Search results for: food tourism

Authors: Harinder Singh

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The paper sheds light on the perceptions of the uninsured workers employed in the urban informal sector of India, towards the health insurance. In addition to this, it also explores the association of the identified perceptions with household decisions to enroll for health insurance schemes in India. Firstly the data taken from the primary survey of the uninsured workers employed in the urban informal sector was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis to evaluate the perceptions. Thereafter, logistic regression was employed to determine the association of the identified perceptions regarding the enrollment. Our study identifies twelve perceptions related to the health insurance enrollment of the uninsured workers employed in the urban informal sector of India. The study demonstrates that perceptions have the strongest association with the voluntary enrollment. These specifically relate to the lack of awareness about the need to buy health insurance; comprehensive coverage; income constraint; future contingencies and social obligations; lack of information; availability of subsidized government health care; linkage with government hospitals and preference for government schemes. Conclusions: Along with the food security, health security has become a crying need of the workers employed in the informal sector and the time has come to scale up the health insurance schemes for them in the country. Policy makers or marketers of health insurance policies should recognize the household perceptions as a potential barrier and try to develop a health insurance package as per the actual needs of the informal sector (low income) in India.

Keywords: association, enrollment, health insurance, informal sector, perceptions, uninsured

Procedia PDF Downloads 269

Authors: Mandeep Kataria, Ritu Narula, Navneet Kaur

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Asparagine is vital amino acid which is required for the development of brain and it regulates the equilibrium of central nervous system. Asparagine is the chief amino acid that forms acrylamide in baked food by reacting with reducing sugars at high temperature ( Millard Reaction i.e. amino acids and sugars give new flavors at high temperature). It can also be a parameter of freshness in fruit juices because on storage of juices at 37°C caused an 87% loss in the total free amino acids and major decrease was recorded in asparagine contents. With this significance of monitoring asparagine, in the present work a biosensor for determining asparagine in fruit juices is developed. For the construction of biosensor L-asparaginase enzyme (0.5 IU) was co-immobilized with phenol red on TEOS chitosan sol-gel plastic disc and fixed on the fiber optic tip. Tip was immersed in a cell having 5ml of substrate and absorption was noted at response time of 5 min with 10-1 - 10-10 M concentrations of asparagine at 538 nm. L-asparaginase was extracted and from Solanum nigrum Asparagine biosensor was applied fruit juices on the monitoring asparagine contents. L-asparagine concentration found to be present in fruit juices like Guava Juice, Apple Juice, Mango Juice, Litchi juice, Strawberry juice, Pineapple juice Lemon juice, and Orange juice. Hence the developed biosensor has commercial aspects in quality insurance of fruit juices.

Keywords: fiber optic biosensor, chitosan, teos, l-asparaginase

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Michele C. Mesomo, Madeline de Souza Correa, Roberta L. Kruger, Luis R. S. Kanda, Marcos L. Corazza

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Natural extracts of plants have been used for many years for different purposes and recently they have been screened for their potential use as alternative remedies and food preservatives. Inflorescences of M. paradisiaca L., also known as the heart of the banana, have great economic interest due to its fruit. All parts of the banana are used for many different purposes, including use in folk medicine. The use of extraction via supercritical technology has grown in recent years, though it is still necessary to obtain experimental information for the construction of industrial plants. This work reports the extraction of Musa paradisiaca L. using compressed propane as solvent. The effects of the supercritical extraction conditions, pressure and temperature on the yield were evaluated. The raw material, inflorescences banana, was dried at 313.15 K and milled. The particle size used for the packaging of the extraction cell was 12 mesh (23.5%), 16 mesh (23.5%), 32 mesh (34.5%), 48 mesh (18.5%). The extractions were performed in a laboratory scale unit at pressures of 3.0 MPa, 6.5 MPa and 10.0 MPa and at 308.15 K, 323.15 K and 338.15 K. The operating conditions tested achieved a maximum yield of 2.94 wt% for the CO2 extraction at 10.0 MPa and 338.15 K, higher pressure and temperature. The lower yield, 2.29 wt%, was obtained in the condition of lower pressure and higher temperature. Temperature presented significant and positive effect on the extraction yield with supercritical CO2, while pressure had no effect on the yield. The overall extraction curves showed typical behavior obtained for the supercritical extraction procedure and and reached a constant extraction rate of about 80 to 100 min. The largest amount of extract was obtained at the beginning of the process, within 10 to 60 min.

Keywords: banana, natural products, supercritical extraction, temperature

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Authors: Birendra Kumar Bhattachan

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Organic soil media plays an important role for seed germination, growing, and producing organic jack fruits as the source of food such as vitamin A, C, and others for human health. An experiment was conducted to find out the appropriate organic soil medias to induce germination and seedling vigor of jack fruit seeds at the farm of Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) Chitwan Nepal during June 2022 to October 2022. The organic soil medias used as treatments were as 1. soil collected under the Molingia tree; 2. soil, FYM and RH (2:1;1); 3. soil, FYM (1:1); 4. sand, FYM and RH (2:1:1), 5, sand, soil, FYM and RH (1:1:1:1) and 6. sand, soil and RH (1:2:1) under Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. Significantly highest germination of 88% was induced by soil media, followed by media of soil and FYM (!:1) i.e. 63% and the media of soil, FYM and RH (2:1;1) and the least media was sand, soil, FYM and RH (1:1:1:) to induce germination of 28%. Significantly highest seedling length of 73 cm was produced by soil media followed by the media soil, sand, and RH (1:2:1), i.e. 72 cm and the media soil, sand, FYM, and RH (1:1:1:1) and the least media was soil, FYM and RH (2:1:1) to produce 62 cm seedling length, Similarly, significantly highest seedling vigor of 6257 was produced by soil media followed by the media soil and FYM (1:1) i.e. 4253 and the least was the media sand, soil, FYM and RH (1:1:1:1) to produce seedling vigor of1916. Based on this experiment, it was concluded that soil media collected under the Moringia tree could induce the highest germinating capacity of jack fruit seeds and then seedling vigor.

Keywords: jack fruit seed, soil media, farm yard manure, sand media, rice husk

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Authors: Rupinder Kaur, Parmjit S. Panesar, Ram S. Singh

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Whey is the lactose rich by-product of the dairy industry, having good amount of nutrient reservoir. Most abundant nutrients are lactose, soluble proteins, lipids and mineral salts. Disposing of whey by most of milk plants which do not have proper pre-treatment system is the major issue. As a result of which, there can be significant loss of potential food and energy source. Thus, whey has been explored as the substrate for the synthesis of different value added products such as enzymes. β-galactosidase is one of the important enzymes and has become the major focus of research due to its ability to catalyze both hydrolytic as well as transgalactosylation reaction simultaneously. The enzyme is widely used in dairy industry as it catalyzes the transformation of lactose to glucose and galactose, making it suitable for the lactose intolerant people. The enzyme is intracellular in both bacteria and yeast, whereas for molds, it has an extracellular location. The present work was carried to utilize the whey for the production of β-galactosidase enzyme using both yeast and fungal cultures. The yeast isolate Kluyveromyces marxianus WIG2 and various fungal strains have been used in the present study. Different disruption techniques have also been investigated for the extraction of the enzyme produced intracellularly from yeast cells. Among the different methods tested for the disruption of yeast cells, SDS-chloroform showed the maximum β-galactosidase activity. In case of the tested fungal cultures, Aureobasidium pullulans NCIM 1050, was observed to be the maximum extracellular enzyme producer.

Keywords: β-galactosidase, fungus, yeast, whey

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Tsung-Han Lin, Chia-Han Yang

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Recently, it’s obvious that many hotels not only provide customized service, but offer local culture to give customers different experiences. Luxury decoration and fancy equipment are not enough anymore. Customers expect that hotels not just as an accommodation, but connecting to their trips. Therefore, culture becomes significant when developing marketing strategy for hotels. Tainan, located in south of Taiwan, is the city full of culture that some hospitality industries promote their hotels exactly base on culture. Historic Tainan (台南; táinán), is a city of ancient monuments, delicious food and, above all, temples: there are more gods worshipped and more festivals and rituals observed in Tainan than in any other place in Taiwan. The oldest and most absorbing parts of Tainan are historic Anping, on the west side of town by the sea, and the cultural zones in the heart of the old city; the latter were created specifically to make things easier for visitors, with city information, signs and maps tailored to each zone and well-marked in English. The Chihkan, Dong-an Fang, Five Canals and Confucius Temple cultural zones contain the richest concentration of sights – reckon on spending at least two days to do them justice. As a result, the study aims to analyze the significance of culture on marketing strategies and C and H two hotels in Tainan city as case studies conducting the comparison of cultural marketing and experience marketing to provide a framework for hotels to develop their marketing strategies.

Keywords: cultural marketing, hospitality, historical city, Tainan city

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Authors: Mastaneh Safarnejad Shad, Wim Dehaen, Steven De Jonghe

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Since CXCR4 is the main coreceptor of HIV-1 and plays an important role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) entry, numerous efforts were directed towards the discovery of new classes of small molecules that act as CXCR4 antagonists. In addition, CXCR4 antagonists are potentially useful in the treatment of several other disorders, such as cancer cell metastasis, leukemia cell proliferation, rheumatoid arthritis, and pulmonary fibrosis. Since AMD3100 (plerixafor) is the only CXCR4 antagonist which obtained approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we were motivated to investigate a new category of molecules as CXCR4 antagonists. Most of the scaffolds which have been studied so far as CXCR4 antagonists are based on the tetrahydroquinoline (THQ) moiety in which AMD11070 (mavorixafor), GSK-812394, and TIQ15 displayed the most potent CXCR4 antagonism. Due to the high potency of these scaffolds, two different series of compounds were prepared in this work. In the first set, the THQ moiety is coupled to an amine chain and various isoquinoline derivatives (prepared by an in-house developed triazolization strategy), of which the upper part of molecules is identical to AMD11070 and TIQ15. In the second category of compounds, the THQ moiety was simplified by the synthesis of a substituted pyridine moiety. In order to investigate if CXCR4 antagonism requires the presence of an isoquinoline moiety, the corresponding pyridine analogues were also prepared. In both series of compounds, potent CXCR4 antagonism was noticed.

Keywords: CXCR4 coreceptor, CXCR4 antagonists, HIV inhibitor, tetrahydroquinoline

Procedia PDF Downloads 193

Authors: Livy Febria Tedjamulia, Aas Nurasyiah, Ivana Josephin Purnama, Monika Diah Maharani Kusumastuti, Achmad Ridwan Ariyantoro

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Papua's candy is one of Indonesia’s indigenous consumption consisting of areca nut (Areca catechu), forest betel fruit (Piper aduncum), and CaCO3. This research aims to determine the concentration of tannins in areca nut, alkaloids in areca nut, flavonoids in forest betel fruit; detect their interaction and CaCO3; also toform a standardize consumption recommendation. The research methodwas includingDPPH assay for papua’s candy mixture, which resulted in IC50 value. Data analysis used is mathematical linear regression for each experiment. The test result of alkaloid is a Rf value of 0.773, while concentration of tannin and flavonoidare 0.603 mgGAE/g and 125.402 gQE/g, respectively. The IC50 value shows number of 3.0403, showing high antioxidant capacity.Other antioxidant assays were being studied using literature review, namely trolox and oxygen radical absorbance capacity, to figure out interaction among the bioactive compounds. It turned out that the interaction detected is antagonistic, which means the compound that is joined already has a stable molecular structure so that could reduce free radicals by donating hydrogen atoms. The recommendation consumptions given are 4 areca nuts, 5 forest betels, and 1 gram of lime betel. Therefore, papua's candy has its potential to be developed into functional food.

Keywords: antioxidant, bioactive compounds interaction, free radical, papua’s candy

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Authors: Mai M. Farid, Ximeng Yang, Tomoharu Kuboyama, Yuna Inada, Chihiro Tohda

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Intro: Trigonella foenum-graecum (Fenugreek), from Fabaceae family is a well-known plant traditionally used as food and medicine. Many pharmacological effects of Trigonella foenum- graecum seeds extract (TF extract) were evaluated such as anti-diabetic, anti-tumor and anti-dementia effects using in vivo models. Regarding the anti-dementia effects of TF extract, diabetic rats, aluminum chloride-induced amnesia rats and scopolamine-injected mice were used previously for evaluation, which are not well established as Alzheimer’s disease models. In addition, those previous studies, active constituents in TF extract for memory function were not identified. Method: This study aimed to clarify the effect of TF extract on Alzheimer’s disease model, 5XFAD mouse that overexpresses mutated APP and PS1 genes and determine the major active constituent in the brain after oral intake of TF extract. Results: Trigonelline was detected in the cerebral cortex of 5XFAD mice after 24 hours of oral administration of TF extract by LC-MS/MS. Oral administration of TF extract for 17 days improved object location memory in 5XFAD mice. Conclusion: These results suggest that TF extract and its active constituents could be an expected therapeutic candidate for Alzheimer’s disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, LC-MS/MS, memory recovery, Trigonella foenum-graecum Seeds, 5XFAD mice

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Authors: I. S. R. Butswat, D. Zahraddeen

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This study identified and described some skill-based and necessity-driven entrepreneurship in animal agriculture (AA). AA is an integral segment of the world food industry, and provides a good and rapid source of income. The contribution of AA to the Sub-Saharan economy is quite significant, and there are still large opportunities that remain untapped in the sector. However, it is imperative to understand, simplify and package the various components of AA in order to pave way for rapid wealth creation, poverty eradication and women empowerment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries. The entrepreneurial areas of AA highlighted were animal breeding, livestock fattening, dairy production, poultry farming, meat production (beef, mutton, chevon, etc.), rabbit farming, wool/leather production, animal traction, animal feed industry, commercial pasture management, fish farming, sport animals, micro livestock production, private ownership of abattoirs, slaughter slabs, animal parks and zoos, among others. This study concludes that reproductive biotechnology such as oestrous synchronization, super-/multiple ovulation, artificial insemination and embryo transfer can be employed as a tool for improvement of genetic make-up of low-yielding animals in terms of milk, meat, egg, wool, leather production and other economic traits that will necessitate sustainable job and wealth creations.

Keywords: animal, agriculture, entreprenurship, wealth

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Authors: Martin Leroux, Sylvain Brisebois

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Eating a meal is among the Activities of Daily Living, but it takes a lot of time and effort for people with physical or functional limitations. Dedicated technologies are cumbersome and not portable, while general-purpose assistive robots such as wheelchair-based manipulators are too hard to control for elaborate continuous motion like eating. Eating with such devices has not previously been automated, since there existed no description of a feeding motion for uncontrolled environments. In this paper, we introduce a feeding mode for assistive manipulators, including a mathematical description of trajectories for motions that are difficult to perform manually such as gathering and scooping food at a defined/desired pace. We implement these trajectories in a sequence of movements for a semi-automated feeding mode which can be controlled with a very simple 3-button interface, allowing the user to have control over the feeding pace. Finally, we demonstrate the feeding mode with a JACO robotic arm and compare the eating speed, measured in bites per minute of three eating methods: a healthy person eating unaided, a person with upper limb limitations or disability using JACO with manual control, and a person with limitations using JACO with the feeding mode. We found that the feeding mode allows eating about 5 bites per minute, which should be sufficient to eat a meal under 30min.

Keywords: assistive robotics, automated feeding, elderly care, trajectory design, human-robot interaction

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Authors: Valizadeh Gever Bita, Joel Caren, Louisa Huand, Yu-Cheng Zhu, Esmaeil Amiri

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Within a honey bee colony, queen is the sole reproducer of fertilized eggs, while queens are safeguarded by worker bees, trophallactic behavior and food sharing activities could expose them to agrochemicals. Here, we assessed the effects of three widely used pesticides—Acephate, Bifenthrin, and Chlorantraniliprole— on worker bees, to investigate indirect effects on the physiology and reproductive traits of queens as well as the eggs they produce. Using RT-qPCR we measured the expression of several detoxification and immune genes in adult worker bees, queens, and freshly laid eggs after pesticide exposure. These analyses aimed to elucidate the physiological changes in queens and potential transgenerational effects. While no significant changes in reproductive traits were observed following Chlorantraniliprole and Bifenthrin exposure, Acephate caused adverse effects on egg size, egg-laying activity, and queen weight. The expression of detoxification, immune and antioxidant-related genes in workers, queens and freshly laid eggs changed over time in response to these pesticides. The results of this investigation revealed that pesticides can cause negative impact on queen physiology and reproduction indirectly through their effects on exposed worker bees. These effects can potentially extend to the next generation of honey bees.

Keywords: apis mellifera, egg laying, detoxification enzymes, gene expression, honey bee queen

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Authors: Kalsoom Shaikh, Saima Memon, Riffat Sultana

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Water pollution affects amphibians because they are intimately water dependent. The permeable skin makes amphibians very sensitive to the physico-chemical parameters of their aquatic environment. They spawn in water bodies where quality of water can affect the growth, development, and survival of their eggs which may die even before hatching into larvae or developing into adults due to water contamination. Considering the importance of amphibians in agriculture, food web, ecosystem and pharmaceutics as well as adverse impact of environmental degradation on them, present study was proposed to comprehensively determine the status of their diversity and habitats in Sindh province of Pakistan so as to execute monitoring for their conservation in future. Physico-chemical parameters including pH, EC (electric conductivity), TDS (total dissolved solids), T-Hard (total hardness), T-Alk (total alkalinity), Cl (chloride), CO₂ (carbon dioxide), SO₄ (sulphate), PO₄ (phosphate), NO₂ (nitrite) and NO₃ (nitrate) were analyzed from amphibian habitats using instruments and methodology of analytical grade. The results of present study after being compared with scientific data provided by different researchers and EPA (environmental protection agency), it was concluded that amphibian habitats consisted of high values of analyzed parameters except pH and CO₂. Entire study area required an urgent implementation of conservation actions for saving amphibians.

Keywords: amphibians, diversity, habitats, physico-chemical parameters, water quality, Pakistan, Sindh Province

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Authors: Batsukh Chultem, Oyunbileg Natsagdorj, Namsrai Steyrmunkh

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Many industries, tourist camps and houses, discharge aqueous effluents containing relatively high levels of heavy metals, harmful organic compounds water. Untreated effluent from these manufacturing processes has an adverse impact on the environment. A specific problem associated with waste water in the environment is accumulation in the food chain and persistence in the environment. The screening of microorganisms resistant to pollution and able to detoxification them is essential for the development of clean-up technologies. The purpose of this study is to use advanced microbiological technology products for oxidizing organic and heavy metals pollutants as a biological treatment, to reduce water pollution, which arise as a result of waste water due to day-to-day operations of industries and houses of Ulaanbaatar city and tourist camps located around the lake Hovsgol, in Hovsgol province of Mongolia. By comparing the results from tests of effective microorganism’s bio-preparation treated sewage samples and not treated sewage samples shows that the treated sewage samples pollution decreased defending on treatment period and ratio. Treated water analyses show that: the suspended solids 352 mg/l, pH 5.85-7.95, ammonium nitrate 81.25-221.2 mg NH₄/l, nitrite 0.088-0.227 mg NO₂/l, nitrate 8.5-11.5 mg NO₃/l, and orthophosphate 1.06-15.46 mg PO₄/l. Also, heavy metals were decreased and microbiological test results defined parameters, respectively show the waste water pollution was reduced.

Keywords: effective microorganims, environment, pollution, treatment

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Authors: Pankaj K. Jha, Ajeet K. Jha, Pravin Mishra

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Goat raising is a popular livestock sub-commodity of mixed farming system in Nepal. Besides food and nutritional security, it has an important role in the economy of many peoples. Goat breeding through AI is commonly practiced worldwide. It is a very basic tool to speed up genetic improvement and increase productivity. For the goat genetic improvement program, the government of Nepal has imported some specialized exotic goat breeds and semen. Some progress has been made in the initiation of selective breeding within the local breeds and practice of AI with imported semen. Importance of AI in goats has drawn more attention among goat farmers. However, importing semen is not a permanent solution at national level; rather, it is more important to develop and establish its own frozen semen production technique. Semen quality and its relationship with fertility are said to be a major concern in animal production, hence accurate measurement of semen fertilizing potential is of great importance. The survivability of sperm cells depends on semen quality. Survivability of sperm cells is assessed through visual and microscopic evaluation of spermatozoal progressive motility and morphology. In Nepal, there is lack of scientific information on seminal attributes of buck semen, its dilution, cooling and freezing technique under management conditions of Nepal. Therefore, the objective of this review was to provide brief information about breeding system, semen production and artificial insemination in Nepalese goat.

Keywords: artificial insemination, goat, Nepal, semen

Procedia PDF Downloads 212

Authors: Michael Adedotun Oke

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This paper, therefore, under study the various multiplier usages of the different Animal Dungs, from the animals such as Rabbits, Cows, Fishes, Sheep, and Poultry manure in the areas council of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria. Thus the various observations, with the pictorial representation, that was taken with the field survey from the different farms in Gwagawalada. Shows that the rabbits dungs are being used in some of the vegetables and crop farms, which serves as the nutrients, reduces the cost of production, ensure profitability, which also increases the different vegetative growth, early maturity, and the development of the crop and this is also applicable to some crops like maize, sweet potatoes. While the manure of the poultry products are being incorporated to fish ponds and the cows dungs are being used to serve as some manure to some certain crops, e.g. Okro, Maize, Pepper. Which provides the necessary nutritious values, but the various number of quantity of different bags of the various application are lacking, and the time of usage, it is also a life germane questions, which there are needs for further adaptive research, that will be involved and the reintroduction of new technology, that will be used in terms of the different methodology such as broadcasting and ring applications, of the dungs at large, while the seasons of the various applications. Thus the paper, therefore, suggested a training programs and production of manuals that will guide the various applications and usage and the effective dissemination of the various used of the simple technology, that will advances and teaching of a new mode of and the time of applications and the various quantity to used, during the applications.

Keywords: animals, usage, livestock, dungs, feaces, gwagawalada

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Authors: Saima Iftikhar Rida Shabbir, Zeeshan Hassan

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Water shortage, energy crisis and natural misfortunes are the glitches which reduce the efficacy of agricultural ecosystems especially in Pakistan where these are more frequent besides being intense. Accordingly, the agricultural water resources, food security and country’s economy are at risk. To address this, we have used Geospatial techniques incorporating ASTER Global DEM, Geological map, rainfall data, discharge data, Landsat 5 image of Swat valley in order to assess the viability of selected sites. The sites have been studied via GIS tools, Hydrological investigation and multiparametric analysis for their potentialities of collecting and securing the rain water; regulating floods by storing the surplus water bulks by check dams and developing them for power generation. Our results showed that Siat1-1 was very useful for low-cost dam with main objective of as Debris dam; Site-2 and Site 3 were check dams sites having adequate storing reservoir so as to arrest the inconsistent flow accompanied by catering the sedimentation effects and the debris flows; Site 4 had a huge reservoir capacity but it entails enormous edifice cost over very great flood plain. Thus, there is necessity of active Hydrological developments to estimate the flooded area using advanced and multifarious GIS and remote sensing approaches so that the sites could be developed for harnessing those sites for agricultural and energy drives.

Keywords: site suitability, check dams, SHP, terrain analysis, volume estimation

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Authors: M. Peña Aguilar Juan, Ríos Hernández Ezequiel, R. Valencia Luis

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For certification, certain goods of public interest, such as medicines and food, it is required the preparation and delivery of a dossier. For its elaboration, legal and administrative knowledge must be taken, as well as organization of the documents of the process, and an order that allows the file verification. Therefore, a virtual platform was developed to support the process of management and elaboration of the dossier, providing accessibility to the information and interfaces that allow the user to know the status of projects. The development of dossier system on the cloud allows the inclusion of the technical requirements for the software management, including the validation and the manufacturing in the field industry. The platform guides and facilitates the dossier elaboration (report, file or history), considering Mexican legislation and regulations, it also has auxiliary tools for its management. This technological alternative provides organization support for documents and accessibility to the information required to specify the successful development of a dossier. The platform divides into the following modules: System control, catalog, dossier and enterprise management. The modules are designed per the structure required in a dossier in those areas. However, the structure allows for flexibility, as its goal is to become a tool that facilitates and does not obstruct processes. The architecture and development of the software allows flexibility for future work expansion to other fields, this would imply feeding the system with new regulations.

Keywords: electronic dossier, cloud management software, pharmaceutical industry, sanitary registration

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Authors: Protyoy Sen

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Heritage conservation often holds different meanings and values for different people. To a cultural or architectural body it might be about protecting relics of the past, while for an government body or corporate it might be the value of the real estate which generates profits in terms of hospitality, tourism or some form of trade. But often, a significant proportion of the built fabric in our cities comprises of what usually does not come under the common lenses of collective heritage or conservation i.e. private houses. Standing ode to a bygone era of different communities, trades and practices that once inhabited the city, old private houses of certain architectural or historic character face the gravest challenges of heritage conservation. These – despite being significant to the heritage fabric of a city – neither get the social attention nor the financial aid for repair and periodic maintenance, that many monuments and public buildings do. The situation in India is no different. Private residences belonging to affluent families of an earlier time, today lie in varying degrees of neglect and dilapidation. With the growth of nuclear families, drastic change in people’s and expensive repairs of historic material fabric (amongst other reasons), houses of heritage value often become liabilities, and metaphorical to a white elephant in a poor man’s backyard. In a capitalistic setup that values time and money over everything, it is not reasonable that one justifies the conservation of individual / family assets solely through architectural, historical or cultural values. It is quite logical them, that the houseowner – in most cases, a layperson – must be made to understand of both tangible and intangible values in order to (1) take the trouble of the effort, resources and aid (if possible) to repair and maintain a house of heritage character and, (2) choose to invest into a building that today might’ve lost its practical relevance, over demolishing and building new. The question that still remains is – Why? If heritage conservation is to be seen as an economically viable and realistic building activity, it must shed its image of being an ‘elitist, cultural pursuit’ in the eyes of the common person. Through contextual studies of historic areas in Ahmedabad and Calcutta, reading of theoretical pieces on the subject and conversations with multiple stakeholders, this study intended to justify the act of heritage conservation to the common person – one who is assumed to have no particular sensitivity towards architectural or cultural value, and rather questions what these buildings tangibly bring to the table. The theoretical frameworks (taken from literature) are then tested through actual case studies in Indian cities, followed by an elaborate inference on the subject.

Keywords: heritage values, heritage houses, private ownership, unprotected heritage

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Authors: Mustafa Abdul Rahman, Maisarah Abdullah, Nurfarahin Azizan, Mohd-Azlan Jayasilan, Andrew Alek Tuen

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Common myna (Acridotheres tristis) and Javan myna (A. javanicus) belong to the family Sturnidae. These two species range from Iran, Afghanistan, and east through the Indian subcontinent to south China, Indochina and the mainland Southeast Asia. It was introduced to Sarawak in 1980’s and since then the population has increased tremendously. A study to determine the density of these two species was conducted in the Kuching and Samarahan Districts, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo between November 2013 and January 2014. In Kuching City a total of 12 transect lines of 500 m each were established totaling 6 km. In Samarahan District, six 500 m transect lines were established both within Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) campus and in Serian Town totaling 6 km. The results showed that the density of Javan myna in Kuching City (east) was 13.9 birds/ha, Kuching City (center) was 21.3 birds/ha and Kuching City (west) was 43.1 birds/ha. The density of common myna at UNIMAS campus was 20.3 birds/ha and Serian Town was 13.2 birds/ha. The density of human population probably plays an important role in determining the density of mynas in an area as it is associated with the availability of food sources, roosting and nesting places originating from human activity.

Keywords: density, myna, transect, invasive, Sarawak, Borneo

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Authors: Nafiseh Mollaei, Reihaneh Kardehi Moghaddam

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In case of Diabetes Mellitus the controlling of insulin is very difficult. This illness is an incurable disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Glucose is a sugar which provides energy to the cells. Insulin is a hormone which supports the absorption of glucose. Fuzzy control strategy is attractive for glucose control because it mimics the first and second phase responses that the pancreas beta cells use to control glucose. We propose two control algorithms a type-1 fuzzy controller and an interval type-2 fuzzy method for the insulin infusion. The closed loop system has been simulated for different patients with different parameters, in present of the food intake disturbance and it has been shown that the blood glucose concentrations at a normoglycemic level of 110 mg/dl in the reasonable amount of time. This paper deals with type 1 diabetes as a nonlinear model, which has been simulated in MATLAB-SIMULINK environment. The novel model, termed the Augmented Minimal Model is used in the simulations. There are some uncertainties in this model due to factors such as blood glucose, daily meals or sudden stress. In addition to eliminate the effects of uncertainty, different control methods may be utilized. In this article, fuzzy controller performance were assessed in terms of its ability to track a normoglycemic set point (110 mg/dl) in response to a [0-10] g meal disturbance. Finally, the development reported in this paper is supposed to simplify the insulin delivery, so increasing the quality of life of the patient.

Keywords: interval type-2, fuzzy controller, minimal augmented model, uncertainty

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Authors: Abdullah Işıktaş, Kevser Dincer

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The use of HEPA filters for air conditioning systems in clean rooms tends to increase progressively in pharmaceutical, food stuff industries and in hospitals. There are two standards widely used for HEPA filters; the EN 1822 standards published by the European Union, CEN (European Committee for Standardization) and the US based IEST standard (Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technology. Both standards exhibit some differences in the definitions of efficiency and its measurement methods. While IEST standard defines efficiency at the grit diameter of 0.3 µm, the EN 1822 standard takes MPPS (Most Penetrating Particle Size) as the basis of its definition. That is, the most difficult grit size to catch up. On the other hand, while IEST suggests that photometer and grit counters be used for filter testing, in EN 1822 standard, only the grit (grain) counters are recommended for that purpose. In this study, powder holding capacities of H13 and H14 grade materials under the EN 779 standard are investigated experimentally by using activated carbon. Measurements were taken on an experimental set up based on the TS 932 standard. Filter efficiency was measured by injecting test powder at amounts predetermined in the standards into the filters at certain intervals. The data obtained showed that the powder holding capacities of the activated carbon filter are high enough to yield efficiency of around 90% and that the H13 and H14 filters exhibit high efficiency suitable for the standard used.

Keywords: activated carbon filters, HEPA filters, powder holding capacities, air conditioning systems

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Authors: Miguel García-Ferrús, Ana González, María A. Ferrús

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The most demanded organic foods worldwide are those that are consumed fresh, such as fruits and vegetables. However, there is a knowledge gap about some aspects of organic food microbiological quality and safety. Organic fruits and vegetables are more exposed to pathogenic microorganisms due to surface contact with natural fertilizers such as animal manure, wastes and vermicompost used during farming. It has been suggested that some emergent pathogens, such as Helicobacter pylori or Arcobacter spp., could reach humans through the consumption of raw or minimally processed vegetables. Therefore, the objective of this work was to study the contamination of organic fresh green leafy vegetables by Arcobacter spp. and Helicobacter pylori. For this purpose, a total of 24 vegetable samples, 13 lettuce and 11 spinach were acquired from 10 different ecological supermarkets and greengroceries and analyzed by culture and PCR. Arcobacter spp. was detected in 5 samples (20%) by PCR, 4 spinach and one lettuce. One spinach sample was found to be also positive by culture. For H. pylori, the H. pylori VacA gene-specific band was detected in 12 vegetable samples (50%), 10 lettuces and 2 spinach. Isolation in the selective medium did not yield any positive result, possibly because of low contamination levels together with the presence of the organism in its viable but non-culturable form. Results showed significant levels of H. pylori and Arcobacter contamination in organic vegetables that are generally consumed raw, which seems to confirm that these foods can act as transmission vehicles to humans.

Keywords: Arcobacter sp., Helicobacter pylori, Organic Vegetables, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

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Authors: Addise Kerebih Chekol

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Current aquaculture practice is sustainable, environment friendly and produces safe products to end users. However, the disease becomes a limitation to the above-mentioned aquaculture practices. Excessive use of antibiotics and chemotherapeutics is practiced in aquaculture health management. The implication of excessive use of antibiotics leads to increasing antibiotic resistance cases among pathogenic bacteria from aquaculture sites and seeping into the food chain. Last but not least, cost is another key determinant for the applicability of the product. In fact, animal feed is one of the main expenditures in aquaculture, which typically accounts for more than 60% of the total expenditure in a fish farm. The intricate production method and the extensive research needed to validate treatment efficacy require sufficient funding. Therefore, the production of cost-effective yet high-quality feed has been a primary agenda for the industry. Therefore, plant herbal could be promising supplements added to fortify the existing animal feed attributed to their multiple potentials in promoting growth, strengthening immunity, and increasing the resistance of animals towards diseases and stresses. Thus, alternative methods in aquaculture species health management should be applied instantly. So, the aim of this study is to determine the effects of dietary synbiotics on growth performance, immunity, and intestinal health of aquatic animals.

Keywords: synbiotics, probiotics, prebiotics, Nile Tilapia

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Authors: Oladimeji Israel Ajayi

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Agricultural development has long been identified as a cornerstone for wealth creation and economic growth, particularly in emerging economies like Nigeria. This study examines the relationship between agricultural development and wealth creation in Nigeria, emphasizing the sector's potential in reducing poverty, creating employment, and boosting economic stability. Nigeria, endowed with fertile land and a favorable climate, has a significant agricultural base that, if fully leveraged, can transition the economy from oil dependency to a diversified and sustainable growth model. However, challenges such as limited access to credit, poor infrastructure, outdated farming techniques, and climate variability hinder optimal productivity. This research employs a mixed-methods approach, analyzing data from the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics and the Food and Agriculture Organization to understand how investments in agriculture influence wealth indicators such as GDP growth, employment rates, and rural income levels. The findings reveal a strong positive correlation between agricultural investment and wealth creation, suggesting that strategic policies focusing on mechanization, credit accessibility, and sustainable practices could significantly boost agricultural productivity and contribute to wealth distribution in Nigeria. This study contributes to policy discourse by highlighting agriculture’s role as a transformative tool for economic resilience and sustainable wealth creation in Nigeria.

Keywords: agricultural development, poverty reduction, wealth creation, prosperity

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Authors: Golayeh Yousefi, Mehdi Homaee, Ali Akbar Norouzi

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Ongoing monitoring of soil contamination by heavy metals is critical for ecosystem stability and environmental protection, and food security. The conventional methods of determining these soil contaminants are time-consuming and costly. Spectroscopy in the visible near-infrared (VNIR) - short wave infrared (SWIR) region is a rapid, non-destructive, noninvasive, and cost-effective method for assessment of soil heavy metals concentration by studying the spectral properties of soil constituents. The aim of this study is to derive spectral bands and important ranges that are sensitive to heavy metals and can be used to estimate the concentration of these soil contaminants. In other words, the change in the spectral properties of spectrally active constituents of soil can lead to the accurate identification and estimation of the concentration of these compounds in soil. For this purpose, 325 soil samples were collected, and their spectral reflectance curves were evaluated at a range of 350-2500 nm. After spectral preprocessing operations, the partial least-squares regression (PLSR) model was fitted on spectral data to predict the concentration of Cu and Ni. Based on the results, the spectral range of Cu- sensitive spectra were 480, 580-610, 1370, 1425, 1850, 1920, 2145, and 2200 nm, and Ni-sensitive ranges were 543, 655, 761, 1003, 1271, 1415, 1903, 2199 nm. Finally, the results of this study indicated that the spectral data contains a lot of information that can be applied to identify the soil properties, such as the concentration of heavy metals, with more detail.

Keywords: heavy metals, spectroscopy, spectral bands, PLS regression

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Authors: Anjana Sagar

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Arsenic poisoned ground water is a major concern in South Asia. The arsenic enters the food chain not only through drinking but also by using arsenic polluted water for irrigation. Arsenic is highly toxic in its inorganic forms; however, organic forms of arsenic are comparatively less toxic. In terrestrial plants, inorganic form of arsenic is predominantly found; however, we found that significant proportion of organic arsenic was present in root and shoot of a staple legume, chickpea (Cicer arientinum L) plants. Chickpea plants were raised in pot culture on soils spiked with arsenic ranging from 0-70 mg arsenate per Kg soil. Total arsenic concentrations of chickpea shoots and roots were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) ranging from 0.76 to 20.26, and 2.09 to 16.43 µg g⁻¹ dry weight, respectively. Information on arsenic species was acquired by methanol/water extraction method, with arsenic species being analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with ICP-MS. Dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) was the only organic arsenic species found in amount from 0.02 to 3.16 % of total arsenic shoot concentration and 0 to 6.93 % of total arsenic root concentration, respectively. To investigate the source of the organic arsenic in chickpea plants, arsenic species in the rhizosphere of soils of plants were also examined. The absence of organic arsenic in soils would suggest the possibility of formation of DMA in plants. The present investigation provides useful information for better understanding of distribution of arsenic species in terrestrial legume plants.

Keywords: arsenic, arsenic speciation, dimethylarsinic acid, organoarsenic

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Authors: Sourour Chaabane, Davide Clematis, Marco Panizza

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This study investigates the oxidation of Erythrosine B (EB) food dye by a homogeneous electro-Fenton process using iron (II) sulfate heptahydrate as a catalyst, carbon felt as cathode, and Ti/RuO2. The treated synthetic wastewater contains 100 mg L⁻¹ of EB and has a pH = 3. The effects of three independent variables have been considered for process optimization, such as applied current intensity (0.1 – 0.5 A), iron concentration (1 – 10 mM), and stirring rate (100 – 1000 rpm). Their interactions were investigated considering response surface methodology (RSM) based on Doehlert design as optimization method. EB removal efficiency and energy consumption were considered model responses after 30 minutes of electrolysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the quadratic model was adequately fitted to the experimental data with R² (0.9819), adj-R² (0.9276) and low Fisher probability (< 0.0181) for EB removal model, and R² (0.9968), adj-R² (0.9872) and low Fisher probability (< 0.0014) relative to the energy consumption model reflected a robust statistical significance. The energy consumption model significantly depends on current density, as expected. The foregoing results obtained by RSM led to the following optimal conditions for EB degradation: current intensity of 0.2 A, iron concentration of 9.397 mM, and stirring rate of 500 rpm, which gave a maximum decolorization rate of 98.15 % with a minimum energy consumption of 0.74 kWh m⁻³ at 30 min of electrolysis.

Keywords: electrofenton, erythrosineb, dye, response serface methdology, carbon felt

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Authors: Eunmi Koh, Bogyoung Choi, Dayeon Ryu, Jee-Yeon Lee, Sungok Kwon, Cho-Il Kim

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Ethyl carbamate(EC) is a probable human carcinogen (Group 2A) found in alcoholic beverages and fermented foods. A total of 351 samples including fermented foods and alcoholic beverages were chosen from 734 foods appeared in the pooled intake data of 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Korea National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Sampling was carried out from September 2013 to July 2016 in 18 supermarkets of 9 metropolitan cities in Korea. The samples were pooled, prepared according to various cooking methods, and analyzed. A total of 1245 samples were analyzed using gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. EC was detected in 13 items (1.0%), which ranged from not-detected to 151 g/kg. Alcoholic beverages (maesilju, whisky, and bokbunjaju) and fermented soy products (soy sauce and soybean paste) were the food items with relatively higher EC levels. Dietary intake of EC in the Korean population was estimated to be 2.11 ng/kg body weight (bw) per day for average population and 8.42 ng/kg bw per day for high consumers (the 97.5th percentile). When the estimated average dietary exposure to EC was compared with the Benchmark Dose Lower Confidence Limit 10% (BMDL10) of 0.3 mg/kg bw per day, margin of exposure (MOE) values of 1420000 to 28000000 were observed. This indicates that there is no health concern for the Korean population.

Keywords: ethyl carbamate, total diet study, dietary exposure, margin of exposure

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Authors: Krisala Joshi, Sayanta Ghosh, Renu Lata, Jagdish C. Kuniyal

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Throughout the world, monitoring and estimating the changing pattern of forests across diverse landscapes through remote sensing is instrumental in understanding the interactions of human activities and the ecological environment with the changing climate. Forest change detection using satellite imageries has emerged as an important means to gather information on a regional scale. Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh, India is situated in a transitional zone between the lesser and the greater Himalayas. Thus, it presents a typical rugged mountainous terrain with moderate to high altitude which varies from 1200 meters to over 6000 meters. Due to changes in agricultural cropping patterns, urbanization, industrialization, hydropower generation, climate change, tourism, and anthropogenic forest fire, it has undergone a tremendous transformation in forest cover in the past three decades. The loss and degradation of forest cover results in soil erosion, loss of biodiversity including damage to wildlife habitats, and degradation of watershed areas, and deterioration of the overall quality of nature and life. The supervised classification of LANDSAT satellite data was performed to assess the changes in forest cover in Kullu valley over the years 2000 to 2020. Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) was calculated to discriminate between burned and unburned areas of the forest. Our study reveals that in Kullu valley, the increasing number of forest fire incidents specifically, those due to anthropogenic activities has been on a rise, each subsequent year. The main objective of the present study is, therefore, to estimate the change in the forest cover of Kullu valley and to address the various social aspects responsible for the anthropogenic forest fires. Also, to assess its impact on the significant changes in the regional climatic factors, specifically, temperature, humidity, and precipitation over three decades, with the help of satellite imageries and ground data. The main outcome of the paper, we believe, will be helpful for the administration for making a quantitative assessment of the forest cover area changes due to anthropogenic activities and devising long-term measures for creating awareness among the local people of the area.

Keywords: Anthropogenic Activities, Forest Change Detection, Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Supervised Classification

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