The Development and Application of a Tool for Quantifying the Strength of Voluntary Actions and Commitments of Major Canadian Food Companies to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Their Products

ABSTRACT Background Canada's food supply is high in nutrients of public health concern, contributing to poor diet quality and increased noncommunicable disease risk. Food companies shape the healthfulness of the food supply, yet little is known about companies’ voluntary actions and commitments concerning product (re)formulation. Objective This study aimed to develop and apply a tool for quantifying the strength of voluntary actions and commitments of major food companies in Canada to improve the healthfulness of their products. Methods Twenty-two top packaged food and beverage companies were selected based on Canadian market share. Recent actions and/or commitments to reduce energy/portion sizes, sodium, saturated fat, trans fat, and sugars were identified from company websites and public documents, verified by company representatives (where possible), and scored based on breadth of application across the product portfolio, magnitude(s) of reduction, measurability, nutritional significance, national/global applicability, and transparency using the Food Company Reformulation scoring tool. Companies offering beverages only (n = 4) were not assessed for sodium, saturated fat, or trans fat (re)formulation. Results Seventeen of 22 companies reported reductions and/or commitments concerning sodium (72.2%, n = 13/18), trans fat (61.1%, n = 11/18), sugars (59.1%, n = 13/22), saturated fat (55.6%, n = 10/18), and/or energy/portion sizes (50.0%, n = 11/22). Scores ranged from 0/155 to 122/155 for food companies (median = 49/155) and 0/65 to 42/65 for beverage companies (median = 17/65). Companies generally performed best for sodium reduction (median = 21/32; range = 0–32) and poorest for energy/portion-size reductions (median = 2/30; range = 0–24). Multinational companies had significantly higher total scores than domestic companies (P = 0.004). Higher total scores were associated with greater market shares in the beverage manufacturing sector (P = 0.04), but not packaged food (P = 0.50). Conclusions Many of Canada's leading food companies report limited or no action to reduce nutrients of concern in their products, suggesting a need for government intervention and strengthened accountability mechanisms to encourage alignment of reformulation efforts with government and expert recommendations.

Dynamical behavior of the universe: An entropic force scenario

Entropic force originates in the assumption that there is a horizon for the universe. This horizon gives rise to additional terms in the equations of motion. Using dynamical system calculations, our results show that in the presence of dark energy for certain conditions, the last attractor of this theory will be dark energy epoch, but in the absence of dark energy, entropic force energy portion will have the lead role in the late time universe and is responsible for accelerated expansion of that. Interestingly, assuming both entropic force terms and dark energy to have their share of energy density of the universe, we have found that, in certain conditions entropic force dominated epoch is a stable fixed point while the dark energy epoch is a saddle point.

An empirical derivation of the X-ray optic transmission profile used in calibrating the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) for Mars 2020

Calibration of the prototype Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) selected for Mars 2020 has commenced with an empirical derivation of the X-ray optic transmission profile. Through a straightforward method of dividing a measured “blank” spectrum over one calculated assuming no optic influence, a rudimentary profile was formed. A simple boxcar-smoothing algorithm was implemented to approximate the complete profile that was incorporated into PIQUANT. Use of this form of smoothing differs from the more conventional approach of using a parameter-based function to complete the profile. Comparison of element-specific correction factors, taken from a measurement of NIST SRM 610, was used to assess the accuracy of the new profile. Improvement in the low- to mid-energy portion of the data was apparent though the high-energy region diverged from unity, and thus, requires further refinement.

ENERGETIC REGULARITIES OF PULSE LOADING BY SYSTEMS WITH INTERMEDIATE LINK

The investigations carried out deal with the re-gularity study in the distribution of shock pulse energy at multiple procedures of loading. The experimental researches were carried out on the specially developed test bench in which under all waveguides (or tools) of the shock system there were situated independently (separately) sensors connected with an oscilloscope registering parameters of a shock pulse (a form, amplitude, duration). As a result it was determined that the increase of the eccentricity in the symmetry axis location of a head and a waveguide (or a tool) and their number in the shock system contributes to the reduction of an energy portion sent to the deformation source. The application of multi-contact schemes of loading allows sending large total energy of a shock pulse to the deformation source to accept conditions of experiment fulfillment. At that the energy portion of a shock pulse fall-ing to each waveguide (or a tool) in the multicontact scheme as compared with the singlecontact one decreases (for rod-formed waveguides by 20%, and for spherical tools – by 15%) at the installation of each subsequent waveguide (or a tool) in the shock system.

Facile Synthesis of Ag-Coated Cu2O Nanospheres for Improved Photocatalytic Activity

ABSTRACTThe present study details facile synthesis of hollow Cu2O nanospheres decorated with Ag nanoparticles using a simple surfactant technique for enhanced photocatalytic activity. The morphology and structure is studied via XRD and SEM. Cu2O hollow nanospheres with a diameter of 500-800 nm were synthesized via Ostwald ripening using CuSO4 aqueous solution. The catalytic activity of Cu2O is studied in the presence of UV and visible light using Methyl Orange (MO) as a model pollutant. Ag decorated Cu2O particles showed a 49% increase in photocatalytic activity over the undecorated Cu2O. The improved photocatalytic activity is achieved by surface plasmon resonance effects in the silver nanoparticles, allowing utilization of the lower energy portion of the solar spectrum.

Obtaining the Varshni potential function using the 2-body Kaxiras-Pandey parameters

A generalized version of the Varshni potential function was adopted by Kaxiras and Pandey for describing the 2-body energy portion of multi-body condensed matter. The former's simplicity and resemblance to a Morse potential allows faster computation while the latter's greater number of parameters allows better curve-fitting of spectroscopic data. This paper shows one set of parameter conversion from the Varshni function to the 2-body portion of the Kaxiras-Pandey function, and vice versa two sets of parameter conversion. The latter two sets reveal good correlation between plotted curves, and were verified by the imposition of equal energy curvatures at equilibrium and equal energy integral from equilibrium to dissociation. These parameter conversions can also be attained more easily by equating the product of indices (for short range) and the summation of index reciprocals (for long range).

Low- and medium-energy kinetic theory of a particle-beam generated plasma

The electron distribution fonction in a particle-beam generated plasma is derived in its low- and medium-energy portion (under the first excitation threshold) from a Boltzmann equation, which contains elastic and inelastic collisional processes and a continuous source term. This equation is analytically solved and we discuss the importance of the non-Maxwellian deviations and their consequences for the determination of macroscopic values such as electron density or ‘temperature’. A numerical discussion is included for the case of an argon plasma created by a high-energy electron beam between 103 and 106 eV.