May 2019

Background: Worldwide consumer’s consumption patterns are one of the prime cause of environmental deterioration. It is a threat to social and economic stability and sustainable human existence. As the environment continues to worsen, it has become a crucial concern across the globe for environmentalists, organizations, governments and people in general to encourage and adopt green behavior. Much has been done in this direction starting from national level policies to organizations making green products. Eco-conscious business leaves no stone unturned in providing eco-information to the prospective customers through ad-campaigns, usage of various eco-labels. Yet literature suggests that it seems to hardly affect consumer’s purchase decision. Eco-information is considered to be a definite concern but purchase is guided by personal interest. This situation is a call for now applying behavior modification techniques to pull customer towards purchase of environment friendly products. Objective: This study is an attempt to understand how reinforcement schedules can be used by marketers to modify consumer behavior towards green products. The study aims at using empirical methodology in identifying pull factors to motivate green behavior through reinforcement schedules. Method: For this study, A self administered questionnaire with 15 items was developed to collect data from 184 respondents to analyse the different reinforcement schedules with respect to green products.Results: The results of our study reveal that although it is only the customer’s psyche that makes him switch to green products, but there are a few reinforcement schedules that can be used to induce the same. Conclusion: Companies should advertise their green products to not only increase awareness, but also to make the product familiar to customers and also provide discounts to induce the sale of green products. Also, government should support the companies producing green products and should positively and negatively motivate customers to purchase green products.

Antioxidants are compounds with large industrial applicationin the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical and food sectors. Anthocyanins are thermosensitive natural pigments with important antioxidant and biofunctional action, and can be better preserved if kept encapsulated. This treatment can be performed by different techniques, among them spray-dying and lyophilization. The objective of this study was to determine the thermal profile of single samples (anthocyanins and gum arabic) and materials obtained by treatment with spray-drying and lyophilization and to evaluate the efficiency of each technique in the encapsulation of anthocyanins. All samples were analyzed by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The values of temperature and melting enthalpy for pure compounds and treated materials were also determined. The results showed the microparticles formation containing anthocyanins in the samples treated by spray-drying; and the thermograms obtained by DSC indicated the occurrence of encapsulation for these samples, being this result confirmed by SEM analyzes.

Under the magnetic field, the shear stress and apparent viscosity of Magneto Rheological Fluid (MRF) increase significantly. The shear stress ranges from 1.08 kPa to 12 kPa, and the apparent viscosity ranges from 2.5 Pa•s to 28.7 kPa•s. When the magnetic field is constant, the shear stress increases and tends to stabilize with the increase of shear rate, and there exists shear thinning phenomenon. The shear yield stress calculated by Bingham and Casson models is 1043Pa ~ 8825Pa. With the increase of magnetic field, the shear stress of MRF increases remarkably, ranging from 200 Pa to 11 kPa.

Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is the most common neurological complication of cancer treatment. The prevention and management of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) remains a challenge. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of prophylactic cryotherapy on taxol- induced neuropathy. Methodology: Forty patients with breast cancer were assigned into two equal groups (group I & group II): Group (I) received cryotherapy (the cooled mitts and slippers) and group (II) received the un cooled mitts and slippers along the 12 taxol cycles for 15minutes before the dose ,60 minutes during the dose, 15 minutes after the dose, the total cooling time was 90 minutes on both sides. Modified Total Neuropathy Score (mTNS) was used to assessseverity of taxol-induced neuropathy. The sural nerve action potential amplitude (SNAPA) was measured pre and post treatment using the Russian electrophysiolgical equipment. Results : There was a statistically significant reduction in the mean value of sural SNAPA in both groups post treatment with more significant reduction in the control group compared with the study group. while,there was a statistically significant increase in the median value of mTNS in both groups post treatment with more significant increase in the control group compared with the study group. Conclusion: The cryotherapy reduces the incidence and severity of taxol -induced neuropathy, so cryotherapy is non invasive, inexpensive, safe and effective strategy for reduction of taxol- induced neuropathy in cancer patients receiving taxol treatment.