EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA); Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for protein

This opinion of the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) deals with the setting of Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) for protein. The Panel concludes that a Population Reference Intake (PRI) can be derived from nitrogen balance studies. Several health outcomes possibly associated with protein intake were also considered but data were found to be insufficient to establish DRVs. For healthy adults of both sexes, the average requirement (AR) is 0.66 g protein/kg body weight per day based on nitrogen balance data. Considering the 97.5th percentile of the distribution of the requirement and assuming an efficiency of utilisation of dietary protein for maintenance of 47 %, the PRI for adults of all ages was estimated to be 0.83 g protein/kg body weight per day and is applicable both to high quality protein and to protein in mixed diets. For children from six months onwards, age-dependent requirements for growth estimated from average daily rates of protein deposition and adjusted by a protein efficiency for growth of 58 % were added to the requirement for maintenance of 0.66 g/kg body weight per day. The PRI was estimated based on the average requirement plus 1.96 SD using a combined SD for growth and maintenance.For pregnancy, an intake of 1, 9 and 28 g/d in the first, second and third trimesters, respectively, is proposed in addition to the PRI for non-pregnant women. For lactation, a protein intake of 19 g/d during the first six months, and of 13 g/d after six months, is proposed in addition to the PRI for non-lactating women. Data are insufficient to establish a Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for protein. Intakes up to twice the PRI are regularly consumed from mixed diets by some physically active and healthy adults in Europe and are considered safe

Dynamic modeling of Boiler drum using nonlinear system identification approach

Thermal power generation plays a major role in meeting present-day power demands. Efficient and economic controls of crucial elements like steam boiler section need superior control mechanism to ensure better efficiency. Identification of model, dynamics is a formidable task due to the strong coupling of process variables, nonlinearities in the dynamics and constraints on the control inputs. This paper presents the application of nonlinear modeling techniques to estimate boiler drum dynamics in terms of nonlinear model framework which is one of the important requirements for the design of drum water level controls schemes. The historical plant data for estimation is collected from boiler of 210 MW, Stage-II, Boiler-4 of Dr. Narla Tata Rao Thermal power Corporation (NTTPC) Ibrahimpatnam, Vijayawada. Different operating conditions are selected to estimate the nonlinear dynamics of the boiler to check with the existing Hammerstein, Wiener, model frame works. Later the nonlinear framework is modified to estimate other nonlinearities present in the system. The estimated model responses are presented to check the boiler dynamics

Impact of Climate Change on Host-Pathogen Interacons and its Implicaons on Crop Disease

Not AvailableNatural and human activities have increased the greenhouse emissions and st it will continue to boost global temperature in the 21 century. In this paper, we discuss the profound impact of climate on plant diseases — if the climatic conditions are not favourable to disease, a vulnerable host will not be infected by a virulent pathogen. Variable concentrations of CO , temperature, and availability 2 of water may induce positive, neutral, or negative effects on disease development. Nevertheless, the basic concept of interactions of host-pathogen-environment may theoretically be applied to all pathosystems. Environmental factors also inuence different pathways of plant resistance viz., pathogen pattern-triggered immunity, effector-triggered immunity, RNA interference, and other networks of defence-related hormones. On the pathogen hand, temperature and humidity affect the processes of virulence, such as the development of toxins and virulence proteins, as well as reproduction and survival of pathogenic substances. Most of the laboratory works so far conducted on molecular-level plant-pathogen interactions focused on a few well-established pathosystems and static environmental conditions that represent just a fraction of the whole gamut of complex plant-pathogen-environmental interactions that occur in nature. To address the impacts of climate change on host plant resistance, the future work is urgently required to understand the complex plant-pathogen interactions under variable environmental conditions to understand the multidimensional nature of the interactions and develop climate-ready disease-resistant crop plants.Not Availabl

Climate Change and Indian Agriculture: Challenges and Adaptation Strategies

Not AvailableNoNatural and human activities have increased the greenhouse emissions and st it will continue to boost global temperature in the 21 century. In this paper, we discuss the profound impact of climate on plant diseases — if the climatic conditions are not favourable to disease, a vulnerable host will not be infected by a virulent pathogen. Variable concentrations of CO , temperature, and availability 2 of water may induce positive, neutral, or negative effects on disease development. Nevertheless, the basic concept of interactions of host-pathogen-environment may theoretically be applied to all pathosystems. Environmental factors also int AvailableDirector ICAR-NAARM Hyderabad - 500 03

Electroless nano zinc oxide–activate carbon composite supercapacitor electrode

An electroless deposition process was used to synthesize the nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO)–activated carbon (AC) as supercapacitor. The composite oxide was studied by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The electrochemical performance of the nanocomposite was analyzed through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and AC impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 0.1 M Na2SO4 as electrolyte. A specific capacitance 187 F g−1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s−1 was obtained using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and a nearly rectangular shaped CV curve was observed for the composite oxide. The supercapacitor was quite stable during charge–discharge cycling and exhibited constant capacitance during the long-term cycling. It also yielded a specific capacitance 171 F g−1 at 5 mA cm−2 with a high energy density of 21.9 Wh kg−1 and 4.2 kW kg−1 of power density. Due to unique structure of prepared ZnO–AC nanocomposite, it is a promising candidate for supercapacitor