Impact of Rearing Conditions on the Microbiological Quality of Raw Retail Poultry Meat

There is a gap in knowledge of microbiological quality in raw chicken products produced by nonconventional methods and no studies have reported the microbiological quality of turkeys produced under different rearing environments. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the microbiological quality of conventionally and organically reared whole chicken and turkey carcasses purchased from 3 retail outlets in Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.A. A total of 100 raw broiler chickens organically (n = 50) and 50 raw turkey carcasses consisting of 3 brands reared either conventionally (n = 25) or organically (n = 25) were evaluated. The FDA BAM protocol for rinsing poultry carcasses was used to enumerate of aerobic bacteria, Campylobacter, and Staphylococcus spp., and for qualitative analysis of Salmonella. Organic chickens from one brand had the highest average counts of aerobic bacteria, Staphylococcus spp. and Campylobacter (4.8, 4.8, and 4.7 Log₁₀ CFU/mL rinsate, respectively) while the other organic brand had the lowest average counts (3.4, 3.3, and 3.1, respectively) of all 4 brands evaluated. The organic turkeys had the highest average counts of these same bacteria (4, 3.9, and 3.8, respectively) compared to the 2 brands of conventional turkeys evaluated. Salmonella (5% prevalence) was isolated only from organic chickens and turkeys. From these data, it appears that the microbiological quality of the raw product was not dependent on rearing conditions and, thus, it cannot be assumed that organic raw poultry is safer than conventionally raised poultry in terms of microbiological quality.     

Production of fermentable media from vine‐trimming wastes and bioconversion into lactic acid by Lactobacillus pentosus

Trimmings of vineshoots, an agricultural waste with little use, were hydrolysed with dilute sulphuric acid (1–5%) in order to obtain sugar solutions suitable as fermentation media. The operational conditions for hydrolysis were selected on the basis of both the generation of hemicellulosic sugars (mainly xylose) and glucose and the concentrations of reaction byproducts affecting fermentation (furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural and acetic acid). Hemicellulosic hydrolysates were supplemented with nutrients and fermented with Lactobacillus pentosus, without any previous detoxification stage, to produce lactic acid. Under the best operational conditions assayed (3% H₂SO₄ and 15 min), 21.8 g lactic acid l^?1 was produced (Q_P = 0.844 g l^?1 h^?1, Y_P/S = 0.77 g g^?1), which represents a theoretical yield of 99.6%. Acetic acid was the primary byproduct formed from xylose, at about 25% of the lactic acid level. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

A review of energy efficiency label of street lighting systems

There are very few countries that have provisions addressing the energy efficiency of the whole street lighting system, such as Spain or the Netherlands. Nevertheless, there is not an agreement about how energy efficiency must be assessed. The Spanish Government contemplates it in the Royal Decree 1890/2008 with the goal of improving energy savings and efficiency. However, this has not obtained the expected results. Nowadays, energy efficiency of this kind of systems is assessed using a label. In the case of Spain, this label only assesses one magnitude. The contributions of this paper are two evaluation systems (kiviat diagram and pie chart) which assess five magnitudes: lamps, energy efficiency index, light pollution, renewable energy contribution, and harness of the luminous flux using dimming. After that, a survey was done to study several subjects: (1) if citizens are aware about the efficiency of street lighting systems, (2) whether the sample of colors used in the label is adequate, and (3) if our proposed systems could replace the current evaluation system. Finally, the paper finishes with the conclusions of the survey.     

Development of Quality Index Method (QIM) scheme for Acoupa weakfish (Cynoscion acoupa)

A Quality Index Method (QIM) scheme for gutted and iced Acoupa weakfish (Cynoscion acoupa) was developed and its efficiency for freshness evaluation was compared with instrumental colour analysis, microbial and chemical methods. The QIM scheme comprises sensory evaluation of 14 parameters, reaching a total sum of 23 demerit points. The evolution of Quality Index (QI) was identical in two independent storage experiments and could be represented by the equation QI = 1.3593 × days − 0.3822 (R² = 0.9614, P < 0.0001). The QIM results indicated a shelf life of 8–9 days, when the sensory quality was considered unacceptable. The storage time affected a∗ and b∗ values for fish gill and caudal fin, respectively. Psychrotrophic bacteria counts (PBC) increased at different rates during the iced storage of fish in three independent storage experiments, reaching the maximum recommended limit for marginally acceptable quality products of 10⁷ CFU/g between 6 and 14 days. The shelf life of Acoupa weakfish estimated by QIM was slightly longer than that evaluated by PBC. The rate and pattern of total volatile base nitrogen and trimethylamine production was different in fish from three independent storage experiments. The use of QIM scheme was a reliable way of assessing freshness of Acoupa weakfish.     

Aromatic Profile of Ciders by Chemical Quantitative,Gas Chromatography‐Olfactometry,and Sensory Analysis

Nine samples of Asturias cider have been analyzed for volatile, olfactometric, and sensorial profiles. The aromatic composition was mainly constituted by fusel alcohols and ethyl esters. Among the minor volatile compounds, fatty acids, volatile phenols, and alcohols were the main components. The olfactometric analysis revealed the existence of 55 aromatic areas, exhibiting a wide range of intensities. Components like amyl alcohols, 2‐phenylethanol, ethyl esters such as 2‐methylbutyrate, hexanoate and octanoate, hexanoic and octanoic acids 2‐phenylethyl acetate, 4‐ethyl guaiacol, and 4‐ethyl phenol could be considered as being part of the structure of cider aroma. The extract dilution analysis of one extract identified 2 volatile phenols (4‐ethyl guaiacol and 4‐ethyl phenol) among the most powerful odorants in cider. These components gave significant correlations with the sensory attributes sweet, spicy, and lees.     

New modified Nafion-bisphosphonic acid composite membranes for enhanced proton conductivity and PEMFC performance

Proton exchange membranes remain a crucial material and a key challenge to fuel cell science and technology. In this work, new Nafion membranes are prepared by a casting method using aryl- or azaheteroaromatic bisphosphonate compounds as dopants. The incorporation of the dopant, considered at 1 wt% loading after previous selection, produces enhanced proton conductivity properties in the new membranes, at different temperature and relative humidity conditions, in comparison with values obtained with commercial Nafion. Water uptake and ionic exchange capacity (IEC) are also assessed due to their associated impact on transport properties, resulting in superior values than Nafion when tested in the same experimental conditions. These improvements by doped membranes prompted the evaluation of their potential application in fuel cells, at different temperatures. The new membranes, in membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs), show an increased fuel cell maximum power output with temperature until 60 °C or 70 °C, followed by a decrease above these temperatures, a Nafion-like behaviour when measured in the same conditions. The membrane doped with [1,4-phenylenebis(hydroxymethanetriyl)]tetrakis(phosphonic acid) (BP2) presents better results than Nafion N-115 membrane at all studied temperatures, with a maximum power output performance of ～383 mW cm^?2 at 70 °C. Open circuit potentials of the fuel cell were always higher than values obtained for Nafion MEAs in all studied conditions, indicating the possibility of advantageous restrain to gas crossover in the new doped membranes.     

Energy-Aware Production Scheduling in Flow Shop and Job Shop Environments Using a Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm

Abstract

The energy-aware scheduling problem is a multi-objective optimization problem where the main goal is to achieve energy savings without affecting productivity in a manufacturing system. In this work, we present an approach for energy-aware flow shop scheduling problem and energy-aware job shop scheduling problem considering the process speed as the main energy-related decision variable. This approach allows one to set the appropriate process speed for every considered operation in the corresponding machine. When the speed is high, the processing time is short but the energy demand increases, and vice versa. Therefore, two objectives are worked together: a production objective, paired with an energy efficiency objective. A generic elitist multi-objective genetic algorithm was implemented to solve both problems. Results from a simple comparative design of experiments and a nonparametric test show that it is possible to smooth the energy demand profile and obtain reductions that average 19.8% in energy consumption. This helps to reduce peak loads and drops on applied energy sources demand, stabilizing the conversion units operational efficiency across the entire operational time with a minimum effect on the production maximum completion time (makespan).     

Analysis of crowds' movement using Twitter

Over the last decade, the infrastructure supporting the smart city has lived together with and was surpassed by the rise of social media. The tremendous growth of both mobile devices and social media users has unearthed a new kind of services in the so‐called location‐based social networks (LBSNs). In this new scenario, the term crowdsensing refers to sharing data collected by sensing humans with the aim of measuring phenomena of common interest. Crowd‐sourced location data provide the ability to study, for the first time, the movement of individuals in urban environments. In this paper, we address the problem of monitoring crowds, whereabouts and movement, which can assist decision making in education, emergency training, urban planning, traffic engineering, etc. Precisely, two‐phase density‐based analysis for collectives and crowds (2PD‐CC) is a novel methodology over public data in LBSN, which combines density‐based clustering, outlier detection a topic modeling over a region under study to detect, predict, and explain abnormal group behavior. In order to validate the methodology and its potential application to full‐scale problems, an experiment over Twitter data was performed in Madrid city.     

Configuration in smart service systems: A practice‐based inquiry

In this paper, we develop a new perspective on configuration processes inherent to smart service systems that brings human actors to the theoretical foreground, is informed by practice theory, and is grounded in an intervention study of smart locating systems used in home care of persons with dementia. Maintaining control of the location of persons with dementia is a major source of caregiver burden, and assistive technologies such as smart locating systems hold the promise of enhancing quality of life and reducing caregiver burden. Drawing from research on smart service systems, organizational configuration research, and practice theory, we articulate a conceptual model of configuring in practice to explain how practice elements and the capabilities of smart technologies become mutually configured. Our analysis of study participants' experiences with the locating systems identified three distinctive configurations, characterized as enhanced smartness, degraded smartness, and fragile smartness, which developed through configuring processes. The configuring in practice model we develop here helps explain why unexpected and anticipated configurations develop and thus the conditions that facilitate or inhibit value cocreation in smart service systems.