15 research outputs found
Analytical Strategies for Source Identification and Environmental Justice
No full textAccurate pollution source identification is essential for effective environmental regulation and sustainable resource management. This process involves determining the origin, nature, and quantity of pollutants & emerging contaminants, enabling targeted interventions, and reducing reliance on generalized assumptions. Pollution sources are majorly categorized as point or nonpoint for water pollution, mobile or stationary for air pollution, each category represent unique monitoring and certain challenges. These can be overcome by using advanced methodologies & techniques, including environmental sampling, remote sensing integrated with GIS, chemical fingerprinting, and statistical modelling, enhance source attribution by linking pollutants & emerging contaminants to their origins with high spatial and temporal resolution. However, the exact identification of sources remains difficult because of analytical constraints and imperfect data quality and overlapping processes that occur. The detection technologies need improvement and standardization in monitoring frameworks to overcome these challenges. This chapter will also explain the ability to identify pollution sources effectively enables regulator-ship based on science which leads to declassification protocols and enables protective strategies that protect both nature and public well-being. Moreover, it is also well integrated with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG 6), Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), Responsible Consumption & Production (SDG 12), Life below Water (SDG 14), Life on Land (SDG 15), Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions (SDG 16)
Design and Development of a Pre-Cooler Cum Disinfection Based Green Cold Storage Unit for Perishable Agricultural Commodities
No full textFruits and vegetables (F&Vs) are highly perishable and prone to microbial spoilage and quality degradation, largely due to inefficient storage methods, leading to significant losses. Most F&V storage systems do not have disinfection facilities and are entirely dependent on grid electricity or partially dependent on solar energy, which provides energy only during daylight hours. In the existing solar cold storage systems, electric batteries are often used to provide backup power during night-time, which increases the operating cost of the F&V storage system. Hence, there is a need to develop proper methods and equipment for effective disinfection and storage systems for F&Vs. In this study, operation, i.e., pre- cooling, disinfection, and low-temperature storage unit are designed and developed for preservation and shelf-life enhancement during storage, utilizing solar energy as its power source. Various physical, textural, thermal and quality analyses of amla (Phyllanthus emblica) fruit were investigated for designing the system. The bulk and true density of amla fruit were 661 and 1044 kg/m3, while thermal properties such as specific heat and thermal conductivity were 3.73 kJ/kg°C and 0.55 W/m°C, respectively. The physiochemical properties of amla fruits significantly changed during post-harvest storage. These quality changes were related to moisture and weight loss and decreased intercellular space in the microstructure. The equipment is designed using CATIA V5 software as a portable machine for all types of F&V preservation. The equipment is fabricated with stainless steel (SS304L) for fruit contact parts and mild steel for the support structure of the equipment. The equipment consists of a pre-cooling cum disinfection system, low-temperature storage units, and a cold thermal energy storage system that stores cold energy uses during night-time or in the absence of solar energy. The developed system was tested on two different types of fresh produce: amla and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Both samples were independently tested in a developed pre-cooler cum disinfection unit (ozone-assisted hydrocooling). Ozone-assisted hydrocooling (OAHC) treatment was carried out by incorporating the ozone gas with the hydrocooling process. Different ozone concentrations were dissolved into hydrocooled water and presented no negative impact on the cooling rate, microstructure, and quality of fresh produce during testing of precooling cum disinfection system. It was also found that precooling cum disinfection treatment effectively reduced the Escherichia coli (E. coli) count by 2 and 3 log reductions from tomato and amla, respectively. In addition, E. coli inactivation was increased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing ozone concentration. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images confirmed that OAHC did not alter the microstructure of amla and tomato during pre-cooling. More importantly, OAHC retarded the quality degradation of amla and tomato during storage. Moreover, it was observed that the ascorbic acid, weight loss, firmness, and TPC were significantly (p<0.05) higher in OAHC-treated samples compared to cold room cooled samples during storage. Ozone integration with the hydro cooling process emerges as a green technology for disinfection and precooling of fresh produce without adversely affecting its quality characteristics. The cost economic analysis of the developed system was carried out and reported that the unit cost of a machine was ₹450000, with a cost-benefit ratio of 2.99 and a payback period of 0.33. The equipment developed is considered to be economically and commercially feasible for farmers and small and medium-scale industries
Ecological Crime Scene Investigation
No full textOperational practices between forensic science and environmental crime investigation make up ecological crime scene investigation (ECSI), which unites multiple disciplines to document and identify ecosystem violations for prosecution. These environmental offenses include the illicit disposal of hazardous substances along with forest clearance and protected animal poaching and trafficking, discharge of pollutant and emerging contaminats into air, water, and earth surface (soil) aside from leaving behind intricate physical evidence. Moreover, reconstruction of ecological crimes and tracking of their sources requires integration between forensic ecology, environmental forensics, forensic toxicology, and criminal justice principles and techniques through ECSI. Environmental forensic scientist detect identify and quantify pollutants, as well as emerging contaminants while tracing their sources through techniques, which include water and soil collection as well as satellite analysis and DNA identification and chemical substance tracing. Ecological investigations handle harmed ecosystems and species using specialized techniques and legal frameworks because they do not solely conduct investigations on human victims like traditional forensics do. The ECSI studies extended harm resulting from damage to the environment that causes damage to biodiversity and impacts human health and climate systems. The advanced scale of environmental crimes requires ECSI to serve multiple functions that advance both environmental protection and fairness. Law enforcement depends on this field, together with policy development and public awareness, because it translates intricate ecological harm into evidence for legal proceedings. Additionally, ECSI maintains its rising importance because societies worldwide are focusing on safeguarding environmental integrity. This chapter also supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; Climate action (SDG 13), Life on land (SDG 15), Life Below Water (SDG 14), Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (SDG 16)
Effect of Hydro and Cold Room Pre-cooling on Cooling Kinetics and Post-harvest Quality of Amla
No full text899-905Pre-cooling is an important step in the post-harvest management of fresh produces. This study was initiated to evaluate
the effect of hydro and cold room pre-cooling on cooling kinetics and post-harvest quality parameters for amla. Amla fruits
were hydro cooled using immersion method in chlorinated water (200 ppm) at 3, 5, and 8℃ temperatures, while Cold Room
(CR) pre-cooling was done in a display-type refrigerator at 6℃. Comparative cooling kinetics showed the highest cooling
rate of 1.83 for 3℃ water temperature among all cooling treatments. In addition, cooling kinetics represents that 3℃ water
temperature exhibited the lowest cooling time with maximum cooling coefficient. Analysis of post-harvest quality was done
at 3℃ Hydro Cooling (HC) water temperature. Amla fruits of HC at 3℃ and CR cooled at 6℃ were stored at 6 ± 1℃
temperature and 90–95% Relative humidity for 15 days. During the storage study analysis, the HC process of amla fruits
showed significantly lower weight loss, higher firmness, and less ascorbic acid degradation. An insignificant effect of HC
and CR cooling process were observed for total soluble solid and titrable acidity during the storage. Therefore, HC process
can be possibly used for pre-cooling amla fruits, significantly reducing the cooling time and contributing to better postharvest
qualities than CR cooling
Integrative Forensic Methods in Food Contaminant Detection and Identification
No full textFood safety is one of the crucial global alarming spreading issue at very fast pace. Therefore, it requires continuous monitoring of contaminants by robust and integrative forensic approaches for the accurate and precise identification and quantification of contaminants in various food matrices. In addition, different types of approaches are employed for the investigation of contaminants in food i.e. conventional analytical and integrative forensic approaches. Conventional analytical approaches are often not capable of identifying and detecting complex emerging contaminants such as pharmaceutical residues specifically antibiotics, pesticides, microplastics, nanomaterials etc. Thus, integrative forensic approaches syndicate different advanced analytical techniques-such as hyphenated techniques (i.e. LC-MS/MS and GC-MS), molecular techniques (i.e. DNA barcoding), isotopic fingerprinting, biosensor etc. with multidisciplinary tools including chemometrics and geographic information systems (GIS). These advance strategies have several advantages over conventional analytical techniques in terms of accurate and precise identification and quantification of analyte at molecular level in complex food matrices, authentication of food origin, and comprehensive contamination profiling. Furthermore, the introduction of portable lab-on-a-chip technology and real-time data analytics improves on-site detection and rapid decision-making. Moreover, Forensic integrative approaches also significant to tackle some serious problems like tracing of food fraud, labelling of food, unintentional contamination etc. which can help to strengthen regulatory policy and framework, trail of civil cases, delivery of justice, consumer protection. This chapter will explore the collaboration among food scientists, forensic experts, and policymakers globally to develop robust and comprehensive standard operating procedure for handling and analysis of food sample by adopting integrative forensic approach. Moreover, it also covers emerging trends, technological innovations, challenges and ethical considerations in forensic identification and quantification of food contaminants, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary innovations to ensure food integrity, safety, and traceability in an increasingly complex food supply chain. It also aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)
Conservation Agriculture: An Approach to Combat Climate Change in Indian Himalaya
No full textNot AvailableConservation agriculture (CA) is the integrated management of the available
natural resources such as soil, water, flora, and fauna with partial outside inputs
which increases the efficiency of natural resource use. It provides sustainability
in farming production through maintaining the quality of natural resources by
stable or semi-stable organic cover to soil. Zero or minimum tillage or no-till
(NT) and minimum disturbance of soil along with varying rotation of crops are a
must for future prospects. CA is an integrated approach to agriculture cultivation
that helps enhance food security, allay poverty, conserve biological diversity,
and preserve ecosystem services. CA practices are also helpful in making
farming systems more resilient to recent climatic changes. CA can comprise
wide-ranging practices such as management of forage and farm animals, fallows
improvement, combined cultivation of agricultural crops and trees as agroforestry,
management of watershed, and management of areas which are reserved
for village and community people. In this chapter, climate change predictions for
Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) will be discussed. Then the potential of CA as a
source to alleviate and acclimatize to climate change will be examined for
climatically affected environments.Not Availabl
Development and quality assessment of Chenopodium album, Spinacia oleracea, and spent makhana (Euryale ferox) enriched vegetable cookies
No full textThis study aimed to evaluate the effects of incorporating Chenopodium album and Spinacia oleracea puree at varying levels (2.5 %, 5 %, 7.5 %, and 10 %) with a fixed proportion (15 %) of spent makhana flour in the development of spent makhana-based vegetable cookies (SMVC1, SMVC2, SMVC3, and SMVC4). Comprehensive analyses were conducted to determine the physical attributes, proximate composition, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), color parameters, textural characteristics, and functional groups. The results revealed that with the addition of Chenopodium album and Spinacia oleracea puree, the fat content, fiber content, TPC, TFC, and % IA (inhibitory activity) were increased in SMVC4 compared to others, while protein content decreased. Textural characteristics also improved in spent makhana based vegetable cookies (SMVCs) compared to control (SMC) cookies that were made up of refined wheat flour and spent makhana flour. These findings indicate that the incorporation of 10 % Chenopodium album and Spinacia oleracea puree, along with 15 % spent makhana flour and 15 % refined wheat flour, in SMVC4 improved the nutritional value, antioxidant potential and sensory quality of spent makhana-based vegetable cookies, offering a promising avenue for the development of the development of health-oriented food products
