Prospects of indirect searches for dark matter annihilations in the earth with ICAL@INO

We study the prospects of detecting muon events at the upcoming Iron CALorimeter (ICAL) detector to be built at the proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) facility due to neutrinos arising out of annihilation of Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMP) in the centre of the earth. The atmospheric neutrinos coming from the direction of earth core presents an irreducible background. We consider 50kt $\times$ 10 years of ICAL running and WIMP masses between 10-100 GeV and present 90 \% C.L. exclusion sensitivity limits on $\sigma_{SI}$ which is the WIMP-nucleon Spin Independent (SI) interaction cross-section. The expected sensitivity limits calculated for ICAL for the WIMP annihilation in the earth are more stringent than the limits obtained by any other indirect detection experiment. For a WIMP mass of ~$52.14 \textup{ GeV}$, where the signal fluxes are enhanced due to resonance capture of WIMP in earth due to Fe nuclei, the sensitivity limits, assuming 100\% branching ratio for each channel, are : $\sigma_{SI} =1.02\times 10^{-44}~cm^2$ for the $\tau^{+} \tau^{-}$ channel and $\sigma_{SI} =5.36\times 10^{-44} ~cm^2$ for the $b ~\bar{b}$ channel.Comment: 20 pages, 1 table and 11 figure

Neutrino Physics with Non-Standard Interactions at INO

Non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) involved in neutrino propagation inside Earth matter could potentially alter atmospheric neutrino fluxes. In this work, we look at the impact of these NSI on the signal at the ICAL detector to be built at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). We show how the sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy of ICAL changes in the presence of NSI. The mass hierarchy sensitivity is shown to be rather sensitive to the NSI parameters $\epsilon_{e\mu}$ and $\epsilon_{e\tau}$, while the dependence on $\epsilon_{\mu\tau}$ and $\epsilon_{\tau\tau}$ is seen to be very mild, once the $\chi^2$ is marginalised over oscillation and NSI parameters. If the NSI are large enough, the event spectrum at ICAL is expected to be altered and this can be used to discover new physics. We calculate the lower limit on NSI parameters above which ICAL could discover NSI at a given C.L. from 10 years of data. If NSI were too small, the null signal at ICAL can constrain the NSI parameters. We give upper limits on the NSI parameters at any given C.L. that one is expected to put from 10 years of running of ICAL. Finally, we give C.L. contours in the NSI parameter space that is expected to be still allowed from 10 years of running of the experiment.Comment: 24 pages, minor improvement

A Comprehensive Review Of Ethnopharmacology, Phytochemistry And Pharmacology Of Some Medicinal And Edible Mushrooms

Since mushrooms have long been utilized throughout traditional medical practices curiosity about exploring mushrooms scientifically and their possible health advantages is rising. Polysaccharides, sterols, and phenolic compounds are just a few of the bioactive substances that can be found in mushrooms and have a positive impact on human health. The study of how different cultures have used mushrooms in traditional medicine is what makes mushrooms relevant from an ethnopharmacological perspective. Mushrooms have a wide variety of ethnopharmacological uses, and these uses change according to culture and mushroom species. Although the scientific study of mushrooms is still in its infancy, the preliminary findings are encouraging. There is proof that mushrooms can boost the immune system, lower cholesterol, reduce inflammation, stop the spread of cancer cells, and protect cells from free radical damage. We will probably discover much more information on the health advantages of mushrooms as further research is conducted. A useful source of knowledge about the possible health advantages of mushrooms is their ethnopharmacological relevance. From the present review, knowledge about ethnobotany, phytochemistry, and pharmacology can be utilised to direct scientific study and create new health-improving products made from mushrooms. &nbsp

Phytochemical Investigations of Crown of Solanum melongena fruit

The crown of Solanum melongena was removed from fruit, dried, extracted and percentage yield was calculated. Phytochemical examination of the methanolic and aqueous extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, steroids, tannins/ phenolics, flavonoids, proteins and carbohydrates. It was concluded that the extracts of crown contains important constituents for pharmacological activities.Keywords: Solanum melongena; eggplant; phytochemical screening; Crow

Phytochemical Investigations of Crown of Solanum melongena fruit

The crown of Solanum melongena was removed from fruit, dried, extracted and percentage yield was calculated. Phytochemical examination of the methanolic and aqueous extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, steroids, tannins/ phenolics, flavonoids, proteins and carbohydrates. It was concluded that the extracts of crown contains important constituents for pharmacological activities.Keywords: Solanum melongena; eggplant; phytochemical screening; Crow

Assessing the Environmental and Economic Sustainability of Functional Food Ingredient Production Process

Development and application of novel technologies in food processing is vital for ensuring the availability of adequate, safe, and convenient food with the desired quality and functional properties. Environmental and economic sustainability of technologies is essential prior to their application in the food processing sector. The objective of this research is to determine the environmental and economic feasibility of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) for recovering functional food ingredients from seaweed. Experimental data is used to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) to investigate the environmental performance with a functional unit (FU) of obtaining 1 g of extracted polyphenols, measured as gallic acid equivalents (mg GAE)/g seaweed. A life cycle impact assessment is performed with ReCiPe 2016 at midpoint. The cost of manufacturing (COM) of phenolic-rich extracts (as functional ingredient, bioactive, or nutraceutical) is estimated using time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC). The environmental profile findings show that across all categories, the UAE has considerably lower impacts than the conventional method, with electricity as the most important impact contributor, followed by solvent production. An economic assessment estimates the COM over a one-year period at a large scale using the UAE to be EUR 1,200,304, EUR 2,368,440, and EUR 4,623,290 for extraction vessel capacities of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15 m3, respectively. Raw materials (including the type of raw material) and operational labour costs are the primary contributors to the COM. The findings thus present evidence to support the adoption of an environmentally and economically viable technology for functional ingredient production

Bio-Waste to Bio-Based

Research projects are currently underway in Teagasc and UCD todevelop cleaner and greener pre-treatment technologies forconversion of ‘bio-waste’ into ‘bio-based’ products withpotential applications in food, feed and biofuel. These projectshave the potential to significantly reduce the burden on land usefor protein and biofuels, not only in Ireland/Europe butworldwide, along with dramatically improving the conversionefficiencies of current bio-based production technologies.Moreover, these can significantly reduce the ever-increasingenvironmental problem of waste management and landfill usefor waste deposition

A Review of Alternative Proteins For Vegan Diets: Sources, Physico-Chemical Properties, Nutritional Equivalency, and Consumer Acceptance

Alternate proteins are gaining popularity as a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to animal-based proteins. These proteins are often considered healthier and are suitable for people following a vegetarian or vegan diet. Alternative proteins can be recovered from natural sources like legumes, grains, nuts, and seeds, while single cell proteins (mycoproteins), and algal proteins are being developed using cutting-edge technology to grow fungus, yeast and algal cells in a controlled environment, creating a more sustainable source of protein. Although, the demand for alternative protein products is increasing, there still happens to be a large gap in use among the general consumers mainly stemming from its lower bioavailability, lack of nutritional equivalency and reduced digestibility compared to animal proteins. The focus of the review is to emphasize on various sources and technologies for recovering alternative proteins for vegan diets. The review discusses physicochemical properties of alternative proteins and emphasise on the role of various processing technologies that can change the digestibility and bioavailability of these proteins. It further accentuates the nutritional equivalency and environmental sustainability of alternative protein against the conventional proteins from animals. The food laws surrounding alternative proteins as well as the commercial potential and consumer acceptance of alternative protein products are also highlighted. Finally, key challenges to improve the consumer acceptability and market value of plant-based proteins would be in achieving nutrient equivalency and enhance bioavailability and digestibility while maintaining the same physicochemical properties, taste, texture, as animal proteins, has also been highlighted

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration, Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic