These Excel workbooks simulate the increasing logarithmic growth ratio of a targeted microorganism during temperature controlled storage in real time. This version of the program simulates the growth of organisms whose isothermal survival curve follows the model Y(t) = a/(1+Exp(k*(tc-Time)))-a/(1+Exp(k*tc), which is appropriate for long (and short) lag times. The temperature dependence of the growth parameters k(Temp) and tc(Temp) obeys an exponential relationship while a(Temp) is fixed. Explanation of the model can be found in Corradini, M.G and Peleg, M. 2005 (see References below). For more information on the concept, its various applications in calculating the microbial growth during storage at variable temperatures and its implementation with more complicated growth models, contact Micha Peleg at: http://people.umass.edu/~aew2000/
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The demonstration workbooks are available in a file format for Windows Excel 97 through 2007 and MacOS Excel 98 through 2004. If you have a modern web browser you should be able to download a binary Excel file directly by clicking on one of the links below.
Generates Time and Temperature values using a single internal Temperature Profile equation with user-adjustable parameters.Note: Earlier versions were posted here on the web. The February 21, 2006 versions contained bug fixes, Visual Basic code improvements and pop-up comment note updates. The February 4, 2008 versions add compatibility with Windows Excel 2007 and update several comment notes.
If you have Microsoft Excel installed on your hard drive, you should be able to open either the MicrobialGrowthModelA.xls or MicrobialGrowthModelAData.xls file in Excel by double-clicking on its icon. If that doesn't work, open the workbook file by first starting Excel, choosing Open... from the File menu and then selecting the Excel file that was downloaded and saved on your hard disk. If the file does not appear on the list of file names, set the Files of type: pop-up menu to All Files (*.*) then select and open the file. If you were unable to open the file by double-clicking on it, use the alternate method just described to open it and once the file has opened in Excel you should immediately save it by choosing Save from the File menu. This will make it possible to open the file in the future by simply double-clicking on its icon.
When you are shown a dialog box asking about enabling macros, click the Enable Macros button. If you are using a recent version of Excel for Windows, you may need to reduce the security level in Tools>Macro>Security to Medium, then close and reopen the file to enable the macros.
Clicking the Clear button will erase the two charts from Sheet1. Clicking the Solve button erases the charts before the model is solved so it is not necessary to click Clear before clicking Solve. Read the comment notes attached to cells A1 thru A5 for instructions on how to run the worksheet models. To view or print all of a workbook's comment notes together click on one of the links below.
The Excel files MicrobialGrowthModelA.xls or MicrobialGrowthModelAData.xls each contain a single worksheet. Sheet1 contains instructions, user input cells, two embedded charts, and two buttons labeled 'Clear' and 'Solve'. Cells that have a red triangle marker in their upper right corner have a comment note attached to them.