Material interests, moral reputation, and crowding out species protection on private land

We consider how the reputation of being socially responsible works as an effective source of motivation in protecting a public good, such as endangered species. This paper investigates the mechanism design for endangered species protection on private land under asymmetric information about reputation and land quality. We examine optimal monetary transfer by designing an efficient mechanism which takes into account the crowding out effect of monetary rewards on socially responsible behavior. We find landowners who have good reputation contribute more than the optimum level. Landowners with poor reputation sacrifices information rent; rather they buy reputation.     

Thermocatalytic Degradation of High Density Polyethylene into Liquid Product

Thermocatalytic degradation of high density polyethylene (HDPE) was carried out using acid activated fire clay catalyst in a semi batch reactor. Thermal pyrolysis was performed in the temperature range of 420–500 °C. The liquid and gaseous yields were increased with increase in temperature. The liquid yield was obtained 30.1 wt% with thermal pyrolysis at temperature of 450 °C, which increased to 41.4 wt% with catalytic pyrolysis using acid activated fire clay catalyst at 10 wt% of catalyst loading. The composition of liquid products obtained by thermal and catalytic pyrolysis was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and compounds identified for catalytic pyrolysis were mainly paraffins and olefins with carbon number range of C₆–C₁₈. The boiling point was found in the range of commercial fuels (gasoline, diesel) and the calorific value was calculated to be 42 MJ/kg.     

Uptake of chromium by Aspergillus foetidus

Aspergillus foetidus has the ability to take up chromium during the stationary phase of growth and under growth-nonsupportive conditions. We observed a 97% decrease in hexavalent chromium (initial concentration 5 µg/g) at the end of 92 h of growth, which may be due to its reduction to Cr (III) and/or complexation with organic compounds released due to the metabolic activity of the fungus. Replacement culture studies under growth-nonsupportive conditions revealed that the maximum uptake of Cr (VI) at pH 7.0 is 2 mg/g of dry biomass. At low or high pH values, Cr (VI) uptake is significantly reduced. In addition, the initial rate of total chromium uptake is also enhanced by higher biomass concentrations and the presence of glucose. The results obtained through this investigation indicate the possibility of treating waste effluents containing hexavalent chromium using Aspergillus foetidus.     

Indivisibility and divisibility in land development over time and under uncertainty

The quasi-option value (QOV) literature originated by Arrow et al. (Arrow, K.J., Fisher, A.C., 1974. Environmental preservation, uncertainty, and irreversibility. Quarterly Journal of Economics 88, 312-319) and by Henry (Henry, C., 1974. Option values in the economics of irreplaceable assets. Review of Economic Studies 41, 89-104) is largely concerned with the analysis of two-period models of land development. Our paper extends this literature by analyzing two scenarios in which the decision to develop land is made in a multi-period and stochastic framework. In the first scenario, the development decision is indivisible. In contrast, in the second scenario, the development decision is divisible. Specifically, we study the properties of the indivisible development decision when there is a time constraint on when land is to be developed. We then analyze the ways in which the divisible land development decision depends on the extent of a landowner's landholding and on the number of development opportunities awaiting this landowner.     

On some aspects of ecological resilience and the conservation of species

The importance of the notion of resilience in determining the static and the intertemporal behaviour of jointly determined ecological-economic systems has long been recognized by ecologists. This notwithstanding, there are very few formal studies of such systems which explicitly analyse the ecological and the economic aspects of the problem. Consequently, this paper has two objectives. First, a new stationary probability-based method is proposed to characterize the notion of ecological resilience. Next, this characterization is used to study the problem of optimal species conservation.     

Toxicity of cadmium nanoparticles to Bacillus subtilis

The study deals with the toxicological impact of cadmium nanoparticles (Cd NPs) on Bacillus subtilis as a model Gram-positive bacterium. Cadmium oxide (CdO) NPs (～22 nm) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) NPs (～3 nm) were used in this study. Both the NPs were found to inhibit the cell viability of B. subtilis when added to the culture at mid-log phase, the viable cell number declined with increasing concentration of Cd NPs. At mid-log phase, 15 mg L^?1 CdO NPs inhibited growth by ～50%, whereas at 30 mg L^?1 growth completely ceased. Under the same conditions, CdS NPs inhibited growth by ～50% at a concentration of 8 mg L^?1, and at 20 mg L^?1 growth was completely retarded. The cells changed their morphological features to a filamentous form with increasing Cd NPs exposure time, leading to associated with clumping. NPs treated cells when stained with 4′, 6-diamino-2-phenylindole, showed filamentous multinucleated bead structure, suggesting irregularities in cell division. Increasing intracellular oxidative stress due to Cd NPs exposure might be one of the reasons for the cell morphological changes and toxicity in B. subtilis.     

Democracy versus development: New urban debates

The politics of development includes subtexts of choice, as underpinned by community consensus (or lack of it), against the larger backdrop of a liberal democracy, with its intricate power structures that influence the choice of concepts and often lead to complicity rather than consent. A dilemma exists between the understanding of field-level practitioners and that of academics, whose understandings of progress differ. Progress can (and often does) imply long-term change across generations whereas development is often more a matter of crisis management and delivering tangible results to end-users. This makes it a bone of contention across political systems, irrespective of local or global dynamics. Development can emerge as a tool to be wielded for power and further political mileage at the expense of progress. Progress cannot be studied as a counterpoint to development as the sense of history is often missing in development interventions. Development tends to be piecemeal as its very logic often stems from the rationale of power. This is not to suggest, however, that development is only about politics; it is definitely more than the politics of everyday life and involves all of civil society that requires its critical and immediate attention. In this sense, it has become a priority for politicians with an underlying agenda designed to out-manouevre dissent and all statements of protest.     

Novel extractive colorimetric and UV spectrophotometric estimation of etizolam in bulk and tablet by forming ion association complex with methyl orange and bromocresol green

A novel, sensitive, and rapid UV spectrophotometric and colorimetric method was developed for estimation of etizolam (ETZ) in bulk and tablet. The UV spectrophotometric method (method I) is based on quantitative estimation of ETZ using 0.1N NaOH as the solvent which exhibits maximal absorption at 378 nm. Colorimetric methods (method II and III) were based on the formation of color complex in association with ions between basic nitrogen of the drug with methyl orange (MO) and bromocresol green (BCG) in acidic medium. The formed color complexes were quantitatively extracted with chloroform and measured at 509 nm for Drug–MO complex and at 442 nm for Drug–BCG complex, respectively. Beer's law was obeyed over the linear ranges 2–16 µg/ml (method I), 5–45 µg/ml (method II), and 2–20 µg/ml (method III). The correlation coefficient (r²) for ETZ was 0.999, 0.997, and 0.998 for method I, II, and III, respectively. All methods were successfully applied for the assay of the drug in tablet. The % purity was found to be 98.52 (method I), 98.72 (method II), and 99.18 (method III). These developed methods were fully validated with % relative standard deviation (RSD) for accuracy less than 2 for all methods. The % RSD of the intra-day and inter-day variations was found to be less than 2%. The limit of detection and quantitation were as follows: 0.108 µg/ml and 0.327 µg/ml (method I), 0.24 µg/ml and 0.75 µg/ml (method II), 0.1 µg/ml and 0.5 µg/ml (method III) indicating marked method sensitivity. Empirical evidence from all three methods concludes that developed methods are simple, sensitive, and reliably validated for useful routine quality control analysis of ETZ.