Comparative Nutritional,Functional, Morphological,and Diffractogram Study on Culinary Banana (Musa ABB) Peel at Various Stages of Development

The culinary banana peel, which is an agricultural waste available in abundance, has not been able to draw much attention in terms of its utilization. In addition to being an abundant source of functional and nutritional compounds, it also deserves to be utilized in a proper and/or better way. The aim of this study was to explore this agro-waste at different levels of maturity in order to identify the active compounds at particular stage of maturity. Phenolics, flavonoids, and radical scavenging activity were maximum at early developmental stage, whereas compounds like protein, fat, carbohydrates, and starch increased with maturity and declined at over-ripe stage. The starch present in the peel is of C-type as confirmed by x-ray diffractograms and crystalline in nature. The peel, at the edible mature stage 4, yielded a high cellulose content which could be used as a reinforcement material in high-performance biocomposites. The presence of various functional groups indicating the complex nature of the culinary banana peel was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared characterization. Scanning electron microscope micrographs revealed that microstructure of peel changes drastically and degradation of starch and other compounds occurred at the over-ripe stage. Hence, in this context, the culinary banana peel can serve as a potential biomaterial in industrial applications and can add a higher value to this locally important and underutilized crop.     

Phytochemical Constituents,Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis and Antimicrobial Activity of Four Plant Leaves Used for Preparing Rice Beer in Assam,India

Phytochemicals content and antimicrobial activity of Artocarpus heterophyllus, Cyclosorus extensa, Oldendia corymbosa, and Alpinia malaccensis were investigated. Maximum alkaloids and terpenoids were found in A. heterophyllus; tannins and saponins in C. extensa; flavonoids, polyphenols, and phytosterols in O. corymbosa and anthraquinone, glycosides, and anthocyaninin A. malaccensis. Aqueous, methanolic, ethyl acetate, and hexane extracts were prepared from all the leaves. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometric (ATR-FTIR) analysis revealed that alkanes and alkyl halides were prevalent in all the extracts and the ethyl acetate extracts contained comparatively higher number of functional groups, which were also more effective against Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The minimum inhibitory concentration values of A. malaccensis against the tested pathogens were found to be lesser than the other species.     

Effect of modified resistant starch of culinary banana on physicochemical,functional, morphological,diffraction, and thermal properties

Resistant starch has received much attention for both its potential health benefits and functional properties. The present study revealed that the culinary banana can be a potential source for production of resistant starch type III. The results showed that resistant starch yield can be increased using debranching enzyme (Pullulanase EC 3.2.1.41) and hydrothermal process. The three repeated autoclaving and cooling (hydrothermal) cycles followed by storage at –20ºC, increased the resistant starch yield from 12.3 to 26.4%. The use of debranching enzyme and subsequent retrogradation at –20ºC increased the resistant starch yield up to 31.2%. The modified resistant starch when compared to culinary banana starch evinced better stability. The modified resistant starch was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, x-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric diffraction analysis to determine the structural changes which proved that the modification occurred substantially.     

Three-dimensional real-time imaging of bi-phasic flow through porous media

We present a scanning laser-sheet video imaging technique to image bi-phasic flow in three-dimensional porous media in real time with pore-scale spatial resolution, i.e., 35 μm and 500 μm for directions parallel and perpendicular to the flow, respectively. The technique is illustrated for the case of viscous fingering. Using suitable image processing protocols, both the morphology and the movement of the two-fluid interface, were quantitatively estimated. Furthermore, a macroscopic parameter such as the displacement efficiency obtained from a microscopic (pore-scale) analysis demonstrates the versatility and usefulness of the method.     

Surface modes of a sessile water drop: an optical tweezer based study

A high-precision method to study the dynamics of two-fluid interfaces using an optical tweezer and a phase-sensitive detection technique are described. The disturbances set up at the interface are studied by analyzing the motion of an optically trapped particle in the bulk of the fluid, i.e., away from the interface. The usefulness of the technique is demonstrated for the well-known problem of a horizontally vibrated sessile liquid drop. The vibrational modes of the liquid drop excited by sinusoidally vibrating the support in a horizontal plane appear as resonances in the motion of the trapped particle. The nature of the resonance is studied in detail by measuring the real part, the imaginary part, and the phase response of the motion of the particle as a function of the "effective" size of the liquid drop. Excellent quantitative agreement with the theoretically predicted values of the eigenfrequencies and damping of the surface modes is obtained.     

Sol-Gel Synthesis of Zn Doped MgO Nanoparticles and Their Applications

Abstract

The physicochemical properties of metal oxide nanoparticles can be significantly improved by doping. MgO and Zn²⁺ doped MgO (Zn:MgO) offers potential applications in photonic devices falling in the UV and visible region. In the present paper, sol gel method was employed to synthesize pure and Zn²⁺ doped MgO nanoparticles. XRD pattern inferred the crystalline nature of material and also the slight change in peak due to the dopant. FESEM showed the formation of nanoparticles with almost same shapes and dimensions with little agglomeration. Optical properties were studied by using UV-Vis and PL techniques. Doping of Zn²⁺ in MgO nanoparticles was verified by EDS.     

G.V Black dental caries classification and preparation technique using optimal CNN-LSTM classifier

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Dental caries is one of the oral diseases which are a major health problem for many people across the globe. It can lead to pain, discomfort, disfigurement, and...