The use of an enzymatic extraction procedure for the enhancement of highland barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) phenolic and antioxidant compounds

A multistep enzymatic extraction method was compared with a conventional chemical extraction process to evaluate the phenolic content and antioxidant activity of highland barley (Z2, Zangqing 25; CHQK, Changheiqingke). The main phenolic compound extracted was (+)‐catechin, followed by ferulic acid, p‐coumaric acid, caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid. The multi‐enzymatic digestion yielded a higher retrieval of (+)‐catechin compared to the conventional chemical extraction procedure (P < 0.05). Compounds obtained from the multi‐enzymatic digestion process exhibited significantly higher (P < 0.05) antioxidant activities determined by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) when compared to chemical extracts. These results suggest that highland barley subjected to in vitro multi‐enzymatic digestion exhibits a higher phenolic content and antioxidant activity than the chemical extraction, and this multi‐enzymatic digestion coupled with the CAA assay may be a valuable tool to evaluate the antioxidant potential of wholegrains and fruits, as well as vegetables.     

Influence of source-to-substrate distance on the properties of ZnS films grown by close-space sublimation

ZnS films were deposited on soda glass at various source-to-substrate distances by closespace sublimation. The influence of source-to-substrate distance on the structural and optical properties of the films was investigated. XRD spectra showed that films were crystalline in nature having cubic structure oriented mainly alogn (111) plan. The crystallinity of films increased with the source-to-substrate distance up to 40 mm. The crystallite size increases from 15.76 to 19.06 nm as the source-to-substrate distance increased from 5 to 40 mm. AFM data reveled that RMS roughness decreases and grain size of the film increases with the source-to-substrate distance. The optical transmittance in the visible range was about 70% for all films. The refractive index of a ZnS film decreases with increasing source-to-substrate distance. But source-to-substrate distance seems to have no effect on the energy bandgap and absorption edge of ZnS films. Moreover, it is shown that resisitivity of the ZnS films resuced significantly by Ag doping.     

On efficient construction and evaluation of runs rules–based control chart for known and unknown parameters under different distributions

In this study, we have considered two design structures of control chart by covering the situations of known and unknown parameters, variety of probability distributions, and runs rules. The design structures are dependent on constants which generally considered hard to compute analytically. For construction of constants and also for evaluating performance of the design structures through performance measures, we have illustrated Monte Carlo simulation procedure/algorithm for researcher and practitioners. Furthermore, based on the Monte Carlo simulation procedures, we have established a program in R language to compute values of different constants and performance measures. Results illustrated that design structures for known and unknown parameters under variety of runs rules and probability distributions have outstanding performance in contrast to existing structures. Moreover, design structure for unknown parameters behaves alike the design structure for known parameters. This indicates that design structure for unknown parameters has the ability to resolve the issue of runs rules which generally occur when parameters are estimated. Besides, two real‐life examples have been included in which physicochemical characteristic of groundwater and plasticizer characteristic of petrochemical process are monitored through design structures.     

Aliovalent Ho3+ ion doped BaZrO3 thin films; Structural,optical and photoluminescence properties

Ho doped BaZrO3 thin film phosphors with varying Ho content (1, 2, 3 and 4?at%) were prepared via pulsed laser deposition technique. To understand the effect of doping on structural, morphological, optical and emission properties of thin films, X-ray Diffractrometer (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) and Photoluminescence (PL) Spectroscopy have been used, respectively. Polycrystalline nature with single phase cubic crystalline structure of the films has been obtained. The optical band gap energy, as estimated by SE, has been found to increase with increase in the Ho content. The PL spectra of the synthesized phosphor exhibit green and yellow-orange as prominent emission bands in response to 328?nm as excitation wavelength.     

Crosswise stream of hydrogen-oxide (H2O) through a porous media containing copper nanoparticles

Transport theories in porous media are quite operative to analyse heat transferral phenomenon in biological tissues, reducing bio convective flow instabilities by means of porous media and many more. Inspired by these remarkable features, the present study is conducted to analyse heat transfer phenomenon for obliquely striking nanofluid through a porous media. Copper (Cu) nanoparticles are suspended in traditional Hydrogen Oxide based fluid. Scaling group of transformations is conveniently employed to reduce governing transport equations and is tackled numerically afterwards. Influence of nanoparticles volume fraction, stretching ratio and porosity parameter on physical measures of concern such as normal and tangential skin friction and corresponding heat flux at wall is portrayed. Streamline patterns are traced out to discover the influence of porosity factor on actual flow behavior. It was observed that solid volume fraction of copper nanoparticles enhanced the skin friction coefficients and heat flux. Increasing the porosity parameter leads to greater heat flux and tangential skin friction co-efficient.     

A secure and low‐energy zone‐based wireless sensor networks routing protocol for pollution monitoring

Sensor networks can be used in many sorts of environments. The increase of pollution and carbon footprint are nowadays an important environmental problem. The use of sensors and sensor networks can help to make an early detection in order to mitigate their effect over the medium. The deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) requires high‐energy efficiency and secures mechanisms to ensure the data veracity. Moreover, when WSNs are deployed in harsh environments, it is very difficult to recharge or replace the sensor's batteries. For this reason, the increase of network lifetime is highly desired. WSNs also work in unattended environments, which is vulnerable to different sort of attacks. Therefore, both energy efficiency and security must be considered in the development of routing protocols for WSNs. In this paper, we present a novel Secure and Low‐energy Zone‐based Routing Protocol (SeLeZoR) where the nodes of the WSN are split into zones and each zone is separated into clusters. Each cluster is controlled by a cluster head. Firstly, the information is securely sent to the zone‐head using a secret key; then, the zone‐head sends the data to the base station using the secure and energy efficient mechanism. This paper demonstrates that SeLeZoR achieves better energy efficiency and security levels than existing routing protocols for WSNs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of different aspects of laminar horseshoe vortex system using PIV

Juncture flow is a classical fluid mechanics problem having wide applications in both aero and hydro dynamics. The flow separates upstream of the obstacle due to the adverse pressure gradient generated by it, with the formation of the vortical structure called “horseshoe vortex.” The current study is carried out for an elliptical leading edge obstacle placed on a flat plate to investigate the horseshoe vortex for a range of Reynolds number (Re_W) based on maximum width (W) for which the incoming boundary layer is laminar. Four different types of horseshoe vortex systems were found: the steady, amalgamation, transition and breakaway. The transition vortex system is one after which the vortex system changes from amalgamation to breakaway. In this phase the vortex system alternatively undergoes both amalgamation and breakaway vortex cycles. The effect of variation in the chord wise shape of the obstacle is investigated. The quantitative measurements of PIV show that the vortex system does not undergo any significant change for different chord lengths of the model with the fixed aspect ratio and maximum width. The most upstream saddle point is also studied for steady horseshoe vortex region and found that it is the “saddle of attachment” where flow attaches to the plate surface instead of separating from it.