Development of a sheep's milk kefir using species isolated from kefir products : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Food Technology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

The aim of the research described in this thesis was to develop a good tasting kefir using sheep’s milk. Kefir is a refreshing and effervescent milk beverage fermented with bacteria and yeast. Different combinations of bacteria, yeast and treatment result in different qualities of Kefir. An optimal kefir has a pleasant slightly sour flavour and is slightly effervescent. It is drunk chilled. To arrive at preferred or optimal kefir the following steps occurred: Yeast and bacteria were isolated using MRS, M17, and DRGB agar from five commercial and three homemade kefir products. 54 isolates were identified using 16s rDNA PCR for bacteria, and 26s rDNA for yeast. The commercial yeasts were: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Torulaspora delbrueckii, the commercial bacteria were: Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, and Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, and Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides. The homemade yeast were: Kluyveromyces marxianus, Kazachstania unispora, Pichia membranifaciens, and Clavispora lusitaniae, and the homemade bacteria were: Lactobacillus delbrueckii, Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens, and Lactobacillus kefiri. Streptococcus thermophiles was the only isolate found in both homemade and commercial kefir. One isolate of each species identified was used to form a starter culture and grown in gamma sterilized sheep’s milk, allowing the assessment of the growth characteristics required for kefir. The characteristics assessed were; cell counts, pH, textural properties, effervescence, and the levels of lactose, glucose, galactose, ethanol, lactic acid, acetic acid, and diacetyl using HPLC. The results from these tests were used to determine the optimum mix of species for a sheep’s milk kefir. Four different mixes of 5-6 isolates were chosen based on the results of the individual isolates and grown in sheep’s milk and tested for the same characteristics as the pure isolates as well as taste tested. This optimised kefir was made by inoculating 1x106cuf/mL of each isolate to sheep’s milk, sealed in the final container and fermented at 30°C for 24 hours. After cooling to 4°C the final product has a refreshing sour taste and effervescence, with a pH of 4.6, and a cell count above 3x109cfu/mL which decreases to above 9x108cfu/mL after five weeks, which is over 106cfu/mL required for labelling purposes

An exploratory study on consumer travel agency information sources: an Australian regional analysis

[Abstract]: The research reported in this paper explores why regional consumers choose to book their travel arrangements with travel agencies. Consumers can now access on-line bookings for airlines, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing tours and other related products so why do they still go to travel agencies for reservations? This paper identifies the information sources consumers used when selecting a travel agency. The research design involves two stages. The first stage has been completed and was a series of in-depth interviews with 10 users of regional travel agencies and three experienced travel agency consultants. The second stage will be a mail-out survey to travel agencies in the Darling Downs area of Queensland, Australia. Despite its locality, the region is a significant consumer of travel with approximately eight retail travel agencies in the city of Toowoomba alone. The in-depth interviews highlighted the need to de-emphasize three particular information sources considered for inclusion in the survey for stage two. They were, travel guidebooks, travel or automotive clubs and local travel offices which were deleted from the intended survey and replaced with television lifestyle programs as an information source worthy of investigation

Promoting Group Justice: Fiscal Policies in Post-Conflict Countries

In the aftermath of violent conflict, governments have an opportunity to address fundamental inequalities between internal groups. As taxation and expenditure policies are developed to rebuild a functional domestic economy and infrastructure, policies can be designed to lessen divisions and promote equity.The authors assert that good data about the status quo on inequality in a country is the first step to addressing it through policy. They then discuss some options for formulating a tax code that addresses distributional issues and increases progressivity. Expenditure planning can also be designed to help create equity in income and non-income resources, such as public services, employment, health and education. The role of aid donors is discussed, particularly as a source of successful strategies gleaned from other post-conflict countries.This study is part of a series on Public Finance in Post-Conflict Environments, published jointly by PERI and New York University's Center on International Cooperation.inequality; horizontal inequality; post-conflict economies; fiscal policies; taxation incidence; expenditure incidence

The Implications of Horizontal Inequality for Aid

This paper argues that the reduction of horizontal inequalities (HIs) or inequalities between culturally defined groups should inform aid policy in heterogeneous countries with severe HIs. It shows how this would change aid allocation across countries, leading to more aid to heterogeneous countries relative to homogeneous ones, the opposite of the existing bias in aid distribution. It explores how adopting an HI approach would affect the use of particular aid instruments, arguing that different instruments are appropriate according to the attitude and capacity of the government in relation to correcting HIs. Drawing on case studies of Ghana and Nepal it argues that at present there is neglect of HI considerations in aid policy, which can be particularly damaging where aid forms a large part of government resources.aid, horizontal inequality, social exclusion, Nepal, Ghana

The effects of an eight-hour affective education program on fear of Aids and homophobia in student nurses

Research was conducted to determine the relationship between fear of AIDS and homophobia, and to determine the effects of an eight-hour affective education program in reducing homophobia and fear of AIDS in associate degree nursing students (n = 22). The Neuman Systems Model guided the study and a portion of Bandura\u27s social learning theory provided the framework for the education intervention; A quasi-experimental time-series design (pretest/posttest I/posttest II) with a control group was used. Instruments to measure homophobia and fear of AIDS were the Homophobia Scale and the Fear of AIDS Scale developed by Bouton and colleagues (1987); Within group comparisons of fear of AIDS and homophobia were made utilizing Pearson r. There was no statistically significant correlation found between measures of homophobia and fear of AIDS. To determine the effects of an eight-hour affective education program on homophobia and fear of AIDS, paired t-tests were computed. There was no statistically significant decrease of homophobia or fear of AIDS in the experimental group (n = 11) or the control group (n = 11). The hypothesis was that homophobia and fear of AIDS would be decreased in the experimental group as a result of the affective education program. Instead, the experimental group actually had an increase in homophobia and fear of AIDS

Development and Evaluation of a Diabetes Themed Escape Room for Students Completing an Ambulatory Care Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience

Introduction: Escape rooms are a novel form of entertainment that have become increasingly popular in the United States. The idea of an escape room has great potential for educational purposes as well. In professional healthcare schooling, they have been used to supplement what students learn in the classroom. Interactive learning through the use of an escape room has been studied in the setting of pharmacy students completing their third year of traditional didactic learning. As of yet, there is no published literature that analyzes the use of escape rooms in the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) setting. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate student knowledge retention following participation in a diabetes themed escape room used for APPE students completing an ambulatory care rotation. The secondary objective of this study was to evaluate student satisfaction of this learning activity. Methods: The study consisted of a 10-question knowledge assessment to be taken before and after APPE students completed the escape room activity. Students were also given a 14-item survey to provide feedback on the escape room activity itself. Students received assessments and surveys electronically and completed them through Qualtrics software, Version 2019 of Qualtrics. All survey responses were obtained anonymously and no identifiable information was collected. Students on rotation from January 2020 through February 2021 were given the option to participate in the study. Results: Fifty-six students participated in the escape room activity and 46 students (82%) completed some portion of the pre/post assessment and survey. Sixteen students completed all portions of the pre/post assessment and were able to be matched for analysis. A paired t-test was used to analyze assessment questions. The mean (± SD) score for pre-assessment was 76.25% ± 11.47 and 83.75% ± 9.57 for post-assessment with a p-value of 0.0285. Twenty-four students completed the satisfaction survey following completion of the escape room and reported generally positive feedback for the escape room as an educational activity. Nineteen students (83%) agreed that this activity should be continued in the future. Conclusion: This escape room activity helped students understand a specific health-related topic and how it is utilized in practice through an enjoyable and team-building method. High rates of satisfaction among students indicate continued future use of this learning activity. Further studies consisting of a larger number of participants are needed to further assess how effective this teaching method is for knowledge retention

On the expected uniform error of geometric Brownian motion approximated by the L\'evy-Ciesielski construction

It is known that the Brownian bridge or L\'evy-Ciesielski construction of Brownian paths almost surely converges uniformly to the true Brownian path. In the present article the focus is on the error. In particular, we show for geometric Brownian motion that at level $N$, at which there are $d=2^N$ points evaluated on the Brownian path, the expected uniform error has an upper bound of order $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{N/2^N})$, or equivalently, $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{\ln d/d})$. This upper bound matches the known order for the expected uniform error of the standard Brownian motion. We apply the result to an option pricing example

The implications of horizontal inequality for aid

This paper argues that the reduction of horizontal inequalities (HIs) or inequalities between culturally defined groups should inform aid policy in heterogeneous countries with severe HIs. It shows how this would change aid allocation across countries, leading to more aid to heterogeneous countries relative to homogeneous ones, the opposite of the existing bias in aid distribution. It explores how adopting an HI approach would affect the use of particular aid instruments, arguing that different instruments are appropriate according to the attitude and capacity of the government in relation to correcting HIs. Drawing on case studies of Ghana and Nepal it argues that at present there is neglect of HI considerations in aid policy, which can be particularly damaging where aid forms a large part of government resources

Major health-related behaviours and mental well-being in the general population : the health survey for England

Background: Major behavioural risk factors are known to adversely affect health outcomes and be strongly associated with mental illness. However, little is known about the association of these risk factors with mental well-being in the general population. We sought to examine behavioural correlates of high and low mental well-being in the Health Survey for England. Methods: Participants were 13 983 adults, aged 16 years and older (56% females), with valid responses for the combined 2010 and 2011 surveys. Mental well-being was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). ORs of low and high mental well-being, compared to the middle-range category, were estimated for body mass index (BMI), smoking, drinking habits, and fruit and vegetable intake. Results: ORs for low mental well-being were increased in obese individuals (up to 1.72, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.36 in BMI 40+ kg/m2). They increased in a linear fashion with increasing smoking (up to 1.98, 95% CI 1.55 to 2.53, >20 cigarettes/day) and with decreasing fruit and vegetable intake (up to 1.53, 95% CI 1.24 to 1.90, <1 portion/day); whereas ORs were reduced for sensible alcohol intake (0.78, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.91, ≤4 units/day in men, ≤3 units/day in women). ORs for high mental well-being were not correlated with categories of BMI or alcohol intake. ORs were reduced among ex-smokers (0.81, 95% CI 0.71 to 0.92), as well as with lower fruit and vegetable intake (up to 0.79, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.92, 1 to <3 portions/day). Conclusions; Along with smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption was the health-related behaviour most consistently associated with mental well-being in both sexes. Alcohol intake and obesity were associated with low, but not high mental well-being

Sale of Enslaved People owned by Frances Brown

Document recording the sale of enslaved people owned by Frances Brownhttps://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/lantern-mcpc/1527/thumbnail.jp