A review of Listeria monocytogenes: An update on outbreaks,virulence, dose-response,ecology, and risk assessments

Improved control measures starting in the 1990s have greatly reduced the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in many food categories, particularly in meats and meat products. However, the rate of listeriosis has remained constant during the last decade and the more severe, systemic (invasive) form of listeriosis is now recognized as occurring more frequently in small outbreaks than previously recognized. This review addresses the recent advances in epidemiology and virulence, in growth and modelling, and insights from the risk assessments. Recognition of recent outbreaks from food vehicles not traditionally associated with L. monocytogenes (celery, cantaloupe, mung bean sprouts, stone fruits, caramel apples and ice cream) was facilitated by PFGE and, increasingly, whole genome sequencing. The Key Events framework, an understanding of the key individual biochemical steps from ingestion to infection, provides a structure for relating new knowledge on strain variability, mutations, and host susceptibility to the probability of illness. Guidance for determination of the growth/no growth potential of a food has been issued by several regulatory authorities and the risk assessments indicate that prevention of growth remains a principle control element. The recognition of biofilm formation and the possible existence of dormant, non-dividing persister cells will require additional attention. The recent outbreaks underscored the individual characteristics of specific foods (melons vs all fruit; microenvironments in the caramel apples) and raised questions about the current understanding of infectivity of lower doses and the susceptibility of specific individuals. Advances have been made in these areas, but further research is clearly necessary to control this pathogen.     

Quantitative risk assessment of Campylobacter in broiler chickens – Assessing interventions to reduce the level of contamination at the end of the rearing period

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has estimated that a proportion ranging from 20% to 30% of campylobacteriosis in humans may be attributed to the consumption of broiler meat and a reduction in the numbers of Campylobacter in the intestines of infected birds at slaughter by 3 log units would reduce the public health risk by at least 90%. In this study, a stochastic model was implemented to reproduce the dynamics of Campylobacter transmission in broiler flocks and explore the effects of several management conditions and/or on-farm mitigation strategies on the estimated level of contamination of infected flocks at slaughter. Results were expressed as ‘proportion of highly contaminated flocks’ (%HCFs) and estimated as a function of the proportion of infected birds in the flock the day of final depopulation and the individual level of contamination in infected birds. The effects of the mitigation strategies aimed at reducing the level of contamination in infected birds were modelled assuming that those effects are exerted on the distribution describing the bacterial load in infected birds. The impact of management conditions such as the adoption of enhanced biosecurity measures (B+) and/or partial depopulation during the production cycle (T+) were quantified using results of an extensive epidemiological study conducted in UK. A standard broiler flock was reproduced and used as baseline to make comparisons and simulate the effects of the mitigation strategies of interest. The baseline model predicted 18.8% probability of HCFs at slaughter. A positive effect ranging from −32.44% to −4.78% was attributed to B+ while T+ had negative effect ranging from +17.55% to +86.70%. When both the effects were tested simultaneously (B+T+), results were not conclusive with %HCFs ranging from −20.21% to +77.65%. When mitigation strategies operating on Campylobacter concentration in intestine were tested, a reduction of 100% and 99.6% in %HFCs were estimated following a generic treatment with bacteriocins and bacteriophages. Reduction in %HCFs as a function of immunization measures were explored and a reduction of 15% in the rate of transmission led to a %HCFs at slaughter reduced by almost 50%. The model was developed to be flexible, easily reproducible, updatable and adaptable to several baseline scenarios. The main parameters and assumptions underlying the baseline model were tested and a sensitivity analysis was performed to identify and discuss the impact that the uncertainty in the baseline information might have on the outcomes.     

Assessment of foodborne pathogen presence in the peach supply chain and its potential risk to the end consumer

Peaches are popular, nutritious and widely consumed. Being a tree crop, it is considered a low risk fruit, with no direct water contact, and no previous foodborne disease outbreaks associated with its consumption. However, in 2014 the pioneer association between stone fruit and a foodborne illness was reported, linking Listeria monocytogenes to stone fruit. This highlights the need for better understanding of risk associated with contaminated fresh stone fruit, in order to implement adequate preventative measures. No information is available on the presence of foodborne pathogens on peaches in the supply chain. A case study approach was therefore followed to assess foodborne pathogen presence on the farm, focusing on the impact of irrigation water, facility sanitation and hygiene by collecting various fruit and environmental samples (n = 428). This study demonstrates the effectiveness of integrating basic microbial testing with safety management and risk assessment tools that can be collectively used to improve the food safety management system. No Salmonella Typhimurium was detected from samples, however, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria spp. and Staphylococcus aureus were detected on fruit and environmental samples. Despite the GlobalG.A.P. certification status of the farm, livestock frequented water sources which lead to E. coli O157:H7 contamination. This conclusion was based on positive detection of foodborne pathogens from the water sources and subsequent removal of livestock which resulted in a definite decrease in pathogen detection. A number of E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus were detected during the second year of monitoring from environmental samples and it was observed that the personal hygiene and facility sanitation was not adequately enforced. Based on feedback given to the farmer, enforcement was improved and a definite decrease in foodborne pathogens was observed in the following sampling cycle. Areas of risk that were still identified following the fourth year of monitoring included the water source used for irrigation and poor sanitation in the production and processing facilities. Limited foodborne pathogen prevalence on peaches over the full study period as well as the extended export supply chain at controlled temperatures resulted in low-to-medium calculated consumer risk. The correct and meticulous implementation of integrated and holistic pre- and post-harvest food safety management systems is therefore essential to prevent produce contamination, reduce the consumer risk and therefore ensure overall product safety.     

计算机专用实时母系统在VAX／VMS环境下的实现

“母系统—子系统”的工作方式是计算机专用实时系统研制中的一次重要尝试,本文闸明计算机专用实时母系统在VAX/VMS环境下的工程实现。     

长波大面积HgCdTe光导红外探测器的研究

研制的长波大面积HgCdTe光导红外探测器的面积为2.1×2.1mm~2,在80K时探测率D_p~*=1.86×10~(10)cmHz~(1/2)W~(-1),响应率R_p=386VW~(-1),长波限λ_(co)(50%)>18μm.还研制了带有低温聚光器组合件结构的新型探测器,D_p~*=7.3×10~(10)cmHz~(1/2)W~(-1),λ_(co)(50%)>16μm.     

JPEG Pleno: Providing representation interoperability for holographic applications and devices

Guaranteeing interoperability between devices and applications is the core role of standards organizations. Since its first JPEG standard in 1992, the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) has published several image coding standards that have been successful in a plethora of imaging markets. Recently, these markets have become subject to potentially disruptive innovations owing to the rise of new imaging modalities such as light fields, point clouds, and holography. These so‐called plenoptic modalities hold the promise of facilitating a more efficient and complete representation of 3D scenes when compared to classic 2D modalities. However, due to the heterogeneity of plenoptic products that will hit the market, serious interoperability concerns have arisen. In this paper, we particularly focus on the holographic modality and outline how the JPEG committee has addressed these tremendous challenges. We discuss the main use cases and provide a preliminary list of requirements. In addition, based on the discussion of real‐valued and complex data representations, we elaborate on potential coding technologies that range from approaches utilizing classical 2D coding technologies to holographic content‐aware coding solutions. Finally, we address the problem of visual quality assessment of holographic data covering both visual quality metrics and subjective assessment methodologies.     

基于等级保护的信息安全评估算法研究

对信息安全系统要进行安全评估,首先要考虑的问题为如何建立模型进行风险评估分析。针对这一问题,文中基于等级保护提出一种信息安全风险评估方法,并建立信息系统安全评估模型。以GBT 20984-2007作为评估依据,针对主机安全与网络安全建立层次结构,并利用权重计算方法RISK-Weight 算法完成对模型的计算与分析。实例测试结果表明,该评估方法降低人为主观因素的影响,实现对信息系统安全科学的量化评估。     

某型导弹飞行航迹特效的设计与实现

介绍了某型导弹仿真系统中尾焰、击中目标等特效的生成。说明了在粒子系统和纹理映射理论的基础上,利用OpenGL强大的纹理和融合功能,实现导弹尾迹特效。仿真结果表明,这种方法能够实现对特效的控制,有较大的灵活性,对在Vega环境中应用粒子系统提供了一个方法。     

微电子生产工艺可靠性评价与控制

简要介绍了可靠性评估(REM)测试结构设计,并介绍了REM试验中与时问有关的栅氧化层击穿(TDDB)、热载流子注入(HCI)效应和电迁移(EM)效应的评价试验方法及实例。REM技术与工艺过程控制(PCM)、统计工艺控制(SPC)技术结合起来就可以实现对工艺的可靠性评价与控制,某集成电路生产公司将它应用于金属化工艺中．确定了工艺输入变量与电迁移可靠性的相关性,优化了金属化工艺试验条件,提高了金属化系统的抗电迁移能力。     

Performance Monitoring and Assessment of Embedded HW/SW Systems

Performance assessment of embedded HW/SW systems built with various types of VLSI components, i.e. heterogeneous multi-processor architectures, is important to help the development of complex real-time applications. To design such a tool, two issues must be solved: the gathering of relevant information simultaneously on several components without disturbing the application behavior, display of the performance results in a way that can be easily interpreted by designers. This paper presents a significant solution for the two above issues. We first describe what the goal for designers is and what kind of applications are concerned. Then we describe the principle of collecting an event trace and the technique to evaluate the selected performance indexes. The monitoring technique, based on a specific ASIC, is non-intrusive and allows our tool to capture real-time event occurrences from software tasks, and even from hardware functions implemented in ASICs. Each event is automatically time-stamped, collected and processed in real-time to evaluate the performance indexes selected by the designer. We also describe the display tool which clearly shows the results to the designer according to different representations. This technique and the associate real-time performance analyzer are integrated in a complete development process based on the MCSE methodology.