Several Stages Of Process Research Articles

Growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria innocua on fresh baby spinach leaves: Effect of storage temperature and natural microflora

Leafy greens such as spinach may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes during pre-harvest and postharvest handling. Recent recalls issued for Listeria-contaminated leafy greens are driving the need for technologies to minimize safety issues in fresh and fresh-cut produce. This study assessed the effectiveness of washing treatments as a postharvest practice to minimize the growth of the pathogen and L. innocua on fresh baby spinach leaves under different storage temperatures and to evaluate the feasibility of using L. innocua as a surrogate when access to BL2 facilities is difficult. Each microorganism had a different (P<0.05) response to the type of washing treatment at room temperature (∼22°C) and the pathogen was harder to remove from the leaves than the surrogate was. Growth data for L. monocytogenes and L. innocua on fresh baby spinach leaves at 5–36°C were modeled using the Baranyi and Ratkowsky (secondary) models which were validated by comparing the root mean square error (RMSEs) and biases between the growth data and model predictions. The secondary models showed good agreement between observed and predicted values. These models can provide useful input to quantitative risk assessment tools to evaluate the growth of pathogens in baby spinach during several stages of processing and distribution such as washing and cold storage. Although the natural microflora on fresh baby spinach leaves affected the growth parameters for both bacteria, the effect was not significant. Thus, in the specific case of spinach leaves, the study shows that L. innocua may be a suitable surrogate in growth studies of L. monocytogenes.

The neural correlates of emotion ownership using biologically relevant emotional stimuli

Event Abstract Back to Event The neural correlates of emotion ownership using biologically relevant emotional stimuli Aimee Mavratzakis1, 2*, Cornelia Herbert3, 4 and Peter Walla1, 2 1 University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Australia 2 Priority Research Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Newcastle, Australia 3 University of Wuerzburg, Department of Psychology, Germany 4 University of Tuebingen, University Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Germany Aims: The relationship between emotion and self-awareness has rarely been addressed in neuroscience despite the potential clinical relevance of this knowledge. So far, existing studies using pronouns combined with emotion words such as ‘my fear’ have revealed that the interaction between emotion and self-other awareness develops hierarchically across several stages of processing. The aim of the current study was to determine whether using a biologically relevant paradigm of emotion processing, involving pictures rather than words, changes how these aspects of information are integrated across time. Method: Brain potential changes were recorded for 20 healthy participants while they viewed negative, positive and neutral emotional pictures during three blocks of emotion ownership instructions. Each participant imagined themself, an unknown person or no one experiencing the emotional scenario depicted in each picture. The words ‘You’, ‘Him’ or ‘None’ were presented before each picture to prime and reinforce the referred ownership for the respective block of instructions. Results: Rapid emotion discrimination in the visual cortex preceded ownership discrimination, with positive stimuli eliciting a significant early posterior negativity between 140-180ms. Consistent with language-based studies, personal ownership (Self and Other) elicited stronger positive potentials over parietal-occipital regions compared to no ownership at 200-300ms. Between 300-450ms Self-referential processing was significantly pronounced, but only when combined with positively valenced emotion ownership. Conclusions: The findings firstly suggest that, for pictures, emotional valence is processed earlier in the brain than is emotion ownership, which may be a direct result of their biological relevance. Second, the findings confirm previous literature, demonstrating that self-other discrimination involves two hierarchical stages of processing, beginning with selective processing of information with any personal reference over no reference. This is followed by the selective processing of information directly referred to the Self, where it is theorised that a proper distinction between Self and Other first evolves. Keywords: Emotion Ownership, EEG, Biological emotion, Self- Other discrimination, self-awareness Conference: ASP2013 - 23rd Annual meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Wollongong, Australia, 20 Nov - 22 Nov, 2013. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Emotion Citation: Mavratzakis A, Herbert C and Walla P (2013). The neural correlates of emotion ownership using biologically relevant emotional stimuli. Conference Abstract: ASP2013 - 23rd Annual meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.213.00049 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 05 Nov 2013; Published Online: 05 Nov 2013. * Correspondence: Miss. Aimee Mavratzakis, University of Newcastle, School of Psychology, Newcastle, Australia, Aimee.Mavratzakis@uon.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Aimee Mavratzakis Cornelia Herbert Peter Walla Google Aimee Mavratzakis Cornelia Herbert Peter Walla Google Scholar Aimee Mavratzakis Cornelia Herbert Peter Walla PubMed Aimee Mavratzakis Cornelia Herbert Peter Walla Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF CASHEW NUT BRAN IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF PROCESSING

The present work aimed to characterize the cashew nut bran during several stages of processing, with emphasis in the quantification of total extractable polyphenols and total antioxidant activity. The cashew nut bran was analyzed for the following parameters: water activity, total acidity, pH, moisture, ash, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, total extractable polyphenols and total antioxidant activity by the methods ABTS•+ and DPPH•. There was a decrease in the water activity and moisture in cashew nut bran during processing. The highest values of total extractable polyphenols and antioxidant activity were observed in raw bran due to peel adhered in these nuts.

Development of near infrared spectroscopy models for the quantitative prediction of the lignocellulosic components of wet Miscanthus samples

Miscanthus samples were scanned over the visible and near infrared wavelengths at several stages of processing (wet-chopped, air-dried, dried and ground, and dried and sieved). Models were developed to predict lignocellulosic and elemental constituents based on these spectra. The dry and sieved scans gave the most accurate models; however the wet-chopped models for glucose, xylose, and Klason lignin provided excellent accuracies with root mean square error of predictions of 1.27%, 0.54%, and 0.93%, respectively. These models can be suitable for most applications. The wet models for arabinose, Klason lignin, acid soluble lignin, ash, extractives, rhamnose, acid insoluble residue, and nitrogen tended to have lower R2 values (0.80+) for the validation sets and the wet models for galactose, mannose, and acid insoluble ash were less accurate, only having value for rough sample screening. This research shows the potential for online analysis at biorefineries for the major lignocellulosic constituents of interest.

Using Supply Chain Analysis to Examine the Costs of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) and the Benefits of Trade Facilitation

It has become increasingly common to produce goods in a number of geographically dispersed stages linked by international trade. This tendency, known by names such as production fragmentation, processing trade, and vertical specialization, has important implications for the analysis of nontariff measures (NTMs) and trade facilitation. First, different types of NTMs or trade facilitation issues are naturally associated with different stages in the movement of goods. Different price gaps can be assigned to these stages, making it possible to decompose the overall amount of distortion and to prioritize the policies with the largest potential efficiency gains. Second, NTMs may accumulate in long supply chains, implying that their trade-distorting effects are greater for goods produced in a fragmented manner than for goods with simple production processes. There is evidence that trade costs are more important for high technology goods or goods undergoing several stages of processing. Issues with product standards may be particularly important for goods with long supply chains. The link between NTMs and supply chains also has implications for economic development and for the relationship between liberalization in services and goods.

Toward incorporating emotions with rationality into a communicative virtual agent

This paper addresses the problem of human–computer interactions when the computer can interpret and express a kind of human-like behavior, offering natural communication. A conceptual framework for incorporating emotions with rationality is proposed. A model of affective social interactions is described. The model utilizes the SAIBA framework, which distinguishes among several stages of processing of information. The SAIBA framework is extended, and a model is realized in human behavior detection, human behavior interpretation, intention planning, attention tracking behavior planning, and behavior realization components. Two models of incorporating emotions with rationality into a virtual artifact are presented. The first one uses an implicit implementation of emotions. The second one has an explicit realization of a three-layered model of emotions, which is highly interconnected with other components of the system. Details of the model with implicit implementation of emotional behavior are shown as well as evaluation methodology and results. Discussions about the extended model of an agent are given in the final part of the paper.

Color Formation in Nitrite‐Free Dried Hams as Related to Zn‐Protoporphyrin IX and Zn‐Chelatase Activity

The development of red pigment Zn-protoporphyrin IX (ZPP) in nitrite-free Parma hams was investigated in 5 leg muscles at several stages of processing and the activity of muscle Zn-chelatase was concurrently assayed for its potential role in ZPP formation. A steady increase of the pigment was observed throughout the manufacturing stages at mild temperatures while no development was observed during the prior cold resting phase. The enzyme was partly inactivated according to a muscle-dependent pattern, resulting in similar ZPP contents, hence color, in finished hams. It is concluded that enzyme-dependent synthesis of ZPP in nitrite-free dried hams contributes to color development, enabling muscles in dried hams to become more similar in redness than in green thighs. Therefore, checking raw meat for the enzyme content may be a means to control color formation in nitrite-free dry-cured meat derivatives.

Maximizing throughput in queueing networks with limited flexibility

We study a queueing network where customers go through several stages of processing, with the class of a customer used to indicate the stage of processing. The customers are serviced by a set of flexible servers, i.e., a server is capable of serving more than one class of customers and the sets of classes that the servers are capable of serving may overlap. We would like to choose an assignment of servers that achieves the maximal capacity of the given queueing network, where the maximal capacity is λ ∗ if the network can be stabilized for all arrival rates λ < λ ∗ and cannot possibly be stabilized for all λ > λ ∗. We examine the situation where there is a restriction on the number of servers that are able to serve a class, and reduce the maximal capacity objective to a maximum throughput allocation problem of independent interest: the total discrete capacity constrained problem ( TDCCP). We prove that solving TDCCP is in general NP-complete, but we also give exact or approximation algorithms for several important special cases and discuss the implications for building limited flexibility into a system.

Commissioning Experience With the ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger System

The ATLAS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger is one of the main elements of the first stage of event selection for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The input stage consists of a mixed analogue/digital component taking trigger sums from the ATLAS calorimeters. The trigger logic is performed in a digital, pipelined system with several stages of processing, largely based on FPGAs, which perform programmable algorithms in parallel with a fixed latency to process about 300 Gbyte/s of input data. The real-time output consists of counts of different types of physics objects and energy sums. The production of final modules started in 2006, and installation of these modules and the necessary infrastructure at ATLAS has been underway for some time, with the intention of having a full system in situ during 2007, before first collisions at the LHC. The first experiences of commissioning and running the full scale system will be presented, along with results from integration tests performed with the upstream calorimeters, and the downstream trigger and data flow systems.

Functional Anatomy of Humor: Positive Affect and Chronic Mental Illness

Functional Anatomy of Humor: Positive Affect and Chronic Mental Illness

Pre-production validation of the ATLAS level-1 calorimeter trigger system

The Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger is a major part of the first stage of event selection for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. It is a digital, pipelined system with several stages of processing, largely based on FPGAs, which perform programmable algorithms in parallel with a fixed latency to process about 300 Gbyte/s of input data. The real-time output consists of counts of different types of trigger objects and energy sums. Prototypes of all module types have been undergoing intensive testing before final production during 2005. Verification of their correct operation has been performed stand-alone and in the ATLAS test-beam at CERN. Results from these investigations will be presented, along with a description of the methodology used to perform the tests.

An intelligent process planning system for prismatic parts using STEP features

This paper presents an intelligent process planning system using STEP features (ST-FeatCAPP) for prismatic parts. The system maps a STEP AP224 XML data file, without using a complex feature recognition process, and produces the corresponding machining operations to generate the process plan and corresponding STEP-NC in XML format. It carries out several stages of process planning such as operations selection, tool selection, machining parameters determination, machine tools selection and setup planning. A hybrid approach of most recent techniques (neural networks, fuzzy logic and rule-based) of artificial intelligence is used as the inference engine of the developed system. An object-oriented approach is used in the definition and implementation of the system. An example part is tested and the corresponding process plan is presented to demonstrate and verify the proposed CAPP system. The paper thus suggests a new feature-based intelligent CAPP system for avoiding complex feature recognition and knowledge acquisition problems.

NLEBS: automatic target detection using a unique nonlinear-enhancement-based system in IR images

A new automatic target detection method for IR images that only requires information about the size of the targets is described. The proposed nonlinear-enhancement-based system (NLEBS) algorithm is based on a nonlinear enhancement paradigm that increases the contrast of the targets with minimal change in the clutter's contrast. The NLEBS employs several stages of processing, each with a different operational purpose. First, the nonlinear enhancement operation is performed by using an iterative procedure. After binarization, segmentation merging causes each local image region to grow by filling in holes. Then segmentation pruning is applied to remove spurious segments. Finally, a heuristic-based metric is employed to validate the possible targets. The performance of the NLEBS was tested with a large set of IR images. The results of these experiments showed a probability of detection greater than 90% and a false-alarm rate of about 1 false alarm per image.

Unfair Trade? The Increasing Gap between World and Domestic Prices in Commodity Markets during the Past 25 Years

The early literature on international trade has debated extensively the constraints facing exporting countries in the major commodity markets. This article goes one step further by suggesting that the final demand for these products could not have increased because the declines in world commodity prices were not transmitted or were transmitted imperfectly to domestic consumer prices. In contrast, upward movements in world prices were clearly passed on to domestic prices. As a result, the spread between world and domestic prices almost doubled in all major commodity markets during 1975–94. This asymmetry, seldom discussed in the literature, does not seem to be caused, at least systematically, by changes in trade and tax policies or factors such as transport, processing, and marketing costs. This article argues, therefore, that a special effort should be made to better understand the transmission from world to domestic prices, especially the role of large international trading companies that may have the capability to influence such spreads through one or several stages of processing in most major commodity markets.

Salmonella Incidence and Distribution of Serotypes throughout Processing in a Spanish Poultry Slaughterhouse

A survey of contamination with Salmonella spp. was done at 11 sampling sites in a poultry slaughter establishment in Spain for a total of 192 samples. Samples included fecal material, utensils, water, and poultry carcasses and livers at several stages of processing. Salmonella incidence rates increased from 30% in fecal material collected from incoming birds to 60% in air-chilled carcasses and 80% in cold-stored livers, indicating that cross-contamination occurred. The rate of incidence of Salmonella organisms on carcasses averaged 56.7% through post-picking to post-air chilling and reached a maximum of 70% on carcasses at the post-spray wash site. Poultry livers were more heavily contaminated with salmonellae, as 55% and 80% samples after evisceration and cold storage, respectively, were positive for those pathogenic bacteria. From a total of 112 strains isolated, 87 (77.6%) were S. enteritidis, 7 (6.2%) Salmonella serotype 4,5,12:b:-(II), and 6 (5.4%) Salmonella serotype 4,12:b:-(II), and the remaining 12 strains were equally distributed among S. typhimurium. S. virchow, and S. blockley (3.6% each). Serotypes isolated from feces were later detected in matched carcasses and livers indicating a cross-contamination of carcasses by endogenous microflora in bird feces. The incidence of Salmonella serotype 4,5, 12:b:-(II) and that of S. typhimurium were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in samples obtained prior to evisceration than in those collected after that particular step. The situation with S. enteritidis was quite the reverse, since this serotype was more frequently detected in samples taken after the evisceration step (P < 0.01).

Classifier and shift-invariant automatic target recognition neural networks

Automatic target recognition processors typically employ several stages of processing, each with a different operational purpose. New shift-invariant filters using morphological and Gabor wavelet transform operations are described for use in the initial stages of such a system. Their realization on simple correlation neural networks are noted, together with the use of neural net optimization techniques to design such filters. A new feature space trajectory classifier neural network is described that identifies the class and pose of each object, rejects clutter false alarms, and overcomes various issues associated with other classier neural networks.

A Review of Mid-Second Millennium B.C. Egyptian Glass Technology at Tell El-Amarna

AbstractIn 1891 and 1892 Sir Flinders Petrie excavated glass in various stages of processing from the palace dumps at the fourteenth century B.C. site of Tell el-Amarna, a city built by artisans practicing the highest quality possible in their crafts in order to adorn the new capitol of Tutankhaman and thereby legitimize his rule(1). In order to learn more about the making and working of this glass, we analyzed samples in several stages of processing for composition, processing temperature, viscosity, extent of crystal growth and microscopic evidence of forming methods. Our findings accord with microscopic evidence from complete vessels, an unpublished manuscript on glass finds by the excavator, Sir Flinders Petrie(2) and previous work of the British glass technologist, W.E.S. Turner(3).

Preparation of tough, fibrous material for examination in the scanning electron microscope

SUMMARYA simple method has been devised which minimizes distortion of fibrous material during the cutting needed for examination of cross‐sections in the SEM. Camphene, suggested for use in ‘freeze‐drying’ at room temperature (Watters &amp; Buck, 1971) is used as an embedding material with a surrounding layer of ice for reinforcement and sectioning can then be carried out. The technique has been successfully applied to hides and skins in several stages of processing to leather, i.e. in both wet and dry initial states.