Search results

Title: Integration of Process Improvement (sequence unknown), IPRO 304 - Deliverables: IPRO 304 Poster F09
Creator: Bauer, Jessie, Bergeron, Tony, Campen, Matt, Gruchalski, Erik, Choi, Tae Ki, Marx, Ryan, Murti, Chaitanya, Robbins, Brian, Sohal, Atinder Pal, Stenson, Amanda, Taboada, Alejandro, Zhang, Bingjian
Date: 2009-12
Description: A. Finkl and Sons require an effective way of detecting carbide inserts on the steel milling machine. These inserts break off due to stress...
Show moreA. Finkl and Sons require an effective way of detecting carbide inserts on the steel milling machine. These inserts break off due to stress and shape of metal and need to be replaced immediately to avoid further damage to the machine and the steel to be milled.
Sponsorship: A. Finkl and Sona
Deliverables for IPRO 304: Integration of Process Improvements for the fall 2009 semester.
Show less

Title: INTERACTION IN THE SIXTH SENSE
Creator: Ghods, Ramin
Date: 2014, 2014-05
Description: Every experience of architecture is rooted in multi-sensory and embodied interactions with surroundings. All sensory modalities as well as...
Show moreEvery experience of architecture is rooted in multi-sensory and embodied interactions with surroundings. All sensory modalities as well as linguistic paradigms are integrated in the sensorimotor cortex of brain where mirror neurons are originated therein. Neurological understanding, on the other hand, suggests that meaning is always contextually grounded. Metaphor, in its very essence, is an expression to convey meaning to spectator. It stimulates ventra premotor cortex of brain, wherein mirror neurons activate the embodied simulation of actions, emotions, and corporeal sensations. So conceptual metaphors in everyday language are highly based on bodily interaction and encountering with surroundings. Additionally, they are also rooted in context and primordial images. Metaphor creates an interactive atmosphere in which symbolic and literal meanings are conveyed to beholders. Atmosphere is the essence of a space, in other words, understanding this atmosphere is the most crucial for understanding architecture. Spatial experiencing in its complete entirely could be taken through the emissions of atmosphere. In general, interaction in the 6th sense is focusing on a methodology of design to facilitate immediate perception of spatial settings of architecture. Far from abstraction and intellectualism, an atmosphere conveyed meaning through sensual perceptions. In this case, several modalities of architectural design, including materializes and de-materialized qualities such as light, texture, geometry, reflection, smell, sound, air, have been identified as contributing to atmosphere.
M.S. in in Architecture, May 2014
Show less

Title: Gerry-meandering: An Assessment of the Congressional District Model of Depository Allocation (preprint): AhrensGriffinedrev1a
Creator: Ahrens, Aric G., Griffin, Luke A.
Date: 2003-06
Description: The preprint of a published article dealing with the effect of allocating Federal Depositories by Congressional district. Conclusions drawn...
Show moreThe preprint of a published article dealing with the effect of allocating Federal Depositories by Congressional district. Conclusions drawn include the fact that due to redistricting that occurs after each decennial census, over time some districts may have within their boundaries a greater number than the two depositories that Congressional district allocation was intended to produce. Likewise, over time shifting boundaries of districts have created districts that have no depositories whatsoever.
Show less

Title: A Video Annotation and Indexing System (sequence unknown), IPRO 327 - Deliverables: IPRO 327 Project Plan F09
Creator: Dhagam, Karthik, Donchev, Alexander, Homawoo, Sergio, Litas, Alexander, Orlichenko, Anton, Osswald, Christian, Petsod, Jason, Rawlings, Ori, Shaffer, Joshua, Smith, Antoinette, Yates, Andrew, Yu, Hee Jeoung
Date: 2009-12
Description: Much information available on the Web is in video format. The problem with this medium is users cannot comment on particular scenes within the...
Show moreMuch information available on the Web is in video format. The problem with this medium is users cannot comment on particular scenes within the videos and there is no method of searching for specific content within the videos. The team proposes to develop a system that will allow users to make fine-grained comments on scenes within the video and then to use these comments to aid in search within videos.
Deliverables for IPRO 327: A video annotation and indexing system for the fall 2009 semester
Show less

Title: OPTIMAL DECISION-MAKING OF INTERDEPENDENT TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT ALTERNATIVES UNDER RISK AND UNCERTAINTY
Creator: Zhou, Bei
Date: 2012-07-12, 2012-07
Description: With increasing demand for a more efficient transportation system and decreasing budget levels, transportation investment decision-making that...
Show moreWith increasing demand for a more efficient transportation system and decreasing budget levels, transportation investment decision-making that aims to select the optimal project portfolio which yields maximized overall networkwide benefits in terms of economy, society and environment has increasingly become important. This dissertation has conducted an in-depth investigation into project evaluation and project selection that are crucial steps of transportation decision-making. It begins with information search through a review of existing methods for project evaluation and selection. Several limitations of existing methods have been revealed. In particular, they are in lack of considerations in network impacts of a single investment project, interdependencies of simultaneously implementing multiple projects, and restrictions of total risk of overall benefits of selected projects within an acceptable level. Then, a new methodology is proposed for networkwide traffic assignments, project evaluation, and project selection. A state-of-art large scale transportation simulation software, the TRansportation ANalysis and SIMulation System (TRANSIMS) toolbox, is utilized to perform networkwide dynamic traffic assignments to general redistributed traffic volumes after project implementation needed as inputs for project evaluation. For project evaluation, a life-cycle cost analysis approach is developed to consider all agency costs and user costs in the service life-cycle of two primary categories of highway facilities: pavements and bridges. In order to enhance the robustness of analytical results, risk and uncertainty of input factors concerning traffic volumes, project costs, and discount rates are incorporated into the life-cycle cost computation using @Risk Palisade software, Version 5.5. For project selection, two-stage enhanced Knapsack model, hypergraph Knapsack, and two-stage hypergraph Knapsack model are proposed to choose the best sub-collection of interdependent projects to yield maximized overall benefits at various budget levels, while controlling the total risk within an acceptable level. In terms of two-stage Knapsack model, the Markowitz mean-variance model is utilized for stage-one optimization to generate minimized total risk of all projects subject to constraints of available budget and minimum benefits to be expected for individual projects. At the second stage, the Knapsack model is enhanced by adding stage-one optimization solution as one more constraint. Such a treatment could help control the total risk of overall benefits of all selected projects at a desirable level. Moreover, a hypergraph Knapsack model is introduced to capture project network impacts and interdependency relationships. In order to simultaneously address issues of networkwide project impacts, interdependencies, and total risk levels, a two-stage hypergraph Knapsack model is developed. Efficient solution algorithms are developed and coded to Frontline Solver Xpress V55 software to solve the two-stage Knapsack model, hypergraph Knapsack model, and two-stage hypergraph Knapsack model, respectively. Three computational studies are performed to apply the proposed methodology using two sets of data, including six-year data on 672 candidate projects proposed by Indiana Department of Transportation for state highway programming and 6 mega projects proposed by Illinois State Toll Highway Authority for tollway network major capital improvements. It has generally found that the use of two-stage Knapsack model could readily control the total risk of overall benefits of selected projects at a desirable level, but it may result in significant changes in the overall benefits for different budget levels where significant differences in risks are associated with individual projects. The hypergraph Knapsack model could effectively handle issues of networkwide project impacts and interdependency relationships. However, the two-stage hypergraph Knapsack model appears to be most robust in that it could simultaneously resolve the issues of networkwide project impacts, interdependency relationships, and total risks of overall project benefits, thus generating most reliable information to support rational transportation investment decision-making.
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, July 2012
Show less

Title: SYSTEM SUPPORT FOR RESILIENCE IN LARGE-SCALE PARALLEL SYSTEMS: FROM CHECKPOINTING TO MAPREDUCE
Creator: Jin, Hui
Date: 2012-05-31, 2012-05
Description: High-Performance Computing (HPC) has passed the Petascale mark and is moving forward to Exascale. As the system ensemble size continues to...
Show moreHigh-Performance Computing (HPC) has passed the Petascale mark and is moving forward to Exascale. As the system ensemble size continues to grow, the occurrence of failures is the norm rather than the exception during the execution of parallel applications. Resilience is widely recognized as one of the key obstacles towards Exascale computing. Checkpointing is currently the de-facto fault tolerant mechanism for parallel applications. However, parallel checkpointing at scale usually generates bursts of concurrent I/O requests, imposes considerable overhead to I/O subsystems, and limits the scalability of parallel applications. Despite the doubt in the feasibility of checkpointing continues to increase, there is still no promising alternative on the horizon yet to replace checkpointing. MapReduce is a new programming model for massive data processing. It has demonstrated a compelling potential in reshaping the landscape of HPC from various perspectives. The resilience of MapReduce applications and its potential in benefiting HPC fault tolerance are active research topics that require extensive investigation. This thesis work targets at building a systematic framework to support resilience in large-scale parallel systems. We address the identified checkpointing performance issue through a three-fold approach: reduce the I/O overhead, exploit storage alternatives, and determine the optimistic checkpointing frequency. This three-fold approach is achieved with three different mechanisms, namely system coordination and scheduling, the utilization of MapReduce framework, and stochastic modeling. To deal with the increasing concerns about MapReduce resilience, we also strive to improve the reliability of MapReduce applications, and investigate the tradeoffs in the programming model selection (e.g., MPI v.s. MapReduce) from the perspective of resilience. This thesis provides a thorough study and a practical solution for solving the outstanding resilience problem of large-scale MPI-based HPC applications and beyond. It makes a noticeable contribution to the state-of-the-art and opens a new research direction for many to follow.
Ph.D. in Computer Science, May 2012
Show less

Title: Teacher Knowledge Share (Semester Unknown) IPRO 320: Teacher Knowledge Share IPRO 320 Poster1 F08
Creator: Bern, David, Bochantin, Marike, Hartline, Julian, Mccall, Ian, Mick, Emily, Peake, Andrew, Pierce, Alison, Pindrik, Dmitriy, Quinn, Michael, Stanford, Carly, Tilatti, Michael
Date: 2008, 2008-12
Description: The goal of IPRO 320 is to create an online professional network for school teachers at the kindergarten through twelfth grade level to allow...
Show moreThe goal of IPRO 320 is to create an online professional network for school teachers at the kindergarten through twelfth grade level to allow for the sharing of ideas, lesson plans and other professionally relevant information. This is a continuing project which saw limited success in the previous semester in that a functioning web site was constructed based on surveys of public school teachers but it saw very little use. This semester, the planned approach is to build on the research generated last semester by performing additional market research with teachers. Following that, IPRO 320 will rework much of the previous web site by refining some of the features, adding additional ones as the research indicates and improving the website in general, both functionally and aesthetically.
Deliverables
Show less

Title: A Mixed Use High Rise in Mumbai
Creator: Saleji, Irshad
Date: 2011-05, 2011-05
Description: C-ward is the neighborhood (in Mumbai) that was designed and developed around 1940 and thereafter there has been no or very little improvement...
Show moreC-ward is the neighborhood (in Mumbai) that was designed and developed around 1940 and thereafter there has been no or very little improvement in infrastructure, which has led to narrow street, unsafe pedestrian and limited open space. C-ward in one of the most prime real-estate location considering it right next to financial district , close to major train station and close to Shoreline. ROMF (Remaking of Mumbai Federation) has taken the initiative to develop the C-ward and the project site part of ROMF development area. City centers have always been source of density because of scarcity of land. The sensible and effective use of such land would be to build vertical (high-rise) and also to have the possibility of expansion for the future development. A mixed use high rise development diversifies the use of space within a single building structure. Combination of living, entertainment, shopping and lodging in single urban structure, helps to utilize the full potential of an urban site.
Sponsorship: Durbrow, John
Show less

Title: Agent-based control of autocatalytic replicators in networks of reactors
Creator: Tatara, E., Birol, I., Teymour, F., Cinar, A.
Date: 2005-03-15
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Description: Spatially distributed systems such as reactor networks hosting multiple autocatalytic species demonstrate a rich spectrum of complex behavior....
Show moreSpatially distributed systems such as reactor networks hosting multiple autocatalytic species demonstrate a rich spectrum of complex behavior. From a control systems perspective, spatially distributed systems offer a difficult control challenge because of their distributed nature, nonlinearity, and high order. Furthermore, manipulation of the network states may require simultaneous control actions in different parts of the system and may need transients through several operating regimes to achieve the desired operation. The lack of accurate and computationally efficient model-based techniques for large, spatially distributed systems results in complications in controlling the system, either in disturbance rejection or changing the operational regimes of the system. A hierarchical, agent-based control structure is presented whereby local control objectives may be changed in order to achieve the global control objective. The performance of the control system is demonstrated for several global objectives. The challenge posed is to control the spatial distribution of autocatalytic species in a network of five reactors hosting two species using the interaction flow rates as the manipulated variables. The multi-agent control system is able to effectively explore the parameter space of the network and intelligently manipulate the network flow rates such that the desired spatial distribution of species is achieved.
Endnote format citation for DOI:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2004.09.022
Show less

Title: INFORMATION PROPAGATION DYNAMIC THROUGH VEHICLE TO VEHICLE COMMUNICATION NETWORK ON A ROAD SEGMENT
Creator: Wang, Lu
Date: 2015, 2015-12
Description: Vehicle-to-vehicle communication system enables vehicles to share various traffic information such as road surface condition, real-time...
Show moreVehicle-to-vehicle communication system enables vehicles to share various traffic information such as road surface condition, real-time traffic congestion, crashing alert or weather situation. Thus, it has a great potential to improve traffic safety, mobility and environmental sustainability. To grant this great promise, information availability plays a critical roles. Accordingly, many previous studies have investigated statistic characteristics (such as mean and variance) of information propagation (such as speed/time delay via instantaneous transmission, connectivity, etc.) integrating traffic flow features. However, few of them are able to capture the information spread dynamics based on V2V. Motivated by this view, this research seeks to develop a discrete mathematical approach to capture information coverage dynamics built upon traffic flow dynamics, which is described by discrete traffic flow dynamics, i.e., cell transmission model. The approach is entailed by developed mathematical model to capture inner-cell information propagation delay and inter-cell transmission based on the proposed information-traffic cell transmission model. The development of the proposed methodology considers a single or two piece(s) of information is (are) sequentially landed on a one-way or two-way road segment underVehicle-to-vehicle communication system enables vehicles to share various traffic information such as road surface condition, real-time traffic congestion, crashing alert or weather situation. Thus, it has a great potential to improve traffic safety, mobility and environmental sustainability. To grant this great promise, information availability plays a critical roles. Accordingly, many previous studies have investigated statistic characteristics (such as mean and variance) of information propagation (such as speed/time delay via instantaneous transmission, connectivity, etc.) integrating traffic flow features. However, few of them are able to capture the information spread dynamics based on V2V. Motivated by this view, this research seeks to develop a discrete mathematical approach to capture information coverage dynamics built upon traffic flow dynamics, which is described by discrete traffic flow dynamics, i.e., cell transmission model. The approach is entailed by developed mathematical model to capture inner-cell information propagation delay and inter-cell transmission based on the proposed information-traffic cell transmission model. The development of the proposed methodology considers a single or two piece(s) of information is (are) sequentially landed on a one-way or two-way road segment under sparse or congested traffic flow considered. Next-Generation simulation field data and Paramics simulated data are used to verify the accuracy of the experiments. Our experimental results show that the proposed model can accurately track information spread dynamics with mean absolute error less than 5% over all experiments. Key words: Vehicle-to-vehicle communication system; cell transmission model; time delay; information propagation coverage.
M.S. in Civil Engineering, December 2015
Show less

Title: Planning the 21st Century Urban Farm: From High Rise to Neighborhood (sequence unknown), IPRO 336 - Deliverables: IPRO 336 IPRO Day Presentation F09
Creator: Bhatti, Talha, Binet, Adrien, Bredau, Jason, Chen, Emily, Davis, Jacob, Gaonkar, Gaurav, Garcia, Raul, Guerrero, Fernando, Gulling, Richard, Kagehiro, Michael, Moshfeghian, Elnaz, Nunez-gimeno, Jose, Phillips, Zachary, Plumb, Isaac, Ryan, Emily, Skaggs, Jake, Sobon, Konrad, Valmores, Travis
Date: 2009-12
Description: The purpose of this IPRO is to establish a strong foundation for the future of urban agriculture. The growing problems regarding the...
Show moreThe purpose of this IPRO is to establish a strong foundation for the future of urban agriculture. The growing problems regarding the traditional methods of agriculture, and the rate of growth of the world population, the team plans to design a method to grow food more efficiently and economically in urban areas. The team is looking at large, industrial warehouse-type buildings that have outlived their primary use, and creating a plan that utilizes these buildings to grow enough food for the surrounding communities.
Sponsorship: John Edel of Bubbly Dynamics, LLC
Deliverables for IPRO 336: Planning the 21st Century Urban Farm: From High Rise to Neighborhood for the fall 2009 semester
Show less

Title: Zero CommunIITy: A Prototype for a Zero-Energy Residential Development (sequence unknown), IPRO 323 - Deliverables
Creator: Bohac, Adam, Brady, David, Bueno, Juan, Coughlin, Daniel, Depalma, Lowell, Gonzalez, Juan, Gross, Josh, Hernandez, Carlos, Iversen, Jennifer, Mckinley, Keanen, Moceri, Michael, Modi, Nishant, Wisniewski, Anthony, Zacharias, Bryan
Date: 2009-12
Description: The teams purpose is to seek a union between living comfortably and living sustainably. To design for a future Chicago‐area community, which...
Show moreThe teams purpose is to seek a union between living comfortably and living sustainably. To design for a future Chicago‐area community, which first minimizes its energy consumption and then uses the most sustainable methods to fulfill the remaining needs of the inhabitants. Ideally we will design a model community which will challenge conventions within the fields of design, planning, engineering, and everyday living. This community will also serve as an example to Chicago‐area municipalities about the benefits of sustainable planning, design, and living.
Sponsorship: Consultant from A. Epstein & Sons; Jeremy Poling
Deliverables for IPRO 323:Zero CommunIITy: A Prototype for a Zero-Energy Residential Development for the fall 2009 semester
Show less

Title: Washington Park Center for Improvisational Music: Kellen White_Final Booklet_Spring 2010
Creator: White, Kellen
Date: 2010-07-30

Title: HIGH PERFORMANCE LOGIC DESIGN FOR ADAPTIVE FIR FETAL ECG ESTIMATION
Creator: Wang, Sizhou
Date: 2014, 2014-05
Description: This thesis presents realizations of IEEE-754 single precision floating point non-invasive fetal ECG estimation based on QR Decomposition...
Show moreThis thesis presents realizations of IEEE-754 single precision floating point non-invasive fetal ECG estimation based on QR Decomposition Recursive Least Square algorithm (QRD-RLS). Experiments of the system, which is implemented on Xilinx Zynq SoC platform, are carried out with electrocardiogram (ECG) data and the results with analysis are presented. The embedded system design aims for saving resources, streaming pipeline performance and software-aid computation and integration. The challenge of exploiting the system full potential with pseudo-parallel computation on multiple fetal ECG data packets is also examined.
M.S. in Computer and Electrical Engineering, May 2014
Show less

Title: ADAPTATION AND RENOVATION OF SCHULZE BAKERY TO A MIXED USE BUILDING: Schulze_poster
Creator: Al-guneid, Wigdan
Date: 5/2/2011, 2011-05
Description: Holding focus on techinics and strategies of development arc, a landmark building on the south side of Chicago will be re-adapted and...
Show moreHolding focus on techinics and strategies of development arc, a landmark building on the south side of Chicago will be re-adapted and transformed from a bakery to a much needed mixed use building.
Sponsorship: Waldorf, Tyler
Sponsorship: Denison, Dirk
Show less

Title: FABRICATION OF POLYMER OF CLAY NANOCOMPOSITES AND DEVELOPMENT OF CLAY DIGESTION METHODS
Creator: Jin, Zhen
Date: 2014, 2014-07
Description: This thesis reports on our preliminary development of methods used to assess the risks that polymer/clay nanocomposite (PCN) food packaging...
Show moreThis thesis reports on our preliminary development of methods used to assess the risks that polymer/clay nanocomposite (PCN) food packaging pose to consumers. PCN with 1% - 7% (w/w) montmorillonite (MMT) clay and 3 mass equivalents of maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (MAPE) as a compatibilizer dispersed in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was successfully extruded into thin, free-standing films using a pilot-scaled microcompounder with 65 mm film device. These films had good optical clarity and a reasonably consistent thickness of 35 ± 3 μm. An oxygen permeability analyzer was used to measure oxygen transmission rate and permeability of these fabricated films to demonstrate that they perform similarly to PCN barrier materials intended for commercial applications; these results showed that the films with the highest amount of added clay had better barrier properties than the neat LDPE films. In preparation of experiments to assess whether clay particles can be released from these materials during intended conditions of use, we also explored effective digestion and trace-metal analysis (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy) methods of both pure clay and MMT/MAPE/LDPE films. This work resulted in an effective digestion protocol to fully digest neat clays and PCN films, as well as an analysis method that provides for a 5-orders-of-magnitude linear detection range and single-digit parts-per-billion detection limits for aluminum and magnesium. Silicon was a more challenging element and efforts to eliminate environmental contamination of samples with this element were unsuccessful. While the work presented in this thesis is largely preliminary and numerous questions remain unanswered, the PCN fabrication and ix characterization methods developed here will be invaluable in our future efforts to understand the risks that nanocomposite food packaging materials pose to human health.
M.S. in Food Process Engineering, July 2014
Show less

Title: Defining the Role of the 21st Century Public Library in Madison: Bartley_N_MadisonLibrary_Final_Presentation
Creator: Bartley, Nate
Date: 2011, 2011-05
Description: Madison, WI is dominated by two main forces; the state government and the University of Wisconsin. These two institutions are linked by State...
Show moreMadison, WI is dominated by two main forces; the state government and the University of Wisconsin. These two institutions are linked by State Street, a pedestrian and bike corridor that serves as the main public gathering space for the city. The new Central Public Library along this strip will provide a free, democratic space for all Madison citizens. Beyond collecting books and storing media, the Madison Library offers opportunities for gatherings and informational exchanges 24 hours a day.
Show less

Title: TRANSMISSION RESERVE DESIGN IN ELECTRICITY MARKETS CONSIDERING RAMPING CONSTRAINTS AND LOAD UNCERTAINTY
Creator: Xiao, Xuli
Date: 2016, 2016-12
Description: With increasing penetration of renewable energy, uncertainty challenges ISOs to keep power balance in real-time. As ramping issues draw public...
Show moreWith increasing penetration of renewable energy, uncertainty challenges ISOs to keep power balance in real-time. As ramping issues draw public attention, many ISOs have instituted flexible ramping products to ensure ramping reserve at generation side. However, not all the ramping reserves are deliverable when a transmission line is already congested. In the real-time market, if an uncertain load estimation is known at peak time t+10mins previously, SCUC/SCED is able to spare transmission reserve by changing the dispatch at time t with additional uncertain load constraints at t. To spare transmission reserve under uncertainty, this research proposes an uncertain load estimation to generate an estimated uncertain load and uncertainty constraints at t+10 in SCUC/SCED: with the help of a stochastic optimization model, uncertainties are quantified as a random actual load y and utilized in a modified stochastic model for undeliverable ramping reserve issues; once the optimal total system generation x is obtained, treated as an estimated uncertain load, uncertainty constraints are added at t+10mins in SCUC/SCED to obtain a secure dispatch at t. Therefore, transmission ramping reserve is ensured by a change in dispatch at t. Numerical results show that this design enhances the economy and scalability of power systems. In addition, scalability analysis proves it works for any scale of power systems with multiple local peak loads.
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, December 2016
Show less

Title: Cure for the IKIA Syndrome : presented at IACRL 2008 conference: Academic Search Premier results
Creator: Uth, Charles, Link, Jeanne
Date: 2008-02
Description: Informal observations of a practical and creative approach piloting Blended Library Instruction for undergraduate Civil Architecture and...
Show moreInformal observations of a practical and creative approach piloting Blended Library Instruction for undergraduate Civil Architecture and Engineering students, in collaboration with faculty. At Illinois Institute of Technology students don’t receive library instruction as a required class or in tandem with a composition class. Faculty will schedule one-time sessions, which ideally should be planned with a class assignment in mind, but students are rarely engaged with a one time instruction. Many have IKIA syndrome or I Know It Already syndrome. The Millennials are a group that has integrated technology into every aspect of their lives and they assume that retrieving useful or necessary information will be easy. When they discover this isn’t the case lack of time, heightened anxiety, and increased frustration can prevent them from doing their best work. By intentionally creating a similar crisis prior to library instruction, students were more interested in what they stood to gain during pending library instruction. In this presentation we will discuss: 1) A creative means of delivering library instruction to a traditionally challenging population: engineering undergraduate students 2) Qualitative information collected via multiple assignments and interpreted in a quantitative fashion, as well as our observations. 3) A method for preparing students for library instruction that can be applied in almost any discipline without asking the instructor to sacrifice class time.
Show less

Title: IMPACT OF INOCULUM LEVEL ON THE TRANSFER OF SALMONELLA SEROVARS FROM CONTAMINATED ALMOND BUTTER TO FOOD CONTACT MATERIALS
Creator: Zheng, Yue
Date: 2012-11-19, 2012-12
Description: Outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with nut butter have raised public concerns of sanitation issues in nut butter processing. The high fat,...
Show moreOutbreaks of salmonellosis associated with nut butter have raised public concerns of sanitation issues in nut butter processing. The high fat, low-moisture characteristics of nut butters significantly affect the efficiency of regular cleaning and sanitizing programs, allowing cross-contamination issues to persist on processing equipment. Besides organic matter in food soil, microbial load could also be a factor affecting efficacy of chemical sanitizers. The FDA Food Code (2005) require a 5-log bacterial reduction in testing the efficacy of a chemical sanitation method. As a result, evaluation of microbial transfer is essential for establishing methods for equipment sanitation. The first study of this thesis (Section 4.1) evaluated the survival of Salmonella serovars in almond butter at 25 ± 2 oC. This was achieved by investigating the survival of Salmonella Tennessee and Salmonella Oranienburg in inoculated almond butter sample for up to two weeks. These Salmonella serovars were inoculated into creamy almond butter separately and stored at 25 ± 2 oC. Results showed that Salmonella populations decreased slowly and could survive in almond butter for at least two weeks. This study also investigated the effect of initial inoculum level, contact time, food-contact material and bacterial serovar on the subsequent potential for transfer of bacteria to equipment surfaces (Section 4.2). Almond butter inoculated with Salmonella Oranienburg and Tennessee at different inoculums levels (~3, 6, 9 log CFU/g) were spread on 16 cm2 coupons made of polyethylene, polyurethane, Delrin and stainless steel. Microbial analysis was conducted after physically removing all visible nut butter with laboratory wipes. Results for S. Oranienburg and Tennessee followed similar trends of microbial transfer with regards to inoculum level and food-contact surface. The amount x of Salmonella transferred to a food-contact surface was dependent on initial inoculation levels. An average of 0.88 ± 0.22, 1.53 ± 0.15, and 4.59 ± 0.06 log CFU S. Tennessee per 16 cm2 were transferred to the four different food-contact surface types for low, medium, and high inoculum level, respectively. An average of 1.25 ± 0.24, 2.08 ± 0.08, and 4.55 ± 0.35 log CFU S. Oranienburg per 16 cm2 were transferred to the same four different foodcontact surfaces for low, medium, and high inoculum levels, respectively. The third part of this study (Section 4.3) determined the transfer of Salmonella from contaminated food-contact coupon surfaces to almond butter. Uninoculated almond butter was applied on the surface of previously contaminated food-contact coupon surfaces. More than 5 log CFU/16 cm2 Salmonella could transfer to clean almond butter after immediate contact (within 5 min) with the contaminated area. These findings help advance our understanding of factors affecting microbial transfer between nut butters and processing equipment surfaces. This research can be used to support future cleaning and sanitation studies for nut butter processing equipment.
M.S. in Food Safety and Technology, December 2012
Show less

repository.iit

Search the repository

Pages

Pages

Enabled Filters

Refine Results

Type

Date

Academic status of creator

Department

Subject

Creator

Part of