Heat resistance of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in cook‐in‐bag ground beef as affected by pH and acidulant†

Summary The heat resistance of a four‐strain mixture of Escherichia coli O157:H7 was tested. The temperature range was 55–62.5 °C and the substrate was beef at pH 4.5 or 5.5, adjusted with either acetic or lactic acid. Inoculated meat, packaged in bags, was completely immersed in a circulating water bath and cooked to an internal temperature of 55, 58, 60, or 62.5 °C in 1 h, and then held for pre‐determined lengths of time. The surviving cell population was enumerated by spiral plating meat samples on tryptic soy agar overlaid with Sorbitol MacConkey agar. Regardless of the acidulant used to modify the pH, the D ‐values at all temperatures were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in ground beef at pH 4.5 as compared with the beef at pH 5.5. At the same pH levels, acetic acid rendered E. coli O157:H7 more sensitive to the lethal effect of heat. The analysis of covariance showed evidence of a significant acidulant and pH interaction on the slopes of the survivor curves at 55 °C. Based on the thermal‐death–time values, contaminated ground beef (pH 5.5/lactic acid) should be heated to an internal temperature of 55 °C for at least 116.3 min and beef (pH 4.5/acetic acid) for 64.8 min to achieve a 4‐log reduction of the pathogen. The heating time at 62.5 °C, to achieve the same level of reduction, was 4.4 and 2.6 min, respectively. Thermal‐death–time values from this study will assist the retail food processors in designing acceptance limits on critical control points that ensure safety of beef originally contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.     

Mashing of rice with barley malt under non-conventional process conditions for use in food processes

Non-conventional mashing conditions are relevant in the development of a lactic acid-fermented soymilk beverage where mashed rice is the source of carbohydrates for the fermentation and sweetness of the beverage. Advantages in the process layout could be achieved by mashing at higher pH and lower malt concentrations than normally used in the brewing industry. the work reported here assessed the consequences of mashing under non-conventional conditions. Malt concentration in the cereal part was varied from 25% to 70% (w/w), pH was varied within 5.3 to 7.1, and prolongation of the holding times at 50°C and 62°C was investigated. Regression equations have been established for predicting yields of soluble protein, low molecular weight sugars and total fermentability as functions of pH and malt concentration. the results showed that the maltose yield was constant while glucose, maltotriose and total fermentable sugar yields decreased slightly with increasing pH and decreasing malt concentration. Prolonged mash holding times at 50°C and 62°C gave minor increases in protein yields only. It is concluded that it is quite acceptable to use non-conventional mashing conditions when a mashing step is integrated in other food processes.     

Application of the blind source separation method to feature extraction of machine sound signals

As the result of vibration emission in air, a machine sound signal carries important information about the working condition of machinery. But in practice, the sound signal is typically received with a very low signal-to-noise ratio. To obtain features of the original sound signal, uncorrelated sound signals must be removed and the wavelet coefficients related to fault condition must be retrieved. In this paper, the blind source separation technique is used to recover the wavelet coefficients of a monitored source from complex observed signals. Since in the proposed blind source separation (BSS) algorithms it is generally assumed that the number of sources is known, the Gerschgorin disk estimator method is introduced to determine the number of sound sources before applying the BSS method. This method can estimate the number of sound sources under non-Gaussian and non-white noise conditions. Then, the partial singular value analysis method is used to select these significant observations for BSS analysis. This method ensures that signals are separated with the smallest distortion. Afterwards, the time-frequency separation algorithm, converted to a suitable BSS algorithm for the separation of a non-stationary signal, is introduced. The transfer channel between observations and sources and the wavelet coefficients of the source signals can be blindly identified via this algorithm. The reconstructed wavelet coefficients can be used for diagnosis. Finally, the separation results obtained from the observed signals recorded in a semi-anechoic chamber demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented methods .     

The emulsifying properties of a polysaccharide isolated from the fruit of Cordia abyssinica

Polysaccharide was isolated from Cordia abyssinica and its effect, at differing concentrations, on its emulsifying ability was determined. Emulsions of vegetable oil containing up to 1% of the polysaccharide in phosphate pH 7.4 buffer, were prepared by using a hand piston homogenizer. Emulsification was assessed by diluting samples of the emulsions in sodium dodecyl sulphate and measuring absorbance at 500 nm. Addition of increasing concentrations of the polysaccharide up to 1% enhanced emulsification and emulsion stability. Above 1% concentration the polysaccharide solutions were too viscous for making emulsions conveniently. At a constant concentration of the polysaccharide, addition of up to a 1% concentration of salt enhanced emulsion formation. Further addition of salt above 1% resulted in no further changes in emulsifying ability, but the stability of the emulsions formed decreased on increasing the concentration of salt above 1%. The effect of pH on emulsifying ability was investigated by preparing emulsions using buffers of different pH, from pH 3 to pH 13. The polysaccharide had poor emulsifying ability below pH 7. Emulsifying ability increased with pH between pH 7 and 11. At pH above 11 there was a decrease in emulsifying ability.     

图像阈值自动选取算法的C＋＋实现

图像分割是运动目标检测与跟踪技术必须要解决的问题,在很多时候它涉及到图像阈值的选取。文章采用的算法首先计算图像中不同区域的灰度均值,结合最小差值条件,反复修订由计算所得的阈值,从而达到自动选优的目的。在此基础上,文章进一步给出了用C＋＋语言实现算法的关键代码。测试表明此方法选择阈值简便实用,图像的二值化效果良好。     

当前我国在学位价值取向上的错位现象及其原因透视

学位具有学术价值、教育价值、管理价值等本体性价值，也具有个体价值与社会价值、工具性价值和目的性价值等派生性价值。当前人们在学位价值取向上存在着一些明显的错位和偏差。其具体表现有四点：一是重学位的“派生”性价值，轻学位的“本体”性价值；二是过分强调学位的教育价值和管理价值，而缺乏对学术价值应有地位的肯定；三是重学位的社会价值，轻学位的个体价值；四是重学位的工具性价值而忽视学位的目的性价值。导致这种错位现象产生的原因，不仅有教育系统内部因素，而且也与中国传统文化价值观和当前社会对人才的选拔、聘用政策有着直接的关系。     

环境经济系统工程的思考

环境问题与经济问题紧密相连,由于环境问题的综合性和复杂性,需要运用系统工程的方法和经济学原理,将环境问题置于整个经济系统中统筹考虑,建立相对完整的环境经济系统工程方法体系,将环境保护工作纳入经济社会发展中,使其成为决策中主要考虑的因素之一,并引起应有的重视。本研究从环境与经济承载力、环境投资的经济分析、环境与投资效率比较、环境资源的经济价值以及生态补偿与污染赔偿等方面构建环境经济系统工程的基本框架体系,并结合实际进行案例分析。研究表明,单纯的政府行政干预不如创造条件,如补偿、税收减免、投资、贴息等,使其具备在市场规则下.自动引导资源向环境保护与污染治理的投入,如排污指标的交易等。此外,自然资源是不可或缺的稀有资本,应该将保护生态系统及生物多样性纳入各级政府决策的主要方面。     

战略网络形成动因之制造模式篇

本研究目的在于探究战略网络生成中制造模式的推动作用。文章首先分析了制造模式在技术经济范式变迁中扮演的角色,总结出制造模式与技术经济范式之间的关系,接着运用数学抽象和哲学思辨的方法,提炼出人类历史上三次制造模式对技术经济范式的价值实现函数。基于该函数研究发现:精益生产中目的在于充分调动人的主观能动性,以实现人的解放的复合机制——现场管理、劳工关系管理和知识管理等体系是制造模式未来的发展方向;战略网络的演进服务于制造模式的价值实现功能,它的生成是为了弥补制造模式柔性不足的缺陷。     

Economic modeling of board test strategies

A long and deep recession, coupled with continuous competitive pressure to reduce costs, is forcing many companies to review their test strategies. Testing costs have become a more significant proportion of the overall manufacturing cost even though manufacturing yields have increased dramatically over the past ten or twelve years. This causes attention to be focused on testing costs as a key source of cost reduction. The increased use of DFT and the integration of design and test are very positive moves towards controlling testing costs but other methods employed can often backfire. The increased use of low priced testers is one such method. The pressure to reduce costs, higher process yields and exhortations that testing adds no value can lead the test engineering manager to take the cheap route. In reality this can often turn out to be an expensive decision. The only way to avoid expensive mistakes is to perform an economic analysis of the alternative courses of action. In most cases this is done, but not always in the right manner or with the necessary amount of detail to make the comparisons meaningful. This article discusses the need for effective cost analysis of test strategies and highlights some of the pitfalls.