Classification of juices and fermented beverages made from unripe,ripe and senescent apples based on the aromatic profile using chemometrics

The aim of this study was to assess differences between apple juices and fermented apple beverages elaborated with fruits from different varieties and at different ripening stages in the aroma profile by using chemometrics. Ripening influenced the aroma composition of the apple juice and fermented apple. For all varieties, senescent fruits provided more aromatic fermented apple beverages. However, no significant difference was noticed in samples made of senescent or ripe fruits of the Lisgala variety. Regarding the juices, ripe Gala apple had the highest total aroma concentration. Ethanal was the major compound identified in all the samples, with values between 11.83 mg/L (unripe Lisgala juice) and 81.05 mg/L (ripe Gala juice). 3-Methyl-1-butanol was the major compound identified in the fermented juices. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied and classified the juices and fermented juices based on physicochemical and aroma profile, demonstrating their applicability as tools to monitor the quality of apple-based products.     

Monitoring in precision metal drilling process using multi-sensors and neural network

This paper presents a new method to estimate hole diameters and surface roughness in precision drilling processes, using coupons taken from a sandwich plate composed of a titanium alloy plate (Ti6Al4V) glued onto an aluminum alloy plate (AA 2024T3). The proposed method uses signals acquired during the cutting process by a multisensor system installed on the machine tool. These signals are mathematically treated and then used as input for an artificial neural network. After training, the neural network system is qualified to estimate the surface roughness and hole diameter based on the signals and cutting process parameters. To evaluate the system, the estimated data were compared with experimental measurements and the errors were calculated. The results proved the efficiency of the proposed method, which yielded very low or even negligible errors of the tolerances used in most industrial drilling processes. This pioneering method opens up a new field of research, showing a promising potential for development and application as an alternative monitoring method for drilling processes.     

Diffusion of coloured silica nanoparticles into human hair

A novel method for dyeing human hair fibres using coloured silica nanoparticles of 206 nm has been developed. Diffusion of coloured silica nanoparticles into hair fibres has been investigated; silica nanoparticles do not penetrate at all, or do so only sparingly, into the structure of Caucasian virgin hair. However, coloured silica nanoparticles diffused readily into bleached hair fibres. Scanning electron microscopy showed that coloured silica nanoparticles were present mainly in the outer regions of the hair structure (the inner layers of the cuticle and the outer region of the cortex). It was found that the silica nanoparticles were physically entrapped in the hair fibres and results showed a good shampoo fastness to washing.     

Physicochemical characterization of sahti,an ‘ancient’ beer style indigenous to Finland

Sahti, a strong, unhopped farmhouse beer flavoured with juniper, is still actively brewed in rural areas in Finland. Presented here is the first comprehensive analysis of the physical and chemical properties of this unique beer style. Twelve sahti samples from the southwest of Finland were analysed and, while properties varied, the beers generally had high levels of alcohol (mean = 7.9% ABV) and high residual extract (mean = 9.5°P). Foam stability was negligible, as is typical for the style, and glycerol concentrations at 3.1 – 4.7 g L^?1 were higher than in reference beers (commercial lager, wheat beer and porter). These features may be attributed to the very high gravity conditions employed in brewing sahti beers. Bitterness levels were relatively low (3–13 IBU) owing to the absence or moderate use of hops. All samples contained detectable levels of the clove‐like compound 4‐vinylguaiacol owing to the use of baker's rather than brewer's yeast for brewing. Concentrations of higher alcohols and esters were high, with many individual aroma compounds being above the normal flavour thresholds. Results have highlighted the uniqueness of this style of beer in comparison to commercially available beers and have contributed to our understanding of the reasons for the particular sensorial properties of this traditional beer style. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling     

Effect of light,food additives and heat on the stability of sorghum 3-deoxyanthocyanins in model beverages

This work aimed to evaluate the stability of sorghum 3-deoxyanthocyanins (DXA) in model beverages (pH 3.5) elaborated with crude sorghum phenolic extract, containing ascorbic acid and sulphite, under fluorescent light exposure and subjected to heat treatment. There was no significant difference in the DXA degradation during storage under light exposure (24.16%) and absence of light (20.72%). DXA degradation did not differ in the presence of ascorbic acid during storage under light exposure (23.99–25.38%) and absence of light (19.87–21.74%). The addition of sulphite caused an initial bleaching reaction, but as a reversible reaction, the anthocyanin content was higher on the last day of storage compared to the first day. There were no significant differences in total anthocyanin content of all treatments subjected to the heat treatment (80 °C for 5 and 25 min). Thus, crude DXA are very stable under light, additives and heat, and may be useful as natural food colourants.     

A proposal for a 360° information system model for private health care organizations

At a time when communication, new media, and digitalization are transversal to the whole of society, private health care organizations have the possibility of making their business processes evolve. The objective is thus to seize the benefits associated to the active use of patients' electronic health records (EHRs) as the basis for personalized health care. In order to initially validate the health care sector acceptance of a 360° health care information system (HIS), focused on collecting patients' data to create the necessary knowledge for delivering personalized health care procedures and initiatives, a focus group involving a set of health-related professionals was performed. Despite recognizing the immense possibilities associated to EHR and its direct incorporation on a 360° HIS, the referred professionals still highlighted their concerns relative to the maintenance of adequate security and privacy levels. With this in mind, a proposal for a 360° HIS model is presented, and its main functional blocks are described with a focus on triggering patient/customer loyalty.     

The social impact of technology on millennials and consequences for higher education and leadership

Millennials interact with technology like no other generation before them and this is affecting how they want to be taught in higher education and how they want to lead and expect to be led in organizations, after graduating. Though stating that they want to be enlightened in academia, some qualitative comments from millennials indicate the opposite, namely that they want to be prepared but also to be kept naïve as to what business really entails. This is expected to help keep motivation levels high, as motivation is seen to be the key element to success in life. Millennials expect also to be led authentically and to be treated as valued human beings. This is in contrast to the current autocratic leadership profile found predominantly in Portuguese organizations, at the time of writing. This study had a sample of one hundred and eleven millennial students who answered a survey on attitudes towards leadership and their desired approach to higher education. Three interviews with seasoned executives were also performed, to establish a contrast and see other perspectives.With this research, we conclude that we may be in the presence of a hard working millennial generation, contrary to previous research findings which has indicated that they are lazy. Finally, information technology (IT) is a precious partner in class, in particular Padlet.com, Moodle, and online News Forums, as well as the challenge to create original videos about course content. Future research should focus on how technology has made society more transparent with employees wanting more democratic leaders in times when hierarchies are seen to hinder rather than aid productivity levels.     

Whole-body Control of a Mobile Manipulator Using Feedback Linearization and Dual Quaternion Algebra

This paper presents the whole-body control of a nonholonomic mobile manipulator using feedback linearization and dual quaternion algebra. The controller, whose reference is a unit dual quaternion representing the desired end-effector pose, acts as a dynamic trajectory generator for the end-effector, and input signals for both nonholonomic mobile base and manipulator arm are generated by using the pseudoinverse of the whole-body Jacobian matrix. In order to deal with the nonholonomic constraints, the input signal to the mobile base generated by the whole-body motion control is properly remapped to ensure feasibility. The Lyapunov stability for the proposed controller is presented and experimental results on a real platform are performed in order to compare the proposed scheme to a traditional classic whole-body linear kinematic controller. The results show that, for similar convergence rate, the nonlinear controller is capable of generating smoother movements while having lower control effort than the linear controller.