Search results for: Jatropha Curcas Fruit Shells (JS)

Authors: Kgatla T.E, Howard S.S., Hiss D.C.

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Prickly pear (Opuntia spp) fruit has received renewed interest since it contains a betalain pigment that has an attractive purple colour for the production of juice. Prickly pear juice was prepared by homogenizing the fruit and treating the pulp with 48 g of pectinase from Aspergillus niger. Titratable acidity was determined by diluting 10 ml prickly pear juice with 90 ml deionized water and titrating to pH 8.2 with 0.1 N NaOH. Brix was measured using a refractometer and ascorbic acid content assayed spectrophotometrically. Colour variation was determined colorimetrically (Hunter L.a.b.). Hunter L.a.b. analysis showed that the red purple colour of prickly pear juice had been affected by juice treatments. This was indicated by low light values of colour difference meter (CDML*), hue, CDMa* and CDMb* values. It was observed that non-treated prickly pear juice had a high (colour difference meter of light) CDML* of 3.9 compared to juice treatments (range 3.29 to 2.14). The CDML* significantly (p<0.05) decreased as the juice was preserved. Spectrophotometric colour analysis showed that browning was low in all treated prickly juice samples as indicated by high values at 540 nm and low values at 476 nm (browning index). The brightness of prickly pear had been affected by acidification compared to other juice treatments. This study presents evidence that processing has a positive effect on the colour quality attribute that offers a clear advantage for the production of red-purple prickly pear juice.

Keywords: Colour, Hunter L.a.b, Prickly pear juice, processing, physicochemical.

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Authors: Dinh-Ha Tran, Chung-Ruey Yen, Yu-Kuang H. Chen

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A collection of thirty cultivars/clones of a red pitaya was used to investigate flowering response to lighting supplementation in the winter season of 2013-2014 in southern Taiwan. The night-breaking treatment was conducted during the period of 10 Oct. 2013 to 5 Mar. 2014 with 4-continuous hours (22.00 – 02.00 hrs) of additional lighting daily using incandescent bulbs (100W). Among cultivars and clones tested, twenty-three genotypes, most belonging to the red-magenta flesh type, were found to have positively flowering response to the lighting treatment. The duration of night-breaking treatment for successful flowering initiation varied from 33- 48 days. The lighting-sensitive genotypes bore 1-2 flowering flushes. Floral and fruiting stages took 21-26 and 46-59 days, respectively. Among sixteen fruiting genotypes, the highest fruit set rates were found in Damao 9, D4, D13, Chaozou large, Chaozhou 5, Small Nick and F22. Five cultivars and clones (Orejona, D4, Chaozhou large, Chaozhou 5 and Small Nick) produced fruits with an average weight of more than 300 g per fruit which were higher than those of the fruits formed in the summer of 2013. Fruits produced during off-season containing total soluble solids (TSS) from 17.5 to 20.7oBrix, which were higher than those produced inseason.

Keywords: Flowering response, long-day plant, night-breaking treatment, off-season production, pitaya.

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Authors: D. C. Soares, J. T. S. Santos, D. G. Costa, A. K. S. Abud, T. P. Nunes, A. V. D. Figueiredo, A. M. de Oliveira Junior

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Mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa Gomes), a native plant in Brazil, is found growing spontaneously in various regions of the country. The high perishability of tropical fruits such as mangaba, causes it to be necessary to use technologies that promote conservation, aiming to increase the shelf life of this fruit and add value. The objective of this study was to compare the mangabas lyophilization curves behaviors with different sizes and maturation stages. The fruits were freeze-dried for a period of approximately 45 hours at lyophilizer Liotop brand, model L -108. It has been considered large the fruits between 38 and 58 mm diameter and small, between 23 and 28 mm diameter and the two states of maturation, intermediate and mature. Large size mangabas drying curves in both states of maturation were linear behavior at all process, while the kinetic drying curves related to small fruits, independent of maturation state, had a typical behavior of drying, with all the well-defined steps. With these results it was noted that the time of lyophilization was suitable for small mangabas, a fact that did not happen with the larger one. This may indicate that the large mangabas require a longer time to freeze until reaches the equilibrium level, as it happens with the small fruits, going to have constant moisture at the end of the process. For both types of fruit were analyzed water activity, acidity, protein, lipid, and vitamin C before and after the process.

Keywords: Freeze dryer, mangaba, conservation, chemical characteristics.

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Authors: Bharat B. Gulyani, Anuj Jain, Shalendra Kumar

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Customarily, the LMTD correction factor, FT, is used to screen alternative designs for a heat exchanger. Designs with unacceptably low FT values are discarded. In this paper, authors have proposed a more fundamental criterion, based on feasibility of a multipass exchanger as the only criteria, followed by economic optimization. This criterion, coupled with asymptotic energy targets, provide the complete optimization space in a heat exchanger network (HEN), where cost-optimization of HEN can be performed with only Heat Recovery Approach temperature (HRAT) and number-of-shells as variables.

Keywords: heat exchanger, heat exchanger networks, LMTD correction factor, shell targeting.

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Authors: Dike H. Ogbuagu, Etsede J. Oritsematosan

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This work investigated possible inductions of CaC₂, often misused by fruit vendors to stimulate artificial ripening, on mammalian sperm morphology and viability. Thirty isogenic strains of male albino mice, Mus musculus (age≈ 8weeks; weight= 32.52.0g) were acclimatized (ambient temperature 28.0±1.0°C) for 2 weeks and fed standard growers mash and water ad libutum. They were later exposed to graded toxicant concentrations (w/w) of 2.5000, 1.2500, 0.6250, and 0.3125% in 4 cages. A control cage was also established. After 5 weeks, 3 animals from each cage were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the cauda epididymis excised. Sperm morphology and viability were determined by microscopic procedures. The ANOVA, means plots, Student’s t-test and variation plots were used to analyze data. The common abnormalities observed included Double Head, Pin Head, Knobbed Head, No Tail and With Hook. The higher toxicant concentrations induced significantly lower body weights [F_(829.899) ˃ F_crit(4.19)] and more abnormalities [F_(26.52) ˃ F_crit(4.00)] at P˂0.05. Sperm cells in the control setup were significantly more viable than those in the 0.625% (t=0.005) and 2.500% toxicant doses (t=0.018) at the 95% confidence limit. CaC₂ appeared to induced morphological abnormalities and reduced viability in sperm cells of M. musculus.

Keywords: Artificial ripening, Calcium carbide, fruit vendors, sperm morphology, sperm viability.

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Authors: M. Altekin, R. F. Yükseler

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Geometrically nonlinear axisymmetric bending of a shallow spherical shell with a point support at the apex under linearly varying axisymmetric load was investigated numerically. The edge of the shell was assumed to be simply supported or clamped. The solution was obtained by the finite difference and the Newton-Raphson methods. The thickness of the shell was considered to be uniform and the material was assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic. Sensitivity analysis was made for two geometrical parameters. The accuracy of the algorithm was checked by comparing the deflection with the solution of point supported circular plates and good agreement was obtained.

Keywords: Bending, nonlinear, plate, point support, shell.

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Authors: Wiriya Loongyai, Kiettisak Promphet, Nilubol Kangsukul, Ratchawat Noppha

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Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and conventional microbiological methods were used to detect bacterial contamination of egg shells and egg content in different commercial housing systems, open house system and evaporative cooling system. A PCR assay was developed for direct detection using a set of primers specific for the invasion by A gene (invA) of Salmonella spp. PCR detected the presence of Salmonella in 2 samples of shell egg from the evaporative cooling system, while conventional cultural methods detected no Salmonella from the same samples.

Keywords: egg content, egg shell, invA gene, PCR, Salmonellaspp.

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Authors: Chee-Ming Chan

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In spite of the advent of new materials, clay bricks remain, arguably, the most popular construction materials today. Nevertheless the low cost and versatility of clay bricks cannot always be associated with high environmental and sustainable values, especially in terms of raw material sources and manufacturing processes. At the same time, the worldwide agricultural footprint is fast growing, with vast agricultural land cultivation and active expansion of the agro-based industry. The resulting large quantities of agricultural wastes, unfortunately, are not always well managed or utilised. These wastes can be recycled, such as by retrieving fibres from disposed leaves and fruit bunches, and then incorporated in brick-making. This way the clay bricks are made a 'greener' building material and the discarded natural wastes can be reutilised, avoiding otherwise wasteful landfill and harmful open incineration. This study examined the physical and mechanical properties of clay bricks made by adding two natural fibres to a clay-water mixture, with baked and non-baked conditions. The fibres were sourced from pineapple leaves (PF) and oil palm fruit bunch (OF), and added within the range of 0.25-0.75 %. Cement was added as a binder to the mixture at 5-15 %. Although the two fibres had different effects on the bricks produced, cement appeared to dominate the compressive strength. The non-baked bricks disintegrated when submerged in water, while the baked ones displayed cement-dependent characteristics in water-absorption and density changes. Interestingly, further increase in fibre content did not cause significant density decrease in both the baked and non-baked bricks.

Keywords: natural fibres, clay bricks, strength, water absorption, density.

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Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Patrick E. Amulu, Gordian O. Mbah, Callistus N. Ude

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Comparative analysis of the properties of melon seed, coconut fruit and their oil yield were evaluated in this work using standard analytical technique AOAC. The results of the analysis carried out revealed that the moisture contents of the samples studied are 11.15% (melon) and 7.59% (coconut). The crude lipid content are 46.10% (melon) and 55.15% (coconut).The treatment combinations used (leaching time, leaching temperature and solute: solvent ratio) showed significant difference (p < 0.05) in yield between the samples, with melon oil seed flour having a higher percentage range of oil yield (41.30 – 52.90%) and coconut (36.25 – 49.83%). The physical characterization of the extracted oil was also carried out. The values gotten for refractive index are 1.487 (melon seed oil) and 1.361 (coconut oil) and viscosities are 0.008 (melon seed oil) and 0.002 (coconut oil). The chemical analysis of the extracted oils shows acid value of 1.00mg NaOH/g oil (melon oil), 10.050mg NaOH/g oil (coconut oil) and saponification value of 187.00mg/KOH (melon oil) and 183.26mg/KOH (coconut oil). The iodine value of the melon oil gave 75.00mg I2/g and 81.00mg I2/g for coconut oil. A standard statistical package Minitab version 16.0 was used in the regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical software mentioned above was also used to optimize the leaching process. Both samples gave high oil yield at the same optimal conditions. The optimal conditions to obtain highest oil yield ≥ 52% (melon seed) and ≥ 48% (coconut seed) are solute - solvent ratio of 40g/ml, leaching time of 2hours and leaching temperature of 50oC. The two samples studied have potential of yielding oil with melon seed giving the higher yield.

Keywords: Coconut, melon, optimization, processing.

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Authors: Perumal Siddhuraju, Arumugam Abirami, Gunasekaran Nagarani, Marimuthu Sangeethapriya

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Aqueous ethanol and aqueous acetone extracts of Moringa oleifera (outer pericarp of immature fruit and flower) and Sesbania grandiflora white variety (flower and leaf) were examined for radical scavenging capacities and antioxidant activities. Ethanol extract of S. grandiflora (flower and leaf) and acetone extract of M. oleifera (outer pericarp of immature fruit and flower) contained relatively higher levels of total dietary phenolics than the other extracts. The antioxidant potential of the extracts were assessed by employing different in vitro assays such as reducing power assay, DPPH˙, ABTS˙+ and ˙OH radical scavenging capacities, antihemolytic assay by hydrogen peroxide induced method and metal chelating ability. Though all the extracts exhibited dose dependent reducing power activity, acetone extract of all the samples were found to have more hydrogen donating ability in DPPH˙ (2.3% - 65.03%) and hydroxyl radical scavenging systems (21.6% - 77.4%) than the ethanol extracts. The potential of multiple antioxidant activity was evident as it possessed antihemolytic activity (43.2 % to 68.0 %) and metal ion chelating potency (45.16 - 104.26 mg EDTA/g sample). The result indicate that acetone extract of M. oleifera (OPIF and flower) and S. grandiflora (flower and leaf) endowed with polyphenols, could be utilized as natural antioxidants/nutraceuticals.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, Moringa oleifera, Polyphenolics, Sesbania grandiflora, Underutilized vegetables.

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Authors: D. Zare, M. Alirezaei, S.M. Nassiri

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Iran is one of the greatest producers of date in the world. However due to lack of information about its viscoelastic properties, much of the production downgraded during harvesting and postharvesting processes. In this study the effect of temperature and moisture content of product were investigated on stress relaxation characteristics. Therefore, the freshly harvested date (kabkab) at tamar stage were put in controlled environment chamber to obtain different temperature levels (25, 35, 45, and 55 0C) and moisture contents (8.5, 8.7, 9.2, 15.3, 20, 32.2 %d.b.). A texture analyzer TAXT2 (Stable Microsystems, UK) was used to apply uniaxial compression tests. A chamber capable to control temperature was designed and fabricated around the plunger of texture analyzer to control the temperature during the experiment. As a new approach a CCD camera (A4tech, 30 fps) was mounted on a cylindrical glass probe to scan and record contact area between date and disk. Afterwards, pictures were analyzed using image processing toolbox of Matlab software. Individual date fruit was uniaxially compressed at speed of 1 mm/s. The constant strain of 30% of thickness of date was applied to the horizontally oriented fruit. To select a suitable model for describing stress relaxation of date, experimental data were fitted with three famous stress relaxation models including the generalized Maxwell, Nussinovitch, and Pelege. The constant in mentioned model were determined and correlated with temperature and moisture content of product using non-linear regression analysis. It was found that Generalized Maxwell and Nussinovitch models appropriately describe viscoelastic characteristics of date fruits as compared to Peleg mode.

Keywords: Stress relaxation, Viscoelastic properties, Date, Texture analyzer.

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Authors: M. Amiri

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In this work, functionally graded materials (FGMs), subjected to loading, which varies with time has been studied. The material properties of FGM are changing through the thickness of material as power law distribution. The conical shells have been chosen for this study so in the first step capability equations for FGM have been obtained. With Galerkin method, these equations have been replaced with time dependant differential equations with variable coefficient. These equations have solved for different initial conditions with variation methods. Important parameters in loading conditions are semi-vertex angle, external pressure and material properties. Results validation has been done by comparison between with those in previous studies of other researchers.

Keywords: Impulsive semi-vertex angle, loading, functionally graded materials, composite material.

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Authors: Andrew P. Hurt, George J. Vine, Samantha E. Booth, Nichola J. Coleman

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Silver-exchanged zeolites and clays are used in polymer composites to confer broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties on a range of functional materials. Tobermorite is a layer lattice mineral whose potential as a carrier for Ag+ ions in antibacterial composites has not yet been investigated. Accordingly, in this study, synthetic tobermorite was ion-exchanged with 10 wt% silver ions and the resulting material was incorporated into a composite film with chitosan. Chitosan is a biocompatible, biodegradable derivative of chitin, a polysaccharide obtained from the shells of crustaceans. The solvent-cast Ag+-exchanged tobermorite-chitosan films were found to exhibit antimicrobial action against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Keywords: Antimicrobial, chitosan, silver, tobermorite.

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Authors: Tejinder Singh

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When earthquakes strike the city it results in great loss of lives. The present paper talks about a new innovative design system (MegEifel) for buildings which has a mechanism to mitigate deaths in case any earthquake strikes the city. If buildings will be designed according to MegEifel design then the occupants of the building will be safe even when they are in sleep or are doing day wise activities during the time earthquake strikes. The core structure is suggested to be designed on the principle that more deep the foundations are, the harder it is to uproot the structure. The buildings will have an Eifel rod dug deep into earth which will help save lives in tall buildings when earthquake strikes. This design takes a leverage of protective shells to save lives.

Keywords: Structure, MegEifel, Save, Life, Earthquake, Design

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Authors: Naser Valipour Motlagh, Majid Aliabadi, Elnaz Rahmani, Samira Ghorbanpour

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Strawberry is one of the most favored fruits all along the world. But due to its vulnerability to microbial contamination and short life storage, there are lots of problems in industrial production and transportation of this fruit. Therefore, lots of ideas have tried to increase the storage life of strawberries especially through proper packaging. This paper works on efficient packaging as well. The primary material used is produced through simple mixing of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and silver nanoparticles in different weight fractions of 0.5 and 1% in presence of dicumyl peroxide as a cross-linking agent. Final packages were made in a twin-screw extruder. Then, their effect on the quality maintenance of strawberry is evaluated. The SEM images of nano-silver packages show the distribution of silver nanoparticles in the packages. Total bacteria count, mold, yeast and E. coli are measured for microbial evaluation of all samples. Texture, color, appearance, odor, taste and total acceptance of various samples are evaluated by trained panelists and based on 9-point hedonic scale method. The results show a decrease in total bacteria count and mold in nano-silver packages compared to the samples packed in polyethylene packages for the same storage time. The optimum concentration of silver nanoparticles for the lowest bacteria count and mold is predicted to be around 0.5% which has attained the most acceptance from the panelist as well. Moreover, organoleptic properties of strawberry are preserved for a longer period in nano-silver packages. It can be concluded that using nano-silver particles in strawberry packages has improved the storage life and quality maintenance of the fruit.

Keywords: Antimicrobial properties, polyethylene, silver nanoparticles, strawberry.

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Authors: Juliana Amaka Ugwu

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Trapping efficiency of methyl eugenol and three locally made food-based lures were evaluated in three locations for trapping of B. dorsalis on mango homestead trees in Ibadan South west Nigeria. The treatments were methyl eugenol, brewery waste, pineapple juice, orange juice, and control (water). The experiment was laid in a Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) and replicated three times in each location. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and significant means were separated by Turkey’s test. The results showed that B. dorsalis was recorded in all locations of study. Methyl eugenol significantly (P < 0.05) trapped higher population of B. dorsalis in all the study area. The population density of B. dorsalis was highest during the ripening period of mango in all locations. The percentage trapped flies after 7 weeks were 77.85%-82.38% (methyl eugenol), 7.29%-8.64% (pineapple juice), 5.62-7.62% (brewery waste), 4.41%-5.95% (orange juice), and 0.24-0.47% (control). There were no significance differences (p > 0.05) on the population of B. dorsalis trapped in all locations. Similarly, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) on the population of flies trapped among the food attractants. However, the three food attractants significantly (p < 0.05) trapped higher flies than control. Methyl eugenol trapped only male flies while brewery waste and other food based attractants trapped both male and female flies. The food baits tested were promising attractants for trapping B. dorsalis on mango homestead tress, hence increased dosage could be considered for monitoring and mass trapping as management strategies against fruit fly infestation.

Keywords: Attractants, trapping, mango, Bactrocera dorsalis.

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Authors: A. Brinda Lakshmi, J. Lakshmi Priya

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Cantaloupes (muskmelon and watermelon) contain biologically active molecules such as carotenoids which are natural pigments used as food colorants and afford health benefits. ß-carotene is the major source of carotenoids present in muskmelon and watermelon shell. Carotenoids were extracted using Microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) utilising organic lipophilic solvents such as acetone, methanol, and hexane. Extraction conditions feed-solvent ratio, microwave power, ultrasound frequency, temperature and particle size were varied and optimized. It was found that the yield of carotenoids was higher using UAE than MAE, and muskmelon had the highest yield of carotenoids when was ethanol used as a solvent for 0.5 mm particle size.

Keywords: Carotenoids, extraction, muskmelon shell, watermelon shell.

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Authors: Asad Hanif, Pavithra Parthasarathy, Zongjin Li

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Thermal insulating composites help to reduce the total power consumption in a building by creating a barrier between external and internal environment. Such composites can be used in the roofing tiles or wall panels for exterior surfaces. This study purposes to develop lightweight cement-based composites for thermal insulating applications. Waste materials like silica fume (an industrial by-product) and fly ash cenosphere (FAC) (hollow micro-spherical shells obtained as a waste residue from coal fired power plants) were used as partial replacement of cement and lightweight filler, respectively. Moreover, aerogel, a nano-porous material made of silica, was also used in different dosages for improved thermal insulating behavior, while poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers were added for enhanced toughness. The raw materials including binders and fillers were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis techniques in which various physical and chemical properties of the raw materials were evaluated like specific surface area, chemical composition (oxide form), and pore size distribution (if any). Ultra-lightweight cementitious composites were developed by varying the amounts of FAC and aerogel with 28-day unit weight ranging from 1551.28 kg/m³ to 1027.85 kg/m³. Excellent mechanical and thermal insulating properties of the resulting composites were obtained ranging from 53.62 MPa to 8.66 MPa compressive strength, 9.77 MPa to 3.98 MPa flexural strength, and 0.3025 W/m-K to 0.2009 W/m-K as thermal conductivity coefficient (QTM-500). The composites were also tested for peak temperature difference between outer and inner surfaces when subjected to heating (in a specially designed experimental set-up) by a 275W infrared lamp. The temperature difference up to 16.78 ^oC was achieved, which indicated outstanding properties of the developed composites to act as a thermal barrier for building envelopes. Microstructural studies were carried out by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) for characterizing the inner structure of the composite specimen. Also, the hydration products were quantified using the surface area mapping and line scale technique in EDS. The microstructural analyses indicated excellent bonding of FAC and aerogel in the cementitious system. Also, selective reactivity of FAC was ascertained from the SEM imagery where the partially consumed FAC shells were observed. All in all, the lightweight fillers, FAC, and aerogel helped to produce the lightweight composites due to their physical characteristics, while exceptional mechanical properties, owing to FAC partial reactivity, were achieved.

Keywords: Sustainable development, fly ash cenosphere, aerogel, lightweight, cement, composite.

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Authors: Mahesh K. Chudasama, Harit K. Raval

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3-roller conical bending process is widely used in the industries for manufacturing of conical sections and shells. It involves static as well dynamic bending stages. Analytical models for prediction of bending force during static as well as dynamic bending stage are available in the literature. In this paper bending forces required for static bending stage and dynamic bending stages have been compared using the analytical models. It is concluded that force required for dynamic bending is very less as compared to the bending force required during the static bending stage.

Keywords: Analytical modeling, cone frustum, dynamic bending, static bending.

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Authors: M. Malek Yarand, H. Saebi Monfared

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This study aimed at designing and developing a mechanical force gauge for the square watermelon mold for the first time. It also tried to introduce the square watermelon characteristics and its production limitations. The mechanical force gauge performance and the product itself were also described. There are three main designable gauge models: a. hydraulic gauge, b. strain gauge, and c. mechanical gauge. The advantage of the hydraulic model is that it instantly displays the pressure and thus the force exerted by the melon. However, considering the inability to measure forces at all directions, complicated development, high cost, possible hydraulic fluid leak into the fruit chamber and the possible influence of increased ambient temperature on the fluid pressure, the development of this gauge was overruled. The second choice was to calculate pressure using the direct force a strain gauge. The main advantage of these strain gauges over spring types is their high precision in measurements; but with regard to the lack of conformity of strain gauge working range with water melon growth, calculations were faced with problems. Finally the mechanical pressure gauge has advantages, including the ability to measured forces and pressures on the mold surface during melon growth; the ability to display the peak forces; the ability to produce melon growth graph thanks to its continuous force measurements; the conformity of its manufacturing materials with the required physical conditions of melon growth; high air conditioning capability; the ability to permit sunlight reaches the melon rind (no yellowish skin and quality loss); fast and straightforward calibration; no damages to the product during assembling and disassembling; visual check capability of the product within the mold; applicable to all growth environments (field, greenhouses, etc.); simple process; low costs and so forth.

Keywords: Mechanical Force Gauge, Mold, Reshaped Fruit, Square Watermelon.

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Authors: Manal Bouasria, Mohammed-Hichem Benzaama, Valérie Pralong, Yassine El Mendili

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Reducing the quantity of cement in cementitious composites can help to reduce the environmental effect of construction materials. Byproducts such as ferronickel slags (FNS), fly ash (FA), and waste as Crepidula fornicata shells (CR) are promising options for cement replacement. In this work, we investigated the relevance of substituting cement with FNS-CR and FA-CR on the mechanical properties of mortar and on the thermal properties of concrete. Foraging intervals ranging from 2 days to 28 days, the mechanical properties are obtained by 3-point bending and compression tests. The chosen mix is used to construct a prototype in order to study the material’s hygrothermal performance. The data collected by the sensors placed on the prototype were utilized to build an artificial neural network.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, cement, circular economy, concrete, byproducts.

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Authors: Shun-Qi Zhang, Shu-Yang Zhang, Min Chen

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Applying strong electric field on piezoelectric actuators, on one hand very significant electroelastic material nonlinear effects will occur, on the other hand piezo plates and shells may undergo large displacements and rotations. In order to give a precise prediction of piezolaminated smart structures under large electric field, this paper develops a finite element (FE) model accounting for both electroelastic material nonlinearity and geometric nonlinearity with large rotations based on the first order shear deformation (FSOD) hypothesis. The proposed FE model is applied to analyze a piezolaminated semicircular shell structure.

Keywords: Smart structures, piezolamintes, material nonlinearity, geometric nonlinearity, strong electric field.

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Authors: Ahaskar Pandey, Gaurav Mukherjee, Sushil Kumar

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The ever growing sentiment of environmentalism across the globe has made many people think on the green lines. But most of such ideas halt short of implementation because of the short term economic viability issues with the concept of going green. In this paper we have tried to amalgamate the green concept with social entrepreneurship for solving a variety of issues faced by the society today. In addition the paper also tries to ensure that the short term economic viability does not act as a deterrent. The paper comes up three sustainable models of social entrepreneurship which tackle a wide assortment of issues such as nutrition problem, land problems, pollution problems and employment problems. The models described fall under the following heads: - Spirulina cultivation: The model addresses nutrition, land and employment issues. It deals with cultivation of a blue green alga called Spirulina which can be used as a very nutritious food. Also, the implementation of this model would bring forth employment to the poor people of the area. - Biocomposites: The model comes up with various avenues in which biocomposites can be used in an economically sustainable manner. This model deals with the environmental concerns and addresses the depletion of natural resources. - Packaging material from empty fruit bunches (EFB) of oil palm: This one deals with air and land pollution. It is intended to be a substitute for packaging materials made from Styrofoam and plastics which are non-biodegradable. It takes care of the biodegradability and land pollution issues. It also reduces air pollution as the empty fruit bunches are not incinerated. All the three models are sustainable and do not deplete the natural resources any further. This paper explains each of the models in detail and deals with the operational/manufacturing procedures and cost analysis while also throwing light on the benefits derived and sustainability aspects.

Keywords: Biodegradable, Pollution, Social entrepreneurship, Sustainability.

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Authors: Mahesh Chudasama, Harit Raval

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Conical sections and shells of metal plates manufactured by 3-roller conical bending process are widely used in the industries. The process is completed by first bending the metal plates statically and then dynamic roller bending sequentially. It is required to have an analytical model to get maximum bending force, for optimum design of the machine, for static bending stage. Analytical models assuming various stress conditions are considered and these analytical models are compared considering various parameters and reported in this paper. It is concluded from the study that for higher bottom roller inclination, the shear stress affects greatly to the static bending force whereas for lower bottom roller inclination it can be neglected.

Keywords: Roller-bending, static-bending, stress-conditions, analytical-modeling.

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Authors: Md. Z. Alam, Amal A. Elgharbawy, Muhammad Moniruzzaman, Nassereldeen A. Kabbashi, Parveen Jamal

Abstract:

The enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass is one of the obstacles in the process of sugar production, due to the presence of lignin that protects the cellulose molecules against cellulases. Although the pretreatment of lignocellulose in ionic liquid (IL) system has been receiving a lot of interest; however, it requires IL removal with an anti-solvent in order to proceed with the enzymatic hydrolysis. At this point, introducing a compatible cellulase enzyme seems more efficient in this process. A cellulase enzyme that was produced by Trichoderma reesei on palm kernel cake (PKC) exhibited a promising stability in several ILs. The enzyme called PKC-Cel was tested for its optimum pH and temperature as well as its molecular weight. One among evaluated ILs, 1,3-diethylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate [DEMIM] DMP was applied in this study. Evaluation of six factors was executed in Stat-Ease Design Expert V.9, definitive screening design, which are IL/ buffer ratio, temperature, hydrolysis retention time, biomass loading, cellulase loading and empty fruit bunches (EFB) particle size. According to the obtained data, IL-enzyme system shows the highest sugar concentration at 70 °C, 27 hours, 10% IL-buffer, 35% biomass loading, 60 Units/g cellulase and 200 μm particle size. As concluded from the obtained data, not only the PKC-Cel was stable in the presence of the IL, also it was actually stable at a higher temperature than its optimum one. The reducing sugar obtained was 53.468±4.58 g/L which was equivalent to 0.3055 g reducing sugar/g EFB. This approach opens an insight for more studies in order to understand the actual effect of ILs on cellulases and their interactions in the aqueous system. It could also benefit in an efficient production of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass.

Keywords: Cellulase, hydrolysis, lignocellulose, pretreatment, stability.

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Authors: Deepak K. Semwal, Ruchi B. Semwal, Aijaz Ahmad, Guy P. Kamatou, Alvaro M. Viljoen

Abstract:

Kigelia africana (Lam.) Benth. (Bignoniaceae) is a reputed traditional remedy for various human ailments such as skin diseases, microbial infections, melanoma, stomach troubles, metabolic disorders, malaria and general pains. In spite of the fruit being widely used for purposes related to its antibacterial and antifungal properties, the chemical constituents associated with the activity have not been fully identified. To elucidate the active principles, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of fruit extracts and purified fractions against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Moraxella catarrhalis, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis. Shade-dried fruits were powdered and extracted with hydroalcoholic (1:1) mixture by soaking at room temperature for 72 h. The crude extract was further fractionated by column chromatography, with successive elution using hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, acetone and methanol. The dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions were combined and subjected to column chromatography to furnish a wax and oil from the eluates of 20% and 40% ethyl acetate in hexane, respectively. The GC-MS and GC×GC-MS results revealed that linoleic acid, linolenic acid, palmitic acid, arachidic acid and stearic acid were the major constituents in both oil and wax. The crude hydroalcoholic extract exhibited the strongest activity with MICs of 0.125-0.5 mg/mL, followed by the ethyl acetate (MICs = 0.125-1.0 mg/mL), dichloromethane (MICs = 0.250-2.0 mg/mL), hexane (MICs = 0.25- 2.0 mg/mL), acetone (MICs = 0.5-2.0 mg/mL) and methanol (MICs = 1.0-2.0 mg/mL), whereas the wax (MICs = 2.0-4.0 mg/mL) and oil (MICs = 4.0-8.0 mg/mL) showed poor activity. The study concludes that synergistic interactions of chemical constituents could be responsible for the antimicrobial activity of K. africana fruits, which needs a more holistic approach to understand the mechanism of its antimicrobial activity.

Keywords: Kigelia Africana, traditional medicine, antimicrobial activity, Candida albicans, palmitic acid, synergistic interaction.

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Authors: Mostafa Ghayour, Mohammad Sadegh Golabi

Abstract:

In the recent years, functionally gradient materials (FGMs) have gained considerable attention in the high temperature environment applications. In this paper, free vibration of thin functionally graded cylindrical shell with hole composed of stainless steel and zirconia is studied. The mechanical properties vary smoothly and continuously from one surface to the other according to a volume fraction power-law distribution. The Influence of shell geometrical parameters, variations of volume fractions and boundary conditions on natural frequency is considered. The equations of motion are based on strains-displacement relations from Love-s shell theory and Rayleigh method. The results have been obtained for natural frequencies of cylindrical shell with holes for different shape, number and location in this paper.

Keywords: Functionally gradient material, Vibration, various boundary conditions, cylindrical shells.

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Authors: B.Rajendra Prasath, P.Tamilporai, Mohd.F.Shabir

Abstract:

An effort has been taken to simulate the combustion and performance characteristics of biodiesel fuel in direct injection (D.I) low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine. Comprehensive analyses on combustion characteristics such as cylinder pressure, peak cylinder pressure, heat release and performance characteristics such as specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency are carried out. Compression ignition (C.I) engine cycle simulation was developed and modified in to LHR engine for both diesel and biodiesel fuel. On the basis of first law of thermodynamics the properties at each degree crank angle was calculated. Preparation and reaction rate model was used to calculate the instantaneous heat release rate. A gas-wall heat transfer calculations are based on the ANNAND-s combined heat transfer model with instantaneous wall temperature to analyze the effect of coating on heat transfer. The simulated results are validated by conducting the experiments on the test engine under identical operating condition on a turbocharged D.I diesel engine. In this analysis 20% of biodiesel (derived from Jatropha oil) blended with diesel and used in both conventional and LHR engine. The simulated combustion and performance characteristics results are found satisfactory with the experimental value.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Direct injection, Low heat rejection, Turbocharged engine

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Authors: Samir J. Deshmukh, Lalit B. Bhuyar, Shashank B. Thakre, Sachin S. Ingole

Abstract:

The aim of this study is to develop mathematical relationships for the performance parameter brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and emission parameter nitrogen oxides (NOx) for the various esters of vegetable oils used as CI engine fuel. The BTE is an important performance parameter defining the ability of engine to utilize the energy supplied and power developed similarly it is indication of efficiency of fuels used. The esters of cottonseed oil, soybean oil, jatropha oil and hingan oil are prepared using transesterification process and characterized for their physical and main fuel properties including viscosity, density, flash point and higher heating value using standard test methods. These esters are tried as CI engine fuel to analyze the performance and emission parameters in comparison to diesel. The results of the study indicate that esters as a fuel does not differ greatly with that of diesel in properties. The CI engine performance with esters as fuel is in line with the diesel where as the emission parameters are reduced with the use of esters. The correlation developed between BTE and brake power(BP), gross calorific value(CV), air-fuel ratio(A/F), heat carried away by cooling water(HCW). Another equation is developed between the NOx emission and CO, HC, smoke density (SD), exhaust gas temperature (EGT). The equations are verified by comparing the observed and calculated values which gives the coefficient of correlation of 0.99 and 0.96 for the BTE and NOx equations respectively.

Keywords: Esters, emission, performance, and vegetable oil.

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Authors: R. S. Giraddi, B. Thirupam Reddy, D. N. Kambrekar

Abstract:

Chilli (Capsicum annum L.) an important commercial vegetable crop is ravaged by a number of insect-pests during both vegetative and reproductive phase resulting into significant crop loss.Thrips, Scirtothripsdorsalis, mite, Polyphagotarsonemuslatus and whitefly, Bemisiatabaci are the key sap feeding insects, their infestation leads to leaf curl, stunted growth and yield loss.During flowering and fruit formation stage, gall midge fly, Asphondyliacapparis (Rubsaaman) infesting flower buds and young fruits andHelicoverpaarmigera (Hubner) feeding on matured green fruits are the important insect pests causing significant crop loss.The pest is known to infest both flower buds and young fruits resulting into malformation of flower buds and twisting of fruits.In order to manage these insect-pests a combi product consisting of imidacloprid and betacyfluthrin (Soloman 300 OD) was evaluated for its bio-efficacy, phytotoxicity and effect on predator activity.Imidacloprid, a systemic insecticide belonging to neo-nicotinoid group, is effective against insect pests such as aphids, whiteflies (sap feeders) and other insectsviz., termites and soil insects.Beta-Cyfluthrin is an insecticide of synthetic pyrethroid group which acts by contact action and ingestion. It acts on the insects' nervous system as sodium channel blocker consequently a disorder of the nervous system occurs leading finally to the death. The field experiments were taken up during 2015 and 2016 at the Main Agricultural Research Station of University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India.The trials were laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications using popular land race of Byadagi crop variety.Results indicated that the product at 21.6 + 50.4% gai/ha (240 ml/ha) and 27.9 + 65% gai/ha (310 ml/ha) was found quite effective in controlling thrips (0.00 to 0.66 thrips per six leaves) as against the standard check insecticide recommended for thrips by the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad wherein the density of thrips recorded was significantly higher (1.00 to 2.00 Nos./6 leaves). Similarly, the test insecticide was quite effective against other target insects, whiteflies, fruit borer and gall midge fly as indicated by lower insect population observed in the treatments as compared to standard insecticidal control. The predatory beetle activity was found to be normal in all experimental plots. Highest green fruit yield of 5100-5500 kg/ha was recorded in Soloman 300 OD applied crop at 310 ml/ha rate as compared to 4750 to 5050 kg/ha recorded in check. At present 6-8 sprays of insecticides are recommended for management of these insect-pests on the crop. If combi-products are used in pest management programmes, it is possible to reduce insecticide usages in crop ecosystem.

Keywords: Imidacloprid, Betacyfluthrin, gallmidge fly, thrips, chilli.

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