Expert systems and their application in sensory evaluation

One of the main issues facing sensory evaluation is that very few sensory professionals are competent in all the relevant disciplines. Moreover, the standard of training available is generally inadequate. Expert systems may offer a partial solution to this problem. Seven possible applications of expert systems and artificial intelligence in sensory evaluation are briefly outlined.     

On the Utilization of Java Technology in Embedded Systems

Java technology has seen an impressive growth in popularity since its introduction in 1995. Although ithas foremost proved its usefulness in the Internet domain, powerful marketactors are currently moving Java into the embedded systems domain. In thisarticle we identify major design issues in embedded systems, and analyze thesuitability of Java technology in such systems. We find that Java technologycan contribute to the embedded system design process on a system level byfacilitating higher run-time reliability and the technology can simplify maintenanceof the product throughout its life cycle. In addition, programmer efficiencyand productivity may be improved, especially for web based applications anddistributed embedded systems.     

Food poisoning associated with pumilacidin-producing Bacillus pumilus in rice

Food poisoning caused by other Bacillus species than B. cereus has been described, but the toxins involved have rarely been isolated. Endospores will survive heat treatment and will germinate and multiply in cooked foods producing toxins under appropriate conditions. We describe a small food poisoning outbreak where three people became ill after a dinner in a Chinese restaurant. Acute symptoms including dizziness, headache, chills and back pain developed during the meal, and a few hours later they got stomach cramps and diarrhoea which lasted for several days. Cooked, reheated rice was the prime suspect of the food poisoning, and from the rice large numbers of Bacillus pumilus were isolated. The isolated B. pumilus strain was found to produce a complex of lipopeptides known as pumilacidins with the highest amounts produced at 15 degrees C. This is the first report on isolation of a pumilacidin-producing B. pumilus strain from food implicated in food poisoning and characterization of the organism and the toxin complex involved.     

Scaling-up metal nanoparticle production by transferred arc discharge

The number of applications and products containing metal nanomaterials has significantly increased over the past years. In order to address the upcoming demand for metal nanoparticles, new scale-up strategies are required. The scale-up of nanoparticle synthesis, especially for metals, is however very challenging. This study reports about a production facility with a new scale-up approach for pure metal nanoparticles. The scale-up approach is the parallelization of multiple transferred arcs in one reactor, which were previously individually optimized. Furthermore, a novel filtration and bagging system is introduced, which is designed to handle pyrophoric metal nanoparticles. It is shown that the production rate of the process scales linearly with the number of transferred arcs, while the particle size stays on the nanoscale.