Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella recovered from processed poultry

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates recovered from processed poultry. Four hundred eighty pre- and postchill whole broiler chicken carcasses were collected from a poultry processing plant between July 2004 and June 2005. Water samples also were collected at the entrance and exit of the chiller. After preenrichment, carcass and water samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella using the automated BAX system followed by traditional culture methods. The proportions of pre- and postchill carcasses that were positive for Salmonella were 88.4 and 84.1%, respectively. Ninety-two percent of water samples collected at the entrance of the chiller were positive for Salmonella, but all exit samples were negative. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of Salmonella between pre- and postchill carcasses (P > 0.05). Salmonella isolates recovered were serotyped and tested for susceptibility to antimicrobials. Thirteen serotypes were identified; the most common were Salmonella Kentucky (59.5%) and Salmonella Typhimurium (17.8%). Three hundred thirty-nine (79.8%) of the isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial, and 53.4% were resistant to three or more antimicrobials. Resistance was most often observed to tetracycline (73.4% of isolates), ampicillin (52.9%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (52%), ceftiofur (51.7%), streptomycin (35.2%), and sulfisoxazole (21.8%). These results indicate the high prevalence of Salmonella contamination in whole broiler carcasses, and a large number of these Salmonella isolates were resistant to commonly used antimicrobials.     

Nutrition education alone improves dietary practices but not hematologic indices of adolescent girls in Iran

BACKGROUND: Iron-deficiency anemia is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency worldwide. Iron-deficiency anemia has particular negative consequences on women in their childbearing years, and its prevention is a high priority in most health systems. OBJECTIVE: This interventional study assessed the effect of nutrition education on hematologic indices, iron status, nutritional knowledge, and nutritional practices of high-school girls in Iran. METHODS: Sixty healthy 16- to 18-year-old girls were randomly selected from two high schools in the city of Ahvaz and divided into two equally matched groups, one that received nutrition education, and one that did not. The education group received instruction in face-to-face sessions, group discussions, and pamphlets for 2 months. The control group did not receive any information during the study. Hematologic tests, corpuscular indices, and serum ferritin levels were measured at baseline and after 2 months. Food-frequency questionnaires were administered and histories taken, clinical signs of nutritional deficiencies observed, anthropometric measurements taken, nutritional knowledge tested, practices determined, and lifestyle questionnaires administered to all subjects. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in any baseline characteristics between the two groups. Scores for nutritional knowledge and practices of the education group were significantly higher after two months compared with the baseline (31.4 +/- 6 vs. 24.3 +/- 5.9 points, p < .001, and 31.2 +/- 5 vs. 28.4 +/- 5.7 points, p < .05, respectively). The scores in the control group showed no significant changes from baseline to 2 months. Mean corpuscular volume values were elevated in the education group (p < .001) but not in the control group. However, in the control group, serum ferritin concentrations showed about a 17% drop at the end of the study (p < .004). There were no changes in other hematologic, lifestyle, clinical, or anthropometric data compared with baseline after completion of the study in both groups. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that nutritional education can improve knowledge of healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices. Focused nutritional education using available resources and correcting current dietary habits in a vulnerable group of young women may result in dietary changes that can ultimately improve iron intake.     

Compositional,biochemical and textural changes during ripening of Tulum cheese made with different coagulants

In the present study, biochemical, chemical and texture changes in Tulum cheeses made using calf rennet and microbial rennets (Aspergillus niger protease and Rhizomucor miehei protease) were compared during ripening for up to 90 days. A total of 15 free fatty acids (FFAs) were detected in the cheese samples. The peroxide values (PV) of the cheeses increased significantly (P < 0.05) during ripening and the cheese made with calf rennet had the highest PV. Proteolysis in the cheeses increased as the ripening time increased. α_s1‐casein and β‐casein degradation was higher in cheeses manufactured with R. miehei protease. Cheeses made with calf rennet were significantly (P < 0.05) harder, more adhesive, more cohesive and more resilient than those made with microbial rennet.     

Hierarchy-Debug: a scalable statistical technique for fault localization

Considering the fact that faults may be revealed as undesired mutual effect of program predicates on each other, a new approach for localizing latent bugs, namely Hierarchy-Debug, is presented in this paper. To analyze the vertical effect of predicates on each other and on program termination status, the predicates are fitted into a logistic lasso model. To support scalability, a hierarchical clustering algorithm is applied to cluster the predicates according to their presence in different executions. Considering each cluster as a pseudo-predicate, a distinct lasso model is built for intermediate levels of the hierarchy. Then, we apply a majority voting technique to score the predicates according to their lasso coefficients at different levels of the hierarchy. The predicates with relatively higher scores are ranked as fault relevant predicates. To provide the context of failure, faulty sub-paths are identified as sequences of fault relevant predicates. The grouping effect of Hierarchy-Debug helps programmers to detect multiple bugs. Four case studies have been designed to evaluate the proposed approach on three well-known test suites, Space, Siemens, and Bash. The evaluations show that Hierarchy-Debug produces more precise results compared with prior fault localization techniques on the subject programs.     

Melt Production and Antimicrobial Efficiency of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)-Silver Nanocomposite Film

Colloidal silver nanoparticles with a size of 5.5 ± 1.1 nm were prepared by chemical reduction using polyethylene glycol (PEG). Silver nanoparticles were incorporated into low-density polyethylene (LDPE) by melt blending and subsequent hot pressing at 140 °C to produce nanocomposite film with an average thickness of 0.7 mm. PEG was added at 5% weight of polymer as a compatibilizer agent in order to prevent agglomeration and provide uniform distribution of nanoparticles in polymer matrix. Antimicrobial activity of silver nanocomposites against Escherichia coli ATCC 13706, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC12600, and Candida albicans ATCC10231 was evaluated by semi-qualitative agar diffusion test and quantitative dynamic shake flask test. Mechanical properties of nanocomposites were not significantly different from silver-free LDPE-containing PEG films (p > 0.05), and silver nanoparticles did not form chemical bonding with the polymer. LDPE-silver nanocomposite samples by more than 6.69 ppm silver nanoparticles showed considerable antimicrobial clear zone. LDPE-silver nanocomposite affected growth kinetic parameters of the examined bacteria and is more efficient on S. aureus than E. coli. Polyethylene-silver nanocomposites containing 22.64 ppm silver nanoparticles could reduce 57.8% growth rate and 23.3% maximum bacterial concentration and increase 35.8% lag time of S. aureus. This study shows the potential use of LDPE-silver nanocomposite as antimicrobial active film. Antimicrobial efficiency of silver nanocomposite depends on silver nanoparticles concentration; however, high level of silver nanoparticles may lead to weakening of mechanical properties.     

Polyacrylamides revisited: flocculation of kaolin suspensions and mature fine tailings

A series of acrylamide‐based water‐soluble (co)polymers was synthesized and they were investigated as flocculants of model kaolin suspensions and mature fine tailings of oil sands. The effects of molar mass, charge density, and polymer concentration on flocculation efficiency were studied by monitoring the initial settling rate during sedimentation. Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) with high molar mass and intermediate acrylic acid contents (0.14–0.41 mol/mol (14–41 mol%)) performed better in flocculation tests on kaolin suspensions requiring lower dose for maximum initial settling rate than native polyacrylamide (PAM). Surface force measurements showed that at low polymer concentrations (1 ppm), the partially‐adsorbed polymer induced a bridging attraction between the mica surfaces. Increasing the polymer concentration to 10 and 50 ppm caused purely repulsive forces. The presence of anionic groups in HPAM led to stronger repulsion, which was also demonstrated by the higher viscosity and larger hydrodynamic radius of the charged polymer. The charge‐induced increase in the viscosity of polymer solutions was suppressed by the screening effect of salts in a buffer solution and reducing the viscosity is desirable in the injection of flocculants in the industrial process.     

Performance Evaluation of ANN and ANFIS Models for Estimating Garlic Crop Evapotranspiration

Estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is necessary in water resources management, farm irrigation scheduling, and environmental assessment. Hence, in practical hydrology, it is often necessary to reliably and consistently estimate evapotranspiration. In this study, two artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, including artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), were used to compute garlic crop water requirements. Various architectures and input combinations of the models were compared for modeling garlic crop evapotranspiration. A case study in a semiarid region located in Hamedan Province in Iran was conducted with lysimeter measurements and weather daily data, including maximum temperature, minimum temperature, maximum relative humidity, minimum relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation during 2008–2009. Both ANN and ANFIS models produced reasonable results. The ANN, with 6-6-1 architecture, presented a superior ability to estimate garlic crop evapotranspiration. The estimates of the ANN and ANFIS models were compared with the garlic crop evapotranspiration (ETc) values measured by lysimeter and those of the crop coefficient approach. Based on these comparisons, it can be concluded that the ANN and ANFIS techniques are suitable for simulation of ETc.     

Generalized Storage Equations for Flood Routing with Nonlinear Muskingum Models

Water Resources Management - The nonlinear Muskingum model is a leading method for hydrologic routing. The efficiency of the nonlinear Muskingum model for routing of hydrograph outflow has been...     

Application of multidivisional bi-level programming to coordinate pricing and inventory decisions in a multiproduct competitive supply chain

This study concerns the coordination of pricing and inventory decisions in a multiproduct two-stage supply chain that consists of one manufacturer and multiple retailers within a competitive environment. The retailers order some substitutable products from a common manufacturer. It is assumed that channel members have different market power. The purpose of this paper is to coordinate pricing and inventory decisions such that utility of all involved levels (manufacturer and retailers) is met. Hence, a nonlinear multidivisional bi-level programming model is developed. This model considers both retailers and manufacturer when deciding about the pricing and production volume (for manufacturer) or amount of purchase (for retailers). A hybrid of genetic algorithm (GA) and local search method is proposed to solve the nonlinear bi-level model. This model is reduced to a nonlinear programming by replacing the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions of followers to the lower level of the model. Then, the obtained single-level model is relaxed to a linear model to achieve an upper bound (UB). Finally, a numerical example is presented to analyze which parameters have more effect on the price, lot size and, consequently, on the profit. Results show that increasing the market scale parameter of the manufacturer increases the profit of the manufacturer, but the market scale parameter of retailers has no effect on the manufacturer’s profit, although it increases the retailers’ profit.     

Chemical vapor deposition of poly(3‐alkylthiophene) nanoparticles on fabric: Chemical and electrochemical characterization

Chemical vapor deposition of poly(3‐methylthiophene) and poly (3‐hexylthiophene) as conductive polymers on the surface of polyester fabrics was successfully obtained. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the formation of polymers on surface of fabrics (the fingerprint of polythiophenes, υ 600–1500 cm^?1). The uniformity of deposition and nanoparticles (average size of 60 nm) were proved with scanning electron microscopy. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that P3HT‐coated samples offer higher conductivity in compared to P3MT‐coated samples. The impedance modulus of P3HT‐coated samples was lowered nine times to that of row materials and reached to c8000 Ω. The samples have also shown electrochromic properties under electrical current, changing its color from yellowish green at 0 V to dark green at +12 V for poly (3‐hexylthiophene) samples and from brown at 0 V to red at +12 V for poly(3‐methylthiophene)‐coated fabrics (V = 0 V, λ = 450 nm; V = 12 V, λ = 650 nm). © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40673.