Rafael Gonzalez-Cuello

Economic engineering and social innovation as a business strategy for sustainable development

This research is descriptive and documentary where it is analyzed the context of the economic imbalance, the generation of social innovation and the social responsibility based on statistical data. It was investigated in the database of the Bank of the Republic of Colombia, the United Nation (UN), the World Bank, the National Service of Apprenticeship (SENA) and the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE). Then based on the economic engineering concepts, systemic solutions were proposed to solve socioeconomic problems based on social innovation in the city of Cartagena (Colombia). From the statistical data reported, it could be observed that educational gaps, entrepreneurial capacities and levels of production and productivity in individuals are essentially the sources of poverty, which in the future end up marking their future. Social innovation and social responsibility are viable alternatives for finding socioeconomic balance and sustainable development in the city of Cartagena since unemployment has decreased until one digit in the last six years due to the impulse of the emprender fund.

Use of lycopene as a natural antioxidant in a high-fat food type butter

Butter is a food derived from cow milk in form of emulsion water/oil (W/O), due to its high lipid content is easily oxidized. Nowadays, natural antioxidants as lycopene can be applied on the alimentary surface in order to avoid the spoilage caused by oxidative reactions. Different formulations containing various amounts of lycopene were employed, F1 (10 ppm), F2 (15 ppm), F3 (20 ppm) and F0 as a pattern. The formulations were oxidized in an oxidation chamber provided with temperature, humidity and pressure sensors. Then, gaseous oxygen was provided at 30 moles/m3 and finally the samples were monitored at 0, 120, 240 and 360 minutes in order to assess different variables such as Peroxide Index (PI), Kreiss Index (KI) and titratable acidity (TA). Sensorial analysis of butter as carried out using a hedonic scale. The oxidative kinetics showed that the F3 formulation had better PI (4.55 meq O2/kg), KI (0.422 Abs/g) and TA (0.1975%) values comparing with others formulations (F1 and F2). Regarding the sensorial analysis, the F1 had the highest score for odor, texture and color parameters with mean values of 3.8, 3.7 and 2.4 respectively. The F2 had the highest taste and general appearance scores with mean values of 3.0 and 2.9 respectively. These results indicate that lycopene is an interesting alternative to avoid the oxidative spoilage of fatty food products.

Efecto de la Adición de Goma Gelana sobre las Propiedades de Barrera y Físico Mecánicas de Biopelículas Binarias

El objetivo del presente estudio fue caracterizar las propiedades físico mecánicas y de barrera al vapor de agua de biopelículas (BP) a base de carboximetilcelulosa (CMC) y goma xantana (GX) formuladas con varias concentraciones de goma gelana de bajo acilo (GBA). Las BP fueron elaboradas por el método de casting y posteriormente fueron determinadas la permeabilidad al vapor de agua (PVA), elongación al quiebre (EQ), resistencia a la tensión (RT), humedad y transparencia. Los resultados obtenidos indicaron que las BP con menores concentraciones de GBA mostraron propiedades más deseables con respecto a las demás formulaciones, ya que se producen BP con baja humedad y PVA. Además presentan elevados valores de EQ y son más transparentes. Estos resultados son realmente prometedores y sugieren la posibilidad de utilizar combinaciones terciarias de CMC, GX y GBA como una fuente de empaque biodegradable para aplicaciones alimentarias.

Biopelículas Terciarias: Fuerza de Ruptura y Efecto sobre la Vida Útil de Cortes de Tilapia Negra (Oreochromis niloticus)

espanolEl objetivo del presente trabajo fue determinar la fuerza de ruptura de una biopelicula terciaria y establecer el efecto de su aplicacion sobre la vida util microbiologica de cortes de tilapia negra (Oreochromis niloticus). La vida util de la tilapia fue estimada mediante la ecuacion de Monod Hinshelwood, previo modelado de los datos cineticos con la ayuda del programa de computo Dmfit. Las biopeliculas fueron sometidas a pruebas de traccion usando un texturometro. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las biopeliculas terciarias presentan debiles fuerzas de ruptura (0.202 N), lo cual puede ser ocasionado por la fragil interaccion entre los componentes utilizados en la formacion de la biopelicula. Las biopeliculas lograron incrementar la vida util microbiologica de los cortes de tilapia en un 29.3 % por lo cual podrian ser una alternativa para la conservacion de productos pesqueros. EnglishThe aim of this study was to determine the breaking force of a tertiary biofilm and to establish the effect of its applications on the microbiological shelf life of black tilapia cuts (Oreochromis niloticus). The shelf life of tilapia was estimated by the Monod Hinshelwood equation, prior modeling of the kinetic data with the help of computer program Dmfit. Tertiary biofilms were subjected to tensile tests using a texturometer. The results showed that tertiary biofilm have weak rupture forces (0.202 N) which can be caused by the weak interaction between the components used. Biofilms were able to increase the microbiological shelf life of the tilapia cuts by 29.3 % representing a good alternative for the conservation of fishery products.