Abstract
The phenolic compound concentration of olives and olive oil is typically quantified using HPLC; however, this process is expensive and time consuming. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the potential of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics, as a rapid tool for the quantitative prediction of phenol content and antioxidant activity in olive fruits and oils from "Cobran double dagger osa" cultivar. Normalized spectral data using standard normal variate (SNV) and first and second Savitzky-Golay derivatives were used to build calibration models based on principal component regression (PCR) and on partial least squares regression (PLS-R), the performance of both models have been also compared. It was shown the possibility of establishing optimized regression models using the combined frequency regions of 3050-2750 and 1800-790 cm(-1) instead of the full mid-infrared spectrum was shown. It was concluded that, in general, the first derivative of data and PLS-R models offered enhanced results. Low root-mean-square error (RMSE) and high correlation coefficients (R (2)) for the calibration and for the validation sets were obtained.

Abstract
A methodology based on Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, combined with multivariate analysis methods, was applied in order to monitor extra virgin olive oils produced from three distinct cultivars on different maturation stages. For the first time, this kind of methodology is used for the simultaneous discrimination of the maturation stage, and different cultivars. Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis were utilised to create a model for the discrimination of olive oil samples. Partial least squares regression was employed to design calibration models for the determination of chemical parameters. The performance of these models was based on the multiple coefficient of determination (R-2), the root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) and root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV). The prediction models for the chemical parameters resulted in a R-2 ranged from 0.93 to 0.99, a RMSEC ranged from 1% to 4% and a RMSECV from 2% to 5%. It has been shown that this kind of approach allows to distinguish the different cultivars, and to clearly discern the different maturation stages, in each one of these distinct cultivars. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that FTIR spectroscopy in tandem with chemometric techniques allows the creation of viable and accurate models, suitable for correlating the data collected by FTIR spectroscopy, with the chemical composition of the EVOOs, obtained by standard methods.

Abstract
Extra virgin olive oils produced from three cultivars on different maturation stages were characterized using Raman spectroscopy. Chemometric methods (principal component analysis, discriminant analysis, principal component regression and partial least squares regression) applied to Raman spectral data were utilized to evaluate and quantify the statistical differences between cultivars and their ripening process. The models for predicting the peroxide value and free acidity of olive oils showed good calibration and prediction values and presented high coefficients of determination ( > 0.933). Both the R-2, and the correlation equations between the measured chemical parameters, and the values predicted by each approach are presented; these comprehend both PCR and PLS, used to assess SNV normalized Raman data, as well as first and second derivative of the spectra. This study demonstrates that a combination of Raman spectroscopy with multivariate analysis methods can be useful to predict rapidly olive oil chemical characteristics during the maturation process.

Abstract
Among the groups of naturally occurring pigments, carotenoids serve numerous purposes in plants, including antioxidant activity and protection of the photosynthetic apparatus from the excess of light. Alongside with essential mineral elements, these pigments are well known to have high impact on human health. Therefore, accumulation of carotenoids in wheat grain is an important trait in view to improving nutritional value of cereals. Wheat is one of the major staple foods in Portugal because of its agronomical adaptability and the usage of its flour into various traditional products. In the present investigation, the seeds of ninety-four Old Portuguese wheat cultivars grown over two years were analysed. Significant genetic variability for content of carotenoids was observed in the studied lines. Within the 47 bread wheat genotypes the Yellow Pigment Content (YPC) values varied from 2.7 - 5.8 mu g/g and 3.0 - 8.0 mu g/g for 2004/2005 and 2009/2010, respectively. On the other hand, during 2004/2005 and 2009/2010, the 47 durum wheat cultivars exhibited the YPC values from 1.1 - 8.0 mu g/g and 3.4 - 8.3 mu g/g, respectively. In addition, multivariate methods were also explored to assess the wheat grains quality, resorting to FTIR spectroscopy (Figure 1). Preliminary analyses of FTIR spectra clearly revealed differences among the distinct studied genotypes. Thus, in order to find spectroscopical patterns related to carotenoids accumulation and antioxidant activity, efforts are being made to develop a model that will allow the assessment of these parameters through FTIR, in the near-future. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Abstract
Olive (Olea europaea L.) represents one of the most important and ancient crops in the Mediterranean countries, being widely known due to the optimal organoleptic characteristics of its oil, besides the important health benefits assigned to this product in the last few years. Since olive oil composition, respecting specific trace elements, has a direct impact on the quality and safety of this product, eleven monovarietal and twelve commercial olive oils were analysed spectrometrically concerning their metal composition. Regarding quality parameters, the monovarietal olive oils display larger quantities of Mg, Fe, Mn, while the commercial samples are characterized by greater amounts of Na, Ca, Cu and Zn. In which respects to safety parameters, the commercial samples present higher values for Al and Pb, and lower quantities of Cd, respecting the monovarietal ones. The assessment of the values observed for the trace elements, resorting to multivariate statistical methods, allowed to clearly distinguish the type of olive oil production monovarietal or commercial blend. For this purpose, besides Cluster analysis, the data have been subjected to Principal Component Analysis undertaken for either all the evaluated parameters simultaneously, or the quality/safety parameters separately, both data sets allowing the discrimination of the samples.

Abstract
This paper presents a planar antenna using low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) substrate for extreme environment applications. An ultra wideband (UWB) elliptical patch antenna was designed and fabricated using an LTCC Ceramtec GC substrate to demonstrate the capabilities of the technology for wideband applications. The simulated results were further validated experimentally. The fabricated antenna provides a peak gain of 5dB over a bandwidth of 4 GHz (3 GHz 7 GHz) with return loss better than -10dB. The radiation pattern is omni-directional in the horizontal plane (theta=90 degrees) over the whole frequency range.