Prevalence of salmonella on retail chicken meat in Russian Federation

The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella on raw retail chicken meat in Russia. Broiler chicken carcasses (n = 698) were collected from three regions of Russia: central (i.e., Moscow area), northwest (i.e., St. Petersburg area), and southern (i.e., Krasnodar area). In each region, samples were collected to represent various cities and districts, as well as different types of retail stores and carcass storage temperatures (i.e., chilled and frozen). All chicken samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella using a whole-carcass rinse method. The overall Salmonella prevalence was 31.5%. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in Salmonella prevalence by (i) region-29.3% (n = 464) in Moscow, 38.5% (n = 192) in St. Petersburg, and 23.8% (n = 42) in Krasnodar; (ii) retail store type-28.8% (n = 236) in hypermarkets, 31.9% (n = 260) in supermarkets (part of chain stores), 44.3% (n = 61) in independent supermarkets, 42.9% (n = 28) in independent minimarkets, and 26.6% (n = 113) in wet markets; and (iii) poultry company-34.3% (n = 545) on chickens produced by integrated companies compared with 22.9% (n = 118) on chickens produced by nonintegrated companies. Strategies such as good agriculture and management practices should be enhanced to reduce Salmonella prevalence on raw poultry in Russia and therefore increase the safety of chicken products.     

Occurrence and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes Isolated from Brined White Cheese in Jordan

Listeria monocytogenes is a serious foodborne pathogen that has been isolated from different dairy food products. Several foodborne outbreaks of listeriosis have been associated with consumption of cheese. The aims of this study were to determine the occurrence of L. monocytogenes and Listeria spp. in brined white cheese (BWC) sold in Jordan, and to determine the susceptibility of isolated L. monocytogenes to antimicrobials. Three hundred and fifty samples of 5 different types of BWC (akkawi, boiled, halloumi, pasteurized, and shellal) were collected from a local market in Jordan. The ISO (11290-1) procedure was followed for isolation and identification of Listeria spp. from cheese samples and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used for confirmation of L. monocytogenes isolates. The VITEK2 automated system was used for testing antimicrobial susceptibility of L. monocytogenes isolates. The overall prevalence of Listeria spp. in cheese sample was 27.1%. L. monocytogenes was isolated from 39 (11.1%) samples. Other isolated species were L. grayi (6.9%), L. innocua (2%), L. ivanovii (4%), L. seeligeri (2%), and L. welshimeri (0.3%). The pH values and salt concentrations of L. monocytogenes positive cheese samples ranged from 5.10 to 6.32 and 5.64 to 13.16, respectively. L. monocytogenes isolates were sensitive or intermediate susceptible to imipenem, gentamicin, linezolid, teicoplanin, vancomycin, fusidic acid, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, benzylpenicillin, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, tetracycline, and rifampicin, but resistant to fosfomycin, oxacillin, and clindamycin.     

Combined advanced oxidation and biological treatment processes for the removal of pesticides from aqueous solutions

Advanced oxidation processes were combined with biological treatment processes in this study to remove both pesticides and then the COD load from aqueous solutions. It was found that O(3) and O(3)/UV oxidation systems were able to reach 90 and 100%, removal of the pesticide Deltamethrin, respectively, in a period of 210 min. The use of O(3) combined with UV radiation enhances pesticides degradation and the residual pesticide reaches zero in the case of Deltamethrin. The combined O(3)/UV system can reduce COD up to 20% if the pH of the solution is above 4. Both pesticide degradation and COD removal in the combined O(3)/UV system follow the pseudo-first-order kinetics and the parameters of this model were evaluated. The application of the biological treatment to remove the bulk COD from different types of feed solution was investigated. More than 95% COD removal was achieved when treated wastewater by the O(3)/UV system was fed to the bioreactor. The parameters of the proposed Grau model were estimated.     

New Magnetic Phase Transitions in the Tetragonal Compounds PrBa2Cu3O6+x at Low Temperature

The anomalous magnetic properties of Pr ions in the PrBa₂Cu₃O_6+x system are investigated at low temperature. Measurements of the specific heat C _P(T) and the magnetic susceptibility χ(T) are performed on ceramic samples in the tetragonal structure with x=0.44 and x=0. Two new magnetic transitions are observed below the Néel temperature of the Pr antiferromagnetic ordering $T_{\mathrm{N}}^{\mathrm{Pr}} \sim 9\mbox{--}10~\mathrm{K}$ . The first one is observed at the low-critical temperature T _cr～4–5?K and the second one is observed at $T_{2}^{\mathrm{Pr}\text{--}\mathrm{Cu}} \sim 6\mbox{--}7~\mathrm{K}$ , respectively. Assuming that ΔC _P(T) can be used to represent the Pr contribution to the specific heat C _P(T), the data are well fitted for T<T _cr by using the development of ΔC _P(T)/T=ΔA(T ²)^?3/2 +Δγ+M(T ²) ¹ +m(T ²) ² . The values of the electronic coefficient Δγ are found much lower than all previous results obtained in compounds of the orthorhombic structure, and this is, in good agreement with the insulating character of our non-superconducting samples. The high values obtained for the coefficient M, permits us to confirm the existence of strong Pr–Pr exchange interactions. Some non-linear effects attributed to the values of the coefficient m are revealed and discussed in terms of the previous Pr–Cu coupling with a spin reorientation phase transition of both spin sublattices around $T_{2}^{\mathrm{Pr}\text{--}\mathrm{Cu}}$ . The appearance of a weak ferromagnetic tendency in the magnetic susceptibility analysis below T _cr, could be associated with the reordering of the Pr subsystem.     

Correction to: Empirical research on requirements quality: a systematic mapping study

Requirements Engineering -     

EDCCS: effective deterministic clustering scheme based compressive sensing to enhance IoT based WSNs

Wireless Networks - The problem of Data acquisition in large distributed Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) scale is a hindrance in the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). Recently, the...     

Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Optimization Techniques: A Survey

Wireless Personal Communications - Over the past few decades, one of the important advancements in wireless communication is low cost and limited power devices known as wireless sensor networks...     

An Efficient Compressive Sensing Routing Scheme for Internet of Things Based Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - Internet of Things (IoT) integrates diverse types of sensors, mobiles and other technologies to physical world and IoT technology is used in a wide range of...     

Design and evaluation of a device worn for fall detection and localization: Application for the continuous monitoring of risks incurred by dependents in an Alzheimer’s care unit

The Homecare project, which is part of a research project funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), aims to define a new multi-sensor monitoring system for the elderly with cognitive disabilities in a care unit. Two subjects were recruited to participate to experimental trials. The main objective of this project is to design and test a complete monitoring system at a real site. It is a new clinical and technical approach which is complex to implement: Homecare is intended to propose a possible technical solution, demonstrate its feasibility and illustrate its use working at a protected site. The system consists of a motion sensor network deployed on the ceiling to monitor motion and an electronic patch worn by the subjects to identify them and detect falls. In order to locate tagged subjects inside the care unit, a network of anchor points is used. From these positions and movement data, an analysis algorithm detects an abnormal situation and alerts the nursing staff in real time. A Web application allows the medical staff to access movements and alarms. The complete monitoring system has been functioning for several months and continuously monitors two patients around the clock. In this paper, we present the implementation of the system, the method of localization inside the care unit, and the characterization of the fall detector, and we show certain results relating to activity data.     

Effects of Stitching on Delamination of Satin Weave Carbon-Epoxy Laminates Under Mode I,Mode II and Mixed-Mode I/II Loadings

The objective of the present study is to characterize the effect of modified chain stitching on the delamination growth under mixed-mode I/II loading conditions. Delamination toughness under mode I is experimentally determined, for unstitched and stitched laminates, by using untabbed and tabbed double cantilever beam (TDCB) tests. The effect of the reinforcing tabs on mode I toughness is investigated. Stitching improves the energy release rate (ERR) up to 4 times in mode I. Mode II delamination toughness is evaluated in end-notched flexure (ENF) tests. Different geometries of stitched specimens are tested. Crack propagation occurs without any failure of stitching yarns. The final crack length attains the mid-span or it stops before and the specimen breaks in bending. The ERR is initially low and gradually increases with crack length to very high values. The mixed-mode delamination behaviour is investigated using a mixed-mode bending (MMB) test. For unstitched specimens, a simple mixed-mode criterion is identified. For stitched specimens, stitching yarns do not break during 25% of mode I ratio tests and the ERR increase is relatively small compared to unstitched values. For 70% and 50% of mode I ratios, failures of yarns are observed during crack propagation and tests are able to capture correctly the effect of the stitching: it clearly improves the ERR for these two mixed modes, as much as threefold.