Microbial contamination of equipments and supplies used in semi-hard cheese production

U toku ovog rada istraživana je mikrobiološka kontaminacija mljekarske opreme i pribora korištenog u proizvodnji trapista. Istraživanja su vršena tokom jedne godine, u sva godišnja doba. Dobiveni rezultati ukazuju da je površina mljekarske opreme i pribora bila tokom godine kontaminirana bakterijama i plesnima u većem ili manjem stupnju. Najmanji broj mikroorganizama ustanovljen je na površini opreme i pribora u toku ljeta, a najveći zimi. Dominantan dio bakterijskih populacija tokom godine predstavljale su koliformne bakterije i stafilokoke, dok su od plesni dominantne bile vrste roda Penicillium.The microbiological contamination of equipments and supplies used in the manufacture of trapist cheese was investigated. The experiments were carried out through all seasons of one year. The results indicate that the surface of dairy equipments and supplies was contaminated with bacteria and moulds in various extent during the year. The highest viable counts of microorganisms was found during the winter and the lowest in summer. The dominate bacterial population were conforms and Staphylococcus. The main moulds were Penicillium species

Evaluation of Watson-like Integrals for Hyper bcc Antiferromagnetic Lattice

Watson-like integrals for a d-dimensional bcc antiferromagnetic lattice I_d(\eta) and J_d(\eta) and another two similar integrals are evaluated in an exact way in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions. A simple formula connecting Id and Jd+1 is given along with the differential equations for I_d(\eta) and J_d(\eta). An application of I_d and J_d in the theory of the Heisenberg antiferromagnet is discussed, together with possible generalizations to non-integer values of d. Corresponding integrals for sc lattices are also briefly reviewed.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical & Theoretical 201

Designing a Process Mining-Enabled Decision Support System for Business Process Standardization in ERP Implementation Projects

Process standardization allows to optimize ERP systems and is a nec-essary step prior to ERP implementation projects. Traditional approaches to standardizing business processes are based on manually created "de-jure" process models, which are distorted, error-prone, simplistic, and often deviating from process reality. Theoretically embedded in the organizational contingency theory as kernel theory, this paper employs a design science approach to design a process mining-enabled decision support system (DSS) which combines bottom-up process mining models with manually added top-down standardization infor-mation to recommend a suitable standard process specification from a repository. Extended process models of the as-is process are matched against a repository of best-practice standard process model using an attributebased process similarity matching algorithm. Thus, the DSS aims to reduce the overall costs of process standardization, to optimize the degree of fit between the organization and the implemented processes, and to minimize the degree of organizational change re-quired in standardization and ERP implementation projects. This paper imple-ments a working prototype instantiation in the open-source process analytics platform Apromore based on a real-life event log and standardization attributes for the Purchase-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash processes from three SAP R/3 ERP systems at the industry partner

Properties that influence business process management maturity and its effect on organizational performance

Abstract BPM maturity is a measure to evaluate how professionally an organization manages its business processes. Previous research provides evidence that higher BPM maturity leads to better performance of processes and of the organization as a whole. It also claims that different organizations should strive for different levels of maturity, depending on their properties. This paper presents an empirical investigation of these claims, based on a sample of 120 organizations and looking at a selection of organizational properties. Our results reveal that higher BPM maturity contributes to better performance, but only up to a point. Interestingly, it contradicts the popular belief that higher innovativeness is associated with lower BPM maturity, rather showing that higher innovativeness is associated with higher BPM maturity. In addition, the paper shows that companies in different regions have a different level of BPM maturity. These findings can be used as a benchmark and a motivation for organizations to increase their BPM maturity

Business process management and supply chain collaboration: a critical comparison

The link between a firm and supply chain (SC) members has been recognised as one of the key issues for ensuring business success and achieving competitive advantage. Indeed, working across organisational boundaries is required to accomplish effective responses to customers’ needs. Our preliminary research confirmed that there are positive relationships between business process management (BPM), supply chain collaboration (SCC), collaborative advantage and organisational performance. This study is a step further and uses a multiple case design to illuminate the results and gain a greater understanding from extensive discussions about these relationships. By means of semi-structured interviews, the three main issues were identified as: (1) the link between BPM and organisational performance; (2) the link between BPM and SCC; and (3) the contextual factors and benefits achieved from working collaboratively with SC partners. The different scenarios of the link between BPM and SCC were developed in a taxonomy, and the case studies were used to illustrate the experience of intra- and inter-organisational practices in the developing economy of Thailand. The case studies’ results explain in depth that both BPM and SCC are important for improving organisational performance and competitiveness. BPM not only improves organisational performance directly, but also assists with collaborative activities that in turn help to improve internal capabilities. Additionally, the comparisons in issues relating to firm size, industry type, relationship closeness and relationship length were also included in this study

Real and Perceived Risks for Mycotoxin Contamination in Foods and Feeds: Challenges for Food Safety Control

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds, produced by the secondary metabolism of toxigenic moulds in the Aspergillus, Alternaria, Claviceps, Fusarium, Penicillium and Stachybotrys genera occurring in food and feed commodities both pre- and post-harvest. Adverse human health effects from the consumption of mycotoxins have occurred for many centuries. When ingested, mycotoxins may cause a mycotoxicosis which can result in an acute or chronic disease episode. Chronic conditions have a much greater impact, numerically, on human health in general, and induce diverse and powerful toxic effects in test systems: some are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, estrogenic, hemorrhagic, immunotoxic, nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, dermotoxic and neurotoxic. Although mycotoxin contamination of agricultural products still occurs in the developed world, the application of modern agricultural practices and the presence of a legislatively regulated food processing and marketing system have greatly reduced mycotoxin exposure in these populations. However, in developing countries, where climatic and crop storage conditions are frequently conducive to fungal growth and mycotoxin production, much of the population relies on subsistence farming or on unregulated local markets. Therefore both producers and governmental control authorities are directing their efforts toward the implementation of a correct and reliable evaluation of the real status of contamination of a lot of food commodity and, consequently, of the impact of mycotoxins on human and animal health

Microbial contamination of equipments and supplies used in semi-hard cheese production

U toku ovog rada istraživana je mikrobiološka kontaminacija mljekarske opreme i pribora korištenog u proizvodnji trapista. Istraživanja su vršena tokom jedne godine, u sva godišnja doba. Dobiveni rezultati ukazuju da je površina mljekarske opreme i pribora bila tokom godine kontaminirana bakterijama i plesnima u većem ili manjem stupnju. Najmanji broj mikroorganizama ustanovljen je na površini opreme i pribora u toku ljeta, a najveći zimi. Dominantan dio bakterijskih populacija tokom godine predstavljale su koliformne bakterije i stafilokoke, dok su od plesni dominantne bile vrste roda Penicillium.The microbiological contamination of equipments and supplies used in the manufacture of trapist cheese was investigated. The experiments were carried out through all seasons of one year. The results indicate that the surface of dairy equipments and supplies was contaminated with bacteria and moulds in various extent during the year. The highest viable counts of microorganisms was found during the winter and the lowest in summer. The dominate bacterial population were conforms and Staphylococcus. The main moulds were Penicillium species