Published studies indicate that virtually any kind of botanical material can be exploited to make biocompatible, safe, and cost‐effective silver nanoparticles. This hypothesis is supported by the ...fact that plants possess active bio‐ingredients that function as powerful reducing and coating agents for Ag+. In this respect, a phytomediation method provides favourable monodisperse, crystalline, and spherical particles that can be easily purified by ultra‐centrifugation. However, the characteristics of the particles depend on the reaction conditions. Optimal reaction conditions observed in different experiments were 70–95 °C and pH 5.5–8.0. Green silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have remarkable physical, chemical, optical, and biological properties. Research findings revealed the versatility of silver particles, ranging from exploitation in topical antimicrobial ointments to in vivo prosthetic/organ implants. Advances in research on biogenic silver nanoparticles have led to the development of sophisticated optical and electronic materials with improved efficiency in a compact configuration. So far, eco‐toxicity of these nanoparticles is a big challenge, and no reliable method to improve the toxicity has been reported. Therefore, there is a need for reliable models to evaluate the effect of these nanoparticles on living organisms.
The reuse of lignocellulosic biomaterials as a source of clean energy has been explored in recent years due to the large amount of waste that involves human activities, such as those related to ...agriculture and food. The anaerobic digestion (AD) of plant-based biomass for bioenergy production poses a series of challenges that new technologies are attempting to solve. An improved decomposition of recalcitrant lignocellulose together with an increase in biogas production yield are the main objectives of these new approaches, which also seek the added value of being environmentally friendly. Recent research has reported significant progress in this regard, offering promising outcomes on the degradation of lignocellulose and its subsequent transformation into biomethane by specialized anaerobic microorganisms, overcoming the drawbacks inherent to the process and improving the yield of methane production. The future of the agri–food industry seems to be heading towards the implementation of a circular economy through the introduction of strategies based on the optimized use of lignocellulosic residues as a source of clean and sustainable energy.
In this paper, we have illustrated a simple and effective method of assessing the fresh and deteriorated oyster mushroom samples. Analysis of correlation coefficients is done very effectively here to ...identify the interrelationship of different color layers of the RGB and HSV color map of the samples, as this degrades progressively. These correlation features are further analyzed using two supervised learning models incorporating support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN) to develop a simple classifier model to identify the two different classes of the mushroom images. The proposed work is simple as it includes a simple computational supervised model, and, more importantly, it is very effective as it explores the interrelation between the different layers of two different color maps of the image samples. The highest classifier accuracy achieved using ANN and SVM models exceeds 95% and 98% respectively; and the mean accuracy level from fifty such observations stands 94.7% and 93.4%, which are high considering contemporary researches. High accuracy of classification, simplicity of analysis and image acquisition through smartphones makes the proposed work suitable for implementing in application-based software for smartphone users which would further enhance the wide applicability of the proposed mushroom classifier scheme.
Geological heritage sites (geosites) are subject to conservation and exploitation for science, education, and tourism. Some geosites are big and comprise diverse phenomena. Concentration of the ...latter in some parts of these geosites makes them disproportionate. A typical example is the Granite Gorge in SW Russia that is of recognizable tourism importance. It stretches for ~5 km and represents a deep valley of the Belaya River and Late Paleozoic granitoids of the Dakh Crystalline Massif. However, the full spectrum of unique features is much wider. Their inventory permits the establishment of geomorphological, igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary, mineralogical, paleogeographical, tectonic, economic, engineering, and hydrological and hydrogeological types of geological heritage. Spatial distribution of these types and the relevant features indicates their significant concentration near the northern entrance to the gorge and a less important concentration near the southern entrance. This is evidence of geosite disproportion. Apparently, the latter implies the need to focus geoconservation and geotourism activities on the noted loci of concentration. However, this would ’disrupt’ the geosite integrity, and, thus, management of the Granite Gorge geosite requires attention to all its parts, including those with lower heritage value.
Electrolyzed water is a novel disinfectant and cleaner that has been widely utilized in the food sector for several years to ensure that surfaces are sterilized, and that food is safe. It is produced ...by the electrolysis of a dilute salt solution, and the reaction products include sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hypochlorous acid. In comparison to conventional cleaning agents, electrolyzed water is economical and eco-friendly, easy to use, and strongly effective. Electrolyzed water is also used in its acidic form, but it is non-corrosive to the human epithelium and other organic matter. The electrolyzed water can be utilized in a diverse range of foods; thus, it is an appropriate choice for synergistic microbial control in the food industry to ensure food safety and quality without damaging the organoleptic parameters of the food. The present review article highlights the latest information on the factors responsible for food spoilage and the antimicrobial potential of electrolyzed water in fresh or processed plant and animal products.
Tindora or ivy gourd (
Coccinia indica
) is a tropical vegetable and has the potential to become popular worldwide due to its rich nutritional characteristics, adaptability to adverse environmental ...condition and fast fruiting nature. The fresh samples are bright green (good) in colour; it turns yellow (intermediate quality) and ultimately turns bright red (bad or inedible as vegetable). In this paper, tindora is classified using two different colour representations of the image matrix, namely RGB and HSV. In the RGB representation, intensity of the green layer versus intensity of the red layer for each pixel position is plotted. The shape of the plot enables us to identify the tindora quality. In the case of HSV representation, the hue layer is used for classification purposes. The hue layer matrix is vectorized and the Poincare plot is computed. The distribution of the Poincare plot is analysed using Cartesian quadrant system. Based on the analysis, tindora quality is determined. The accuracy of the tindora classification using RGB representation is 68.67 and HSV representation is 94.33. The classifier used in both the representations after feature extraction is primarily threshold based and hence has low computational burden. The low computational burden makes the method ideal for incorporation into smartphones in the form of an app.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease that has become a serious health issue across the globe. It is caused by a virus of the Flaviviridae family, and it comprises five different serotypes ...(DENV-1 to DENV-5). As there is no specific medicine or effective vaccine for controlling dengue fever, there is an urgent need to develop potential inhibitors against it. Traditionally, various natural products have been used to manage dengue fever and its co-morbid conditions. A detailed analysis of these plants revealed the presence of various chromene derivatives as the major phytochemicals. Inspired by these observations, authors have critically analyzed the anti-dengue virus potential of various 4
chromene derivatives. Further, in silico, in vitro, and in vivo reports of these scaffolds against the dengue virus are detailed in the present manuscript. These analogues exerted their activity by interfering with various stages of viral entry, assembly, and replications. Moreover, these analogues mainly target envelope protein, NS2B-NS3 protease, and NS5 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, etc. Overall, chromene-containing analogues exerted a potent activity against the dengue virus and the present review will be helpful for the further exploration of these scaffolds for the development of novel antiviral drug candidates.
Dairy cheese ball (Rasgulla) is one of the most commercially acclaimed dairy-based sweetmeat products in the Indian subcontinent. The main constrain with rasgulla export is the prediction of its ...shelf-life period, as there are several factors upon which the perishability of the product is dependent. Twenty-five nodes or concepts were chosen after a thorough consultation with 36 numbers of experts and stakeholders sweetmeat producers, shopkeepers, chhana producers, experts from packaging industries and an experienced tasting panel. The proposed fuzzy cognitive model (FCM) was constructed based on the linguistic variables assigned by the experts. For the defuzzification process centre of gravity, the method was used. There were 137 numbers of interconnections (within the 25 concepts) to build the FCM-based shelf-life model. Steady-state and dynamic-state FCM analysis was done considering the values of each concept to 1 and 0.01 respectively. The two most influential concepts namely freshness of chhana and moisture content were assigned to 0.01 for a better understanding of the rasgulla shelf life with varying values of the concepts. The major challenge related with the application of FCM in food science or food processing is the validation of the proposed model. In this paper, a validation scheme has been proposed to overcome this challenge.
Androsace foliosa
, also known as rock jasmine and a member of the
Primulaceae
family, is an important medicinal plant with a wide range of applications such as antioxidant, antidiabetic, ...hepatoprotective, abortifacient, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancerous, anti-inflammatory as well as a flavor enhancer, as insecticidal, as a spice and commonly found in Pakistan. The current study was planned to identify the phytochemical constituents of
A. foliosa
roots and leaves extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC–MS). HPLC results showed the presence of important phenolic and flavonoids such as gallic acid, rutin and quercetin in
A. foliosa
leaves and roots crude methanolic extracts. GC–MS analysis of
A. foliosa n
-hexane leaves fraction revealed the presence of nine pharmacologically active compounds such as hydroxylamine-O-decyl, butanoic acid heptafluoro, sulfurous acid 2-propyl heptyl ester, E-15-heptadecenal, eicosane 9-cyclohexyl, (Z,E)-tetradeca-9,12-dienyl acetate, octadecyl-propane-1,3-diol, di-isobutyl phthalates, aspidofractinine-3-methanol, 17-methoxy-, acetate (ester). Besides, E-15-heptadecenal (34%) and hydroxylamine-O-decyl (30%) are major compounds occurring in
A. foliosa n
-hexane leaves fraction. As phytochemical constituents present in
A. foliosa
extracts have been identified, it could be an important medicinal plant to isolate the pharmacologically active compounds to manage different diseases and
A. foliosa
might play an important role in clinical science, particularly in drug development.
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