title: Estimation of the thermal coefficient in the decline of a bacterial population under heat stress.
abstract: The "most probable number" (MPN) technique for estimating numbers of bacteria in suspensions is well known and has been used for decades by microbiologists, food researchers, and other laboratory scientists. A related procedure, involving an infinite number of serial dilutions at each of times ti, i = 0,1,...,n, is considered, and the joint probability law of the index numbers of the last tubes showing growth at these times is derived through use of probability-generating functions. Maximum likelihood estimates of the initial density lambda and the thermal death rate mu are computed. Another estimate, mu, of mu is given, using a simple weighting scheme. Finally, the thermal death time (TDT) is estimated by D = (1n 10)/mu.
authors.affiliation: Division of Statistics, University of California, Davis 95616.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Wiggins
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008433:Mathematics; D008954:Models, Biological