Search results for: food and feed

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: Ahmad Saadiq, Neeraj Sahu

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Sediment, which comprises of solid particles of mineral and organic material are transported by water. In river systems, the amount of sediment transported is controlled by both the transport capacity of the flow and the supply of sediment. The transport of sediment in rivers is important with respect to pollution, channel navigability, reservoir ageing, hydroelectric equipment longevity, fish habitat, river aesthetics and scientific interests. The sediment load transported in a river is a very complex hydrological phenomenon. Hence, sediment transport has attracted the attention of engineers from various aspects, and different methods have been used for its estimation. So, several experimental equations have been submitted by experts. Though the results of these methods have considerable differences with each other and with experimental observations, because the sediment measures have some limits, these equations can be used in estimating sediment load. In this present study, two black box models namely, an SRC (Sediment Rating Curve) and ANN (Artificial Neural Network) are used in the simulation of the suspended sediment load. The study is carried out for Seonath subbasin. Seonath is the biggest tributary of Mahanadi river, and it carries a vast amount of sediment. The data is collected for Jondhra hydrological observation station from India-WRIS (Water Resources Information System) and IMD (Indian Meteorological Department). These data include the discharge, sediment concentration and rainfall for 10 years. In this study, sediment load is estimated from the input parameters (discharge, rainfall, and past sediment) in various combination of simulations. A sediment rating curve used the water discharge to estimate the sediment concentration. This estimated sediment concentration is converted to sediment load. Likewise, for the application of these data in ANN, they are normalised first and then fed in various combinations to yield the sediment load. RMSE (root mean square error) and R² (coefficient of determination) between the observed load and the estimated load are used as evaluating criteria. For an ideal model, RMSE is zero and R² is 1. However, as the models used in this study are black box models, they don’t carry the exact representation of the factors which causes sedimentation. Hence, a model which gives the lowest RMSE and highest R² is the best model in this study. The lowest values of RMSE (based on normalised data) for sediment rating curve, feed forward back propagation, cascade forward back propagation and neural network fitting are 0.043425, 0.00679781, 0.0050089 and 0.0043727 respectively. The corresponding values of R² are 0.8258, 0.9941, 0.9968 and 0.9976. This implies that a neural network fitting model is superior to the other models used in this study. However, a drawback of neural network fitting is that it produces few negative estimates, which is not at all tolerable in the field of estimation of sediment load, and hence this model can’t be crowned as the best model among others, based on this study. A cascade forward back propagation produces results much closer to a neural network model and hence this model is the best model based on the present study.

Keywords: artificial neural network, Root mean squared error, sediment, sediment rating curve

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Authors: Jose Daniel Hoyos Giraldo, Jesus Hernan Jimenez Giraldo, Juan Pablo Alvarado Perilla

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Range and endurance are the main limitations of electric aircraft due to the nature of its source of power. The improvement of efficiency on this kind of systems is extremely meaningful to encourage the aircraft operation with less environmental impact. The propeller efficiency highly affects the overall efficiency of the propulsion system; hence its optimization can have an outstanding effect on the aircraft performance. An optimization method is applied to an aircraft propeller in order to maximize its range and endurance by estimating the best combination of geometrical parameters such as diameter and airfoil, chord and pitch distribution for a specific aircraft design at a certain cruise speed, then the rotational speed at which the propeller operates at minimum current consumption is estimated. The optimization is based on the Blade Element Momentum (BEM) method, additionally corrected to account for tip and hub losses, Mach number and rotational effects; furthermore an airfoil lift and drag coefficients approximation is implemented from Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations supported by preliminary studies of grid independence and suitability of different turbulence models, to feed the BEM method, with the aim of achieve more reliable results. Additionally, Vortex Theory is employed to find the optimum pitch and chord distribution to achieve a minimum induced loss propeller design. Moreover, the optimization takes into account the well-known brushless motor model, thrust constraints for take-off runway limitations, maximum allowable propeller diameter due to aircraft height and maximum motor power. The BEM-CFD method is validated by comparing its predictions for a known APC propeller with both available experimental tests and APC reported performance curves which are based on Vortex Theory fed with the NASA Transonic Airfoil code, showing a adequate fitting with experimental data even more than reported APC data. Optimal propeller predictions are validated by wind tunnel tests, CFD propeller simulations and a study of how the propeller will perform if it replaces the one of on known aircraft. Some tendency charts relating a wide range of parameters such as diameter, voltage, pitch, rotational speed, current, propeller and electric efficiencies are obtained and discussed. The implementation of CFD tools shows an improvement in the accuracy of BEM predictions. Results also showed how a propeller has higher efficiency peaks when it operates at high rotational speed due to the higher Reynolds at which airfoils present lower drag. On the other hand, the behavior of the current consumption related to the propulsive efficiency shows counterintuitive results, the best range and endurance is not necessary achieved in an efficiency peak.

Keywords: BEM, blade design, CFD, electric aircraft, endurance, optimization, range

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Authors: Abhit Kumar

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The world is full of master slave Telemanipulator where the doctor’s masters the console and the surgical arm perform the operations, i.e. these robots are passive robots, what the world needs to focus is that in use of these passive robots we are acquiring doctors for operating these console hence the utilization of the concept of robotics is still not fully utilized ,hence the focus should be on active robots, Auto Surgical-Emissive Hand use the similar concept of active robotics where this anthropomorphic hand focuses on the autonomous surgical, emissive and scanning operation, enabled with the vision of 3 way emission of Laser Beam/-5°C < ICY Steam < 5°C/ TIC embedded in palm of the anthropomorphic hand and structured in a form of 3 way disc. Fingers of AS-EH (Auto Surgical-Emissive Hand) as called, will have tactile, force, pressure sensor rooted to it so that the mechanical mechanism of force, pressure and physical presence on the external subject can be maintained, conversely our main focus is on the concept of “emission” the question arises how all the 3 non related methods will work together that to merged in a single programmed hand, all the 3 methods will be utilized according to the need of the external subject, the laser if considered will be emitted via a pin sized outlet, this radiation is channelized via a thin channel which further connect to the palm of the surgical hand internally leading to the pin sized outlet, here the laser is used to emit radiation enough to cut open the skin for removal of metal scrap or any other foreign material while the patient is in under anesthesia, keeping the complexity of the operation very low, at the same time the TIC fitted with accurate temperature compensator will be providing us the real time feed of the surgery in the form of heat image, this gives us the chance to analyze the level, also ATC will help us to determine the elevated body temperature while the operation is being proceeded, the thermal imaging camera in rooted internally in the AS-EH while also being connected to the real time software externally to provide us live feedback. The ICY steam will provide the cooling effect before and after the operation, however for more utilization of this concept we can understand the working of simple procedure in which If a finger remain in icy water for a long time it freezes the blood flow stops and the portion become numb and isolated hence even if you try to pinch it will not provide any sensation as the nerve impulse did not coordinated with the brain hence sensory receptor did not got active which means no sense of touch was observed utilizing the same concept we can use the icy stem to be emitted via a pin sized hole on the area of concern ,temperature below 273K which will frost the area after which operation can be done, this steam can also be use to desensitized the pain while the operation in under process. The mathematical calculation, algorithm, programming of working and movement of this hand will be installed in the system prior to the procedure, since this AS-EH is a programmable hand it comes with the limitation hence this AS-EH robot will perform surgical process of low complexity only.

Keywords: active robots, algorithm, emission, icy steam, TIC, laser

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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: Sandesh Yadav

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Earthquake constitutes one of the most terrible natural hazards which often turn into a disaster or causing extensive devastation and loss of human lives and their properties. In the year 2015, Nepal experienced the most devastating earthquakes on 25th April, 2015 and 12th May, 2015 respectively. Several villages, towns, human constructions and their properties, lives were completely damaged. The hazardous effect of Nepal earthquakes depends not only on their magnitude of Richter Scale on intensity alone, but also on so many factors, such as geology of earth crust (lithology, elasticity, soil condition, permissible stress, rock structures etc.). The unscientifically and non-seismically designed buildings resulted in huge loss of life and property. Further, the loss due to earthquake can be grouped into three broad categories namely agriculture sector (loss of livestock, poultry and food stocks), industrial sector (mainly brick production industry) and infrastructural sector (transportation infrastructure). The present research study begins with the tracing of Geological history of earthquakes in Nepal along with identification of causes of Nepal earthquakes, 2015. Secondly, research study identifies the extent of tremors of earthquakes of 2015 in Nepal and surrounding areas along with their sphere of impact. Thirdly, the research study tries to assess the agricultural loss, industrial loss and infrastructural loss due to earthquakes in Nepal. Lastly, the research study ends with the various recommendations and suggestions in order to minimize the loss due to earthquakes in the future.

Keywords: earthquake, richter scale, sphere of impact, tremors

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Authors: Mahdi Karazmodeh, Pooyan Jafari

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One of the most interesting topics in finance is the relation between stock prices and exchange rates. During the past decades different stock markets in different countries have been the subject of study for researches. The volatilities of exchange rates and its effect on stock prices during the past 10 years have continued to be an attractive research topic. The subject of this study is one of the most important indices, FTSE 100. 20 firms with the highest market capitalization in 5 different industries are chosen. Firms are included in oil and gas, mining, pharmaceuticals, banking and food related industries. 5 different criteria have been introduced to evaluate the relationship between stock markets and exchange rates. Return of market portfolio, returns on broad index of Sterling are also introduced. The results state that not all firms are sensitive to changes in exchange rates. Furthermore, a Granger Causality test has been run to observe the route of changes between stock prices and foreign exchange rates. The results are consistent, to some level, with the previous studies. However, since the number of firms is not large, it is suggested that a larger number of firms being used to achieve the best results. However results showed that not all firms are affected by foreign exchange rates changes. After testing Granger Causality, this study found out that in some industries (oil and gas, pharmaceuticals), changes in foreign exchange rate will not cause any changes in stock prices (or vice versa), however, in banking sector the situation was different. This industry showed more reaction to these changes. The results are similar to the ones with Richards and Noel, where a variety of firms in different industries were evaluated.

Keywords: stock prices, foreign exchange rate, exchange rate exposure, Granger Causality

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Authors: Hernan D. Mejia, Gilberto B. Gaitan, Mauricio A. Franco

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420 steel is normally used in the manufacture of dental and surgical instrumentation, as well as parts in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries, among others, where they must withstand heavy loads and often be in contact with corrosive environments, which leads to wear and deterioration of these steels in relatively short times. In the case of medical applications, the instruments made of this steel also suffer wear and corrosion during the repetitive sterilization processes due to the relatively low achievable hardness of just 50 HRC and its hardly acceptable resistance to corrosion. In order to improve the wear resistance of 420 steel, TiAlN coatings were deposited, increasing the aluminum content in the alloy by varying the power applied to the aluminum target of 900, 1100, and 1300 W. Evaluations using XRD, Micro Raman, XPS, AFM, SEM, and TEM showed a columnar growth crystal structure with an average thickness of 2 microns and consisting of the TiN and TiAlN phases, whose roughness and grain size decrease with a higher Al content. The AlN phase also appears in the sample deposited at 1300W. The hardness, determined by nanoindentation, initially increases with the aluminum content from 9.7 GPa to 17.1 GPa, but then decreases to 15.4 GPa for the sample with the highest aluminum content due to the appearance of hexagonal AlN and a decrease of harder TiN and TiAlN phases. It was observed that the wear coefficient had a contrary behavior, which took values of 2.7; 1.7 and 6.6x10⁻⁶ mm³/N.m, respectively. All the coated samples significantly improved the wear resistance of the uncoated 420 steel.

Keywords: hard coatings, magnetron sputtering, TiAlN coatings, surgical instruments, wear resistance

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Authors: Luljeta Gashi, Naser Ramadani, Zana Deva, Dafina Gexha-Bunjaku

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The official HIV/AIDS data in Kosovo are based on HIV case reporting from health-care services, the blood transfusion system and Voluntary Counselling and Testing centres. Between 1986 and 2014, are reported 95 HIV and AIDS cases, of which 49 were AIDS, 46 HIV and 40 deaths. The majority (69%) of cases were men, age group 25 to 34 (37%) and route of transmission is: heterosexual (90%), MSM (7%), vertical transmission (2%) and IDU (1%). Based on existing data and the UNAIDS classification system, Kosovo is currently still categorised as having a low-level HIV epidemic. Even though with a low HIV prevalence, Kosovo faces a number of threatening factors, including increased number of drug users, a stigmatized and discriminated MSM community, high percentage of youth among general population (57% of the population under the age of 25), with changing social norms and especially the sexual ones. Methods: Data collection was done using self administered structured questionnaires amongst 249 high school students. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The findings revealed that 68% of students know that HIV transmission can be reduced by having sex with only one uninfected partner who has no other partners, 94% know that the risk of getting HIV can be reduced by using a condom every time they have sex, 68% know that a person cannot get HIV from mosquito bites, 81% know that they cannot get HIV by sharing food with someone who is infected and 46% know that a healthy looking person can have HIV. Conclusions: Seventy one percent of high school students correctly identify ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV and who reject the major misconceptions about HIV transmission. The findings of the study indicate a need for more health education and promotion.

Keywords: Kosovo, KPAR, HIV, high school

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Authors: Mahshid Rezaei, Zahra Tajari, Zahra Esmaeily, Atefeh Eyvazkhani, Shahrzad Daei, Marjan Mansouri Dara, Mohaddesh Rezaei, Abolghassem Djazayeri, Ahmadreza Dorosti Motlagh

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Background: Musculoskeletal pain is one of the most prevalent symptoms in elderly age. Nutrition and diet are considered important underlying factors that could affect chronic musculoskeletal pain. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between empirical dietary inflammatory patterns (EDII) and musculoskeletal pain. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 213 elderly individuals were selected from several health centers. The usual dietary intake was evaluated by a valid and reliable 147-items food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). To measure the intensity of pain, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used. Multiple Linear Regression was applied to assess the association between EDII and musculoskeletal pain. Results: The results of multiple linear regression analysis indicate that a higher EDII score was associated with higher musculoskeletal pain (β= 0.21: 95% CI: 0.24-1.87: P= 0.003). These results stayed significant even after adjusting for covariates such as sex, marital status, height, family number, sleep, BMI, physical activity duration, waist circumference, protector, and medication use (β= 0.16: 95% CI: 0.11-1.04: P= 0.02). Conclusion: Study findings indicated that higher inflammation of diet might have a direct association with musculoskeletal pains in elderlies. However, further investigations are required to confirm these findings.

Keywords: musculoskeletal pain, empirical dietary inflammatory pattern, elderlies, dietary pattern

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Authors: Ridwan Dewayanto Rusli

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We show how prisoner's dilemma-type competition problems can be mitigated through rapid platform diversification and ecosystem expansion. We analyze a ride-hailing company in Southeast Asia, Gojek, whose network grew to more than 170 million users comprising consumers, partner drivers, merchants, and complementors within a few years and has already achieved higher contribution margins than ride-hailing peers Uber and Lyft. Its ecosystem integrates ride-hailing, food delivery and logistics, merchant solutions, e-commerce, marketplace and advertising, payments, and fintech offerings. The company continues growing its network of complementors and App developers, expanding content and gaining critical mass in consumer data analytics and advertising. We compare the company's growth and diversification trajectory with those of its main international rivals and peers. The company's rapid growth and future potential are analyzed using Cusumano's (2012) Staying Power and Six Principles, Hax and Wilde's (2003) and Hax's (2010) The Delta Model as well as Santos' (2016) home-market advantages frameworks. The recently announced multi-billion-dollar merger with one of Southeast Asia's largest e-commerce majors lends additional support to the above arguments.

Keywords: ride-hailing, prisoner's dilemma, platform and ecosystem strategy, digital applications, diversification, home market advantages, e-commerce

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Authors: G. Anusha, J. Raja Murugadoss

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In recent years, the problem of water contaminant is drastically increasing due to the disposal of industrial wastewater containing iron, fluoride, mercury, lead, cadmium, phosphorus, silver etc. into water bodies. The non-biodegradable heavy metals could accumulate in the human system through food chain and cause various dreadful diseases and permanent disabilities and in worst cases it leads to casual losses. Further, the presence of the excess quantity of such heavy metals viz. Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, Zinc, Copper, Iron etc. seriously affect the natural quality of potable water and necessitates the treatment process for removal. Though there are dozens of standard procedures available for the removal of heavy metals, their cost keeps the industrialists away from adopting such technologies. In the present work, an attempt has been made to remove such contaminants particularly fluoride and to study the efficiency of the removal of fluoride by adsorption using a new agro-based materials namely Limonia acidissima and Emblica officinalis which is commonly referred as wood apple and gooseberry respectively. Accordingly a set of experiments has been conducted using batch and column processes, with the help of activated carbon prepared from the shell of wood apple and seeds of gooseberries. Experiments reveal that the adsorption capacity of the shell of wood apple is significant to yield promising solutions.

Keywords: adsorption, fluoride, agro-based waste materials, Limonia acidissima, Emblica officinalis

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Authors: Sarekha Woranuch, Rangrong Yoksan

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Active packaging has been developed based on the incorporation of certain additives, in particular antimicrobial and antioxidant agents, into packaging systems to maintain or extend product quality and shelf-life. Ferulic acid is one of the most effective natural phenolic antioxidants, which has been used in food, pharmaceutical and active packaging film applications. However, most phenolic compounds are sensitive to oxygen, light and heat; its activities are thus lost during product formulation and processing. Grafting ferulic acid onto polymer is an alternative to reduce its loss under thermal processes. Therefore, the objectives of the present research were to study the thermal stability of ferulic acid after grafting onto chitosan, and to investigate the possibility of using ferulic acid-grafted chitosan (FA-g-CTS) as an antioxidant for active biodegradable packaging film. FA-g-CTS was incorporated into biodegradable film via a two-step process, i.e. compounding extrusion at temperature up to 150 °C followed by blown film extrusion at temperature up to 175 °C. Although incorporating FA-g-CTS with a content of 0.02–0.16% (w/w) caused decreased water vapor barrier property and reduced extensibility, the films showed improved oxygen barrier property and antioxidant activity. Radical scavenging activity and reducing power of the film containing FA-g-CTS with a content of 0.04% (w/w) were higher than that of the naked film about 254% and 94%, respectively. Tensile strength and rigidity of the films were not significantly affected by adding FA-g-CTS with a content of 0.02–0.08% (w/w). The results indicated that FA-g-CTS could be potentially used as an antioxidant for active packaging film.

Keywords: active packaging film, antioxidant activity, chitosan, ferulic acid

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Authors: Pramod K. Prabhakar, Prem P. Srivastav

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Rohu (Labeo rohita) is an Indian major carp and highly relished freshwater food for its unique flavor, texture, and culinary properties. It is highly perishable and, spoilage occurs as a result of series of complicated biochemical changes brought about by enzymes which are the function of time and storage temperature also. The influence of storage temperature (5, 0, and -5 °C) on colour and texture of fish were studied during 14 days storage period in order to analyze kinetics of colour and textural changes. The rate of total colour change was most noticeable at the highest storage temperature (5°C), and these changes were well described by the first order reaction. Texture is an important variable of quality of the fish and is increasing concern to aquaculture industries. Textural parameters such as hardness, toughness and stiffness were evaluated on a texture analyzer for the different day of stored fish. The significant reduction (P ≤ 0.05) in hardness was observed after 2nd, 4th and 8th day for the fish stored at 5, 0, and -5 °C respectively. The textural changes of fish during storage followed a first order kinetic model and fitted well with this model (R2 > 0.95). However, the textural data with respect to time was also fitted to modified Maxwell model and found to be good fit with R2 value ranges from 0.96 to 0.98. Temperature dependence of colour and texture change was adequately modelled with the Arrhenius type equation. This fitted model may be used for the determination of shelf life of Rohu Rohu (Labeo rohita) Fish.

Keywords: first order kinetics, biochemical changes, Maxwell model, colour, texture, Arrhenius type equation

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Authors: Amy L. Irvine, Gabriel Reygondeau, Derek P. Tittensor

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Marine protected areas (MPAs) within Canada’s exclusive economic zone help ensure the conservation and sustainability of marine ecosystems and the continued provision of ecosystem services to society (e.g., food, carbon sequestration). With ongoing and accelerating climate change, however, MPAs may become undermined in terms of their effectiveness at fulfilling these outcomes. Many populations of species, especially those at their thermal range limits, may shift to cooler waters or become extirpated due to climate change, resulting in new species compositions and ecological interactions within static MPA boundaries. While Canadian MPA management follows international guidelines for marine conservation, no consistent approach exists for adapting MPA networks to climate change and the resulting altered ecosystem conditions. To fill this gap, projected climate-driven shifts in species distributions on Canada’s east coast were analyzed to identify when native species emigrate and novel species immigrate within the network and how high mitigation and carbon emission scenarios influence these timelines. Indicators of the ecological changes caused by these species' shifts in the biological community were also developed. Overall, our research provides projections of climate change impacts and helps to guide adaptive management responses within the Canadian east coast MPA network.

Keywords: climate change, ecosystem modeling, marine protected areas, management

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Authors: Hiroyuki Aoki

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Polymeric materials are often used in a form of thin film such as food wrap and surface coating. In such the applications, polymer films thinner than 100 nm have been often used. The thickness of such the ultra-thin film is less than the unperturbed size of a polymer chain; therefore, the polymer chain in an ultra-thin film is strongly constrained. However, the details on the constrained dynamics of polymer molecules in ultra-thin films are still unclear. In the current study, the segmental dynamics of single polymer chain was directly investigated by fluorescence microscopy. The individual chains of poly(alkyl methacrylate) labeled by a perylenediimide dye molecule were observed by a highly sensitive fluorescence microscope in a defocus condition. The translational and rotational diffusion of the center segment in a single polymer chain was directly analyzed. The segmental motion in a thin film with a thickness of 10 nm was found to be suppressed compared to that in a bulk state. The detailed analysis of the molecular motion revealed that the diffusion rate of the in-plane rotation was similar to the thin film and the bulk; on the other hand, the out-of-plane motion was restricted in a thin film. This result indicates that the spatial restriction in an ultra-thin film thinner than the unperturbed chain dimension alters the dynamics of individual molecules in a polymer system.

Keywords: polymer materials, single molecule, molecular motion, fluorescence microscopy, super-resolution techniques

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Authors: Isabella Jabbour

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The world's population is expected to reach over 10 billion by 2050, creating a significant demand for food production, particularly in the agricultural industry. Cellular agriculture presents a solution to this challenge by producing meat that resembles traditionally produced meat, but with significantly less land use. Decellularized plant scaffolds, such as spinach leaves, have been shown to be a suitable edible scaffold for growing animal muscle, enabling cultured cells to grow and organize into three-dimensional structures that mimic the texture and flavor of conventionally produced meat. However, the use of freshwater to remove the intact extracellular material from these plants remains a concern, particularly when considering scaling up the production process. In this study, two protocols were used, 1X SDS and Boom Sauce, to decellularize spinach leaves with both distilled water and ocean water. The decellularization process was confirmed by histology, which showed an absence of cell nuclei, DNA and protein quantification. Results showed that spinach decellularized with ocean water contained 9.9 ± 1.4 ng DNA/mg tissue, which is comparable to the 9.2 ± 1.1 ng DNA/mg tissue obtained with DI water. These findings suggest that decellularized spinach leaves using ocean water hold promise as an eco-friendly and cost-effective scaffold for laboratory-grown meat production, which could ultimately transform the meat industry by providing a sustainable alternative to traditional animal farming practices while reducing freshwater use.

Keywords: cellular agriculture, plant scaffold, decellularization, ocean water usage

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Authors: Zia Amjad, Salem Safar Alghamdi

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This experiment was carried out at student educational farm College of Food and Agriculture, KSU, kingdom of Saudi Arabia; in order to characterize 154 Vicia faba, characterization, PCA, ago-morphological diversity. Icia faba L. accessions were based on ipove and ibpgr descriptors. 24 agro-morphological characters including 11 quantitative and 13 qualitative were observed for genetic variation. All the results were analyzed using multivariate analysis i.e. principle component analysis. First 6 principle components with eigenvalue greater than one; accounted for 72% of available Vicia faba genetic diversity. However, first three components revealed more than 10% of genetic diversity each i.e. 22.36%, 15.86%, and 10.89% respectively. PCA distributed the V. faba accessions into different groups based on their performance for the characters under observation. PC-1 which represented 22.36% of the genetic diversity was positively associated with stipule spot pigmentation, intensity of streaks, pod degree of curvature and to some extent with 100 seed weight. PC-2 covered 15.86 of the genetic diversity and showed positive association for average seed weight per plant, pod length, number of seeds per plant, 100 seed weight, stipule spot pigmentation, intensity of streaks (same as in PC-1), and to some extent for pod degree of curvature and number of pods per plant. PC-3 revealed 10.89% of genetic diversity and expressed positive association for number of pods per plant and number of leaflets per plant.

Keywords: Vicia faba, characterization, PCA, ago-morphological diversity

Procedia PDF Downloads 433

Authors: Arife Simsek, Gulfem Bakan

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Sediment refers to the accumulation of varying amounts of sediment material in natural waters and the formation of bottom sludge. Sediments are the most important sources of pollutants as well as important future sources and carriers of pollutants. The accumulation of pollutants in sediments can cause serious environmental problems for the surrounding areas. Heavy metals (such as Cr, Cd, Al, Pb, Cu, Al, Zn) disrupt the water quality, affect the useful use of sediment, affect the ecosystem and have a toxic effect on the life of the sediment layer. This effect, which accumulates in the aquatic organisms, can enter the human body with the food chain and affect health seriously. Potential metal toxicity can be determined by comparing acid volatile sulfides (AVS) – simultaneously extracted metal (SEM) ratio in anoxic sediments to determine the effect of metals. Determination of the concentration of SEM and AVS is useful in screening sediments for potential toxicity due to the high metal concentration. In the case of SEM/AVS < 0 (anoxic sediment); in terms of AVS biomass production, its toxicity can be controlled. No toxic effects may be observed when SEM / AVS < 0. SEM / AVS > 0 (in the case of oxic sediment); metals with sensitive fraction such as Cu, As, Ag, Zn are stored. In this study, AVS and SEM measurements of sediment samples collected from five different points in the district of Tekkeköy in Samsun province were performed. The SEM - AVS ratio was greater than 0 in all samples. Therefore, it is necessary to test the toxicity against the risks that may occur in the ecosystem.

Keywords: AVS-SEM, Black Sea, heavy metal, sediment, toxicity

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: Jacqueline R. Llamas, Agnes Regal

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Objective: To determine the breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of fathers seen at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital. Design: Cross-sectional design. Setting: University of Santo Tomas Hospital (USTH). Participants: 156 fathers who were accompanying their wives/children at the USTH. Findings: Outcome of the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale showed fathers to be generally unbiased whether their child be fed breast milk or milk formula. About 85% agreed that breast milk is the ideal food for babies, 79% believed that breastfed babies are healthier than formula fed and 55% of them do not believe that breast milk lacks iron. About 80% agreed that it is easily digested, 87% are aware of the economical value and 57% agreed of its convenience. Breastfeeding support was noted when 55% of the fathers would encourage mothers to breastfeed so as not to miss the joys of motherhood, 91% believed that breastfeeding increased mother-infant bonding. About 57% do not feel left out whenever the mothers breastfeed. However, 46.6% support the decision of their wives to switch to formula feeding once they go back to work, 42% only find breastfeeding in public to be acceptable and 57% will not allow breast feeding to mothers who drink alcohol. Conclusion: In the study, although fathers’ attitude toward breastfeeding is unbiased towards breastfeeding or formula feeding, the majority of the fathers appreciate breastfeeding and its benefits. Also, how the father’s level of education, age, profession, household income and number of children had an effect on their attitude towards breastfeeding.

Keywords: father, breastfeeding, breast milk, knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 404

Authors: Shehzad Khan, Jehangir Khan, Shah Babar, Rashid Mahmood, Rizwan Khan, Sanya Hadi

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Ascaris lumbricoides are familiar with the roundworm that causes biliary infections in humans. Nevertheless, ascariasis is primarily found in the jejunum and transferred in numerous body parts with the intake of Ascaris lumbricoides present in food and water. These study methods were implemented at the Saidu Teaching Hospital Radiology Department from December 2021 to January 2023. This study includes the participants suffering from biliary ascariasis admitted or visited Saidu Teaching Hospital in that time frame. Clinical assessment of the participants was done based on the appearance of signs and symptoms present in them. The participant's laboratory test was done to determine the level of basic body parameters. After that ultrasonography was used to diagnose the presence and appearance of worms. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was used to extract worms from biliary channels, and the incidence of post-ERCP biliary ascariasis was accessed with ultrasonography. This study's results show the presence of numerous types of worms in the biliary channels of patients. Also, the level of body parameters, for instance, neutrophil, hemoglobin, and others, were compared at the time of admission and at the time of discharge from the hospital. Furthermore, the incidence of post-ERCP biliary ascariasis was reported as 4% in females, and 1% in males, respectively.

Keywords: Ascaris, biliary, ERCP, ultrasound

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Jai Bakliya, Palak Dhamecha

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Today customer satisfaction is given utmost priority be it any industry. But when it comes to hospitality industry this applies even more as they come in direct contact with customers while providing them services. Employee engagement is new concept adopted by Human Resource Department which impacts customer satisfactions. To satisfy your customers, it is necessary to see that the employees in the organisation are satisfied and engaged enough in their work that they meet the company’s expectations and contribute in the process of achieving company’s goals and objectives. After all employees is human capital of the organisation. Employee engagement has become a top business priority for every organisation. In this fast moving economy, business leaders know that having a potential and high-performing human resource is important for growth and survival. They recognize that a highly engaged manpower can increase innovation, productivity, and performance, while reducing costs related to retention and hiring in highly competitive talent markets. But while most executives see a clear need to improve employee engagement, many have yet to develop tangible ways to measure and tackle this goal. Employee Engagement is an approach which is applied to establish an emotional connection between an employee and the organisation which ensures the employee’s commitment towards his work which affects the productivity and overall performance of the organisation. The study was conducted in hospitality industry. A popular branded hotel was chosen as a sample unit. Data were collected, both qualitative and quantitative from respondents. It is found that employee engagement level of the organisation (Hotel) is quite low. This means that employees are not emotionally connected with the organisation which may in turn, affect performance of the employees it is important to note that in hospitality industry individual employee’s performance specifically in terms of emotional engagement is critical and, therefore, a low engagement level may contribute to low organisation performance. An attempt to this study was made to identify employee engagement level. Another objective to take this study was to explore the factors impeding employee engagement and to explore employee engagement facilitation. While in the hospitality industry where people tend to work for as long as 16 to 18 hours concepts like employee engagement is essential. Because employees get tired of their routine job and in case where job rotation cannot be done employee engagement acts as a solution. The study was conducted at Trident Hotel, Udaipur. It was conducted on the sample size of 30 in-house employees from 6 different departments. The various departments were: Accounts and General, Front Office, Food & Beverage Service, Housekeeping, Food & Beverage Production and Engineering. It was conducted with the help of research instrument. The research instrument was Questionnaire. Data collection source was primary source. Trident Udaipur is one of the busiest hotels in Udaipur. The occupancy rate of the guest over there is nearly 80%. Due the high occupancy rate employees or staff of the hotel used to remain very busy and occupied all the time in their work. They worked for their remuneration only. As a result, they do not have any encouragement for their work nor they are interested in going an extra mile for the organisation. The study result shows working environment factors including recognition and appreciation, opinions of the employee, counselling, feedback from superiors, treatment of managers and respect from the organisation are capable of increasing employee engagement level in the hotel. The above study result encouraged us to explore the factors contributed to low employee engagement. It is being found that factors such as recognition and appreciation, feedback from supervisors, opinion of the employee, counselling, feedback from supervisors, treatment from managers has contributed negatively to employee engagement level. Probable reasons for the low contribution are number of employees gave the negative feedback in accordance to the factors stated above of the organisation. It seems that the structure of organisation itself is responsible for the low contribution of employee engagement. The scope of this study is limited to trident hotel situated in the Udaipur. The limitation of the study was that that the results or findings were only based on the responses of respondents of Trident, Udaipur. And so the recommendations were also applicable in Trident, Udaipur and not to all the like organisations across the country. Through the data collected was further analysed, interpreted and concluded. On the basis of the findings, suggestions were provided to the hotel for improvisation.

Keywords: human resource, employee engagement, research, study

Procedia PDF Downloads 296

Authors: Akanit Pisalwadcharin, Komate Satayawut, Virachnee Lohachoompol

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Green tea, mangosteen and pomegranate contain high levels of bioactive compounds which have antioxidant effects and great potential in food applications. The aim of this study was to produce and determine catechin contents, total phenolic contents, antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of two instant fruit green tea powders which were green tea fortified with mangosteen juice and green tea fortified with pomegranate juice. Seventy percent of hot water extract of green tea was mixed with 30% of mangosteen juice or pomegranate juice, and then spray-dried using a spray dryer. The results showed that the drying conditions optimized for the highest total phenolic contents, catechin contents and antioxidant activity of both powders were the inlet air temperature of 170°C, outlet air temperatures of 90°C and maltodextrin concentration of 30%. The instant green tea with mangosteen powder had total phenolic contents, catechin contents and antioxidant activity of 19.18 (mg gallic acid/kg), 85.44 (mg/kg) and 4,334 (µmoles TE/100 g), respectively. The instant green tea with pomegranate powder had total phenolic contents, catechin contents and antioxidant activity of 32.72 (mg gallic acid/kg), 156.36 (mg/kg) and 6,283 (µmoles TE/100 g), respectively. The phenolic compounds in instant green tea with mangosteen powder comprised of tannic acid (2,156.87 mg/kg), epigallocatechin-3-gallate (898.23 mg/kg) and rutin (13.74 mg/kg). Also, the phenolic compounds in instant green tea with pomegranate powder comprised of tannic acid (2,275.82 mg/kg), epigallocatechin-3-gallate (981.23 mg/kg), rutin (14.97 mg/kg) and i-quercetin (5.86 mg/kg).

Keywords: green tea, mangosteen, pomegranate, antioxidant activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Alvine Sandrine Ndinchout, D. P. Chattopadhyay, Moundipa Fewou Paul, Nyegue Maximilienne Ascension, Varinder Kaur, Sukhraj Kaur, B. H. Patel

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Dacryodes macrophylla is a species of the Burseraceae family that is widespread in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. The only part of D. macrophylla known to use is the pulp contained in the fruit. This very juicy pulp is consumed directly and used in making juices. During consumption, these fruit leaves a dark blackish colour on fingers and garment. This observation means that D. macrophylla fruits must be a good source of natural dye with probably good fastness properties on textile materials. But D. macrophylla has not yet been investigated with reference as a potential source of natural dye to our best knowledge. Natural dye has been extracted using water as solvent by soxhlet extraction method. The extracted color was characterized by spectroscopic studies like UV/Visible and further tested for antimicrobial activity against gram-negative (Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, Shigella flexneri) and gram-positive (Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. It was observed that the water extract of D. macrophylla showed antimicrobial activities against S. enterica. The results of fastness properties of the dyed fabrics were fair to good. Taken together, these results indicate that D. macrophylla can be used as natural dye not only in textile but also in other domains like food coloring.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, natural dye, silk, wash fastness, wool

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Anuradha Chug, Sunali Gandhi

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Regression Testing is a very expensive and time-consuming process carried out to ensure the validity of modified software. Due to the availability of insufficient resources to re-execute all the test cases in time constrained environment, efforts are going on to generate test data automatically without human efforts. Many search based techniques have been proposed to generate efficient, effective as well as optimized test data, so that the overall cost of the software testing can be minimized. The generated test data should be able to uncover all potential lapses that exist in the software or product. Inspired from the natural behavior of bat for searching her food sources, current study employed a meta-heuristic, search-based bat algorithm for optimizing the test data on the basis certain parameters without compromising their effectiveness. Mathematical functions are also applied that can effectively filter out the redundant test data. As many as 50 Java programs are used to check the effectiveness of proposed test data generation and it has been found that 86% saving in testing efforts can be achieved using bat algorithm while covering 100% of the software code for testing. Bat algorithm was found to be more efficient in terms of simplicity and flexibility when the results were compared with another nature inspired algorithms such as Firefly Algorithm (FA), Hill Climbing Algorithm (HC) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). The output of this study would be useful to testers as they can achieve 100% path coverage for testing with minimum number of test cases.

Keywords: regression testing, test case selection, test case prioritization, genetic algorithm, bat algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Marek Gancarz, Agnieszka Nawrocka, Robert Rusinek, Marcin Tadla

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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the fungi metabolites in the gaseous form produced during improper storage of agricultural commodities (e.g. grain, food). The spoilt commodities produce a wide range of VOCs including alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketones, alkanes, alkenes, furans, phenols etc. The characteristic VOCs and odours can be determined by using electronic nose (e-Nose) which contains a matrix of different kinds of sensors e.g. resistive sensors. The aim of the present studies was to determine relationship between response of the resistive sensors on the chosen volatiles and their concentration. According to the literature, it was chosen volatiles characteristic for the cereals: ethanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and hexanal. Analysis of the sensor signals shows that a signal shape is different for the different substances. Moreover, each VOC signal gives information about a maximum of the normalized sensor response (R/Rmax), an impregnation time (tIM) and a cleaning time at half maximum of R/Rmax (tCL). These three parameters can be regarded as a ‘VOC fingerprint’. Seven resistive sensors (TGS2600-B00, TGS2602-B00, TGS2610-C00, TGS2611-C00, TGS2611-E00, TGS2612-D00, TGS2620-C00) produced by Figaro USA Inc., and one (AS-MLV-P2) produced by AMS AG, Austria were used. Two out of seven sensors (TGS2611-E00, TGS2612-D00) did not react to the chosen VOCs. The most responsive sensor was AS-MLV-P2. The research was supported by the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBR), Grant No. PBS2/A8/22/2013.

Keywords: agricultural commodities, organic compounds, resistive sensors, volatile

Procedia PDF Downloads 351

Authors: Iris Vural Gursel, Andrea Ramirez

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Effective utilization of lignin is an important mean for developing economically profitable biorefineries. Current literature suggests that large amounts of lignin will become available in second generation biorefineries. New conversion technologies will, therefore, be needed to carry lignin transformation well beyond combustion to produce energy, but towards high-value products such as chemicals and transportation fuels. In recent years, significant progress on catalysis has been made to improve transformation of lignin, and new catalytic processes are emerging. In this work, a techno-economic assessment of two of these novel conversion routes and comparison with more established lignin pyrolysis route were made. The aim is to provide insights into the potential performance and potential hotspots in order to guide the experimental research and ease the commercialization by early identifying cost drivers, strengths, and challenges. The lignin conversion routes selected for detailed assessment were: (non-catalytic) lignin pyrolysis as the benchmark, direct hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin and hydrothermal lignin depolymerisation. Products generated were mixed oxygenated aromatic monomers (MOAMON), light organics, heavy organics, and char. For the technical assessment, a basis design followed by process modelling in Aspen was done using experimental yields. A design capacity of 200 kt/year lignin feed was chosen that is equivalent to a 1 Mt/y scale lignocellulosic biorefinery. The downstream equipment was modelled to achieve the separation of the product streams defined. For determining external utility requirement, heat integration was considered and when possible gasses were combusted to cover heating demand. The models made were used in generating necessary data on material and energy flows. Next, an economic assessment was carried out by estimating operating and capital costs. Return on investment (ROI) and payback period (PBP) were used as indicators. The results of the process modelling indicate that series of separation steps are required. The downstream processing was found especially demanding in the hydrothermal upgrading process due to the presence of significant amount of unconverted lignin (34%) and water. Also, external utility requirements were found to be high. Due to the complex separations, hydrothermal upgrading process showed the highest capital cost (50 M€ more than benchmark). Whereas operating costs were found the highest for the direct HDO process (20 M€/year more than benchmark) due to the use of hydrogen. Because of high yields to valuable heavy organics (32%) and MOAMON (24%), direct HDO process showed the highest ROI (12%) and the shortest PBP (5 years). This process is found feasible with a positive net present value. However, it is very sensitive to the prices used in the calculation. The assessments at this stage are associated with large uncertainties. Nevertheless, they are useful for comparing alternatives and identifying whether a certain process should be given further consideration. Among the three processes investigated here, the direct HDO process was seen to be the most promising.

Keywords: biorefinery, economic assessment, lignin conversion, process design

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Omaimah Algohary

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Kaolin is one of the principle intestinal adsorbents, has traditionally been used internally in the treatment of various enteric disorders, colitis, enteritis, dysentery, and diarrhea associated with food and alkaloidal poisoning and in traveler’s diarrhea. It binds to and traps bacteria and its toxins and gases in the gut. It also binds to water in the gut, which helps to make the stools firmer, hence giving symptomatic relief. Metronidazole is a synthetic antibacterial agent that is used primarily in the treatment of various anaerobic infections such as intra-abdominal infections, antiprotozoal, and as amebicidal. The need for safe, therapeutically effective antidiarrheal combination continuously lead to effective treatment. Metronidazol used for treatment of anaerobic bacteria and kaolin , when administered simultaneously, Metronidazole–Kaolin interactions have been reported by FDA but not studied. This project is the first to study the effect of Metronidazole–Kaolin interactions on the antimicrobial activity of metronidazole. Agar diffusion method performed to test the antimicrobial activity of metronidazole–kaolin antidiarrheal combination from aqueous solutions at an in-vivo simulated pHs conditions that obtained at 37+0.5 °C on Helicobacter pylori as anaerobic bacteria and E.coli as aerobic bacteria and used as a control for the technique. The antimicrobial activity of metronidazole combination as 1:1 and 1:2 with kaolin was abolished in acidic media as no zones of inhibition shown compared to only metronidazole that used as a control. In alkaline media metronidazole combination as 1:1 and 1:2 with kaolin showed diminutive activity compared to the control. These results proved that the kaolin adsorb metronidazole and abolish its antimicrobial activity and such combination should be avoided.

Keywords: kaolin, metronidazole, interaction, Helicobacter pylori. E. coli, antimicrobial activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 370