6533b7d7fe1ef96bd1269084

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Modelling Bacterial Dynamics in Food Products: Role of Environmental Noise and Interspecific Competition

Antonio PanebiancoDavide ValentiAlessandro GiuffridaFilippo GiarratanaBernardo SpagnoloZiino Graziella

subject

Stochastic Modelingeducation.field_of_studyPopulation DynamicPopulationStatistical MechanicNoise in Biological SystemsContext (language use)Statistical mechanicsInterspecific competitionSettore FIS/07 - Fisica Applicata(Beni Culturali Ambientali Biol.e Medicin)Field (geography)Stochastic differential equationNoiseNoise-Induced EffectBiological systemEnvironmental noiseeducationMathematics

description

In this paper we review some results obtained within the context of the predictive microbiology, which is a specific field of the population dynamics. In particular we discuss three models, which exploit tools of statistical mechanics, for bacterial dynamics in food of animal origin. In the first model, the random fluctuating behaviour, experimentally measured, of the temperature is considered. In the second model stochastic differential equations are introduced to take into account the influence of physical and chemical variables, such as temperature, pH and activity water, subject to deterministic and random variations. The third model, which is an extended version of the second one, neglects the environmental fluctuations, and concentrates on the role of the interspecific bacterial interactions. The comparison between expected results and observed data indicates that the presence of noise sources and interspecific bacterial interactions improves the predictive features of the models analyzed.

https://doi.org/10.4236/jmp.2013.48142