What’s in a Drink that you calla Chai? Quality Attributes and Hedonic Price Analysis of Tea

India is one of the leading producers and exporters of tea. However, in the last two decades its share in the world exports has gone down considerably. On the other hand, although the domestic market is large, the per capita consumption in India is one of the lowest in the world. Therefore, Indian growers, processors, and traders could focus their attention to cultivate and expand the domestic market as a buffer against the vicissitudes of export performance. As a first step in their competitive strategy, Indian tea industry may want to understand the valuation consumers place on various quality attributes of tea. This can be done by applying hedonic price analysis to the data on prices and the quality attributes of tea. In this paper, we applied the hedonic price analysis to the data on 43 Indian tea brands. Based on performance of regression equations, exponential functional form was selected for the Box-Cox transformation, where price of tea brands was taken as the dependent variable and quality attributes of tea were considered as independent variables. Indian consumers seemed to attach importance to two quality attributes, aroma and colour. No significant value is attached to flavour and strength of tea. Premium is attached to the tea types CTC Leaf, Teabags, and CTC Fanning in that order over the type CTC Dust. Based on these results, stakeholders in the tea industry may want to enhance or reduce some of the quality attributes during the tea blending process. The newly blended teas may be marketed through aggressive generic promotions to increase overall consumption and/or through firm specific advertisements to improve market share.

Quality Attributes and Hedonic Price Analysis of Ghee

In the post-WTO scenario processed food industry is witnessing intra-industry trade, i.e., trade in similar products. It also means that there will be intense competition between foreign and Indian companies in the domestic market. This competition will compel companies to focus their attention on product differentiation and branding. This is possible if companies prepare themselves to be quality competitive. In order to be quality competitive, firms have to understand consumers perception and valuation of various quality attributes. Hedonic price analysis, a methodology used for this purpose, is extensively used for processed food products in developed countries. However, it has not been applied to Indian food markets. We conduct a hedonic price analysis of a typical Indian processed food product - ghee. Results indicate that consumers are willing to pay a premium for branded over non-branded ghee, and, for corporate brands over cooperative brands. Flavour is an important quality attribute valued by consumers. While texture is not that important, an agreement needs to be developed on whether or not there is an ideal colour attribute for ghee. The results imply that branding generates reputation, and, cooperatives may want to enhance their brand equity. Firms may do well in improving flavour to enhance ghee quality. Another implication is that large firms and other organizations need to generate data on measurements of food quality attributes so that hedonic price analysis can be effectively used for strategic food quality management.

SHI induced nano track polymer filters and characterization

Swift heavy ion irradiation produces damage in polymers in the form of latent tracks. Latent tracks can be enlarged by etching it in a suitable etchant and thus nuclear track etch membrane can be formed for gas permeation / purification in particular for hydrogen where the molecular size is very small. By applying suitable and controlled etching conditions well defined tracks can be formed for specific applications of the membranes. After etching gas permeation method is used for characterizing the tracks. In the present work polycarbonate (PC) of various thickness were irradiated with energetic ion beam at Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi. Nuclear tracks were modified by etching the PC in 6N NaOH at 60 (±1) oC from both sides for different times to produce track etch membranes. At critical etch time the etched pits from both the sides meet a rapid increase in gas permeation was observed. Permeability of hydrogen and carbon dioxide has been measured in samples etched for different times. The latent tracks produced by SHI irradiation in the track etch membranes show enhancement of free volume of the polymer. Nano filters are separation devices for the mixture of gases, different ions in the solution and isotopes and isobars separations. The polymer thin films with controlled porosity finding it self as best choice. However, the permeability and selectivity of these polymer based membrane filters are very important at the nano scale separation. The Swift Heavy Ion (SHI) induced nuclear track etched polymeric films with controlled etching have been attempted and characterized as nano scale filters.E-mail : [email protected] of Physics, University of Rajasthan,Jaipur-302 004, Indi

Synthesis and characterization of selected fused isoxazole and pyrazole derivatives and their antimicrobial activity

New potent antibacterials, fused isoxazole and pyrazole derivatives, were synthesized using 5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione (1) and 3-[(4-chlorobenzylidene)amino]-2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-one (2) as synthons. Aromatic aldehydes on condensation with 1 and 2 gave 2-arylidene-5,5-dimethylcyclohexane-1,3-dione (3) and 5-arylidene-3-[(4-chlorobenzylidene)amino]-2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-one (4), respectively. Compounds 3 and 4 were forced to undergo heterocyclization reaction with nucleophilic reagents to give the title compounds. The newly synthesized heterocyles (5–8) were characterized based on their chemical properties and spectroscopic data, and were found to inhibit Staphylococcus aureus and Corynebacterium diphtheriae

Sustainable Catalytic Process for Synthesis of Triethyl Citrate Plasticizer over Phosphonated USY Zeolite

Fruits wastage is harmful to health and environment concerning spreading diseases and soil pollution, respectively. To avoid this issue, use of citrus fruit waste for the production of citric acid (CA) is one of viable mean to obtain value added chemicals. Moreover, synthesis of triethyl citrate (TEC), a non-toxic plasticizer by esterification of CA with ethanol over heterogeneous catalyst would be renewable and sustainable catalytic process. In this context, parent Ultrastable Y (USY) and different percentage phosphonated USY (P-USY) zeolites were used for the synthesis of TEC in a closed batch reactor, for the first time. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by N2-adsorption desorption isotherm, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and NH3 temperature programmed desorption (TPD. Effect of reaction conditions, such as the molar ratio of ethanol to CA (5:1 - 20:1), the catalyst to CA ratio (0.05 - 0.25) and reaction temperature (363-403 K), were studied in view to maximizing CA conversion and TEC yield. Phosphonated USY catalysts were found to be superior in activity (CA conversion and TEC yield) than parent USY, which is attributed to the increased in total acidity with phosphonation. Among the studied catalysts, the P2USY (2% phosphorous loaded on USY) was found to be an optimum catalyst with 99% CA conversion and 82% TEC yield, which is higher than the reported values. This study opens new avenues of research demonstrating principles of green chemistry such as easy separable and reusable catalyst, non-toxic product, bio-renewable synthetic route, milder operating parameters and waste minimization.

Synthesis of Al and Ag nanoparticles through ultra-sonic dissociation of thermal evaporation deposited thin films for promising clinical applications as polymer nanocomposite

Nanoparticles (NPs) having well-defined shape, size and clean surface serve as ideal model system to investigate surface/interfacial reactions. Ag and Al NPs are receiving great interest due to their wide applications in bio-medical field, aerospace and space technology as combustible additives in propellants and hydrogen generation. Hence, in this study, we have synthesized Ag and Al NPs using an innovative approach of ultra-sonic dissociation of thin films. Phase and particle size distributions of the Ag and Al NPs have been determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Thin film dissociation/dissolution mechanism, hence conversion into NPs has been characterized by SEM- scanning electron microscope. EDXA & ICPMS have been performed for chemical analysis of NPs. Optical properties have been characterized by UV-Vis and PL spectroscopy. These NPs have also been investigated for their anti-bacterial activity against Escherichia coli bacteria. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time when NPs has been synthesized by ultra-sonic dissociation of thin films. As an application, these NPs were used further for synthesis of nanocomposite polymer membranes, which show excellent activity against bio film formation

1 H-cyclopropa[b]naphthalene: A novel ethylene antagonist for extending storage life and maintaining quality of climacteric and suppressed climacteric plums

Ethylene is a key trigger that governs the rate of fruit ripening, storability, and postharvest quality of fresh fruit. Efficient inhibition of ethylene action is essential to slow down the postharvest ripening processes, extend storage life and maintain optimum fruit quality during storage. Ethylene antagonist compounds with the likelihood of application as liquid formulation would facilitate managing ethylene broadly as both preharvest and/or postharvest treatments. This study examined the effects of different aqueous formulations of 1 H-cyclopropa[b]naphthalene (NC) as an ethylene antagonist in the cold stored (1 °C) Japanese plums ‘Angeleno’ (suppressed-climacteric) and ‘Tegan Blue’, which exhibit climacteric peaks, respectively. NC was applied as a 2 M spray solution prepared using only distilled water (NCA), 5% ethanol (NCE), 0.02% Tween 20 (NCT), 5% -cyclodextrin (NCD) or a 1 M fumigant for 18 h at ambient conditions (20 ± 1 °C). Regardless of formulation, NC retarded ethylene production in both the suppressed-climacteric and climactic cultivars. The capacity of NC to suppress ethylene production was relatively higher in ‘Angeleno’ than in ‘Tegan Blue’. Levels of bioactive compounds such as total phenols, total anthocyanins and total antioxidant capacity in fruit treated with NC were at par with the control. NC fumigation was the most effective treatment in suppressing ethylene production and maintaining fruit quality followed by NCE, NCT, NCD and NCA in both plum cultivars. Amongst the NC spray solutions, the ones with ethanol or Tween 20 as adjuvants outperformed other solutions. Ethylene production positively correlated with weight loss, SSC, SSC: TA and concentrations of individual sugars, but was negatively correlated with firmness, titratable acidity (TA) and individual organic acids in both cultivars. The results also support the notion that ethylene has a role in the synthesis of phenolic compounds and anthocyanin depending on the sugar substrates present in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways

Postharvest fruit quality of apple influenced by ethylene antagonist fumigation and ozonized cold storage

The effects of two new ethylene antagonists namely 1H-cyclopropabenzene (BC) and 1H-cyclopropa[b]naphthalene (NC), as well as 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on ethylene production and fruit quality of Cripps Pink and Granny Smith apple in ozonized cold storage, were investigated. When compared to control, Cripps Pink fruit fumigated with BC and NC exhibited significantly lowest ethylene production and respiration, whilst the Granny Smith fruit treated with 1-MCP exhibited lowest ethylene production followed by NC and BC treatments. Application of ozone in cold storage maintained higher levels of sugars but elevated ethylene production in both the apple cultivars. No significant interaction was recorded between ethylene antagonists and ozone application in cold storage on the ethylene production, respiration and other fruit quality parameters. In conclusion, results suggest that BC and NC are potential ethylene antagonists in Cripps Pink and Granny Smith apples during the cold storage

Postharvest fruit quality of apple influenced by ethylene antagonist fumigation and ozonized cold storage

The effects of two new ethylene antagonists namely 1H-cyclopropabenzene (BC) and 1H-cyclopropa[b]naphthalene (NC), as well as 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) on ethylene production and fruit quality of Cripps Pink and Granny Smith apple in ozonized cold storage, were investigated. When compared to control, Cripps Pink fruit fumigated with BC and NC exhibited significantly lowest ethylene production and respiration, whilst the Granny Smith fruit treated with 1-MCP exhibited lowest ethylene production followed by NC and BC treatments. Application of ozone in cold storage maintained higher levels of sugars but elevated ethylene production in both the apple cultivars. No significant interaction was recorded between ethylene antagonists and ozone application in cold storage on the ethylene production, respiration and other fruit quality parameters. In conclusion, results suggest that BC and NC are potential ethylene antagonists in Cripps Pink and Granny Smith apples during the cold storage