Semantically Annotated Cooking Procedures for an Intelligent Kitchen Environment

Food preparation is one of the essential tasks in daily life and involves a large number of physical interactions between hands, utensils, ingredients, etc. The fundamental unit in the food preparation activity is the concept of a recipe. The recipe describes the cooking process—the way to make a dish in a sequential order of cooking steps. Frequently, following these steps can be an extremely complicated process, which requires coordination, monitoring and execution of multiple tasks simultaneously. This work introduces a cooking assistance system powered by Computer Vision techniques that provide the user with guidance in the accomplishment of a cooking activity in terms of a recipe and its correct execution. The system can provide the user with guidance for carrying out a recipe through the appropriate messages, which appear in a panel specifically designed for the user. Throughout the process, the system can validate the correctness of each step by (a) detection and motion estimation of the ingredients and utensils in the scene and (b) spatial arrangement of them in terms of where each one is located to another. The system was first evaluated on individual algorithmic steps and on the end-to-end execution of two recipes with promising results

Separation and recovery of proteins and sugars from Halloumi cheese whey

Halloumi is the traditional cheese of Cyprus that is produced using typically two processes: milk coagulation and pressed curd cooking. Both processes generate two whey substrates rich in proteins and sugars. The scope of the current study is to investigate the separation and recovery of these compounds by processing samples with a cross-flow ultrafiltration module and five membranes in two sequential steps. Three membranes (100, 50 and 20. kDa) were tested in the first scenario and 20. kDa-permeates were assayed in the second using the two materials with narrower pores of 2 and 1. kDa. Experiments were conducted under constant temperature, circulation flux and several transmembrane pressures, while recovery monitoring was performed by determining operation parameters and retention of proteins, reducing and non-reducing sugars. Results indicated that ultrafiltration is able to separate the target compounds optimally upon two different approaches: using a 100. kDa-polysulphone barrier or by combining 20. kDa-polysulphone and 2. kDa-polyethersulphone membranes. The recovery of proteins in the first approach was high for both samples (69-76%), while the retention of non-reducing sugars (herein expressed mainly lactose) was negligible (2-7%). Using the combined treatment, the recovery of proteins and non-reducing sugars was almost quantitative (87-90%) and rather low (39-32%), respectively

Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage might be associated with vitamin D receptor polymorphisms in type 1 diabetes

SummaryBackgroundPolymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases, including type 1 diabetes (T1D) and infections. In this study we investigated whether VDR gene polymorphisms influence nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in individuals with T1D.MethodsIn 93 T1D patients, VDR polymorphisms on FokI F>f, BsmI B>b, ApaI A>a, and TaqI T>t were determined in DNA extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes, and a nasal swab was obtained to detect colonization by S. aureus. A repeat swab was obtained in 76/93 subjects for the estimation of persistent S. aureus carriage.ResultsThe prevalence of S. aureus nasal colonization was 31.2% and the prevalence of persistent carriage was 25%. The presence of TaqI T allele was related to higher rates of S. aureus colonization, and TaqI TT homozygotes were more colonized (48.5% vs. 21.7%; p 0.007; OR 3.40, 95% CI 1.36–8.52) and more persistent carriers (37.9% vs. 17.0%; p 0.039; OR 2.98, 95% CI 1.02–8.67). The presence of ApaI A allele was related to lower rates of S. aureus colonization, and ApaI AA homozygotes were less colonized (17.6% vs. 39.0%; p 0.026; OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.12–0.94) and less persistent carriers (11.5% vs. 32%; p 0.043; OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.07–1.06). No differences were observed for BsmI and FokI genotypes.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that VDR polymorphisms may be associated with nasal carriage of S. aureus in individuals with T1D, and further contribute to the better understanding of the immunomodulatory role of vitamin D in the human host's response and susceptibility to infection

A Knowledge Base for the Recovery of Natural Phenols with Different Solvents

The current study denotes the prediction of activity coefficients of fifteen natural phenols (tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, oleuropein, caffeic, cinnamic, p-coumaric, ferulic, gallic, p-hydroxybenzoic, p-hydroxyphenyl acetic, protocatechuic, rosmarinic, sinapic, syringic, and vanillic acid) in seven solvents (water, ethanol, methanol, acetone, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and diethyl ether), and three extraction temperatures (298.15, 313.15, and 333.15 K), using the universal functional-group activity coefficient model. Solvents were classified for their ability to dissolve phenols and were compared with experimental data of the literature in order to observe if the solvent extraction of phenols in practice matches with the authors theoretical approach. Results indicated the superiority of alcohols and acetone for the recovery of phenols in line with experimental data of previous studies. Furthermore, activity coefficients values were found to increase with the increase of temperature. This study provided a knowledge base for the selection of the most appropriate solvents for a given phenolic compoun

Vaccine coverage in children, adolescents and adults with type 1 diabetes and their close contacts in Crete

Background Individuals with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at increased risk of infections from vaccine-preventable diseases. This study focuses on compliance of T1D patients to the recommended vaccination schedule, vaccination of their close contacts for influenza and on factors potentially contributing to vaccination program deviations. Methods The study population comprised children, adolescents and adults with T1D under follow-up at the Department of Pediatrics University Hospital and the Diabetic Center General Hospital, Heraklion, Crete-Greece. Data were extracted, following informed consent, from individual’s vaccination booklet, medical files and telephone interview. Vaccination records, demographic parameters, glycemic control and influenza vaccination of close contacts were assessed. Results The study included 258 participants (111 children/adolescents, 147 adults). Vaccination coverage for influenza was 76.7% for children, 64.4% for adults, for PCV 90.9% for children, but only 10.8% for the 23-valent, for hepatitis B 99% for children and 78.2% for adults. Youngsters were vaccinated against Hib 91.9%, meningococcus C 98.2%, measles-mumps-rubella 90.3%, chickenpox 86.4%, hepatitis A 76.5% and HPV 42.5%. Less than 65% of all individuals were fully vaccinated for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis and meningococcus ACWY. Approximately 50% of the 605 close contacts were not vaccinated against influenza. Individuals with better glycemic status seemed to adhere to the recommended schedule and had a better vaccinated family environment. Conclusions Vaccination coverage for T1D individuals was sufficient regarding the majority of routine childhood vaccines, but less for adolescence and group-specific vaccines. Their family contacts were not sufficiently vaccinated for influenza. Targeted interventions are required in order to increase vaccination rates

A Web-Based Platform for Traditional Craft Documentation

A web-based authoring platform for the representation of traditional crafts is proposed. This platform is rooted in a systematic method for craft representation, the adoption, knowledge, and representation standards of the cultural heritage (CH) domain, and the integration of outcomes from advanced digitization techniques. In this paper, we present the implementation of this method by an online, collaborative documentation platform where digital assets are curated into digitally preservable craft representations. The approach is demonstrated through the representation of three traditional crafts as use cases, and the lessons learned from this endeavor are presented