Metal–organic frameworks for active food packaging. A review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Food wastage is a major concern for sustainable health and agriculture. To reduce food waste, classical preservation techniques such as drying, pasteurization,...     

Public disclosures: using information to reduce pollution in developing countries

The failure of formal regulation and market-based approaches to control pollution has highlighted the significance of informal regulation in the form of ‘public disclosure’ and ‘rating’ for achieving environmental goals in the nineties. In developing countries where pollution information is often scarce, disclosure can make a firm’s emissions more costly. This is because it increases penalties from regulators, local communities, consumer organizations and factor markets. Public or information disclosure combines conventional environmental monitoring, self-regulation and public pressure using environmental ratings to promote better environmental management. Thus, it forms an effective tool to control pollution in developing countries like India, China or Kenya and countries-in-transition like Poland, Russia, etc. The different examples given in the paper indicate that effective public disclosure requires a credible scheme with scrutiny at different checkpoints similar to the one used for PROPER in Indonesia or GRP in India.     

Development of cell types in the pituitary of Anguilla anguilla,Pleuronectes platessa and Limanda limanda

Pituitary cell types have been studied by application of specific histochemical methods. Identification of cell types in the fishes Anguilla anguilla, Pleuronectes platessa and Limanda limanda at different seasons and maturity stages is based on both tinctorial and structural characteristics of different cell types; their granulation, state of vacuolation, condition of the nucleus and presence or absence of the nucleolus. Gonads from fish caught monthly were also prepared for histological examination to determine their maturity stage and sex. Female A. anguilla at maturity stages II and III, and yellow in all external morphological characters, were used. A general cytohistological study of the pituitary gland during the annual cycle has been carried out with the aim of discovering (a) the causes of the longterm growth, and (b) the pituitary's physiological control of the fishes' metamorphosis. Variations in number and activity of the cell types to be found in the meso adenohypophysis have been investigated by cell counts of representative medial sagittal sections of the pituitary during different months. somatotrophs show short-term fluctuations, but gonadotrophs show an alternating cycle of increase and decrease. Chromophobes do not show much change in their number during the annual life-cycle. Basophils are found in all 3 lobes of the adenohypophysis and exhibit very little structural difference, so that a common function for all 3 cell types may be assumed. Observations on variations in concentration of neurosecretory material have been made; peak accumulation of neuroscretory material occurs between August and October and then remains almost constant up to December. This periodic increase suggests that neurosecretory substances have an influence upon the animal's metabolic activities. Studies in relation to the maturation cycle carried out on monthly samples of male and female P. platessa and L. limanda regarding the percentage, relative numbers and state of activity of chromophobes, somatotrophs and gonadotrophs produced results which appear to agree with the functions suggested for each cell group; their variation in number and activity keeps pace with corresponding maturity phases. Somatotrophs predominate in all maturity stages in both sexes. Chromophobes exhibit a cyclic increase and decrease; few are present in ripening gonads, many in spawning individuals. Gonadotrophs show a relative increase in number during gonadal ripening. Active and inactive gonadotrophs are identifiable at all maturity stages. The eel pituitary size is independent of both length and weight; however, for P. platessa pituitary size is related to weight, which is (in part) dependent upon the maturity stage. Implications of variations in relative proportions of cell types are discussed with regard to present knowledge of the pituitary gland.     

MANAGING POLLUTION FROM SSI<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">s</Emphasis> – DESIGNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE INSTITUTION

The common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) are being propagated as the policy response to circumvent the pollution problem from the small-scale industries (SSIs), which abound in developing countries. The formation of the CETPs has been hailed as a collective action or co-operative solution to a common problem involving all the agents responsible for pollution. This paper investigated the desired criteria for designing an institution aimed at solving a common resource problem and factors ensuring the smooth functioning or sustainability of the institution. The design criteria and factors are then tested on a CETP set up in the Indian state of Haryana. The CETP, which was commissioned in 1997 had to be converted to a sewage treatment plant (STP) as the collective arrangement collapsed. The criteria used in the present analysis are that of Ostrom’s [Governing the Commons. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 1990] design principles, whereas the factors considered for sustainability are the one suggested by Rawls [A Theory of Justice. USA, Harvard University Press, 1971]. The analysis indicates that the Kundli CETP failed in both counts as neither all the design principles were met nor did the institution fulfil different sustainability criteria. The paper concludes with the lessons that can be learnt from Kundli’s failure. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.