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Yoghurt is most popular and more acceptable throughout the world because of its general positive image among consumers because of its diverse nutritional and therapeutic properties and can be the most suitable probiotic carrier. Key factors for consumer’s inclination towards functional foods are increased awareness for healthy foods because of health deterioration resulting from busy lifestyles, growing healthcare cost and the aspiration for an improved quality life in later years. Yoghurt is still not consumed in certain parts of the world because of a lack of a cultural tradition of consuming yogurt and further people are not aware of the health benefits associated with yogurt consumption. In this study an attempt has been to project probiotic yoghurt as a functional food in the current era of self-care and complementary medicine.

Attempt has been made to review the literature on the biochemical activities of yoghurt cultures and their behavior in association with diverse probiotic cultures. Both review and research papers related to biochemical activities and functional properties of yoghurt cultures in association with probiotics and their health benefits published in diverse journals under Pub Med and Science Direct have been considered. Keywords used for data search included functional foods, yoghurt, probiotic, health benefits, etc.

Functional properties of yoghurt can be further enhanced with fortification of minerals and vitamins or inclusion of probiotic cultures. Diversity in biochemical behavior yoghurt cultures in association with different probiotic cultures has been reported. Conjugated application of probiotics with yoghurt cultures would result in a product with enhanced functional properties to extend health benefits.

Inclusion of probiotic cultures in yoghurt is suggested to extend the functional properties of normal yoghurt, thus providing necessary nutrients, improving health and preventing or reducing nutrition-related diseases. Regular intake of probiotic yoghurt is suggested for healthy lifestyles, as it will help in retaining their health and reduce the potentially long-term risk of disease. Food industries can have profit-driven business by projecting the probiotic yoghurt as a functional food.

Preparing digital mock-ups (DMUs) for finite element analyses (FEAs) is currently a long and tedious task requiring many interactive CAD model transformations. Functional information about components appears to be very useful to speed this preparation process. The purpose of this paper is to shows how DMU components can be automatically enriched with some functional information.

DMUs are widespread and stand as reference model for product description. However, DMUs produced by industrial CAD systems essentially contain geometric models, which lead to tedious preparation of finite element Models (FEMs). Analysis and reasoning approaches are developed to automatically enrich DMUs with functional and kinematic properties. Indeed, geometric interfaces between components form a key starting point to analyze their behaviors under reference states. This is a first stage in a reasoning process to progressively identify mechanical, kinematic as well as functional properties of components.

Inferred semantics adds up to the pure geometric representation provided by a DMU and produce also geometrically structured components. Functional information connected to a structured geometric model of a component significantly improves FEM preparation and increases its robustness because idealizations can take place using components’ functions and components’ structure helps defining sub-domains of FEMs.

Future research will carry on improving algorithms for geometric interfaces identification, processing a wider range of component functions, which will contribute to a formalization of the concept of functional consistency of a DMU.

Simulation engineers benefit from this automated enrichment of DMUs with functional information to speed up the preparation of FEAs of large assemblies.

Graphene, which has abundant availability in nature, is currently under research for its functional applications in the field of textiles. The sp² Hybridized 1-atom-thick planar sheet has been under consideration for its unique electrical, mechanical and thermal properties, but there exists a void for aggregated data on the findings of other co-functional properties attained by the material using graphene oxide (GO) finish. This paper aims to define the techniques of extraction of GO, method of its application on textile material followed by detailed evaluation of the differential functional properties achieved.

The methodology used to explain the multiple functionalities of GO finish have been carried out by starting with the chemistry of graphene and the isolation of GO from graphite, followed by the techniques for its application on the textile along with the study on the induced functional properties that may aid to increase its potential applications.

It has been observed that with the aid of optimization of GO finish, the finish in lieu with the conductive potentialities may further provide with many essential properties such as hydrophobicity, ultraviolet protection and antibacterial property.

The field of research on GO finish is naive and except few properties, many functionalities are still unexplored that may enable its smooth production, handling and expanding its area of application. The agglomeration of scattered findings on the achievable functional properties of GO on various textiles has been achieved in this paper.

The purpose of this second part of this special issue is to contribute to a better understanding of the nature of Soviet society. It is not possible to analyse such a society in all its complexities within the space of one study. There are, however, some economic relations which determine society's major features. We believe that commodity‐production relations in the Soviet Union are of this type.

The aim of the paper is to present a preliminary study for the design of a new functional food by the incorporation of a collection of ingredients which are all based on an inexpensive by‐product of the food industries: apple pomace. The new product design was considered as a novel gelled dessert formulation which is functional, and totally nature‐based. In fact, the article reviews various raw materials obtainable from the source of apple pomace and gradually supports the hypothesis of such product design.

The current study was designed on the structural basis of paying attention to apple pomace as a byproduct and idea generation for product design, reviewing several ingredients based on apple pomace (available data from the literature) and discussing the suitability of such ingredients for a new functional product. Exclusive attention was made for the development of an apple‐pomace‐based gelled dessert targeting consumers on restricted diets such as diabetics and obese individuals. In these kinds of diets consumption of caloric sweeteners should be abandoned or decreased while increasing the amounts of dietary fibers and polyphenolic compounds can be health‐beneficial.

As an appropriate preliminary formula, amidated low methylester pectins were selected as gelling agents. High methylester pectins, phloridzin and quercetin were used as functional ingredients. Arabinose and fructose were considered as sweetening agents. Also, POPj (phloridzin oxidation product), which is a recently developed natural pigment, was offered as a colouring agent and citric acid for adjusting the pH. Apple specific flavours were also suggested to improve the consumer acceptance of the product. In each case, the evidences of functionalities considered for the target consumers (diabetics and obese individuals) were also discussed.

This fresh formula is novel and can attract both food industry and the consumers because of its natural and functional properties.

More and more organizations make parts of their information systems available to their business partners and often face integration and interoperability issues. To counter these problems, web services appeared as a promising technology to bridge the gap between organizations and their partners. While web services generally focus on the implementation of functional concerns (FC) such as ordering of goods, the reservation of flights, etc. also non‐functional concerns (NFC) such as security, reliable messaging, performance, and availability have to be addressed appropriately. The purpose of this paper is to identify web services' requirements.

In this paper the authors provide a survey on works in the area of NFCs in web services. After presenting a common terminology, the most important requirements in that context are presented. Further, the authors assess these works against the requirements.

The evaluation reveals that there is no approach that supports the requirements to a satisfying degree. Based on that, the authors motivate the need for a novel holistic approach to NFCs in web services.

The paper presents an extended version of one of the papers presented at iiWAS2010.

Cassava is a starchy crop with several industrial applications, but it deteriorates very fast after harvest. Refrigeration has been used to extend the storage life of the root and the starch isolated from the stored roots characterized. Hence, the purpose of this research is to investigate the chemical, functional, pasting and sensory properties of custard prepared from starch isolated from refrigerated cassava root.

Freshly harvest cassava root were cleaned and stored in a refrigerator operating at 4 °C for a period of one, two and three weeks. Starch was extracted from the fresh and stored roots using established method and custard prepared from each of the starch sample. The custard sample was analysed for amylose content, functional, pasting and sensory properties.

Amylose content in the pastes varied significantly from 18.45 to 25.45%. Refrigeration showed a significant impact on the swelling power of the custard, which could be linked to variation in amylose content. Colour and textural properties of the custard were similar across the samples suggesting a minimal impact of refrigeration on the isolated starch. Refrigerated cassava roots can produce acceptable custard with minimal changes in sensory properties if the storage period is closely monitored.

In a previous study, the authors have shown that starch and cooked paste may be made from stored cassava roots without substantial changes in the quality of these products. This study further confirms the possibility of using starch from the stored roots in food applications such as in custard formulation. No report has documented the properties of custard from starch obtained from refrigerated cassava root.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of aesthetics in female consumers' evaluation of apparel quality during the decision‐making process.

A qualitative research style was followed and unstructured interviews and focus group interviews were chosen as data‐collection methods. A total of 45 unstructured interviews were held with 15 adult career women. The researchers used certain stimuli during the interviews, the aim of which was to give the participants something concrete to react to, and to put them in a specific decision‐making situation.

It was found that the sensory, emotional and cognitive dimensions of the aesthetic experience play a major role when female consumers evaluate the quality of apparel products during the decision‐making stage. The product's design and materials bring about these aesthetic dimensions. Especially colour and texture play major roles in bringing about the necessary aesthetic experiences.

Retailers and e‐tailers should purposively draw their customers' attentions to the linkage between physical properties that influence important functional properties that may play a role in the satisfaction that consumers will experience when wearing the item. Findings have further implications for retailers' and e‐tailers' fashion merchandising strategies related to buyers and visual merchandisers.

Sorghum is a vital cereal crop and staple food for many peoples around the globe having good nutritional and health-promoting bioactive compounds and recently received great attention as gluten-free food. However, sorghum grains contain low β-glucans contents, dietary fibre polysaccharides with great technological and disease prevention properties, and improving the concentration of these compounds in sorghum is very important. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the physicochemical and starch properties of high β-glucan sorghum inbred line (Tabat-NL) in comparison with two commercial cultivars (Wadakar and Tabat-C).

Grain samples of sorghum cultivars: white colour and low tannin cultivar (Tabat-C), red colour and high tannin sorghum, and new inbred line of white sorghum cultivar (Tabat-NL) were carefully cleaned, examined for physical properties (colour, hectolitre and 1,000 kernel weights, and endosperm texture), and ground to flour and assessed for chemical composition (moisture, protein, ash, carbohydrate, sugars, fibre and β-glucan contents). The starch was extracted and investigated for morphological characteristics and functional properties.

The results showed that Tabat-NL grains contain significantly (p=0.05) higher values of 1,000 kernel weight, hectolitre weight, total carbohydrate, amylopectin, dietary fibre and β-glucan compared to Tabat-C and Wadakar. Tabat-NL starch had greater (p=0.05) gelatinization temperature, viscosity, bulk density, and water and oil holding capacities and lower (p=0.05) acidity compared to Tabat-C and Wadakar.

The outcomes of this study demonstrated that Tabat-NL grains had an excellent marketing and milling properties, health-promoting and disease-preventing potentials, and technological features for uses in functional and speciality foods.

To the best of our understating, this is the first study on the evaluation of sorghum cultivar with high β-glucan content and could thus provide the bases for further development and application of this important food grains.

The aim of this study is to investigate older people's perceptions, across eight European countries (the UK, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Italy), towards functional foods.

The repertory grid method was used to elicit reasons underlying preferences of five yoghurts with different functional properties and two conventional ones.

Familiarity was the key driver in products' separation. For the Italian case, as well as the Spanish, Portuguese, Danish and Swedish the first principal axis could be interpreted as novel‐common axis, whilst it was not in the UK, Germany and Poland.

Behavioural intention to buy functional yoghurts was more strongly predicted and moderated by single item perceived need (PN) than single item affective and/or cognitive attitude (AA, CA), even though PN, AA and CA could be consistently assessed within the same latent measure (in all countries but Denmark). Nevertheless, beliefs/attitudes towards a novel category of products such as functional foods may be reasonably keeping moving.

In this study, preference instructions pertaining to beneficial and imagery attributes, revealed idiosyncratic properties associated with functional yoghurts across eight European samples of older people.