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The exploitation of rivers and hydropower reservoirs involves daily monitoring of the water resources, the meteorological conditions, the status of the river banks, the flood areas, etc. As maximum river discharge often results in flooding, it is of importance to provide with timely and reliable forecasts of discharge and water levels. Predicting river discharge and water levels has been a subject of hydrological modelling and a topic of serious research. However, only in recent years scholars and practitioners have turned to consider earth observation data for their studies, mainly to compare evidence of flood mapping. We present an approach of using earth observation data to feed AI architectures – EO4AI – and produce forecasts for discharge and water level with significant degrees of accuracy. Our starting point is that river discharge and water levels depend on a variety of meteorological and environmental factors like precipitations, snow cover, soil moisture, vegetation index and satellite data offer rich variety of datasets, supplying this information. We adopt a pipeline of deep learning architectures consisting of GAN, CNN, LSTM and EA to actually generate forecasts for river discharge and water level by using historic satellite data of the meteorological features listed above, and in-situ measurements for water level and discharge. The satellite data are provided by ADAM via the NoR service of ESA. ADAM provides data access to satellite datasets from different satellites with semantic relevance for the construction of sediment transport and deposition forecast model as discussed above. We explain the purpose of the pipeline components. Our forecast models are calibrated for 3, 5, 7, 30 days ahead, and our experiments provide predictions for one year ahead with each of the calibrated models. We discuss experiment results carried out with data from the Danube and Arda rivers, including three dams from cascade Arda and compare them with predictions derived with other methods. We demonstrate the viability of the approach and the reliability of the forecasting results. We further show how the forecasts can be used in hydrodynamic modelling context, for early warning applications and for routine water resources management and monitoring tasks.

Carvacrol is a major component of many essential oils of the genus Thymus, Satureja, and Origanum, determining their antimicrobial, antioxidant, and other properties. The aim of the present study was to investigate some physicochemical and biological properties of pure carvacrol. The surface tension and density were measured at six different temperatures (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80°C). The surface tension values were between 53.11 and 60.38 mN/m, while density varied from 0.978 to 0.99 kg/m3. The antibacterial activity against seven pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic bacteria was investigated. The diameter of the inhibition zones was determined in the range of 3.9–4.9 mm. The antioxidant activity was determined by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (1687.0 µmol TE/mL) method.

This study aimed to identify the chemical composition (ash, cellulose, total chlorophylls, carotenoid, and essential oil (EO) content), antioxidant activity, and mineral composition of the lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L) obtained from Bulgaria. The chemical composition of the EO was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major constituents of the EO were caryophyllene oxide (33.99%), n-hexadecanoic acid (14.28%), α-citral (6.62%), (5E,9E)-farnesyl acetone (5.00%), β-caryophyllene (4.82%), (2E,6Z)-farnesal (4.56%), (5E,9Z)-farnesyl acetone (4.16%), β-citral (3.98%), and γ-eudesmol (3.13%). The antioxidant potential was assessed using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrilhydrazyl) free radical, ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP), TEAC assay, determination of hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity and determination of superoxide scavenging capacity methods. The total phenol content was analyzed using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The total flavonoid amount of the extracts was determined by optimizing the aluminum chloride colorimetric method. The total phenolic content, the total flavonoid composition, and the antioxidant potential of the lemon balm leaves included 184.33 mg GAE g-1, 12.65 mg QE g-1, and 62.83 μg ml-1, respectively. Mineral and heavy metal contents were determined by the iCAP-Qc ICP-MS spectrometer. The highest amounts of macro and microminerals were determined for K, Ca, Mg, Sr, Rb, Ba, Mn, and Fe, respectively.

The effect of three types of emulsifiers (polyglycerol monostearate ester – E475, sucrose stearate ester – E473 and modified inulin palmitate ester – HP-25) on the starch retrogradation in sponge cake (SC) during storage was investigated. The method of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was applied to determine the changes in the starch retrogradation during the staling process. The retrogradation temperature and the enthalpy of the endothermic transition decreased when emulsifiers were added. The lowest values of the enthalpy for the whole storage period were found for SC with 1% HP-25. The methods of differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) showed significantly bigger (1.43 times) amount of strongly bound water in the crumb of the SC with E475 and HP-25 in comparison to the control sample on the sixth day of storage. Based on our results, emulsifiers possessed retarding effect on the starch retrogradation and extend the shelf-life of the SC.

The objective of this study was to investigate the species identification, chemical composition and the antimicrobial activity of tuart (Eucalyptus gomphocephala DC) fruits and leaves. The essentia...

The interest in carob pod as an ingredient of functional foods is constantly increasing due to its beneficial health effect and functional properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition and antioxidant potential of carob seeds, as well as the functional properties of its isolated galactomannan fraction. The lipid, protein, carbohydrate and phenolic composition were analysed. The obtained results demonstrated that the main detected fatty acids were oleic (45.0%), linoleic (32.4%), and palmitic (16.6%) acid. The primary tocopherol in the tested tocopherol fraction was γ-tocopherol (53.1%). It was established that β-sitosterol (74.2%) and stigmasterol (12.8%) predominated in the sterol fraction. Carob seed was characterized by high protein (25.7%) content, while mannose and galactose were the dominating monosaccharides. Moreover, the isolated galactomannan from carob seed demonstrated good swelling properties—30.1 ml per g sample and oil-holding capacity (27.9 g/g sample). The total polyphenolic and flavonoids content of carob seeds was 1.76 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight and 0.30 mg quercetin equivalents/g dry weight, respectively. The carob seeds showed the highest antioxidant potential by cupper reduction assay—15.71 mM Trolox® equivalent/g dry weight. The mineral composition was also defined as the macroelements Ca and Mg were the predominant minerals in the seed. The obtained results showed that carob seeds were a valuable source not only of phenolic compounds and antioxidants, but also of proteins, lipids, galactomannan with functional properties that could improve the nutritional value of foods in which are incorporated.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the physicochemical and microbiological profile of indigenous sheep’s milk with the potential for the production of artisanal cheese. The data showed the changes in lactation stages (between April and August) up to 2 hours following manual milk production. The quality of raw milk in the production of brined cheese using traditional technology was assessed. The amount of dry matter was21.36% in April and 19.85% in August at the end of lactation. The fat content from April to August was between 8.62% and 8.03%, preserving the values reported. The protein composition of raw milk varied between 5.52 – 6.61%. In the microbiological evaluation of raw sheep’s milk after milking (35.3°C), the total microbial contamination was in the range of 1.3 x 106to 1.4 x 106CFU/mL under current conditions. The results obtained in this paper give rise to more in-depth studies on the application of raw sheep’s milk in the production of traditional artisanal cheeses.

The composition of artisan sheep's milk cheese during the ripening period was studied. The raw material used for cheese production, was obtained from an indigenous Karakachan sheep from Bulgaria. It was found that the main physicochemical parameters of the cheese have changed during the study period. During the ripening process, chaaracteristics such as dry matter, total protein and fat content increased by approximately 7.0%, 3.0% and 4.0% respectively, while the water content of the samples decreased by up to 7.0%. A smooth acidification process was observed, which correlated with the high number of lactic acid bacteria. The fatty acid analysis showed that the saturated fatty acid composition was 66.0% and unsaturated fatty acids were 34.0%. During the biochemical ripening at the 60th day of the test period, the presence of linoleic polyunsaturated fatty acid was found to be 0.12%.

Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) is a plant source of essential oil belonging to the Lamiaceae family, widely used in the food industry. The present work aims to determine the physicochemical parameters of food emulsions containing the essential oil. The summer savory essential oil with main components carvacrol (63.71%), γ-terpinene (20.47%), and p-cymene (5.08%) was used in this study. Several model variants of emulsions have been developed with varying amounts of emulsifier (2 and 3% soy protein isolate), oil phase (20 and 40% sunflower oil), and essential oil (0.2 and 0.4%). The following physicochemical parameters of the emulsion were determined: Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy. This parameter was used to determine the thermal effect of the system. The process was determined as exothermic with the negative enthalpy. Emulsions prepared with 2% soybean protein isolate, 40% oil phase, and 0.4% essential oil were characterized by some good results with high equilibrium constants and high Gibbs energies. Model variants of salad diet dressings had also been developed, with 0.2 and 0.3% essential oil, which were qualified by sensory analysis. The overall evaluation of salad dressings showed that the evaluators perceived with best sensory properties in those with 0.2% essential oil.

The aim of the present study is focused on the evaluation of the quality parameters of artisan sheep cheese produced by old Bulgarian technology. The study was carried out in three stages - at the end of the ripening process (45th day), during and at the end of storage (180th and 360th day). An increase of 9.0% in dry matter and a decrease in water content and titratable acidity values were observed over the entire period studied. There was a decrease in oleic fatty acid (C18:1n9c) from 28.16% at day 45 to 26.09% at day 360 of ripening. In the case of palmitic acid (C16:0) the values recorded were similar from 30.24% (45th day) to 30.74% (360th day). Changes in the composition of organic acids were observed, with lactic acid levels decreasing from 27.66% at day 45 to 8.62% at day 360. After microbiological analysis, it was found that the main microflora present in the samples were representatives of lactic acid microorganisms as compared to the non-starter microflora.

The present paper aims to investigate the chemical composition of unripe black pine seeds obtained from Bulgaria. The lipid fraction was evaluated in unripe seeds, and the cellulose, total carbohydrates, glucose, fructose, and sucrose were evaluated in seedcakes. The major fatty acid identified in the

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the possibilities for using date fruit from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the formulation of a novel snack bar while replacing the used honey with date paste. The technological, textural, microbiological and sensory qualities of the obtained food products were evaluated during storage for 12 days after their production. Date palm fruit in the form of date paste was used as an ingredient in the composition of the new snack bars that also included nuts and dried fruits. Five formulations were prepared: a control bar, snack bar with 40% date paste, snack bar with 50% date paste, snack bar with 60% date paste, and snack bar with 70% dates paste. The resulting date paste’s textural characteristics supported the bonding potential of the food system and gave a sweet taste to the final product. The formulations containing 50% date paste presented the highest overall acceptability and were the formulation with the best sensory characteristics. Thus, the addition of date paste in snack bars would be a good option to develop a functional product that contributes to rational nutrition principles. The obtained values in the current study confirmed the technological and functional potential of date fruit as a product that can find adequate application in the composition of foods with functional properties.

Black pine (Pinus nigra Arn.) is found in Central and Southern Europe, Southwest Asia, the Balkan Peninsula, including Bulgaria's territory. The present paper aimed to investigate the phytochemical composition of unripe black pine seeds obtained from Bulgaria. Lipid fraction, was evaluated in unripe seeds, and cellulose, total carbohydrates, glucose, fructose, and sucrose were evaluated in seedcakes. The major fatty acid identified in theP. nigraseed oil was the unsaturated linoleic acid (44.2%), followed by the saturated palmitic acid (31.2%). The amount of unsaturated pinolenic (10.5%) and oleic acids (8.8%) was also rather high. The amino acid composition of the protein fraction of seedcakes was also determined. The amino acid composition was represented mainly by arginine (8.74 mg/g), phenylalanine (7.84 mg/g), lysine (7.50%), tryptophan (6.42 mg/g), valine (6.13 mg/g), isoleucine (6.00 mg/g), leucine (1.18 mg/g), and methionine (1.13 mg/g). The mineral content (N, P, K, Mg, Na, and Cu) of seedcakes was evaluated, as the amount of K (8048.00 mg/kg) and Mg (172.99 mg/kg) were the highest in the samples. These findings emphasized the potential use of the unripe black pine seeds as an alternative source of bioactive components in different areas due to their phytochemical importance and values.

Insects are exotic alternative protein source with huge potential for food industry by high nutritional value and limited environmental footprint. The aim of this study is to explore the colour characteristics, technological and sensory properties of sponge cakes enriched with cricket 5% and 10% cricket flour (CF5C and CF10C), used as substitute of the wheat flour. Moisture, pH, aw, springiness and specific volume decrease with increasing CF in a dose depend manner. Replacement of 10% cricket flour showed negative effect on the colour characteristics, shrinkage, specific volume, springiness and texture of sponge cakes. In CF10C a* shows highest values, while L* and b* present the lowest indications in comparison to other samples measured. The sensory panel found nonspecific taste and off-flavour in 10% CF based sponge cakes. Replacement of wheat flour with up to 5 % CF has slight effect on the sensory properties (appearance, cell siz uniformity, crumb tenderness, odour and taste) of sponge cakes and can successfully be used as innovative ingredient to enhance the protein content in bakery products.

The present study aimed to investigate the physicochemical and energy characteristics of Pinus nigra Arn. (Pinaceae family) coniferous biomass used after the production of essential oil. The biomass, comprised of needles and needles with twigs, was milled and subjected to sieve analysis, thus producing three groups of particle fractions (between 384 and 413 μm). The infrared spectrum was recorded as 4000–400 сm–1. The results from the study revealed significant differences in the phytochemical composition. Particle fractions were characterized in terms of moisture content (7.10-7.95%), ash (1.96-2.89%), cellulose (21.30-29.20%), total chlorophyll (225.54-896.04 μg/g), total carotenoids (23.52-145.43 μg/g), and polysaccharides (0.14-2.06%). The basic energy indices used in the assessment of biomass potential as conditional fuel were calculated as follows: calorific value (16748.79-16877.86 kJ/kg), the density of wood biomass (390.99-421.17 kg/m3), and heat equivalent (0.224-0.243 J/m3).

The aim of the present study was to determine the thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of biomass obtained from black pine (Pinus nigra Arn.). The biomass, consisting of twigs with needles and needles alone of black pine, was used. Ultimate analysis with the elemental composition of the biomass with respect to the main components such as carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) of the biomass before and after water distillation was made. The high heating value (HHV) and low heating value (LHV), energy density and fuel value index were determined. Thermodynamic (Gibbs energy, enthalpy, and entropy) and kinetic (activation energy, the rate constant of the process, and reaction order) parameters of the biomass were calculated.

Current article introduces a new approach for detection of fires based on deep neural network (DNN) and their extinguishing using an acoustic fire extinguisher. Finding fires on video stream is based on low-cost hardware platform containing Movidius stick for hardware acceleration of the DNN used for fire detection. For this purpose, the fire extinguisher uses a sinusoidal acoustic wave modulated by a triangular waveform. The special design of the extinguisher guarantees that the sound pressure level will be sufficient for successful extinguishing of the fire in distance up to 130 cm.

Salvia is the largest genus of the Lamiaceae family, representing approximately 1000 species and possessing a high rate of endemism all over the world. S. candidissima Vahl. ssp. occidentalis is a ...

Grecian juniper (Juniperus excelsa M. Bieb.) is an evergreen tree and a rare plant found in very few locations in southern Bulgaria. The aim of this study was to evaluate the phytochemical content and antioxidant potential of J. excelsa unripe and ripe galbuli from three different locations in Bulgaria. The essential oil content ranged between 1.9% and 5.1%, while the lipid fraction yield was between 4.5% and 9.1%. The content of total chlorophyll was 185.4&ndash, 273.4 &mu, g/g dw. The total carotenoid content ranged between 41.7 and 50.4 &mu, g/g dw of ripe galbuli, and protein content was between 13.6% and 16.4%. Histidine (5.5 and 8.0 mg/g content range) and lysine (4.0 and 6.1 mg/g) were the major essential amino acids. The antioxidant potential of the 95% and 70% ethanol extracts was analyzed using four different methods. A positive correlation between the antioxidant potential and phenolic content of the galbuli was found. The results obtained in this study demonstrated the differences in phytochemical composition and antioxidant capacity of J. excelsa galbuli as a function of maturity stage and collection locality.

The Food canning industry is one of the most important sectors in the world and national economies. The extended growing of the population creates a challenge for the food availability and access of every country. In order to balance supply with the growing demand, the production process has to be optimized as much as possible. Moreover, the production companies have to answer to the growing needs of their customers not only for ordinary products, but also for food with sustainable qualities and guarantee origin of the used raw materials.This article examines the integration processes in the food canning industry, which are considered to be one of the most important competitive advantages for the companies in the industry. Integrated connections in a production company are priority for the higher management, which directly means that they should be properly established. The integrated connections also can be related to the cluster interactions, which also is a factor for the sustainable development of the national economy. The link between these two interactions can be implemented in a certain B2B collaboration, which will give the manufacturers opportunity to make their production in new market niches.There are three types of integration – vertical, horizontal and diversification. The vertical integration is a strategy where a firm acquires business operations within the same production vertical. The horizontal integration is the acquisition of a business operating at the same level of the value chain in a similar or different industry. This is in contrast to vertical integration, where firms expand into upstream or downstream activities, which are at different stages of production. Diversification is a corporate integration which means to enter into a new market or industry in which the business doesn't currently operate, while also creating a new product for that new market. The article summarizes that the different integrations relation in the food canning industry are one of the most effective techniques to expand the effectiveness of manufacturers.

This study aims to examine the attitude of the restaurant business for collaboration and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the food production chain. The study tracks out the attitude of leading companies in the area of the restaurant industry for the usage of regional food products. The investigation is based on a survey conducted by 50 restaurants, identified as catering establishments for feeding large number of customers. The results show that 62% of respondents accepted the conception of using regional food products in their enterprises, while 15% of the participants expressed concerns about the product quality and only 6% of them consider that ensuring sufficient quantities of raw materials could be a problem that requires accuracy. Only 4% of participants would have difficulties when purchasing and incorporating local products into their meal concept. The main identified problem of 10% of restaurant’s owners and managers, participated in the survey, is related to the possibilities for incorporating new technologies and presentation of the final product through the use of regional food products.

Food losses and waste are indicators for inefficient use of the available resources. The objective of this study is to investigate the management and prevention of food loss and waste of HoReCa sector in Bulgaria. The losses could be observed throughout the entire supply chain, from initial production to final consumption. Huge quantities of resources, even natural as water and fertilizer, are used to produce food that never reaches to the consumer’s table. Although, the problem of food losses is globally recognized, there are still limited reports for the sufficient management of its reducing, prevention and alternative areas of usage. Mainly, the investigations are focused on the geographical coverage, but Bulgaria could be considered as unexplored in this direction. Managing food loss and waste is a priority task, because preventing them leads to increasing the food accessibility, improving the quality of life, and saving the natural resources of the Earth. Food waste is a complex issue requiring a variety of technological solutions and direct public interventions and incentive structures to change consumer behavior. All this requires attention at different levels.

The European Commission defines the bioeconomy as "the production of renewable biological resources and the conversion of these resources and waste streams into value added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy. Its sectors and industries have strong innovation potential due to their use of a wide range of sciences, enabling and industrial technologies, along with local and implied knowledge." The Bulgarian food industry faces a lot of challenges on the local and national level, which have direct influence on the structure of the production companies. Most of the enterprises from the food sector produce under foreign brands in order to be flexible partners to the large Bulgarian retail chains. The small companies from the food sector are not able to develop as an independent competitive producer on the territory of their local markets. This kind of companies rarely has a working strategy for positioning on new markets. In order to consolidate their already built positions for long period of time, the producers are trying to optimize their operations in a short term. However, the unclear vision of the companies for the business segment does not allow them to fully develop. Tourism in Bulgaria is a significant contributor to the country's economy.

This paper describes a system for control and monitoring of plants for production of ecologically pure fuel biodiesel, which is obtained by transforming vegetable oils into fatty acid methyl esters by the reaction of transesterification. The automation provides synchronized operation of installed devices and equipment, protection and blockage of devices in the cases of irregularities, optimum energy consumption, elimination of subjective factor influences, increased efficiency of the plant and achievement of required product quality. It also enables prediction and diagnosis of faults, prevention of the occurrence of anomalies and ensures quality system maintenance and continual production. The supervisory control system is based on PLC and SCADA configuration with decentralized and distributed control of the component parts of the plant. All technical units are monitored (transformer station, diesel generator, storages with decanters of crude vegetable oil, methanol, glycerol, acids, additives and the final products - biodiesel, energy supply unit with a nitrogen station and a compressor plant, production process, as well as the fire protection system). Control units (local PLCs in feedback with operator panels), which are located in cabinets along the drives, collect local digital and analog values of process variables and forward control signals to the actuators. Certain deviations of the regulated values from the setup values cause the alarm set off in the form of light and sound warnings on local panels and the monitor at the dispatch center, with the message relating to the cause, location and time of the disturbance and requiring from the operator to confirm the notice of the alarm. Visual interpretation of the drive components, tabular and graphical representation of characteristic values on dynamic screens enables the operator to monitor the entire production process. Monitoring of the status of each component is also enabled at SCADA in the dispatch center. Control and supervision provide: measurement of process parameters and variables; receiving, processing and displaying the process measurements in the form of tables and trend graphs; visualization of drive status; chronology of events and analysis; monitoring and processing of warning and alarm signals; the possibility of local, remote automatic and remote manual control of individual objects, as well as generating and presenting daily and periodical reports.

The interest in carob pod as an ingredient of functional foods is constantly increasing due to its beneficial health effect and functional properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition and antioxidant potential of carob seeds, as well as the functional properties of its isolated galactomannan fraction. The lipid, protein, carbohydrate and phenolic composition were analysed. The obtained results demonstrated that the main detected fatty acids were oleic (45.0%), linoleic (32.4%), and palmitic (16.6%) acid. The primary tocopherol in the tested tocopherol fraction was γ-tocopherol (53.1%). It was established that β-sitosterol (74.2%) and stigmasterol (12.8%) predominated in the sterol fraction. Carob seed was characterized by high protein (25.7%) content, while mannose and galactose were the dominating monosaccharides. Moreover, the isolated galactomannan from carob seed demonstrated good swelling properties—30.1 ml per g sample and oil-holding capacity (27.9 g/g sample). The total polyphenolic and flavonoids content of carob seeds was 1.76 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight and 0.30 mg quercetin equivalents/g dry weight, respectively. The carob seeds showed the highest antioxidant potential by cupper reduction assay—15.71 mM Trolox(®) equivalent/g dry weight. The mineral composition was also defined as the macroelements Ca and Mg were the predominant minerals in the seed. The obtained results showed that carob seeds were a valuable source not only of phenolic compounds and antioxidants, but also of proteins, lipids, galactomannan with functional properties that could improve the nutritional value of foods in which are incorporated.

Current paper presents an application of Deep Neural Networks in the field of industrial robotics for detection of people in the operational area of industrial robot. Using machine vision, combined with Deep Neural Network makes possible to improve the safety and collaborative work of standard industrial robots in wide areas of production processes.

The main purpose of this article is to indicate the opportunities for the small local producers of specific food products on the HoReCa market in Plovdiv region. The research presents some specific data from conducted interviews among several small food producers in the area. Consequently, the research paper indicates a direct correlation and a possible market niche for a specific group of food products on the examined market segment.