Effects of energy price rise on investment: Firm level evidence from Indian manufacturing sector

This paper analyses the effects of the rising prices of energy products on the investment of a large panel of manufacturing firms in India during 1993–2013. The prime motivation behind this study is the absence of an empirical study into this research issue exclusively on Indian economy. The empirical results obtained by estimating an Error Correction Model (ECM) using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) show that energy price rise has negative effect on the investment of firms in the manufacturing sector. The negative effect is transmitted to the firm's investment through both demand-side and supply-side factors. The transmission also depends upon factors such as the energy intensity of production. The results also show that the sales–growth–investment relationship becomes weak in the face of the rising prices of the energy which could be due to the cautious approach to investment adopted by the firms. Therefore, it calls for the attention of the policy makers to evolve a comprehensive energy-policy to ensure continuous supply of energy at affordable prices to the manufacturers.     

Improving the nutritional performance of gluten-free pasta with potato peel autohydrolysis extract

The potato processing industry produces peels, a good source of fibres, minerals and antioxidants, which could be recovered and used in the production of added-value products, such as gluten-free (GF) foods especially designed for the celiac population.This work is focused on the application of the bioactive fraction extracted from potato peels into GF pasta. Subcritical water extraction (autohydrolysis, AH) was performed on potato peel, and the obtained AH liquid extract was characterized in terms of total phenolic content and antioxidant activity. The selected AH temperature (220 °C at 2.2 MPa) was applied to peels from Kennebec, Neiker and Agria potato varieties, and the Agria extract was selected for application in GF pasta, as this was the one with higher antioxidant activity.The impact of Agria potato peel autohydrolysis extract on the nutritional composition and cooking quality of pasta was assessed. Results confirmed that the GF pasta enriched with potato peel extract presented suitable technological properties, coupled with attractive colour and with increased total phenolic content and antioxidant activity, which can contribute to improve the offer of GF products in the market.     

Can child-pedestrians’ hazard perception skills be enhanced?

ObjectiveTraffic collisions yield a substantial rate of morbidity and injury among child-pedestrians. We explored the formation of an innovative hazard perception training intervention – Child-pedestrians Anticipate and Act Hazard Perception Training (CA²HPT). Training was based upon enhancing participants’ ability to anticipate potential hazards by exposing them to an array of traffic scenes viewed from different angles.MethodTwenty-four 7–9-year-olds have participated. Trainees underwent a 40-min intervention of observing typical residential traffic scenarios in a simulated dome projection environment while engaging in a hazard detection task. Trainees were encouraged to note differences between the scenarios presented to them from separate angles (a pedestrian's point-of-view and a higher perspective angle). Next, trainees and control group members were required to perform crossing decision tasks.ResultsTrainees were found to be more aware of potential hazards related to restricted field of view relative to control.ConclusionsChild pedestrians are responsive to training and actively detecting materialized hazards may enrich child-pedestrians’ ability to cross roads.     

Multiplex PCR system to track authorized and unauthorized genetically modified soybean events in food and feed

A diverse range of genetic elements has been used to develop genetically modified organisms (GMOs) over the last 18 years. Screening methods that target few elements, such as the Cauliflower Mosaic Virus 35S promoter (P-35S) and Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline terminator (T-nos), are not sufficient to screen GMOs. In the present study, a multiplex PCR system for all globally commercialized GM soybean events was developed to easily trace the events. For this purpose, screening elements of 24 GM soybean events were investigated and 9 screening targets were selected and divided into three individual triplex PCR systems: P-35S, ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit promoter of Arabidopsis thaliana, T-nos, T-35S, pea E9 terminator, open reading frame 23 terminator of A. tumefaciens, proteinase inhibitor II terminator of potato, acetohydroxy acid synthase large subunit terminator of A. thaliana, and the revealed 3′ flanking sequences of DP-305423-1. The specificity of the assays was confirmed using thirteen GM soybean events as the respective positive/negative controls. The limit of detection of each multiplex set, as determined using certified reference materials of specific GM events, ranged from 0.03 to 0.5%, depending upon target. Furthermore, 26 food samples that contained soybean ingredients, which were purchased from the USA, China, Japan, and Korea, were analyzed, 17 of which contained one or more GM soybean events. These results suggest that the developed screening method can be used to efficiently track and identify 24 GM soybean events in food and feed.     

Nickel foam-supported Fe,Ni-Polyporphyrin microparticles: Efficient bifunctional catalysts for overall water splitting in alkaline media

Developing highly active, stable and sustainable electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is of great importance to generate renewable H₂ for fuel cells. Herein, we report the synthesis of electrocatalytically active, nickel foam-supported, spherical core-shell Fe-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin)/Ni-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin) microparticles (FeTPP@NiTPP/NF). We also show that FeTPP@NiTPP/NF exhibits efficient bifunctional electrocatalytic properties toward both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Electrochemical tests in KOH solution (1 M) reveal that FeTPP@NiTPP/NF electrocatalyzes the OER with 100 mA cm⁻² at an overpotential of 302 mV and the HER with 10 mA cm⁻² at an overpotential of 170 mV. Notably also, its catalytic performance for OER is better than that of RuO₂, the benchmark OER catalyst. Although its catalytic activity for HER is slightly lower than that of Pt/C (the benchmark HER electrocatalyst), it shows greater stability than the latter during the reaction. The material also exhibits electrocatalytic activity for overall water splitting reaction at a current density of 10 mA cm⁻² with a cell voltage of 1.58 V, along with a good recovery property. Additionally, the work demonstrates a new synthetic strategy to an efficient, noble metal-free-coordinated covalent organic framework (COF)-based, bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting.     

Trend Analysis and Spatial Prediction of Groundwater Levels Using Time Series Forecasting and a Novel Spatio-Temporal Method

Water Resources Management - Overexploitation of groundwater in the Malayer Plain has resulted in a continuous decline of groundwater levels over recent years with associated risks to water...     

Application of cold filamentary microplasma pretreatment assisted by thermionic emission for potato drying

Cold filamentary microplasma (CFM) pretreatment assisted by thermionic emission (TE) is a promising, cold drying technology for agricultural products. Such novel pretreatment method based on local electroporation process in the air gap. Brief theory and treatment mechanism are explained. A fractional factorial design 3³ was used to determine the effect of CFM treatment assisted by TE parameters such as pulse frequency (F = 40, 80 and 120 Hz), pretreatment duration (D = 60, 120 and 180 s) and temperature of thermionic source (T = 700, 850 and 1000 °C) on drying time and drying rate of potato samples. Maximal CFM pretreatment effect was observed at frequency of 80 Hz, treatment duration of 120 s and temperature of thermionic source of 1000 °C, and the corresponding drying rate and drying time were 35·10⁻⁵ (kg/kg s⁻¹) and 130 min. The use of CFM treatment had minor effects on the main quality characteristics (total sugar and starch content) of potato samples. Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy confirmed the absence of any modifications of functional group composition of potato samples after CFM pretreatment. Results indicate that cold pulsed filamentary microplasma can enhance the drying rate and decrease drying time without changes in quality characteristics.Practical applicationsCold filamentary microplasma pretreatment assisted by thermionic emission can improve the efficiency of potato drying. Furthermore, it has potential application for reducing energy consumption in drying. CFM pretreatment could be potentially applied for agricultural products drying.     

Investigation of flame spray synthesized La1-xSrxCoO3 perovskites with promotional catalytic performances on CO oxidation

To enhance the activity of catalysts for CO removal, the perovskite-type catalysts La_1-xSr_xCoO₃ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) with different Sr²⁺ doping amount were synthesized by flame spray synthesis (FSS) method. The perovskite-type catalyst synthesized by FSS has a much larger specific surface area (SSA) than that prepared by other conventional methods. The SSA of catalyst increases with the increase of Sr²⁺ doping amount and the SSA of La_0.2Sr_0.8CoO₃ reaches 31.65 m²/g. Compared with other conventional methods, FSS method significantly improves the activity of catalyst and makes it close to the performances of catalysts with surface modification. The substitution of La³⁺ by Sr²⁺ promotes the generation of secondary phase Co₃O₄ and SrCO₃. The catalytic activity of La_1-xSr_xCoO₃ increases with the addition of Sr²⁺, which results from the increasing active sites and oxygen vacancies. Interestingly, La_0.4Sr_0.6CoO₃ performs the highest activity for CO oxidation and the CO conversion reaches 50% at 148.6 °C and 90% at 165.9 °C. The oxidation of CO over La_1-xSr_xCoO₃ catalyst may follow a combination of MvK and L-H mechanisms according to the experimental results of H₂-TPR. Moreover, the catalyst exhibits good catalytic activity in consecutive oxidation cycles. In consecutive oxidation experiments with La_0.4Sr_0.6CoO₃, the CO conversion reaches 50% at 168.8 °C and 90% at 197.8 °C in the eighth oxidation cycle. These results prove that FSS method can further improve the activity of catalysts and is suitable for the preparation of efficient catalysts.