Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods: The Foods for the Future World

The health and wellness of human beings is largely dictated by the consumption of nutritious foods. Various studies have linked foods as helpful in combating a number of degenerative diseases; as such, a lot of research on functional attributes linked directly to the health benefits of various plant and animal foods have been witnessed in recent years. Although vast number of naturally occurring health-enhancing substances are of plant origin, there are a number of physiologically active components in animal products as well that deserve attention for their potential role in optimal health. Consumption of biologically active ingredients in fruits and vegetables has been linked to help combat diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and gastrointestinal tract disorders. Lot of research is required to substantiate the potential health benefits of those foods for which the diet–health relationships are not sufficiently validated, and create a strong scientific knowledge base for proper application of naturally present foods in combating various diseases and disorders.     

Contactless monitoring of the diameter-dependent conductivity of GaAs nanowires

Contactless monitoring with photoelectron microspectroscopy of the surface potential along individual nanostructures, created by the X-ray nanoprobe, opens exciting possibilities to examine quantitatively size- and surface-chemistry-effects on the electrical transport of semiconductor nanowires (NWs). Implementing this novel approach-which combines surface chemical microanalysis with conductivity measurements-we explored the dependence of the electrical properties of undoped GaAs NWs on the NW width, temperature and surface chemistry. By following the evolution of the Ga 3d and As 3d core level spectra, we measured the position-dependent surface potential along the GaAs NWs as a function of NW diameter, decreasing from 120 to ?20 nm, and correlated the observed decrease of the conductivity with the monotonic reduction in the NW diameter from 120 to ~20 nm. Exposure of the GaAs NWs to oxygen ambient leads to a decrease in their conductivity by up to a factor of 10, attributed to the significant decrease in the carrier density associated with the formation of an oxide shell. Open image in new window     

The modified control charts for monitoring the shape parameter of weighted power function distribution under classical estimator

Zaka et al provided a new distribution called the Weighted Power function distribution (WPFD), which has application in reliability engineering and survival analysis. They used different estimation methods to estimate the unknown parameters of WPFD and proved that modified maximum likelihood estimator (MMLE) is best to consider for the estimation of parameters. We have constructed the memoryless and memory-based control charts based on the assumption that the distribution of the underlying process does not follow the normal distribution. In this paper, we provide modified control charts using MMLE of the shape parameter for WPFD. We develop control charts to keep the process in control when the distribution of errors of underlying process follows WPFD. We propose the modified memoryless control chart, that is, Shewhart control chart and modified memory-based control chart, that is, Exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) and Hybrid exponentially weighted moving average (HEWMA) control charts. We have made the comparison of the proposed control charts using Monte Carlo simulation and the real-life application for both and the memoryless control charts and memory-based control charts. We see that HEWMA based on MMLE performs better as compared to other proposed control charts.     

New mode of vapor-liquid-solid nanowire growth

We report on the new mode of the vapor-liquid-solid nanowire growth with a droplet wetting the sidewalls and surrounding the nanowire rather than resting on its top. It is shown theoretically that such an unusual configuration happens when the growth is catalyzed by a lower surface energy metal. A model of a nonspherical elongated droplet shape in the wetting case is developed. Theoretical predictions are compared to the experimental data on the Ga-catalyzed growth of GaAs nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy. In particular, it is demonstrated that the experimentally observed droplet shape is indeed nonspherical. The new VLS mode has a major impact on the crystal structure of GaAs nanowires, helping to avoid the uncontrolled zinc blende-wurtzite polytylism under optimized growth conditions. Since the triple phase line nucleation is suppressed on surface energetic grounds, all nanowires acquire pure zinc blende phase along the entire length, as demonstrated by the structural studies of our GaAs nanowires.     

Effects of repeated frying on physicochemical characteristics,oxidative stress,and free radical scavenging potential of canola oil and ghee

The repeated use of cooking oils and ghee for the deep frying of food materials may affect their nutritional quality. The present study evaluated the effect of repeated frying on the physicochemical characteristics and antiradical potential of canola oil and ghee. The oil and ghee were used for frying of fish and chicken for 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 frying cycles followed by the analysis of physicochemical, oxidative stress, and antiradical parameters. Regression analysis of the data showed a frying cycle-dependent significant linear increase in saponification (R² = 0.9507–0.9748), peroxide and acid values (R² = 0.956–0.9915), and malondialdehyde (MDA) production (R² = 0.9058–0.9557) of canola oil and ghee subjected to fish and chicken frying but exponential increase in saponification value (R² = 0.9778) and MDA production (R² = 0.7407) of canola oil and ghee used for fish frying. The increase in the number of frying cycles linearly decreased the iodine value (R² = 0.9781–0.9924), and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, hydroxyl, and 2, 2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging potential (R² = 0.9089–0.9979) of canola oil and ghee. Repeated frying in cooking oil and ghee increases oxidative stress and decreases their physicochemical and antioxidant qualities. Canola oil was comparatively more oxidative resistant than canola ghee. The regression equations derived from regression analysis will guide researchers to conduct similar types of univariate studies.