The application of autochthonous potential of probiotic lactobacillus plantarum 564 in fish oil fortified yoghurt production

The objective of this work was to investigate the survival of autochthonous, potentially probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum 564, and the influence of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid omega-3 (omega-3 PUFA) fish oil fortification on the sensory quality of yoghurt. Three variants of yoghurt were produced using starter cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus (Chr. Hansen, Denmark), and the potentially probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum 564 (Culture Collection of the Department for Industrial Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade) as follows: (1) without omega-3 PUPA; (2) with 100 mg/l omega-3 PUFA; and (3) with 200mg/l omega-3 PUFA. The survival of potential probiotic Lb. plantarum 564, the changes of starter bacteria counts, changes of pH values, as well as sensory evaluation, were examined during 3 weeks of yoghurt storage. Cells of Lb. plantarum 564 were maintained at > 10(8) cfug(-1). Starter bacteria counts were > 10(7)cfug(-1) for streptococci and > 10(6) cfug(-1) for lactobacilli. The changes of pH were within normal pH of fermented milks. Sensory evaluation showed that all variants of yoghurt produced with Lb. plantarum 564 and 2 concentrations of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids had a high sensory quality (above 90% of maximal quality), and which did not change significantly throughout the examined storage period. Although the sensory quality of the control sample was evaluated as better, the experimental samples fortified with fish oil were also characterized with very acceptable sensory properties. Results of high viability of potential probiotic Lb. plantarum 564, as well as very acceptable yoghurt sensory properties, indicate that this strain can be successfully used in the production of yoghurt fortified with PUFA omega-3 fish oil as a new functional dairy product

Time-Domain Measurement of Broadband Coherent Cherenkov Radiation

We report on further analysis of coherent microwave Cherenkov impulses emitted via the Askaryan mechanism from high-energy electromagnetic showers produced at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). In this report, the time-domain based analysis of the measurements made with a broadband (nominally 1-18 GHz) log periodic dipole array antenna is described. The theory of a transmit-receive antenna system based on time-dependent effective height operator is summarized and applied to fully characterize the measurement antenna system and to reconstruct the electric field induced via the Askaryan process. The observed radiation intensity and phase as functions of frequency were found to agree with expectations from 0.75-11.5 GHz within experimental errors on the normalized electric field magnitude and the relative phase; 0.039 microV/MHz/TeV and 17 deg, respectively. This is the first time this agreement has been observed over such a broad bandwidth, and the first measurement of the relative phase variation of an Askaryan pulse. The importance of validation of the Askaryan mechanism is significant since it is viewed as the most promising way to detect cosmogenic neutrino fluxes at E > 10^15 eV.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Ispitivanje efekata primene bipolarne jonizacije vazduha u zanatskoj proizvodnji sira i kajmaka

Milk and dairy products are sustainable to the development of numerous microorganisms, especially pathogens. Therewith, it is necessary to achieve a high level of hygiene in dairy plants, in order to get safe and high quality products. Based on that, modern food production implies application of different air treatments. Microbiological status of air and working surfaces in the cheese and kajmak craft production, before and after air treatment by bipolar ionization, was investigated. It is concluded that bipolar ionization may be considered as an efficient method for improving of microbiological status of air, as well as surfaces that are in contact with the air.Mleko i mlečni proizvodi su namirnice pogodne za razvoj brojnih, posebno patogenih mikroorganizama. Pogoni za proizvodnju mlečnih proizvoda moraju se odlikovati visokim stepenom higijene, u cilju dobijanja proizvoda visokog kvaliteta i bezbednosti. S tim u vezi, savremena proizvodnja prehrambenih proizvoda u sve većoj meri podrazumeva primenu različitih tretmana vazduha. U radu je vršeno ispitivanje mikrobiološkog statusa i radnih površina u uslovima zanatske proizvodnje sira i kajmaka pre i nakon primene tretmana vazduha primenom bipolarne jonizacije. Ustanovljena je visoka efikasnost ovog tretmana u poboljšanju mikrobiološke slike vazduha, kao i radnih površina koje su u kontaktu sa vazduhom

Observations of the Askaryan Effect in Ice

We report on the first observations of the Askaryan effect in ice: coherent impulsive radio Cherenkov radiation from the charge asymmetry in an electromagnetic (EM) shower. Such radiation has been observed in silica sand and rock salt, but this is the first direct observation from an EM shower in ice. These measurements are important since the majority of experiments to date that rely on the effect for ultra-high energy neutrino detection are being performed using ice as the target medium. As part of the complete validation process for the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, we performed an experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in June 2006 using a 7.5 metric ton ice target, yielding results fully consistent with theoretical expectations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, minor correction

Observation of Ultra-high-energy Cosmic Rays with the ANITA Balloon-borne Radio Interferometer

We report the observation of sixteen cosmic ray events of mean energy of 1.5 x 10^{19} eV, via radio pulses originating from the interaction of the cosmic ray air shower with the Antarctic geomagnetic field, a process known as geosynchrotron emission. We present the first ultra-wideband, far-field measurements of the radio spectral density of geosynchrotron emission in the range from 300-1000 MHz. The emission is 100% linearly polarized in the plane perpendicular to the projected geomagnetic field. Fourteen of our observed events are seen to have a phase-inversion due to reflection of the radio beam off the ice surface, and two additional events are seen directly from above the horizon.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, new figure adde

Accelerator Measurements of the Askaryan effect in Rock Salt: A Roadmap Toward Teraton Underground Neutrino Detectors

We report on further SLAC measurements of the Askaryan effect: coherent radio emission from charge asymmetry in electromagnetic cascades. We used synthetic rock salt as the dielectric medium, with cascades produced by GeV bremsstrahlung photons at the Final Focus Test Beam. We extend our prior discovery measurements to a wider range of parameter space and explore the effect in a dielectric medium of great potential interest to large scale ultra-high energy neutrino detectors: rock salt (halite), which occurs naturally in high purity formations containing in many cases hundreds of cubic km of water-equivalent mass. We observed strong coherent pulsed radio emission over a frequency band from 0.2-15 GHz. A grid of embedded dual-polarization antennas was used to confirm the high degree of linear polarization and track the change of direction of the electric-field vector with azimuth around the shower. Coherence was observed over 4 orders of magnitude of shower energy. The frequency dependence of the radiation was tested over two orders of magnitude of UHF and microwave frequencies. We have also made the first observations of coherent transition radiation from the Askaryan charge excess, and the result agrees well with theoretical predictions. Based on these results we have performed a detailed and conservative simulation of a realistic GZK neutrino telescope array within a salt-dome, and we find it capable of detecting 10 or more contained events per year from even the most conservative GZK neutrino models.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Energy and Flux Measurements of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays Observed During the First ANITA Flight

The first flight of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment recorded 16 radio signals that were emitted by cosmic-ray induced air showers. For 14 of these events, this radiation was reflected from the ice. The dominant contribution to the radiation from the deflection of positrons and electrons in the geomagnetic field, which is beamed in the direction of motion of the air shower. This radiation is reflected from the ice and subsequently detected by the ANITA experiment at a flight altitude of 36km. In this paper, we estimate the energy of the 14 individual events and find that the mean energy of the cosmic-ray sample is 2.9 EeV. By simulating the ANITA flight, we calculate its exposure for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. We estimate for the first time the cosmic-ray flux derived only from radio observations. In addition, we find that the Monte Carlo simulation of the ANITA data set is in agreement with the total number of observed events and with the properties of those events.Comment: Added more explanation of the experimental setup and textual improvement

IceCube - the next generation neutrino telescope at the South Pole

IceCube is a large neutrino telescope of the next generation to be constructed in the Antarctic Ice Sheet near the South Pole. We present the conceptual design and the sensitivity of the IceCube detector to predicted fluxes of neutrinos, both atmospheric and extra-terrestrial. A complete simulation of the detector design has been used to study the detector's capability to search for neutrinos from sources such as active galaxies, and gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 8 pages, to be published with the proceedings of the XXth International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Munich 200

Sensitivity of the IceCube Detector to Astrophysical Sources of High Energy Muon Neutrinos

We present the results of a Monte-Carlo study of the sensitivity of the planned IceCube detector to predicted fluxes of muon neutrinos at TeV to PeV energies. A complete simulation of the detector and data analysis is used to study the detector's capability to search for muon neutrinos from sources such as active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. We study the effective area and the angular resolution of the detector as a function of muon energy and angle of incidence. We present detailed calculations of the sensitivity of the detector to both diffuse and pointlike neutrino emissions, including an assessment of the sensitivity to neutrinos detected in coincidence with gamma-ray burst observations. After three years of datataking, IceCube will have been able to detect a point source flux of E^2*dN/dE = 7*10^-9 cm^-2s^-1GeV at a 5-sigma significance, or, in the absence of a signal, place a 90% c.l. limit at a level E^2*dN/dE = 2*10^-9 cm^-2s^-1GeV. A diffuse E-2 flux would be detectable at a minimum strength of E^2*dN/dE = 1*10^-8 cm^-2s^-1sr^-1GeV. A gamma-ray burst model following the formulation of Waxman and Bahcall would result in a 5-sigma effect after the observation of 200 bursts in coincidence with satellite observations of the gamma-rays.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, 6 table

Limits to the muon flux from WIMP annihilation in the center of the Earth with the AMANDA detector

A search for nearly vertical up-going muon-neutrinos from neutralino annihilations in the center of the Earth has been performed with the AMANDA-B10 neutrino detector. The data sample collected in 130.1 days of live-time in 1997, ~10^9 events, has been analyzed for this search. No excess over the expected atmospheric neutrino background is oberved. An upper limit at 90% confidence level on the annihilation rate of neutralinos in the center of the Earth is obtained as a function of the neutralino mass in the range 100 GeV-5000 GeV, as well as the corresponding muon flux limit.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures. Version accepted for publication in Physical Review