A Traceability System for Sulfonamide Residues in Chicken Meat-Balls

Studies on the effect of different temperature and time for boiling and deep-frying, and power and time for micro-waving on sulfonamides (SAs) residues i.e. sulfadiazine (SDZ), sulfamethazine (SMZ), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and sulfaquinoxaline (SQX) in chicken meat-balls were carried out. The purpose was to use the data collected to develop a traceability system model for SAs residues. Blank chicken meat was fortified with the mixed SAs standard and chicken meat-balls were produced. The cooking methods were conducted consecutively from boiling, deep-frying and micro-waving. Several methods were evaluated for the analysis of the SAs residues in the chicken meat-balls, which resulted in acceptable range of recoveries, from 82.0 to 98.9 % and RSDs from 0.7 to 7.6 %. The chromatogram of both the raw chicken meat and the chicken meat-balls showed no interfering peaks from other compounds present in the SAs analysis. Boiling of chicken meat-balls showed that temperature needs to be at 100 °C to obtain significant reduction (p<0.05) compared to 80 and 90 °C. A significant reduction (p<0.05) was observed at boiling for 6 min. In deep-frying study, significant reduction (p<0.05) of SAs concentrations was observed against the control for temperature factor. Significant reductions (p<0.05) of SAs concentrations among all the treatments and against the control were observed for the time factor. In micro-waving, the power and time factor showed various effects on reducing SAs residues in chicken meat-balls. Pearson correlation coefficient showed that time had greater effect compared to temperature on the reduction of SAs concentration upon boiling and deep-frying. Power had greater effect on micro-waving process compared to time. The SAs concentration was reduced at the same time the internal temperature increased during boiling and deep-frying. There were negative correlations for deep-frying and micro-waving between the SAs concentration and weight changes parameters. Analyses on the Reducing Half Life (RHL) showed that microwaving processes had the shortest RHL of SAs followed by deep-frying and boiling processes. The RHL for the three cooking methods were from 0.9 to 83.9 min. The traceability system model was developed by using the Visual Basic 6.0 software with the percentage of reduction and linear regression were applied as the main method for detection of SAs residues. The first detection method for the traceability system model was based on the actual percentage reductions data of SAs residues. The percentage of reductions for every SAs at different cooking method were recorded earlier from the chemical analysis and calculated to be keyed in into the system. The second detection method to track and trace the SAs residue was by using the linear regressions developed from the result of effect of cooking methods. The equations of the linear regressions were determined from the data collected and inserted into the traceability system to be used for prediction of the SAs amount. The traceability system can be used to monitor the MRLs of the SAs before and after the processing, which will make the screening and monitoring work easier for the regulatory agencies, industry workers and consumers. The system could be used to gain the confidence on the safety of the chicken meat-balls from SAs residue and also could be applied for other type of veterinary drugs and pesticides residues

The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and accounting measures of performance of the accepted companies in Tehran stock exchange

Relationship between corporate governance and company performance is an important topic in Accounting. Performance of an economic company depends on different factors. One of them is corporate governance which has a greet effect on performance. Our purpose is to study the relationship between corporate governance and accounting measures of performance of the accepted companies in Tehran stock exchange. In our study corporate governance is an independent variable and accounting measure of performance is a dependant variable. Considering limited samples, 109 companies accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange have been reviewed since 2006 to 2010 accounting to the ranking of the data. To test the hypothesis we have used the Spearman correlation coefficient for measurement of the impact of controlled variables on the relationship of independent chi-square test. Findings show that there is no meaningful relationship between percentage of independent directors of board and company performance while company performance has a meaningful relationship with institutional investors

The relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and accounting measures of performance of the accepted companies in Tehran stock exchange

Relationship between corporate governance and company performance is an important topic in Accounting. Performance of an economic company depends on different factors. One of them is corporate governance which has a greet effect on performance. Our purpose is to study the relationship between corporate governance and accounting measures of performance of the accepted companies in Tehran stock exchange. In our study corporate governance is an independent variable and accounting measure of performance is a dependant variable. Considering limited samples, 109 companies accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange have been reviewed since 2006 to 2010 accounting to the ranking of the data. To test the hypothesis we have used the Spearman correlation coefficient for measurement of the impact of controlled variables on the relationship of independent chi-square test. Findings show that there is no meaningful relationship between percentage of independent directors of board and company performance while company performance has a meaningful relationship with institutional investors

Phase-controlled proximity-effect in ferromagnetic Josephson junctions: calculation of DOS and electronic specific heat

We study the thermodynamic properties of a dirty ferromagnetic S$\mid$F$\mid$S Josephson junction with s-wave superconducting leads in the low-temperature regime. We employ a full numerical solution with a set of realistic parameters and boundary conditions, considering both a uniform and non-uniform exchange field in the form of a Bloch domain wall ferromagnetic layer. The influence of spin-active interfaces is incorporated via a microscopic approach. We mainly focus on how the electronic specific heat and density of states (DOS) of such a system is affected by the \textit{proximity effect}, which may be tuned via the superconducting phase difference. Our main result is that it is possible to \textit{strongly modify the electronic specific heat} of the system by changing the phase difference between the two superconducting leads from 0 up to nearly $\pi$ at low temperatures. An enhancement of the specific heat will occur for small values $h\simeq\Delta$ of the exchange field, while for large values of $h$ the specific heat is suppressed by increasing the phase difference between the superconducting leads. These results are all explained in terms of the proximity-altered DOS in the ferromagnetic region, and we discuss possible methods for experimental detection of the predicted effect.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECT OF BUSINESS STRATEGY AND INTERNAL CONTROL ON AUDIT QUALITY

Purpose: Auditing will improve the quality of financial information. However, in today's audit quality affected by the environment. The purpose of this study to investigate the effect of business strategy and internal control on audit quality in listed companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Methodology: This is applied research in terms of its purpose and in terms of its method is correlation analysis with the regression approach. For this inference method, this research is descriptive-analytic. For this important statistical society, companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange during the years 2010-2017 for 8 years have the necessary conditions. According to the constraints defined in the research, companies with qualifying conditions of 107 companies and 856 years-company of observation were collected. To test the hypotheses, the multivariate regression technique was used using panel data. Main Findings: The business strategy modifies the relationship between the auditor's specialty in the industry and the internal control of audit quality. Implications: The control structure can provide an understanding of the difference between the business strategy and its diversion, which is necessary for the auditor's expertise in the industry. It is proposed to combine business strategy and audit planning, we can identify the weakness of the internal control of the system in order to improve the quality of the audit and create value for the stakeholders. Novelty: The study considered the effects of business strategy on the relationship between internal control and audit quality

Signatures of d-Wave Symmetry on Thermal Dirac Fermions in Graphene-Based F/I/d Junctions

We study theoretically the behavior of thermal massless Dirac fermions inside graphene-based Ferromagnetic/Insulator/d-wave (s-wave) superconductor (F/I/d and F/I/S) junctions in the ballistic regime. Using the Dirac-BdG wave functions within the three regions and appropriate boundary conditions, the Andreev and Normal reflection coefficients are derived. By employing the obtained Andreev and Normal reflection coefficients the characteristics of heat current through the F/I/d and F/I/S junctions are investigated within the thin barrier approximation. We find that for s-wave superconductors, thermal conductance oscillates sinusoidally vs barrier strength. The finding persist for the values of $\alpha$, the orientation of d-wave superconductor crystal in the $k$-space, below $\pi/4$. By increasing temperature, the thermal conductance is increased exponentially for small values of $\alpha$ and for larger values the quantity is modified to exhibit a linear behavior at $\alpha=\pi/4$ which is similar to Wiedemann-Franz law for metals in low temperatures.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

Potential effect of Averrhoa bilimbi (belimbing buluh) marinades on tenderizing the buffalo meat compared to Actinidia chinensis (kiwifruit), Citrus limon (lemon) and commercial bromelain

This study was conducted to analyze the effect of Averrhoa bilimbi (belimbing buluh) marinades versus other meat tenderizers on the physicochemical properties of buffalo meat. The buffalo meat chunks were marinated with 40% Averrhoa bilimbi, 40% Citrus limon, 40% Actinidia chinensis, 5% commercial bromelain meat tenderizer (positive control) and distilled water (negative control) for 24 hours at 4°C. The treated samples were cooked at 100°C for 20 minutes. Both raw and cooked samples were subjected to physicochemical analyses. There was significantly lower pH (p<0.05) for raw and cooked meat chunks observed in all treated samples compared to control. Citrus limon and Averrhoa bilimbi showed the lowest pH at 5.04±0.06 and 5.06±0.03, respectively, indicated that the meat chunks were well tenderized. Citrus limon-treated sample recorded the highest (p<0.05) expressible water compared to others. The moisture content of cooked sample and the cooking yield increased significantly (p<0.05) in all treated samples compared to control. The hardness from TPA decreased significantly (p<0.05) for all treated samples compared to control. It can be suggested that Averrhoa bilimbi has the potential to be used as meat tenderizer with the ability to retain the moisture content as compared to other well-known and commercial meat tenderizers

Potential Effect of Averrhoa bilimbi (belimbing buluh) Marinades on Tenderizing the Buffalo Meat Compared to Actinidia chinensis (kiwifruit), Citrus limon (lemon) and Commercial Bromelain

This study was conducted to analyze the effect of Averrhoa bilimbi (belimbing buluh) marinades versus other meat tenderizers on the physicochemical properties of buffalo meat. The buffalo meat chunks were marinated with 40% Averrhoa bilimbi, 40% Citrus limon, 40% Actinidia chinensis, 5% commercial bromelain meat tenderizer (positive control) and distilled water (negative control) for 24 hours at 4°C. The treated samples were cooked at 100°C for 20 minutes. Both raw and cooked samples were subjected to physicochemical analyses. There was significantly lower pH (p&lt;0.05) for raw and cooked meat chunks observed in all treated samples compared to control. Citrus limon and Averrhoa bilimbi showed the lowest pH at 5.04±0.06 and 5.06±0.03, respectively, indicated that the meat chunks were well tenderized. Citrus limon-treated sample recorded the highest (p&lt;0.05) expressible water compared to others. The moisture content of cooked sample and the cooking yield increased significantly (p&lt;0.05) in all treated samples compared to control. The hardness from TPA decreased significantly (p&lt;0.05) for all treated samples compared to control. It can be suggested that Averrhoa bilimbi has the potential to be used as meat tenderizer with the ability to retain the moisture content as compared to other well-known and commercial meat tenderizers

Determination of histamine in Iranian cheese using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method

Histamine is a simple chemical substance created during processing of the amine acid histidine. Histamine is also an agent in inflammation and the increased presence of histamine causes allergic reaction. Histamine may play a role in the increased prevalence of food intolerances. The objective of this study was to determine histamine contents. Forty four (44) samples of traditional and commercial cheese were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in Iran. In the two cheese samples of the 44 samples (4.5%), the presence of histamine was 26 and 46.7 mg/100 g. Histamine in any of the cheese samples was not higher than the tolerance limit of histamine contents (50 mg histamine/100 g) accepted by European countries. The values were comparable and in the range of the literature values. The results of this study indicate that the produced cheese and marketed cheese in Iran have concentrations below 50 mg histamine/100 g. Further studies should be done to investigate the presence of this toxin in different foodstuffs.Keywords: Histamine, cheese, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), IranAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(3), pp. 308-31