Archives-March 2011

The various processing treatments like soaking, germination, boiling, steaming, roasting and fermentation are known to affect the chemical composition and improve the nutritive value of foods. Hence the present study was planned with the objectives to optimize the processing conditions and to study the effect of optimized conditions on total polyphenol content, antioxidant activity and FTIR spectra of kodo millet. The optimum time for soaking, boiling, steaming, roasting, germination and fermentation was determined by analysing the changes in moisture content, equivalent diameter, bulk density, reducing sugar and total sugar content. The optimally processed kodo millet was analysed for its total polyphenol content, antioxidant activity and FTIR spectra for identification of unknown polyphenolic compounds. Result revealed that kodo millet could be soaked for 76-78 hours, boiled/steamed for 25-30 minutes, roasted for 15-20 minutes, fermented for 48 hours at 37°C and germinated for 72 hours at 37°C and 50% RH optimally. The various processing methods significantly affected the total polyphenol content. Among the processed samples, the highest polyphenol content and antioxidant activity was noted in germinated and boiled grain respectively. FTIR spectral analysis revealed the presence of polyphenolic compounds especially with mono substituted benzene ring in all processing conditions.

Commercially available anion exchange resin, Duolite A 171 (DLE) has been used for the sorption of chromate and fluoride ions from aqueous solutions. DLE resin possesses an enhanced chromate sorption capacity of 202 mg/g in a minimum period of 60 min contact time and 0.6 mg/g for fluoride with 30 min contact time. Sorption capacity (SC) of DLE resin was compared under various equilibrating conditions like effect of pH and co-ions, temperature, contact time, for the removal of chromate and fluoride. The results showed that DLE resin is more selective for chromate rather than fluoride. The chromate and fluoride sorption was reasonably explained using Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used for the determination of functional groups responsible for chromate and fluoride sorption. Various thermodynamic parameters such as ?Gº, ?Hº, and ?Sº have been calculated to understand the nature of sorption. The sorption kinetic mechanism was studied with reaction based and diffusion based models. The sorption process was found to be controlled by pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models.

The Indian retail sector is going through a transformation and this emerging market is witnessing a significant change in its growth and investment pattern. Both existing and new players are experimenting with new retail formats. The growth and potential of the sector is being widely acknowledged both in the domestic as well as international forums. India topped AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index 2009 for the third consecutive year, retaining its position in the global market as the most preferred retail destination amongst emerging markets. Consumer dynamics in India is changing and the retailers need to take note of this and formulate their strategies and tactics to deliver value to the consumer. This paper investigates impact of emergence of modern retail formats on Indian consumers in organized and unorganized sector.

The present paper aims at discovering and analysing risk in the emerging security in the stock market i.e Gold ETFs. The basic aim of the study is to study the financial performance, variations and analyse the risk behaviour of the selected Gold ETFs in comparison of NSE. The data for this has been taken from the NSE website. The period taken for the study is March 2008 to November 2010. Analysis is made by using financial tools like Sharpe’s index, Treynor’s ratio by calculating alpha, beta and standard deviation of the selected funds. The study will be beneficial for the investigators and investors who seek the best opportunities in the Gold ETFs.

State Transport Undertakings (STUs) are established with the major objective of providing economic, coordinated, efficient and adequate bus services to the society. The STUs are also bound to carry on their operations on business principles due to the recent Government policy of self sustain in the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Due to this duality in its objectives the STUs are swinging on both sides (i.e.) social objectives on one side and the commercial objectives on the other side. In this process of conflicting goals the profitability and the public services were unsolved. In this paper an attempt has been made to simulate the profitability of STUs in terms of Total Cost/Bus (on Road)/Day and Total Revenue/Bus (Held)/Day using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). For this study as many as 29 performance indicators of 37 STUs with 11 years data were used to train the network. The results and statistical tests are very much encouraging. Therefore ANN is a better tool to map an unexplainable relationship between the input and the output variables. And this can also be used for future predictions and optimization.

Identifying the occurrence of congestion in a Mobile Ad-hoc Network is a major task. The existing TCP congestion control techniques do not handle the unique properties of shared wireless multi-hop link. Frequent changes in the ad-hoc network topology poses great deal of problems for congestion control. There are several approaches proposed for detecting and overcoming the congestion in the mobile ad-hoc network. In this paper we try to bring out some of the congestion control techniques and its salient features.

In the present study, 26 elderly subjects were recruited and randomly divided into 2 groups, that is, orange (low in antioxidant capacity) and pomegranate (high in antioxidant capacity) groups, and 250 mL of juice was consumed daily for 4 weeks. Changes in plasma antioxidant capacity, activity of antioxidant enzymes, contents of ascorbic acid, vitamin E, reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, oxidized low-density lipoprotein and carbonyls, and the degree of DNA damage in mononuclear blood cells were measured. Urine samples were collected for determination of 8-hydroxy-2?- deoxyguanosine content. Increased plasma antioxidant capacity and decreased plasma carbonyl content were demonstrated after daily consumption of pomegranate juice. In comparison, orange juice consumption presented a less significant effect on antioxidant function in elderly subjects. It is concluded that daily consumption of pomegranate juices is potentially better than orange juice in improving antioxidant function in the elderly. Because the plasma ascorbic acid, vitamin E, and reduced glutathione contents did not differ significantly between the 2 groups in this study, the phenolics may be the functional components contained in pomegranate juice that accounted for the observations.

In this era of information technology, computer has become indispensable in all fields, including Teaching of English as a Second Language. In India, the TESL has passed through various phases and methods involving technologies, though outdated today were popular then. This shows that throughout the ages, there was a constant search for a new method to realize the needs of the ESL learners. Recently, the concept of Second Language Acquisition has gained significance and linguists try various techniques to minimize the difference between First Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. Once such method which makes the best use of scientific advancements in TESL research is Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL).

Analytical solutions are obtained for a one-dimensional advection–diffusion equation with variable coefficients in a semi-infinite longitudinal domain. Three cases are considered. In the first one the solute dispersion is time dependent along a uniform flow and in the second case the dispersion and the velocity both are considered spatially dependent expressions, while in third case, dispersion and the velocity both have time and spatially dependent expressions in degenerate forms. In first and third cases the solutions may be used for different time dependent expressions. It has become possible by introducing new independent variables with the help of certain transformations.

Today world economy is more concerned about a disease which is much dangerous than swine flu, know as Global Financial Meltdown. The impact of GFM experienced by financial and economic systems around the world. The rising defaults on sub-prime mortgages in the US had triggered a global crisis for the financial markets. Many of the world’s leading investment banks have collapsed .The crisis has become one of the most radical reshaping of the global banking sector, as governments and the private sector battle to shore up the financial system following the disappearance of Lehman and Merrill as independent entities. The impact was so severe that it brought about new challenges for corporate around the world and were forced to initiate measures which left employees jobless and morale nose diving. The measures like salary cut, retrenchment /layoff became tools to tackle GFM.