Combined Effects of Salts and Temperature on the Thermal Destruction of Staphylococcus aureus MF-31

The combined effects of salts (NaCl and KCl) and heat treatment temperature on the thermal destruction of Staphylococcus aureus MF-31 was studied by determining the relationships between the decimal reduction time (D value), temperature and each of three parameters (water activity, osmotic pressure and water binding energy) of the heating menstruum. The results demonstrated that the resistance of S. aureus MF-31 to heat destruction increased as the degree of salt-water association increased. Salts and heat treatment temperature had an interactive effect on heat resistance; however, increasing the heat treatment temperature made the difference caused by salt concentrations become insignificant.     

Effect of discrete batch WIP transfer on the efficiency of production lines

In this paper, the effect of discrete batch transfer of WIP between workstations on the efficiency of asynchronous production lines is analysed via a simulation model. The processing times are assumed to be random variables distributed according to specific distribution functions. The WIP transfer design problem involves determining the number of containers to allocate to each buffer location and the container capacity. Interesting and valuable information for practitioners has been obtained. It is found that loss in capacity occurs in the first few stations. Another finding is that an important portion of the lost capacity can be regained by allocating two containers to each buffer location, and if it is impossible to assign two containers to each location, then no single-container location should be adjacent to another single-container location.     

Combined Effect of Sucrose and Heat Treatment Temperature on the Thermal Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus MF-31

The combined effect of sucrose and heat treatment temperature on the thermal resistance of Staphylococcus aureus MF-31 was examined by determining the relationships between the D value, temperature and each of three parameters (water activity, osmotic pressure and water binding energy) related to sucrose-water binding. The results showed that sucrose and temperature had a significant interactive effect on thermal resistance. More specifically, sucrose increased the heat resistance, and this effect was greater at lower temperatures than at higher temperatures. The effect of sucrose on the Z value was slight compared to its effect on the D value.