Microbiology of Fresh Produce: Route of Contamination,Detection Methods,and Remedy

Fresh fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthful diet. They provide vitamins, minerals and fiber to help keep our body healthy. Occasionally, fresh fruits and vegetables can become contaminated with harmful bacteria or viruses, which are also known as pathogens. The major family of pathogen associated with food are members of Enterobacteriaceae which commonly form a part of microbiological criteria and their presence is traditionally related to hygiene and safety of foods. Organic fertilizers, irrigation water quality and soil are major source of contamination. For removal of pathogens, various decontamination procedures are also followed to reduce microbial load on the fruits. These are chemical preservatives and irradiation. Microbiological study of fresh produce can be done by various phenotypic, biochemical and molecular techniques so that pathogen can properly be identified. The World Health Organization (WHO) developed global risk communication message and training materials to assist countries in strengthening their food educating programs. There is a need for improved surveillance systems on food-borne pathogens, on food products and on outbreaks so that comparable data are available from a wider range of countries.     

Single-step hydrothermal synthesis of WO3-MnO2 composite as an active material for all-solid-state flexible asymmetric supercapacitor

In present study, new strategy is employed to build composite nanostructure and asymmetric configuration to enhance the capacitive performance of supercapacitor device. The WO₃-MnO₂ composite with mesoporous structure is prepared by single-step hydrothermal method and used to gain superior electrochemical performance in asymmetric configuration. A binder-free and additive-less WO₃-MnO₂ composite electrode exhibits high specific capacitance of 609 F g^?1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s^?1. The flexible asymmetric supercapacitor device with WO₃-MnO₂ as a positive electrode and WO₃ as a negative electrode demonstrates stable operating potential window of 1.4 V with specific capacitance of 103 F g^?1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s^?1 and energy density of 24.13 Wh kg^?1 at power density of 915 W kg^?1. Furthermore, WO₃-MnO₂//WO₃ device exhibits good cycle life with capacity retention of 95% after 2500 cycles and excellent mechanical flexibility. These results reveal the potential of WO₃-MnO₂ composite electrode for fabrication of high-performance supercapacitors.     

Near Net-Shaped, Alkaline-Earth-Bearing Ceramics for Electronic and Refractory Applications Via the Oxidation of Solid, Metal-Bearing Precursors (the VIMOX Process)

In most of the published work on the high-temperature oxidation of bulk metals, the resulting oxides are treated as undesired corrosion products. The opposite paradigm is discussed in this paper: bulk precursors containing alkaline earth metals (AE = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) are completely oxidized to produce electrical or refractory ceramics. Relatively dense AE-metal-bearing green bodies can be fabricated by either solid-state deformation processing or liquid metal infiltration processing. Rapid oxidation of the solid AE metals and reaction with other oxides in the green bodies can yield desired compounds. Unlike other oxides, AE oxides possess smaller molar volumes than the corresponding metals. Hence, by adjusting the amounts of AE and non-AE components in a precursor, an all-ceramic body with a shape and volume identical to the precursor can be produced (Volume Identical Metal Oxidation or VIMOX). The syntheses of shaped electronic titanates and cerates, and refractory aluminates and aluminosilicates, are discussed.     

Photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes using Au:TiO2, gamma-Fe2O3:TiO2 functional nanosystems

We report photocatalytic degradation studies on Navy Blue HE2R (NB) dye on significant details as a representative from the class of azo dyes using functional nanosystems specifically designed to allow a strong photocatalytic activity. A modified sol-gel route was employed to synthesize Au and gamma-Fe2O3 modified TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) at low temperature. The attachment strategy is better because it allows clear surface of TiO2 to remain open for photo-catalysis. X-ray diffraction, Raman and UV-VIS spectroscopy studies showed the presence of gold and iron oxide phases along-with the anatase TiO2 phase. TEM studies showed TiO2 nanocomposite particles of size approximately 10-12 nm. A detailed investigation on heterogeneous photocatalytic performance for Navy Blue HE2R dye was done using the as-synthesized catalysts Au:TiO2 and gamma-Fe2O3:TiO2 in aqueous suspension under 8 W low-pressure mercury vapour lamp irradiation. Also, the photocatalytic degradation of Amranth and Orange G azo dyes were studied. The surface modified TiO2 NPs showed significantly improved photocatalytic activity as compared to pure TiO2. Exposure of the dye to the UV light in the presence of pure and gold NPs attached TiO2 catalysts caused dye degradation of about approximately 20% and approximately 80%, respectively, in the first couple of hours. In the presence of gamma-Fe2O3 NPs attached TiO2, a remarkable approximately 95% degradation of the azo dye was observed only in the first 15 min of UV exposure. The process parameters for the optimum catalytic activity are established which lead to a complete decoloration and substantial dye degradation, supported by the values of the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) approximately 93% and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) approximately 65% of the treated dye solution after 5 hours on the employment of the UV/Au:TiO2/H2O2 photocatalytic process.     

Bibliography on Nullors and Their Applications in Circuit Analysis, Synthesis and Design

A bibliography on research work related to nullors and their applications in circuit analysis, synthesis and design, covering the period 1961–2000, is given.     

Influence of Mg-substitution on structural and electrical properties of ion-conducting Ca-doped tri-yttrium gallate

The signature of oxide ion conductivity was perceived in acceptor-doped (alkaline-earth metals) Y₃GaO₆. An acceptor doping of 2%Ca in Y₃GaO₆ (i.e., Y_2.94Ca_0.06GaO₆) has been found to exhibit a remarkable conductivity. The present work examines the conductivity behavior of 2% Ca-doped tri-yttrium gallate (Y_2.94Ca_0.06GaO₆) and also the effect of Mg-substitution on the phase formation and electrical conductivity of Y_2.94Ca_0.06GaO₆ for its possible application as a solid electrolyte. Polycrystalline dense ceramic samples of Y_2.94Ca_0.06Ga_1−xMg_xO_6−δ (with x = .00–.04) were fabricated using the conventional solid-state reaction route. The X-ray diffraction patterns were recorded to confirm the phase formation. The solid solubility limit of Mg²⁺ at Ga³⁺ site was found for x < .03. All the samples were observed to exhibit orthorhombic structure with Cmc21 symmetry (ICSD no.: 155086). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphology reveals dense polygonal grains with vibrant grain boundaries. A significant increase in the conductivity is observed by substituting 1 mol% of Mg²⁺ at the Ga³⁺ site of Y_2.94Ca_0.06Ga_1−xMg_xO_6−δ. However, a further addition of higher dopant concentration of Mg²⁺ leads to a decline in the electrical conductivity. A relationship between the dopant concentration, phase formation, and structural characterizations has been established to analyze the conductivity behavior.     

Opto-structural studies of well-dispersed silicon nano-crystals grown by atom beam sputtering

Synthesis and characterization of nano-crystalline silicon grown by atom beam sputtering technique are reported. Rapid thermal annealing of the deposited films is carried out in Ar + 5% H₂ atmosphere for 5 min at different temperatures for precipitation of silicon nano-crystals. The samples are characterized for their optical and structural properties using various techniques. Structural studies are carried out by micro-Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. The optical properties are studied by photoluminescence and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, and bandgaps are evaluated. The bandgaps are found to decrease after rapid thermal treatment. The micro-Raman studies show the formation of nano-crystalline silicon in as-deposited as well as annealed films. The shifting and broadening in Raman peak suggest formation of nano-phase in the samples. Results of micro-Raman, photoluminescence, and TEM studies suggest the presence of a bimodal crystallite size distribution for the films annealed at higher temperatures. The results show that atom beam sputtering is a suitable technique to synthesize nearly mono-dispersed silicon nano-crystals. The size of the nano-crystals may be controlled by varying annealing parameters.     

A dependency annotation scheme for Bangla treebank

Dependency grammar is considered appropriate for many Indian languages. In this paper, we present a study of the dependency relations in Bangla language. We have categorized these relations in three different levels, namely intrachunk relations, interchunk relations and interclause relations. Each of these levels is further categorized and an annotation scheme has been developed. Both syntactic and semantic features have been taken into consideration for describing the relations. In our scheme, there are 63 such syntactico–semantic relations. We have verified the scheme by tagging a corpus of 4167 Bangla sentences to create a treebank (KGPBenTreebank).     

On the investigation of acid and surfactant modification of natural clay for photocatalytic water remediation

In this study, a series of mineral and organic acids are introduced to natural clay modification. Several analytical techniques are employed to identify the physical and chemical changes in clay. The effect of surfactants on these properties is also investigated. The samples are prepared using simple acid treatment without filtration. The alteration in surface morphology is proportional to the acid strength as evident from SEM and XRD analyses. Therefore, the treatment with mineral acid and organic acid/HNO₃ results in the formation of new layers by surface modification as depicted in SEM images, and a higher degree of suppression in characteristic XRD reflections of clay is noticed. However, the treatment with organic acids modifies the existing interlayer spacing of clay, and therefore, the XRD characteristic reflections of clay are less affected. These observations are also supported by FT-IR analysis. The surface area of modified clay is dependent on the acid strength, composition and size of counter-anion of acid. An increase in surface area and porosity is noticed after surfactant modification of HNO₃-treated clay, where the change is more prominent at the concentration higher than their respective critical micelle concentration. Thermal stability is dependent on the chemical composition and surface area of clay materials. A relatively higher absorbance is observed for modified clay materials compared with untreated clay during DRS analysis. The catalytic efficiency of modified clay materials in Eriochrome Black T degradation has been demonstrated.     

Improved grounded-capacitor SRCO using only a single PFTFN

A new circuit configuration for the realization of a single-resistance-controlled Sinusoidal oscillator is presented which uses only one positive four terminal floating nullor (PFTFN) along with two grounded capacitors and five resistors and offers independent control of the frequency of oscillation as well as the condition of oscillation through separate resistors. Experimental results showing the workability of the proposed circuit have been given.