Any alteration in fish physiology indicates the deterioration of water quality parameters, since fish are one of the biological indicators of water quality. The recent development of biomarkers based on the study of the response of organisms to toxic chemicals has provided essential tools for the implementation of environment contamination monitoring programmes (Korami et al., 2000). Toxicants ...

Polycaprolactone (PCL) filled with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), wood flour (WF), or both were characterized before and after exposure to various environmental conditions for 60 days. PCL/WF composites had the greatest tensile strength and modulus compared to neat PCL or PCL composites containing MCC. Electron microscopy indicated better adhesion between WF particles and PCL than between MC...

Preserving our cultural heritage – from fragile historic textiles such as national flags to heavy and seemingly solid artifacts recovered from 9/11 – requires careful monitoring of the state of the artifact and environmental conditions. The standard for a web-accessible textile fiber database is established with Dublin Core elements to address the needs of textile conservation. Dynamic metadata...

I. Background Concern about the environmental costs of economic development is now both widespread and intense. At one extreme, environmental deterioration, as through air and water pollution and deforestation, is seen as an unavoidable cost of industrialization, urbanization, and the growth of consumption (and the change in its composition) that are at the heart of “development” in the common ...

Does Mental Productivity Decline with Age? Evidence from Chess Players We use data on international chess tournaments to study the relationship between age and mental productivity in a brain-intensive profession. We show that less talented players tend to leave the game in the earliest phases of their career. When the effects of age on productivity vary with unobserved ability, commonly used fi...

The 2014 Indian general election marked a single party – the Bharatiya Janata Party, winning a majority of seats in Lok Sabha, the first time since the 1984 election. The Congress, the other main national party, suffered its worst ever defeat. This election was termed by some as a 'critical election' signalling the advent of a new phase of a ‘BJP dominated’ party system in India. In this paper,...

The 2014 Indian general election marked a single party – the Bharatiya Janata Party, winning a majority of seats in Lok Sabha, the first time since the 1984 election. The Congress, the other main national party, suffered its worst ever defeat. This election was termed by some as a 'critical election' signalling the advent of a new phase of a ‘BJP dominated’ party system in India. In this paper,...