Effect of Electron Beam Irradiation on Survival of Brucella spp. in Traditional Ice Cream

Irradiation is a new technology which can be used for foods especially for the ones which common methods such as thermal method cannot be applied. Traditional ice cream samples were purchased from a local market. After applying a 15 kGy dose for sterilization, Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis were inoculated to samples and then treated with four doses of 1, 2, 3 and 5 kGy electron beam irradiation at −18C storage temperature. Microbial examinations were performed in 3, 7, 14 and 21 days after treatment with electron beam irradiation. Results showed that no bacteria were observed in the initial test after use of 5 kGy dose. Applying 2 and 3 kGy reduced significantly (P < 0.05) the microbial population but could not eliminate it completely. This study confirmed that electron beam irradiation is a reliable way to reduce microbial population of Brucella spp. in traditional ice cream and therefore improve food safety. Practical Applications: To maintain palatability of traditional ice cream, milk must not be too heated or else pasteurization is not achieved. So, electron beam irradiation could ensure the safety of ice cream, instead of heat treatment. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Photon-graviton scattering: A new way to detect anisotropic gravitational waves?

Gravitons are the quantum counterparts of gravitational waves in low-energy theories of gravity. Using Feynman rules one can compute scattering amplitudes describing the interaction between gravitons and other fields. Here, we consider the interaction between gravitons and photons. Using the quantum Boltzmann equation formalism, we derive fully general equations describing the radiation transfer of photon polarization, due to the forward scattering with gravitons. We show that the Q and U photon linear polarization modes couple with the V photon circular polarization mode, if gravitons have anisotropies in their power-spectrum statistics. As an example, we apply our results to the case of primordial gravitons, considering models of inflation where an anisotropic primordial graviton distribution is produced. Finally, we evaluate the effect on cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization, showing that in general the expected effects on the observable CMB frequencies are very small. However, our result is promising, since it could provide a novel tool for detecting anisotropic backgrounds of gravitational waves, as well as for getting further insight on the physics of gravitational waves.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure. v2: references added, typos corrected, replaced to match published version in PR

Estimation of Coloration Properties of PA6/TiO2 Nanocomposites Based on Combined Light Scattering Theories

Optical properties of nanocomposites areimportant and useful in their consumer satisfaction capacities. In thisresearch, coloration properties of dyed PA6/nano TiO2 nanocompositeis studied using a combined Mie and Kubelka-Munk light scattering theory. Mietheory uses the relative refractive index of a small particle to calculate thelight scattering efficiency of a material while Kubelka-Munk theory inputsthese efficiencies in order to evaluate the optical properties of a multiplescattering opaque object. Optical properties of a Polyamide 6/Nano TitaniumDioxide films containing 0.01% and 0.03% nano TiO2 particles with40nm and 50nm radius respectively, was investigated after dyeing with twodifferent acid dyes and then compared to experimental measurements. Then thespectral reflectance and color values of nanocomposites with different particlesizes were predicted using the same method. Results show that by taking the refractiveindex as an intrinsic property of a particle, it is possible to estimate andmodel the coloration properties with a defined size while in addition; it canhelp to predict these properties for different particle sizes

Estimation of Coloration Properties of PA6/TiO2 Nanocomposites Based on Combined Light Scattering Theories

Optical properties of nanocomposites areimportant and useful in their consumer satisfaction capacities. In thisresearch, coloration properties of dyed PA6/nano TiO2 nanocompositeis studied using a combined Mie and Kubelka-Munk light scattering theory. Mietheory uses the relative refractive index of a small particle to calculate thelight scattering efficiency of a material while Kubelka-Munk theory inputsthese efficiencies in order to evaluate the optical properties of a multiplescattering opaque object. Optical properties of a Polyamide 6/Nano TitaniumDioxide films containing 0.01% and 0.03% nano TiO2 particles with40nm and 50nm radius respectively, was investigated after dyeing with twodifferent acid dyes and then compared to experimental measurements. Then thespectral reflectance and color values of nanocomposites with different particlesizes were predicted using the same method. Results show that by taking the refractiveindex as an intrinsic property of a particle, it is possible to estimate andmodel the coloration properties with a defined size while in addition; it canhelp to predict these properties for different particle sizes

Convexification of Queueing Formulas by Mixed-Integer Second-Order Cone Programming: An Application to a Discrete Location Problem with Congestion

Mixed-Integer Second-Order Cone Programs (MISOCPs) form a nice class of mixed-inter convex programs, which can be solved very efficiently due to the recent advances in optimization solvers. Our paper bridges the gap between modeling a class of optimization problems and using MISOCP solvers. It is shown how various performance metrics of M/G/1 queues can be molded by different MISOCPs. To motivate our method practically, it is first applied to a challenging stochastic location problem with congestion, which is broadly used to design socially optimal service networks. Four different MISOCPs are developed and compared on sets of benchmark test problems. The new formulations efficiently solve large-size test problems, which cannot be solved by the best existing method. Then, the general applicability of our method is shown for similar optimization problems that use queue-theoretic performance measures to address customer satisfaction and service quality

Evaluation of the Learning Curve and Complications Related to Hand-Assisted Laparoscopic Appendectomy in Children with Acute Appendicitis

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that according to the learning curve, one’s knowledge and skills increase with experience and repetition. However, no studies have yet proved that the learning curve can be generalized to medical procedures. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the learning curve and complications of hand assisted laparoscopic appendectomy (HALA) in children with acute appendicitis.Materials and Methods: In a prospective randomized study in 2016, ninety patients aged 8-16 years were selected for appendectomy. The participants were then consecutively divided into three groups according to admission time. The first, second, and third groups were operated on by an attending pediatric surgeon, an attending pediatric surgeon and a pediatric surgical fellow (a surgeon who is studying the subspecialty of pediatric surgery) and in the third group only a pediatric surgical fellow, respectively. For each surgery, duration of surgery and hospitalization was determined and recorded, and the time trend of surgery was determined and compared in all three groups using the learning curve.Results: The mean duration of surgery of the groups operated on by an attending, an attending and a fellow, and a fellow alone was 38.7±12.8, 46.9±8.8 and 48.5±11.3 respectively, with a significant difference among the three groups (p=0.002). During the surgery, duration of surgery in the fellow and attending group and the fellow group decreased over time.Conclusion: The learning curve can be generalized to medical procedures and experiences. Duration of appendectomy for fellows can decrease over time as they become more skilled. Usually after performing 30 surgeries and gaining experience, fellows will be able to perform appendectomy nearly as fast as attending surgeons. In the meantime, the root causes of the fluctuations observed during surgery should be scientifically examined and resolved

Linear Temporal Public Announcement Logic: a new perspective for reasoning the knowledge of multi-classifiers

Current applied intelligent systems have crucial shortcomings either in reasoning the gathered knowledge, or representation of comprehensive integrated information. To address these limitations, we develop a formal transition system which is applied to the common artificial intelligence (AI) systems, to reason about the findings. The developed model was created by combining the Public Announcement Logic (PAL) and the Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), which will be done to analyze both single-framed data and the following time-series data. To do this, first, the achieved knowledge by an AI-based system (i.e., classifiers) for an individual time-framed data, will be taken, and then, it would be modeled by a PAL. This leads to developing a unified representation of knowledge, and the smoothness in the integration of the gathered and external experiences. Therefore, the model could receive the classifier's predefined -- or any external -- knowledge, to assemble them in a unified manner. Alongside the PAL, all the timed knowledge changes will be modeled, using a temporal logic transition system. Later, following by the translation of natural language questions into the temporal formulas, the satisfaction leads the model to answer that question. This interpretation integrates the information of the recognized input data, rules, and knowledge. Finally, we suggest a mechanism to reduce the investigated paths for the performance improvements, which results in a partial correction for an object-detection system.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure