DETERMINATION of the MIXING INDEX of PADDY GRAINS UNDER VIBRATING CONDITIONS

Mixing of ingredients is an important operation in processing of food for obtaining the better quality product. A laboratory set‐up capable of modulating both frequency and amplitude of vibration of the grain bed was used to determine the mixing indices of paddy grains under varied experimental conditions. the mixing indices of three different types of paddy grain for three different grain bed depths were determined. the parameters varied were the vibration amplitude, frequency and the mixing time, respectively from 2 to 10 mm, 10 to 50 Hz and 5 to 120 s. Three varieties of paddy (short bold, medium slender and long slender) were used in the experiments with different length‐breadth ratio (slenderness ratio, μ, of 5.77, 4.48 and 2.70). Response surface methodology was adopted to optimize the amplitude and frequency of vibration of the mixing device. the results revealed that, the optimum frequency and amplitude of vibration for the medium slender (μ= 4.48) variety of paddy were 20–22 Hz and 8–9 mm, respectively for all the three grain bed depths of 25, 12 and 6 mm. Irrespective of grain bed depth, all the three different types of paddy showed maximum mixing indices value after 1 min of mixing. Extending the mixing time did not have any effect on mixing indices. the effect of bed depth was found to be insignificant for short bold variety of paddy.     

EFFECT OF CHILLING AND FREEZING ON SURVIVAL OF VIBRIO PARAHAEMOLYTICUS ON FISH FILLETS1

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a foodborne pathogen isolated from coastal waters of the United States, and from seafoods including fish. No information is available on the viability of V. parahaemolyticus on raw, chilled and frozen fish. A three‐strain mixture of V. parahaemolyticus was inoculated on fish fillets (pH 6.4) to obtain a bacterial load of 10⁴ (high) or 10³ (low) CFU/fillet, and stored at 4C or 8C for 9 days or at – 18C for seven weeks. At 4C and 8C, and at both levels of inoculation, V. parahaemolyticus survived on the fillets for the entire duration of the study. However, there was a significant reduction (P < 0.01) in V. parahaemolyticus population on the fillets by 9 days of storage. In the frozen fillets, there was a sharp decline (P < 0.01) in the population of V. parahaemolyticus by day 5 of storage. Although chilling and freezing significantly (P < 0.01) inactivated high numbers of V. parahaemolyticus on fish, they cannot be relied upon as a method to reduce V. parahaemolyticus on fish, since the time and magnitude of reduction depends on the initial load of the pathogen and the storage temperature.     

Effect of Oxide Defect Structure on the Electrical Properties of ZrO2

The defect structure of monoclinic ZrO₂ was studied by measuring the transfer numbers and electrical conductivity as functions of O₂ pressure and temperature. The data suggest a defect structure of doubly ionized oxygen vacancies at low pressures, i.e. <10⁻¹⁹ atm, and singly ionized oxygen interstitials at pressures >10⁻⁹ atm. Zirconia is primarily an ionic conductor below #700°C and an electronic conductor at 700° to 1000°C for 10⁻²²≤P_o2≤1 atm.     

Synthesis and characterization of stable aqueous dispersions of graphene

A stable aqueous dispersion (5 mg ml^?1) of graphene was synthesized by a simple protocol based on three-step reduction of graphene oxide (GO) dispersion synthesized using the modified version of Hummers and Offeman method. Reduction of GO was carried out using sodium borohydride, hydrazine hydrate and dimethyl hydrazine as reducing agents. The chemically synthesized graphene was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), optical microscopy. The stability of aqueous dispersions of graphene was confirmed through zeta potential measurements and the negative zeta potentials of 55–60 mV were obtained indicating the high stability of aqueous graphene dispersions.     

Preparation and characterization of PAN–KI complexed gel polymer electrolytes for solid-state battery applications

The free standing and dimensionally stable gel polymer electrolyte films of polyacrylonitrile (PAN): potassium iodide (KI) of different compositions, using ethylene carbonate as a plasticizer and dimethyl formamide as solvent, are prepared by adopting ‘solution casting technique’ and these films are examined for their conductivities. The structural, miscibility and the chemical rapport between PAN and KI are investigated using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry methods. The conductivity is enhanced with the increase in KI concentration and temperature. The maximum conductivity at 30°C is found to be 2.089 × 10^?5 S cm^?1 for PAN:KI (70:30) wt%, which is nine orders greater than that of pure PAN (< 10^?14 S cm^?1). The conductivity-temperature dependence of these polymer electrolyte films obeys Arrhenius behaviour with activation energy ranging from 0.358 to 0.478 eV. The conducting carriers of charge transport in these polymer electrolyte films are identified by Wagner’s polarization technique and it is found that the charge transport is predominantly due to ions. The better conducting sample is used to fabricate the battery with configuration K/PAN + KI/I₂+ C + electrolyte and good discharge characteristics of battery are observed.     

Block truncation coding with color clumps: A novel feature extraction technique for content based image classification

The paper has explored principle of block truncation coding (BTC) as a means to perform feature extraction for content based image classification. A variation of block truncation coding, named BTC with color clumps has been implemented in this work to generate feature vectors. Classification performance with the proposed technique of feature extraction has been compared to existing techniques. Two widely used public dataset named Wang dataset and Caltech dataset have been used for analyses and comparisons of classification performances based on four different metrics. The study has established BTC with color clumps as an effective alternative for feature extraction compared to existing methods. The experiments were carried out in RGB color space. Two different categories of classifiers viz. K Nearest Neighbor (KNN) Classifier and RIDOR Classifier were used to measure the classification performances. A paired t test was conducted to establish the statistical significance of the findings. Evaluation of classifier algorithms were done in receiver operating characteristic (ROC) space.     

Simultaneous pole-placement/stabilization of pairs of linear time-invariant plants using a continuous-time periodic controller

Given a pair of single input single output (SISO), linear time-invariant (LTI), and strictly proper plants of relative order r, this paper employs a continuous-time periodic controller to achieve 1) simultaneous pole-placement for r = 1 and 2) guaranteed simultaneous stabilization for r = 2; 3, and 4, which jobs LTI controllers cannot, in general, do. The controller also ensures insignificant output ripples. The analysis is based on averaging principle. The computational steps for controller synthesis are linear algebraic in nature. An example illustrates the design procedure.     

VHF propagation characterization during atmospheric disturbances

Abstract

The propagation of a television (TV) signal is usually perturbed during periods of atmospheric disturbance such as in thunderstorms. The region under investigation here is situated in the coastal area of the Bay of Bengal and has experienced frequent thunderstorm activities. An investigation to study their effects on VHF signal propagation transmitted from Satkhira in Bangladesh and received at the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, has been undertaken. The depths of the atmospheric disturbances within a 1?km range have been recorded and measured by acoustic sounder (sodar) operated continuously at the receiving station. The inset of the storm is marked by the enhanced signal level with deep fluctuations characteristic during the periods of thunderstorms.     

EFFECT OF COMBINATION DRYING ON THE PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CARROT AND PUMPKIN

The quality of dehydrated carrot and pumpkin pieces produced by combination drying employing partial freeze-drying and hot air-drying were investigated. The drying rate, the total energy requirement and the physico-chemical properties of the combination dried (CD) products were compared with those of hot air-dried (HAD) and freeze-dried (FD) products. The total carotenoid content of the two vegetables (1050 ppm and 160 ppm) was significantly affected by drying processes. Destruction of carotenoids during storage at different temperatures was less in the CD samples. The HAD vegetables exhibited shrinkage, case hardening and poor rehydration (25 and 28 min in cold water, rehydration ratio 1:2.6 and 1:2.9, respectively). The FD vegetables appeared wholesome, porous, well formed with excellent rehydration features at room temperature (rehydration time 2 and 3 min in cold water, rehydration ratio 1:7 and 1:6.9, respectively). The CD vegetables were comparatively superior to HAD products and were nearer in quality to FD products with respect to appearance, rehydration (9 and 10 min in cold water, rehydration ratio 1:5 and 1:4, respectively). The drying time and total energy for CD processing was 50% less than for FD but similar to HAD. The combination dehydration process is effective in obtaining high quality dehydrated vegetables.     

IDENTIFICATION OF GOAT MEAT USING HIGHLY SPECIES‐SPECIFIC POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION

ABSTRACT

A highly species‐specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was developed for the authentic identification of goat. A product of 436 bp was amplified using newly designed primers against mitochondrial D‐loop region. The possibility of cross‐amplification was ruled out by considering as many as 25 other animal species. Suitability of the developed goat species‐specific PCR assay was confirmed for in raw, cooked (60, 80 and 100C for 30 min) and micro‐oven‐processed meat samples (n = 20 each). A sensitivity of 0.1% was established for detection of adulteration and limit of detection of goat DNA was 0.1 pg. This investigation presents a novel PCR assay with its newly designed primers that could be used for the authentic identification of goat species.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

This work details about a novel diagnostic polymerase chain reaction, which could be used for authentic identification of goat species. This approach could be used for the confirmation of goat tissues in raw, cooked, as well as adulterated samples. The developed technique has also applications in the forensic analysis of wild animal‐related disputes, where this work could solve the problem of goat‐related issues.