prevent such violations. First, we use a graph-based approach to identify sets of queries, called violating transactions, and then we propose an approach to forbid the execution of those transactions by identifying additional access control rules that should be added to the mediator. We also state the complexity of the algorithms and discuss a set of experiments we conducted by using both real and synthetic datasets. Tests also confirm the complexity and upper bounds in worst-case scenarios of the proposed algorithms

Design, construction, and test of the Gas Pixel Detectors for the IXPE mission

Due to be launched in late 2021, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer mission designed to perform polarization measurements in the 2-8 keV band, complemented with imaging, spectroscopy and timing capabilities. At the heart of the focal plane is a set of three polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD), each based on a custom ASIC acting as a charge-collecting anode. In this paper we shall review the design, manufacturing, and test of the IXPE focal-plane detectors, with particular emphasis on the connection between the science drivers, the performance metrics and the operational aspects. We shall present a thorough characterization of the GPDs in terms of effective noise, trigger efficiency, dead time, uniformity of response, and spectral and polarimetric performance. In addition, we shall discuss in detail a number of instrumental effects that are relevant for high-level science analysis -- particularly as far as the response to unpolarized radiation and the stability in time are concerned.Comment: To be published in Astroparticle Physic

Does public awareness increase support for invasive species management?:Promising evidence across taxa and landscape types

Management of invasive species often raises substantial conflicts of interest. Since such conflicts can hamper proposed management actions, managers, decision makers and researchers increasingly recognize the need to consider the social dimensions of invasive species management. In this exploratory study, we aimed (1) to explore whether species’ taxonomic position (i.e. animals vs. plants) and type of invaded landscape (i.e. urban vs. nonurban) might influence public perception about the management of invasive species, and (2) to assess the potential of public awareness to increase public support for invasive species management. We reviewed the scientific literature on the conflicts of interest around the management of alien species and administered two-phased questionnaires (before and after providing information on the target species and its management) to members of the public in South Africa and the UK (n = 240). Our review suggests that lack of public support for the management of invasive animals in both urban and non-urban areas derives mainly from moralistic value disagreements, while the management of invasive plants in non-urban areas mostly causes conflicts based on utilitarian value disagreements. Despite these general trends, conflicts are context dependent and can originate from a wide variety of different views. Notably, informing the public about the invasive status and negative impacts of the species targeted for management appeared to increase public support for the management actions. Therefore, our results align with the view that increased public awareness might increase the public support for the management of invasive species, independent of taxonomic position and type of landscape

Horizon Scanning to Predict and Prioritize Invasive Alien Species With the Potential to Threaten Human Health and Economies on Cyprus

Invasive alien species (IAS) are known to be a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem function and there is increasing evidence of their impacts on human health and economies globally. We undertook horizon scanning using expert-elicitation to predict arrivals of IAS that could have adverse human health or economic impacts on the island of Cyprus. Three hundred and twenty five IAS comprising 89 plants, 37 freshwater animals, 61 terrestrial invertebrates, 93 terrestrial vertebrates, and 45 marine species, were assessed during a two-day workshop involving 39 participants to derive two ranked lists: (1) IAS with potential human health impacts (20 species ranked within two bands: 1–10 species or 11–20 species); and, (2) IAS with potential economic impacts (50 species ranked in three bands of 1–10, 11–20, and 21–50). Five species of mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes flavopictus, Aedes japonicus, and Culex quinquefasciatus) were considered a potential threat to both human health and economies. It was evident that the IAS identified through this process could potentially arrive through many pathways (25 and 23 pathways were noted for the top 20 IAS on the human health and economic impact lists respectively). The Convention on Biological Diversity Level II (subcategory) pathways Contaminant on plants, pet/aquarium/terrarium species (including live food for such species), hitchhikers in or on aeroplanes, hitchhikers in or on ship/boats, and vehicles were the main pathways that arose across both lists. We discuss the potential of horizon scanning lists to inform biosecurity policies and communication around IAS, highlighting the importance of increasing understanding amongst all stakeholders, including the public, to reduce the risks associated with predicted IAS arrivals

Advanced Biometric Technologies: Emerging Scenarios and Research Trends

Biometric systems are the ensemble of devices, procedures, and algorithms for the automatic recognition of individuals by means of their physiological or behavioral characteristics. Although biometric systems are traditionally used in high-security applications, recent advancements are enabling the application of these systems in less-constrained conditions with non-ideal samples and with real-time performance. Consequently, biometric technologies are being increasingly used in a wide variety of emerging application scenarios, including public infrastructures, e-government, humanitarian services, and user-centric applications. This chapter introduces recent biometric technologies, reviews emerging scenarios for biometric recognition, and discusses research trends

Acute vagal stimulation attenuates cardiac metabolic response to beta-adrenergic stress.

The effects of vagal stimulation (VS) on cardiac energy substrate metabolism are unknown. We tested the hypothesis that acute VS alters the balance between free fatty acid (FFA) and carbohydrate oxidation and opposes the metabolic effects of beta-adrenergic stimulation. A clinical-type selective stimulator of the vagal efferent fibers was connected to the intact right vagus in chronically instrumented dogs. VS was set to reduce heart rate by 30 beats min-1, then the confounding effects of bradycardia were eliminated by pacing the heart at 165 beats min-1. 3H-oleate and 14C-glucose were infused to measure FFA and glucose oxidation. The heart was subjected to beta-adrenergic stress by infusing 5, 10 and 15 µg kg-1 min-1 of dobutamine before and during VS. We found that VS did not significantly affect baseline cardiac performance, haemodynamics and myocardial metabolism. However, at peak dobutamine stress, VS attenuated the increase in left ventricular pressure-diameter area from 235.9±72.8% to 167.3±55.8%, and in cardiac oxygen consumption from 173.9±23.3% to 127.89±6.2% (both P<0.05), thus mechanical efficiency was not enhanced. The increase in glucose oxidation fell from 289.3%±55.5 to 131.1±20.9 (both P<0.05), while FFA oxidation was not increased by beta-adrenergic stress and fell below baseline during VS only at the lowest dose of dobutamine. The functional and in part the metabolic changes were reversed by 0.1 mg kg-1 atropine I.V. Our data show that acute right VS does not affect baseline cardiac metabolism, but attenuates myocardial oxygen consumption and glucose oxidation in response adrenergic stress, thus functioning as a cardio-selective antagonist to beta-adrenergic activation