The autonomous acoustic buoy

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.The Autonomous Acoustic Buoy (AAB) has been designed and manufactured by Laboratori d’Aplicacions Bioacústiques (LAB) with the assistance of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) over the past two years. This is due to the need to measure and control the correlation between human activity and presence of marine mammals in the marine environment. The buoy is used for recording sound patterns in the underwater environment, specifically referring to the physiological and neurophysiologic processes by which sounds are produced, received and processed [42]. Furthermore the AAB has an important role in monitoring and identifying the communication between marine mammals. This paper presents the further advancements and improvements of the design and functionality of the AAB as well as a concise introduction into the buoy capabilities and a brief overview of the history, purpose and organisation of the LAB. With regards to the improvements made this article gives details of elaborate research undertaken into dolphin whistles analysis and a well structured marketing plan. The mechanical and electrical features concerning the safe operating conditions of the buoy offshore are also presented within this report

On the contribution of malt quality and the malting process to the formation of beer staling aldehydes: a review

Despite decades of extensive research, beer flavour instability remains a challenge for both brewing and malting industries. Malt impacts the brewing process as well as the quality of the final beer. It also affects the stability of beer flavour, as it delivers to the brewing process various compounds with the potential to compromise the desired flavour characteristics of beer. These include staling aldehydes and their precursors, such as amino acids, reducing sugars, α-dicarbonyls and bound-state aldehydes. In general, the content of these compounds depends on barley variety and quality, the malting regime and final malt quality. Malt that represents a low potential for beer staling, i.e. that has low values of Kolbach Index, heat load, colour, LOX activity, Strecker aldehydes, transition metal ions and high antioxidative activity, leads to beer with enhanced flavour stability. However, the consistent production of malt with the desired quality remains challenging. Approaches to achieve this include adjustment of steeping and germination conditions, allowing control of grain modification and thus, the reservoir of aldehydes precursors. Also, the application of alternative kilning technologies may reduce the applied heat load, responsible for the formation of staling aldehydes and triggering development of the oxidising free radical species. This review provides an evaluation of current knowledge on the contribution of the malting process and malt quality to the formation of beer staling aldehydes. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of the Institute of Brewing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institute of Brewing & Distilling

The autonomous acoustic buoy

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.The Autonomous Acoustic Buoy (AAB) has been designed and manufactured by Laboratori d’Aplicacions Bioacústiques (LAB) with the assistance of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) over the past two years. This is due to the need to measure and control the correlation between human activity and presence of marine mammals in the marine environment. The buoy is used for recording sound patterns in the underwater environment, specifically referring to the physiological and neurophysiologic processes by which sounds are produced, received and processed [42]. Furthermore the AAB has an important role in monitoring and identifying the communication between marine mammals. This paper presents the further advancements and improvements of the design and functionality of the AAB as well as a concise introduction into the buoy capabilities and a brief overview of the history, purpose and organisation of the LAB. With regards to the improvements made this article gives details of elaborate research undertaken into dolphin whistles analysis and a well structured marketing plan. The mechanical and electrical features concerning the safe operating conditions of the buoy offshore are also presented within this report

The autonomous acoustic buoy

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.The Autonomous Acoustic Buoy (AAB) has been designed and manufactured by Laboratori d’Aplicacions Bioacústiques (LAB) with the assistance of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) over the past two years. This is due to the need to measure and control the correlation between human activity and presence of marine mammals in the marine environment. The buoy is used for recording sound patterns in the underwater environment, specifically referring to the physiological and neurophysiologic processes by which sounds are produced, received and processed [42]. Furthermore the AAB has an important role in monitoring and identifying the communication between marine mammals. This paper presents the further advancements and improvements of the design and functionality of the AAB as well as a concise introduction into the buoy capabilities and a brief overview of the history, purpose and organisation of the LAB. With regards to the improvements made this article gives details of elaborate research undertaken into dolphin whistles analysis and a well structured marketing plan. The mechanical and electrical features concerning the safe operating conditions of the buoy offshore are also presented within this report

Investigating the evolution of free staling aldehydes throughout the wort production process

status: publishe

Determination of optimal sample preparation for aldehyde extraction from pale malts and their quantification via headspace solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry

Aldehydes originating from malt play an important role in beer flavour deterioration. In order to better understand the influence of malting process on beer staling, it is necessary to acquire a reliable analytical methodology for determination of beer staling aldehydes in malt. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate extraction parameters, which allow quantification of beer staling aldehydes present in pale malts. The method was validated with respect to linearity (R > 0.9988), limit of detection (0.28 - 0.99 μg/L), limit of quantification (0.92 - 3.31 μg/L), accuracy (± 5%), repeatability (1.3 - 5.3%) and intermediate precision (>20%). The following parameters of sample preparation were evaluated: sample amount, extraction time and temperature, ultrasonication time and oxygen level. Consequently, the best extraction conditions were successfully applied on pale malts. After extraction, the samples were analysed by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) with on fibre carbonyl derivatisation followed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In addition, the salting-out effect during HS-SPME was studied. The method application allowed to identify significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) in the levels of aldehydes among various industrial scale, pale malts. The optimised method could give the information on the aldehyde content introduced into the brewing process and its potential contribution to the overall beer quality.status: publishe

Determination of staling aldehdyes in malt

status: publishe

Investigating the Evolution of Staling Aldehydes during the Brewing Process and Beer Aging

During storage, beer undergoes a variety of chemical reactions, which lead to unavoidable flavour deterioration. Many of the resulting off-flavours are associated with the presence of the so-called staling aldehydes [1]. Nevertheless, their gradual appearance in the aged beer is poorly understood and the mechanisms responsible for their formation still remain obscure. Staling aldehydes may arise via de novo formation e.g. oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, Strecker degradation of amino acids and Maillard reactions [2, 3]. Furthermore, aldehydes can be also released from their non-volatile bound-state forms e.g. cysteine or bisulphite adducts. Therefore, to unravel another puzzle piece of the chemistry lying behind the phenomena of beer flavour instability, we have investigated the behaviour of free aldehydes from malt, through the entire process of brewing and fermentation up to beer aging.status: publishe