1,720,974 research outputs found
Effect of different processing methods on the quality of obtained pomegranate juice
No full textPomegranate juice has many health properties as the fruits contain anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial and antiviral compounds. Its consumption has greatly increased throughout the world in recent years due to the potential of its different components, polyphenols and anthocyanins mostly. Many studies have been performed on the pomegranate juice yield demonstrating its influence on the organoleptic and physicochemical properties of the juice. Commercial pomegranate juice production involves pressing the fruits. As a consequence, there is a need to investigate the pressing machine types and adjustment in order to maximize juice yield and enhance its health properties. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the pressing system on the pomegranate juice yield and properties. Pomegranate fruits of the ‘Wonderful One’ cultivar were manually harvested in November 2014 and mechanically processed to extract juice. Two different pressing systems were used. The first one was an hydraulic pressing machine where the fruits were put after being sliced in half; the second extraction method consisted in using a destemming machine for the entire fruit followed by a pneumatic press, typically applied in grape processing. The juices obtained with the two systems were analysed and compared in order to identify the best extraction technique
Use of a portable VIS NIR device to predict table olives quality
Full text linkThere is a growing interest today in high-quality and sustainable production especially in the agro-food sector where the use of automated, precise and non-destructive monitoring analytical systems is spreading more and more. In table olives consumption colour and texture are very important quality attributes deriving from ripening, size of the cell wall, middle lamella and fibrous tissues that can be compromised by bruising during harvest operations or postharvest handling. Mechanical damage also accelerates physiological processes, which lead to senescence, spoilage and loss of nutritional value. Nocellara del Belice cultivar is one of the most important table olive varieties in Italy both for the production and the marketed quantities, with an average annual production of 25,000 t. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of applying vis NIR spectroscopy as a non-destructive technique on Nocellara del Belice table olives to predict colour and firmness during harvest and post-harvest operations. The spectral acquisitions were performed using a portable vis NIR device (600 - 1000 nm). A regression model was considered to evaluate the prediction capacity of vis NIR starting from the observed values of a validation data set. The system gave excellent performance in predicting table olives colour (R2 = 0.96 for “hue”), while the results showed a very low vis NIR ability to predict Nocellara del Belice table olives firmness (R2 = 0.18) which make this device unsuitable for the purpose. The possibility of applying vis NIR spectroscopy in field before harvest or for selection in postharvest operations is very encouraging for colour prediction and seems to be not adequate for firmness or damage evaluation
Implementation of a wireless instrumented sphere for fruit processing
No full textThe aim of this study was to implement a wireless instrumented sphere to study the critical points in a citrus packing line by real-time measuring the impacts experienced by fruits. The noncommercial device was based on a MEMS (microelectro-mechanical system) sensor node with a sensing range from ±1 g to ±400 g (g = 9.8 m s-2), a ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) memory, a radio frequency (RF) transmitter, a microcontroller, and a 75 mAh lithium battery. The sensor node was placed inside an appropriate case with a total weight of 100 g to represent a 'Tardivo di Ciaculli' mandarin. An FR receiver allowed real-time transmission of the measured data. Total acceleration values, representing the stresses experienced by fruit, were studied. The results showed that total acceleration remained below 20 g in most of the measurements, but considerably higher values, up to 80 g, were obtained between the brushing and waxing machines
Honey Production with Remote Smart Monitoring System
Full text linkThe innovative technologies of precision agriculture can be applied to beekeeping, a very important sector both from an environmental and production point of view. Bees are responsible, through pollination, for the reproduction of numerous plants guaranteeing biodiversity and providing a final product, honey, highly energetic and with high health properties. Today, sensors applied to the hives can be used to obtain information on the colony phenology in the field, disturbing them as little as possible, allowing the construction of forecast models to control their health state and production increase. The Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences of the University of Palermo developed a WNS-type system for continuously monitoring and controlling the main environmental factors, both inside and outside the hive, in order to evaluate their influence on daily honey production. The novel system allows to identify any critical points in honey production recording environmental, sound and production data and real time transmitting them to the operators, accessing a specifically created web interface. The results of the study represent the basis for a precision hive management model that can be applied in different environmental conditions to optimize honey production
Safety in Hazelnut Mechanical Harvesting
No full textHazelnut cultivation occupies an area of about 13,000 ha in Sicily, 10,000 of which are concentrated in the province of Messina, specifically in the pedo-mountain municipalities of the Nebrodi. These are heterogeneous plants by cultivar and planting time. To date, the hazelnut represents a scarcely mechanized marginal crop, with a characteristic training system as the multi stemmed bush. The harvest takes place as soon as the hazelnuts reach maturity and detach from the herbaceous dome that surrounds them falling to the ground. Before harvesting, swathing is carried out by hand using rakes, or facilitated by backpack blowers, or mechanically by means of a swather or with a tractor-mounted blowing tubes. Harvesting is done by hand directly from the ground, with implications for the health of the operators; it requires a high need for manpower, difficult to find. Labor productivity remains very low (10 kg/h per worker). The aim of the research was to study the mechanization of hazelnut harvesting in the Sicilian environment
Alkaline phosphatase survey in pecorino siciliano PDO cheese
Full text linkThe determination of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in cheeses has become an official method for controlling cheeses with a protected designation of origin (PDO), all of which use raw milk. PDO cheeses, characterized by high craftsmanship, usually have an uneven quality. However, for these cheeses, it is necessary to establish ALP values so that they can be defined as a raw milk product. In this study, a dataset with Pecorino Siciliano PDO samples was analyzed to determine ALP both at the core and under the rind. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the different zones in Pecorino cheese. A second dataset of 100 pecorino cheese samples determined that ALP was only at the core of the cheese. Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference between the ALP values of cheeses produced with raw milk and those produced with pasteurized milk. Furthermore, according to the temperatures, a wide variability of ALP values was observed in the Pecorino Siciliano PDO samples from the core of the cheeses. This was a result of several under scotta whey cooking methodologies adopted by cheesemakers, which do not permit a clear range. Therefore, further investigation is desirable
Hive behaviour assessment through vector autoregressive model by a smart apiculture system in the Mediterranean area
Full text linkPrecision beekeeping is defined as an apiary management strategy based on monitoring individual bee colonies to minimize resource consumption and maximize bee productivity. This subject has met with a growing interest from researchers in recent years because of its environmental implications. Today, the use of new monitoring technologies and management systems are facilitating the beekeeper's task by reducing operating costs and increasing animal welfare. Few studies in the literature apply forecasting models that could be useful as decision support to help beekeepers effectively monitor their hives. The Vector Autoregressive Regression (VAR) models are widely used in economics, but little applications have been performed in precision beekeeping data. The aim of this study was to apply a Vector Autoregressive Model to study the interrelations among internal factors (weight, internal temperature, internal relative humidity, sound pressure level) and between internal and external environmental parameters (external temperature and relative humidity, rain, wind speed, UV index) of some hives located in three different sites in Sicily (south Italy), monitored by a proper designed smart system. Time series were studied over the period April - August 2023. The significance recorded in the relationships between weight of the hive and its internal temperature and weight of the hive and its internal relative humidity, and the good predictive capacity of the models with respect to internal temperature and internal relative humidity, allowed to build a predictive model to understand when possibly intervene on the hives. Effect and duration of a system shock on the variables of interest were effectively monitored by the impulse response function in order to understand the level of the system response
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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