| Summary: | 碩士 === 南臺科技大學 === 生物醫學工程研究所 === 105 === Imported beef to Taiwan can reach an annual amount up to 100,000 tons and accounts for 94% of the total in Taiwan’s entire beef market, an extremely high percentage. In view of long import transportation, storage status during transportation is especially important. Low temperature transportation not only can ensure beef quality, but can also improve beef tenderness and flavor through the associated aging effect. This is crucial information for beef purchase. Studies show it is possible to estimate the extent of beef aging by assessing changes in the tissue fiber structure and bioimpedance caused by beef aging. However, current analysis systems for bioimpedance measurement, although providing high precision measurement, are mostly desktop analysis devices and expensive, thus unable to become widely used. In this study, a portable device was developed for beef aging assessment by combining a bioimpedance measurement module and an elasticity measurement mechanism. While analyzing changes in bioimpdeance, the device also recorded the pressure imposed while pressing the tissue and associated deformation for further estimation of Young’s modulus. The experimental results from this study showed both bioimpedance and tissue elasticity dropped significantly as the aging time increased. The overall impedance dropped by about 40%, particularly, the extracellular electrical resistance, which dropped by up to 38%, whereas the cell membrane capacitance dropped by only 12%. In elasticity, the Young’s modulus result showed a drop of 30%. A further analysis of various parameters in the tissue impedance model revealed the parameters in the model provide better discrimination regarding biological characteristics of tissues, such as differentiation between external additives and natural aging.
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