Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the antimicrobial effects of myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) essential oil (EO) on pathogenic (E. coli O157:H7 NCTC 12900; Listeria monocytogenes ATCC BAA-679) and spoilage microbiota in beef and determine its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and antioxidant activity. The behavior of LAB, Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas spp., and fungi, as well as total mesophilic (TM) and total psychotropic (TP) counts, in beef samples, was analyzed during storage at 2 and 8 C-degrees in two different packaging systems (aerobiosis and vacuum). Leaves of myrtle were dried, its EO was extracted by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus, and the chemical composition was determined using chromatographical techniques. The major compounds obtained were myrtenyl acetate (15.5%), beta-linalool (12.3%), 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol; 9.9%), geranyl acetate (7.4%), limonene (6.2%), alpha-pinene (4.4%), linalyl o-aminobenzoate (5.8%), alpha-terpineol (2.7%), and myrtenol (1.2%). Myrtle EO presented a MIC of 25 mu L/mL for E. coli O157:H7 NCTC 12900, E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC BAA-679, Enterobacteriaceae, and E. coli O157:H7 ATCC 35150 and 50 mu L/mL for Pseudomonas spp. The samples packed in aerobiosis had higher counts of deteriorative microorganisms than samples packed under vacuum, and samples with myrtle EO presented the lowest microbial contents, indicating good antimicrobial activity in beef samples. Myrtle EO is a viable natural alternative to eliminate or reduce the pathogenic and deteriorative microorganisms of meat, preventing their growth and enhancing meat safety.

Abstract
Metaplasia detection in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is crucial to identify patients at higher risk of gastric cancer. Deep learning algorithms can be useful for detecting and localising these lesions during an endoscopy exam. However, to train these types of models, a lot of annotated data is needed, which can be a problem in the medical field. To overcome this, data augmentation techniques are commonly applied to increase the dataset's variability but need to be adapted to the specificities of the application scenario. In this study, we discuss the potential benefits and identify four key research challenges of a promising data augmentation approach, namely image combination methodologies, such as CutMix, for metaplasia detection and localisation in gastric endoscopy imaging modalities.

Abstract
In Europe, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) encouraged the specialisation of agriculture and forestry systems by supporting schemes that promoted productivity, despite the socio-ecological changes' detrimental effects on ecosystem services and biodiversity. In the case of mountain viticulture of southern Europe, the adoption of intensive management techniques triggered noticeable changes in farming systems, namely the removal of traditional stonewalls and semi-natural vegetation, partially compensated by eco schemes and agri-environment-climate measures. By combining fieldwork information with spatio-temporal modelling techniques, a novel hybrid framework is explained and implemented to predict the population trends of a critically en-dangered bird species in Portugal, the Black Wheatear (Oenanthe leucura), to the individual and/or combined effects of the removal of traditional stonewall terraced vineyards and the implementation of cover crops. The results obtained demonstrate the relevance of stonewall terraced vineyards (and the negative effects of their removal) for the conservation of Black Wheatear, namely during the breeding season when holes and crevices are used for nesting. Conversely, and in accordance with our simulations, the increase in the area occupied by vineyards with cover crops seems particularly detrimental for the species, by decreasing the quality of the feeding grounds. As cover crops, and possibly other eco schemes and agri-environment-climate measures, might not be the panacea for halting biodiversity loss in mountain viticulture, adaptation of measures to species' ecological requirements is urgent for a successful EU biodiversity strategy for 2030.

Abstract
[No abstract available]

Abstract
Grape varieties play an important role in wine's production chain, its identification is crucial for controlling and regulating the production. Nowadays, two techniques are widely used, ampelography and molecular analysis. However, there are problems with both of them. In this scenario, Deep Learning classifiers emerged as a tool to automatically classify grape varieties. A problem with the classification of on-field acquired images is that there is a lot of information unrelated to the target classification. In this study, the use of segmentation before classification to remove such unrelated information was analyzed. We used two grape varieties identification datasets to fine-tune a pre-trained EfficientNetV2S. Our results showed that segmentation can slightly improve classification performance if only unrelated information is removed.

Abstract
Grape moths are a significant pest in vineyards, causing damage and losses in wine production. Pheromone traps are used to monitor grape moth populations and determine their developmental status to make informed decisions regarding pest control. Smart pest monitoring systems that employ sensors, cameras, and artificial intelligence algorithms are becoming increasingly popular due to their ability to streamline the monitoring process. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of using segmentation as a pre-processing step to improve the detection of grape moths in trap images using deep learning models. We train two segmentation models, the U-Net architecture with ResNet18 and InceptionV3 backbonesl, and utilize the segmented and non-segmented images in the YOLOv5s and YOLOv8s detectors to evaluate the impact of segmentation on detection. Our results show that segmentation preprocessing can significantly improve detection by 3% for YOLOv5 and 1.2% for YOLOv8. These findings highlight the potential of segmentation pre-processing for enhancing insect detection in smart pest monitoring systems, paving the way for further exploration of different training methods.