Loading...
35 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 35
- From berry plant cropping to a cosmetic formula: sustainable upcycling of active ingredientsPublication . Plasencia, Paula; Heleno, S.A.; Garcia, Pablo; Barreiro, Filomena; Barros, LillianDue to the interest in berry fruit's antioxidant properties, its worldwide production has been increasing in the past two decades, as has its waste. Bioresidues produced by the agri-food industry are increasingly intrinsic to the world’s economy, and researchers are looking for new ways to enhance their use. Innovations are being developed to transform these residues into high-value raw materials with industrial applications, promoting the circular economy concept. Bioactive extracts from blueberry and raspberry aerial parts using green methodologies were obtained for this work. Different extraction techniques were considered and different conditions were tested to achieve optimal extraction conditions.
- Chemical and bioactive characterization of blueberry bioresiduesPublication . Plasência, Paula; Heleno, S.A.; Garcia, Pablo; Barreiro, Filomena; Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R.; Barros, LillianBlueberry production has increased exponentially in recent decades due to its known high nutritional characteristics, and bioresidues originating from its culture have also increased. It is critical to limit its buildup. One strategy for directing these residues is to turn them into high-value products while investigating their potential bioactivity. The goal of this study was to produce bioactive extracts from blueberry aerial parts using environmentally friendly methods. Different extracts, such as infusion, maceration, and decoction, were considered, as well as emerging extraction technologies, such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, in which different conditions (potency, temperature, and solvent type) were tested to achieve optimal extraction conditions (high yields and purity). The obtained extracts were studied regarding their chemical profile through phenolic compound´s identification and quantification by HPLC-DAD-MS.
- Ethosomes: an approach for bioactive plant extract preservation envisaging cosmetic applicationsPublication . Plasencia, Paula; Santamaria-Echart, Arantzazu; Heleno, S.A.; Colucci, Giovana; Garcia, Pablo; Barros, Lillian; Barreiro, FilomenaThe present work is focused on upgrading the commercial potential of berry crop by-products by encapsulating them into liposomes to preserve their bioactivity. The extracts have been obtained with an ethanol-water mixture using ultrasound-assisted extraction, and the most promising ones were encapsulated in ethosome system. To achieve this goal, ethosomes were prepared using the cold method. Ethosomal suspensions were characterized concerning particle size distribution by laser dispersion, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy, encapsulation efficiency, and morphological analysis using optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy. These results indicate that ethosomes are an appropriate method to encapsulate hydroethanolic bioactive plant bioresidue extracts and a good option to preserve them for further use in industrial applications, such as cosmetics. Future work will include optimizing the process and proof of concept by developing a cosmetic application.
- Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Rubus Idaeus Bioresidues: A Full Screening on Phenolic Composition and Bioactive PotentialPublication . Plasencia, Paula; Finimundy, Tiane C.; Carocho, Márcio; Calhelha, Ricardo C.; Añibarro-Ortega, Mikel; Pires, Tânia C.S.P.; Barreiro, Filomena; Garcia, Pablo A.; Barros, Lillian; Heleno, Sandrina A.Purpose Rubus idaeus cultivation has boosted productivity due to its high nutritional value. In consequence, waste produc- tion increased. The discarded biomass, including leaves and aerial components, can be transformed into valuable functional ingredients for industrial applications, such as cosmetics. Studying their bioactivity potential is highly relevant. Methods According to the present idea, the research involved producing extracts from raspberry plant branches and leaves by employing four different techniques: aqueous decoction, aqueous infusion, hydroethanolic maceration, and ultrasound- assisted extraction (UAE). Subsequently, these compounds were screened for their bioactive potential, including antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and cytotoxic properties. Results The ultrasound-assisted extraction produced extracts rich in phenolic compounds, whereas the infusion and macera- tion methods resulted in higher flavonol contents. Among the identified phenolic compounds, hydrolyzable tannins, particu- larly galloyl-bis-HHDP-glucose, were the most dominant ones. Regarding antioxidant potential, the decoction extract was the strongest, while the infusion showed the greatest potential for inhibiting lipid peroxidation. The UAE extract was found to be highly effective as an antibacterial agent. Both infusion and UAE extracts demonstrated the highest anti-inflammatory potential. Conclusion The combination of these results highlights the sample’s bioactive potential and the importance of exploiting bioresidues as unique, sustainable candidates for industrial applications.
- Welfy smart controller - BGI - MITPublication . Matos, Paulo; Plasencia, Paula; Alves, Rui; Peixoto, JoséA technology that is completely autonomous, intelligent, auto adaptable and simple to use, to control environment variables according to routines and preferences of the each individual or group of individuals. A solution to control HVAC systems based on radiators and convectors, that uses this technology joined with a large set of optimizations, that turn Welfy Controllers unbeatable in the advantages and benefits offered to customers. Promoting the highest levels of energy savings for HVAC systems. Reconciling the irreconcilable, joinning the superlative of comfort environment with the superlative of energy efficiency, in an eco-efficient and simple to use technology.
- Techwelf - smart controllerPublication . Matos, Paulo; Plasencia, PaulaWelfy technology is the new revolution for climatization controllers, truly intelligent, learns habits and comfort preferences of the users, to deliver unbeatable savings with energy costs and comfort as we never had before – user-oriented and eco-sustainable. Welfy is the unique solution that can surpass the saving goals of the energy payers (our customers) and the comfort expectations of users, and also releases both from any concern with climatization – Welfy unbeatable performance is fully independent of user’s non eco-sustainable behaviors. Welfy Controllers for water radiators are easily installed by the customer. Users only have to adjust the temperature (increase/decrease) whenever felt uncomfortable - it is all Welfy needs to know what to do - now and on future periods. Customer revenue is achieved in less than two years.
- Implementação de uma solução inteligente de controlo de estoresPublication . Friling, Gabriel Elwino; Matos, Paulo; Plasencia, PaulaOs sistemas de proteção solar cumprem um importante papel no controle seletivo de radiação solar no ambiente interior, interferindo, portanto, no desempenho luminoso, térmico e energético das edificações. Este trabalho tem como propósito estudar fatores que influenciam o aproveitamento da radiação solar incidente em superfícies vidradas e como os estores elétricos podem atuar em momentos estratégicos, com o propósito de potencializar este aproveitamento. A estratégia metodológica proposta envolve a análise da relação entre valores de luminosidade, avaliados por sensores, comparada com valores de radiação solar auferidos por uma estação meteorológica, com o intuito de obter uma correlação proveitosa para operar pontos de ajuste mais favoráveis de abertura e fecho dos estores. A fim de poder aplicar esses apuramentos, efetuou-se o desenvolvimento de um protótipo para controle automatizado das funcionalidades de abertura e de fecho, por meio da integração de sensores, microcontrolador e todo o sistema eletrónico e de lógica que assegura tais funcionalidades. Este protótipo foi idealizado para ser compacto e de fácil instalação, podendo ser montado nas caixas de aparelhagem mais comuns de interruptores.
- Response surface methodology applied to ultrasound-assisted extraction of raspberry and blueberry pruning residuesPublication . Plasencia, Paula; Carocho, Márcio; Heleno, Sandrina A.; Finimundy, Tiane C.; Barreiro, M.F.; García, Pablo A.; Barros, LillianDue to their high nutritional value, berries production has increased, but this inevitably leads to the accumulation of bioresidues. To prevent this, leaves and other aerial components of berry plants can be converted into valuable ingredients for cosmetics applications due to their unique chemical composition and functional properties. Ultrasound-assisted extraction methodology is an efficient technique to obtain these potentially bioactive extracts. The objective of this study was to investigate the optimal conditions to maximize the yield of ultrasound-assisted extractions of pruning residues of Rubus idaeus L. (raspberry) and Vaccinium myrtillus L. (blueberry) using response surface methodology (RSM). Three factors were used in the analysis: solvent ranging from 0% to 100% ethanol:water, time ranging from 5 to 30 minutes and extractive power from 20% to 100% (maximum of 500W). The Box Behnken design was used, relying on 17 individual randomized runs. The response to optimize was the dry weight of the extract (YRB and YBB), which ranged from 22.2 to 202.8 and 123.5 to 394.0 mg/g, respectively. The optimization performed by RSM indicated the optimal extractive point as a function of dry weight at 32.9% of ethanol:water, 15.2 min and 95.7% of extractive power for raspberry; and 63.6% of ethanol:water, 29.5 min, and 72.2% of extractive power regarding blueberry extract. Hydrolyzable tannins were the major phenolic compounds found in raspberry extract, while blueberry extracts showed a higher presence in flavonoids. These results showed that the pruning residue extracts could have a potential application in the cosmetic industry.
- Bioactive properties of different extracts obtained from the aerial parts of blueberry and raspberry raw materialsPublication . Plasencia, Paula; Heleno, S.A.; Pinela, J.; Pires, Tânia; Alves, Maria José; Barreiro, Filomena; Ferreira, Isabel C.F.R.; Barros, LillianThe waste biomass derived from Berry crops is a new focus of study since producers are becoming increasingly interested in its valorisation, namely to obtain high added-value products. In this context, the leaves, and other aerial parts of this raw material, are examples of waste biomass that can be exploited for several applications, namely in cosmetic formulations due to their unique chemical composition and associated bioactive properties [1,2]. In this context, this work was focused on upgrading the commercial potential of blueberry and raspberry plant by-products, which are typically discarded, presenting no economic value. Different extracts of Vaccinium myrtillus L. (blueberry) and Rubus idaeus L. (raspberry) aerial parts were obtained using green methodologies after being air-dried, grounded at 20 mesh, and protected from light. Different extraction techniques were applied, such as infusion, decoction, maceration, and ultrasoundassisted extraction (UAE), being the latter two extractions performed with EtOH:H2O (80:20 v/v) as the extraction medium. The obtained extracts were studied regarding their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties through the oxidative haemolysis inhibition assay (OxHLIA) and the microdilution method against pathogenic bacteria, respectively.
- Comparando redes neuronais na inferência de planos de produçãoPublication . Carneiro, Gabriel; Matos, Paulo; Plasencia, PaulaNo âmbito do projeto eLeveling System, em desenvolvimento na empresa Techwelf, o trabalho realizado pelos autores visou dar continuidade à construção de um sistema de apoio à decisão (SAD) para definição de planos de produção, tendo por base um histórico de quase três anos de planos de produção e de registos de encomendas. À data, o planeamento da produção era definido com base nas expetativas dos gestores de produção, tendo por base as encomendas das semanas anteriores. O trabalho consistiu em analisar os dados existentes no sentido de eliminar séries temporais pouco representativas (prototipagem, testes pré-produção e afins) e, com base nas restantes, estimar a procura para as semanas seguintes. As estimativas são utilizadas como recomendações e associadas a um grau de incerteza. A decisão última seria sempre do operador de produção, que aceitaria as recomendações, ou atendendo às restrições de produção, como incapacidade de resposta dos fornecedores, existência de stocks, gestão dos recursos humanos e afins, ajustaria o plano de produção. A mais-valia do sistema é aproximar a produção à procura efetiva, minimizando a existência de stocks e indo de encontro à base de funcionamento do eLeveling System – enquanto sistema push de gestão de produção. Para o efeito testaram-se redes neuronais multicamadas Perceptron (MLP) e Long short-term memory (LSTM). Os dados foram dispostos em janela, de modo que se estamos na semana T e queremos inferir a produção das semanas seguintes (T+1, T+2, T+3 e T+4), a composição da janela teria as quantidades produzidas pelas últimas três semanas e pela semana atual (T-3, T-2, T-1 e T). Isso significa que 4 valores entram no modelo de previsão e 4 valores saem do modelo de previsão. O tamanho da janela foi obtido experimentalmente. Para a inferência decidiu-se que cada produto teria seu modelo de previsão, ao invés de um único modelo para todos eles. Decidiu-se que ao normalizar os dados, para permitir a inferência de valores maiores que máximo de produção presente nos dados, o valor máximo de normalização seria 1.2x o valor máximo de produção nos dados. O modelo LSTM foi construído com 2 camadas de 30 neurónios, com um dropout de 0.2 nas ligações entre camadas e a função de ativação sigmoid na saída por conta da normalização escolhida (entre 0 e 1). Já o modelo MLP é composto por 3 camadas de 50 neurónios, todas com ativação sigmoid, com dropout de 0.25 entre as ligações e na saída uma função de ativação linear. Os modelos compartilham o método de otimização Adam para o treinamento com taxa de aprendizado 0.001 (padrão do keras, framework escolhido para o desenvolvimento) e 20% dos dados de treinamento foram utilizados para a etapa de validação. Separamos 20% dos dados das séries temporais para testes. Para o cálculo do erro optou-se por um cálculo mensal, somando todos as 4 saídas das redes neuronais e comparando com a soma das 4 saídas dos itens de teste. Os dados das saídas das redes neuronais não foram suavizados para os testes. O modelo MLP teve erro de 54%, enquanto o LSTM teve erro de 51.4%. O fraco desempenho dos dois modelos pode ter sido causado por fatores como disposição dos dados e a pouca quantidade de amostras. O melhor desempenho do LSTM era esperado devido à sua capacidade de lidar com o fator tempo nos dados. Para trabalho futuro, pensa-se em considerar características das séries temporais, treinar um modelo com os produtos “fora de produção” e utilizar fine-tuning desse modelo para cada um dos produtos individuais.