Improving microbiological food Safety in peri-urban Mali; an experimental study

IntroductionTwenty years ago, a WHO review of the literature assumed that most food-borne disease transmission in developing countries takes place within the home, and advocated a major programme of interdisciplinary research to develop and test cost-effective interventions to promote food hygiene.MethodsThe HACCP approach was applied step by step, to two selected weaning foods prepared by 15 volunteer mothers in peri-urban Mali. After setting Critical Control Points (CCP), actions were taken to control, reduce or eliminate microbial growth at these points. 432 food samples were collected and examined for thermotolerant coliforms in a local laboratory to assess the effectiveness of the approach. Lessons learnt were translated into messages delivered in a pilot study.ResultsTraditional cooking was very effective in eliminating faecal contamination; reheating was as effective as cooking when adopted, because there was no significant difference in the temperatures reached in both cases. Behavioural corrective actions were effective in controlling faecal contamination at the other CCPs (serving the child after cooking and after reheating).ConclusionIn conclusion, the HACCP experiment improved significantly the bacterial safety of both types of weaning food studied.     

XRD studies of electrochemically hydrided–dehydrided thin films of the alloy AZ31 and AZ31 with Ti

A magnetron sputtered thin films of the AZ31 alloy and AZ31 alloy with Ti capped with Pd were electrochemically hydrogenated and dehydrogenated in a 3 M KOH solution. A phase composition and structure of the films were studied by XRD. It has been determined that the behaviour of magnetron sputtered alloy AZ31 during electrochemical charging with hydrogen was alike that of pure Mg. The shift of the XRD peak Mg (0 0 0 2) to lower angles indicates that a hydrogen solid solution in the AZ31 alloy was formed along with MgH₂. When the AZ31 alloy with 18 at.% of Ti was electrochemically hydrogenated the whole film was transformed into hydride. The minor part of the hydride was in the nanocrystalline state with a structure of rutile and a major part of the hydride was in the amorphous state. After dehydrogenation only a part of the alloy recovered and the rest remained in the state of amorphous hydride. A positive shift of peak Pd (1 1 1) was observed in all of the XRD patterns for hydrogenated films. At least partially the shift should be associated with the compressive stresses in the top-cap layer of Pd, which arose due to the hydrogenation of the AZ31 alloy.     

The determination of volume ratios by gas depletion through multiple expansions

We present a new technique for the determination of the volume ratio of two vacuum chambers connected through a valve. The method is based on the measurement of the pressure in a chamber filled with a gas that is repeatedly depleted by expansion in a second chamber that was previously evacuated. Our calculation shows that under the reported measurement conditions, this technique has an uncertainty comparable to that obtained from the gas accumulation technique [Elliott KWT, Clapham PB.The accurate measurement of the volume ratios of vacuum vessels. NPL Report MOM 28, January 1978]. An excellent equivalence between the results obtained with this new technique and the measurements obtained by the gas accumulation technique is demonstrated.     

Insight into spontaneous recurrent calcium waves in a 3-D cardiac cell based on analysis of a 1-D deterministic model

Calcium dynamics in a cardiac cell are described by a system of 3-D non-linear stochastic partial differential equations. To obtain solutions that have biophysical properties, it is necessary to explore the model parameter space. To decrease the complexity of the parameter search, we reduce the 3-D stochastic model to a 1-D deterministic model. The reduction of the problem from 3-D to 1-D is done through an asymptotic approximation after non-dimensionalization and based on rational biophysical assumptions of the 3-D domain; the stochastic to deterministic transformation is based on the regular property of the 3-D solution. The result of the model reduction proves very effective in reducing the time required to get qualitative as well as quantitative information about parameter regions in the 3-D stochastic model including calcium dynamics (sparks, wave propagation, and recovery) observed in cardiac cells.     

Investigation of the impact response of PMMA-based nano-rubbers under various temperatures

To benefit from nano-rubber copolymers, the properties and dynamic behavior of nano-rubbers reinforced Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) (PMMA) were investigated. Dynamic tests were conducted on these materials at high strain rates and different temperatures using split Hopkinson pressure bars. The impact resistance of these materials was studied by performing low velocity impact tests with a drop weight tower at different impact energies and temperatures. The results showed decreased Young’s moduli and yield stresses. The mechanical behavior of the materials exhibited strain rate and temperature dependencies. Moreover, the nano-rubber-reinforced PMMA showed outstanding impact resistance compared with neat PMMA. The modified PMMA also exhibited impact properties similar to those of polycarbonate for certain ranges of impact energies and temperatures. No perforations were observed for all those energies and temperatures.     

Hybrid offset‐time and burst assembly algorithm (H‐OTBA) for delay sensitive applications over optical burst switching networks

Optical burst switching (OBS) is the most favourable switching paradigm for future all‐optical networks. Burst assembly is the first process in OBS and it consists of aggregating clients packets into bursts. Assembled bursts wait for an offset time before being transmitted to their intended destinations. Offset time is used to allow burst control packet reserve required resources prior to burst arrival. Burst assembly process and offset‐time create extra delay in OBS networks. To make OBS suitable for real time applications, this extra latency needs to be controlled. This paper proposes and evaluates a novel offset time and burst assembly scheme to address this issue. Constant bit rate (CBR) traffic that has stringent end‐to‐end delay QoS requirements is used in this study. The proposed scheme is called hybrid offset‐time and burst assembly algorithm (H‐OTBA). The objective of the paper is achieved by controlling maximum burst transfer delay parameters of CBR. The proposed scheme was evaluated via network simulation. Simulation results demonstrate that, H‐OTBA has effectively reduced end‐to‐end delay for CBR traffic compared with current solutions. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Eco Insulation Materials： Reduction of Cooling Loads of a House Made of Breeze Block or Laterite in a Dry Tropical Climate

In this paper, we study the influence ofeco materials for roof insulation and fiber-reinforced mortar coatings on cooling loads of a home in dry tropical climate. The walls of the house are made of cinderblock or laterite and the insulating material of a roof panel is made with lime （24%）, cement （6%）, water （50%） of vegetable fibers hibiscus sabdariffa （16%）, tree widespread in Burkina Faso and sugar cane bagasse （4%）. This panel roof insulation and the fiber-reinforced mortar were characterized at the Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of the environment by the hot plate method. The building is modeled in TRNSYS using climate data from the city of Ouagadougou. The results obtained show that in the warmer months of the year, that is to say in March and April, the relative differences between heat gains the configurations ＂breeze block-coating mortar and roof not insulated＂ and ＂laterite- fiber-reinforced mortar coating and insulated roof＇ vary between 15.6% and 16.8%. The configuration ＂laterite-fiber-reinforced mortar coating and insulated roof allows a reduction of annual heat gains of 15.5% compared to the configuration ＂breeze block-coating mortar and roof not insulated＂.     

Radiative heat transfer in a solar air heater covered with a plastic film

This article presents a new set of equations for the radiative balances of the absorber plate and the transparent cover of a solar air heater covered with a plastic film. Air flow is supposed to pass between the absorber plate and the bottom of the collector, while the transparent cover and the absorber plate are separated by an immobile air layer. This configuration is shown to be the best suited for a plastic covered solar air heater used in tropical countries, from a practical point of view.     

THE “EVAPORATIVE CAPACITY” AS A PERFORMANCE INDEX FOR A SOLAR-DRIER AIR-HEATER

This paper presents a new index, called the “evaporative capacity”, for rating the performance of the solar air heater in a solar drier consisting of solar air heater and a drying chamber in series. The proposed index complements the widely-used “collector efficiency” as a performance indicator of the solar collector, by taking into account the specific use that is to be made with the heated air. Presented is a detailed method for calculating the evaporative capacity, and a comparison of this new index with the thermal efficiency index, demonstrating its superiority. General charts for a rapid determination of the evaporative capacity are presented, and some possible applications of these charts are described.