The performance of farm animal assessment

This paper argues that the current drive towards greater use of animal-based measures for welfare assessment raises important issues for how farm visits by welfare assessors are performed. As social scientists, we employ a number of contemporary social science ideas to offer a new approach to examining the practice and performance of farm animal assessment. We identify key findings from a recent study of contemporary farm assessment and speculate upon what some of the challenges of introducing animal-based measures may be. We conclude by arguing for a greater awareness of how sets of knowledge are made, circulated, practiced and become an integral component of the procedures, practices and discourses around farm animal welfare assessment in farm assuranc

Contaminant mobility as a result of sediment inundation : literature review and laboratory scale pilot study on mining contaminated sediments

This report presents a literature review of soil and sediment inundation methodologies and describes a pilot scale laboratory inundation study. Changing weather conditions, subsequent flooding events, and the increased frequency of such events both in the UK and worldwide is highlighting the need to research the area of contaminant mobility from soils and sediments under inundated conditions. The findings of such investigations impact on a wide variety of sectors, including human and ecological health, agriculture, building, transport, world economy and climate change. Standardised methodologies for the investigation of contaminant mobility resulting from soil/sediment inundation episodes are not available. Most research has been conducted in the agricultural sector for nutrient transport, as part of soil fertility and plant nutrition studies. Only recently has work been undertaken for studying potentially harmful element transport in inundated sediments/soils. A pilot scale laboratory study was undertaken using contaminated bank sediment samples collected from the Rookhope Burn catchment, Northern England, UK, with the aim to examine the extent of contaminant mobilisation from flooded sediments. The catchment has been affected by historical mining and processing of lead and zinc ore and is representative of several catchments affected by the environmental legacy related to mining in the Northern Pennine Orefield. Bank sediment Pb and Zn concentrations were found significantly above both the TEL and PEL sediment quality criteria, posing potentially a significant hazard to aquatic organisms. The source of the Pb and Zn in the sediments is related to the underlying mineralisation, mining activities and mine water discharges in the catchment. Abundances of original sulphide ore and authigenic metal-bearing phases were expected to vary through the catchment. The study design simulated rising flood water, a slow saturation of the sediment in order to induce a slow change in physico-chemical properties, followed by a 3 month (88 day) stagnation period. Natural day-night cycles were simulated by undertaking the study on the bench top during the winter of 2009/2010 (November to February). The chemical changes in the inundation water during the experiment were monitored and the sediment pore water at the end of the inundation period analysed. The inundation water pH remained alkaline to neutral, while redox measurements indicated oxic conditions in the water column throughout the inundation period. The pilot study showed that inundation of river bank sediments from the Rookhope Burn may be a significant pathway for contaminants in the catchment and that mobilisation from the sediments may pose a hazard to environmental receptors in the area, particularly with respect to Pb and Zn contamination. The different degrees and different rates of metal losses to the overlying water column observed during the flooding of the Rookhope Burn bank sediments demonstrated that the significance of metal mobilisation was dictated by the sediment composition. The inundation water composition monitored during the sediment flooding was used to indirectly infer possible processes that control contaminant fluxes from the sediments to the overlying water. Dissolved Pb concentration in the inundation water reflected the original concentration in the solid material and in sediments that had XRD-detectable galena and cerussite the dissolved Pb concentration reached a maximum value of 395 μg l-1. Cerussite, which is commonly formed as coatings on galena during the sulphide weathering, was close or supersaturated in those solutions, suggesting that the lead carbonate mineral phase provided a continuous source of Pb to these solutions. The initial dissolved Zn in the inundation waters was independent of the original concentration in the sediments. Sediments downstream a mine water discharge showed a greater availability of easily mobilised Zn, producing high initial Zn concentration in the inundation water, despite the relatively low Zn concentration in the inundated sediment. The Zn/SO4 and Cd/Zn molar ratios were both consistent with sphalerite mineral oxidation. The final inundation water solutions had the highest Zn concentrations for those sediment samples where sphalerite was detected by XRD. Redox sensitive elements such as Fe and Mn could not unequivocally indicate the presence of reducing conditions within the flooded sediments and the redox measurements were carried out only in the overlying water column (ORP above 200-350 mV). Low organic matter content and sandy texture would not have favoured the rapid formation of an anoxic layer. Yet, only extending the ORP measurements to the submerged sediment would determine the presence of flooding-induced reducing conditions. Reductive dissolution of Mn oxyhydroxides would result in release of Mn into solution, along with other trace metals, such as Pb and Zn. Mn increased in the inundation water throughout most or all the inundation period for some of the studied sediments. Their final pore water composition was significantly enriched in Mn (1300- 6500 μg l-1). Saturation indices indicated both rhodocrosite (MnCO3) and Mn oxides reached saturation. Therefore, it was not possible to preclude either the role of rhodocrosite as solubility controlling solid phase or the reductive dissolution of Mn oxides for accounting the enhanced Mn concentrations in the pore water and overlying water column without a better characterisation of the solid phase and monitoring of the sediment redox conditions. Amendments to the inundation test design have been recommended, which comprise: set-up to allow for the continuous monitoring of pore water dynamics and allow for the collection of pore water at the different times and measurement of pore water pH and Eh; inclusion of a blank test cell, to test the influence of the properties and the volume of the inundation water; inclusion of flow-cell tests to assess the influence of moving or stagnant inundation water; the inclusion of abiotic blanks to identify the role microbes play in the solubilisation of contaminants. complementary characterisation of the solid phase material and metal distribution in the sediment before and after the inundation experiment

Analysis of selective chopper radiometer data

Data from SCR-B on Nimbus 5 have been processed to yield global, orbital temperatures at 10, 5, 2, 1, and 0.4 mb for the period January 1977 through April 1978 under the current task. In addition gridded values at 10 deg latitude by 20 deg longitude were prepared by space-time interpolation for the period January 1975 through April 1978. Temperature retrieval was based on regression of radiances against Meteorological Rocket Network data, with regressions recomputed at approximately six-month intervals. This data now completes a consistent time series from April 1970 to April 1978 for all available radiance data from SCR A and SCR B on Nimbus 4 and 5. The processing details for the current period are discussed, but is also applicable to the previous data periods. The accuracy of the temperature retrievals for each 6-month period for the entire eight years is given in the Appendices

The Institutions of Corporate Governance

In this review piece, I outline the institutions of corporate governance decision-making in the large public firm in the wealthy West. By corporate governance, I mean the relationships at the top of the firm - the board of directors, the senior managers, and the stockholders. By institutions I mean those repeated mechanisms that allocate authority among the three and that affect, modulate, and control the decisions made at the top of the firm. Core corporate governance institutions respond to two distinct problems, one of vertical governance (between distant shareholders and managers) and another of horizontal governance (between a close, controlling shareholder and distant shareholders). Some institutions deal well with vertical corporate governance but do less well with horizontal governance. The institutions interact as complements and substitutes, and many can be seen as developing out of a primitive of contract law. In Part I, I sort out the central problems of corporate governance. In Part II, I catalog the basic institutions of corporate governance, from markets to organization to contract. In part III, I consider contract law as corporate law's primitive building-block. In Part IV, I briefly examine issues of corporate legitimacy that affect corporate governance by widening or narrowing the tools available. The interaction between political institutions and corporate governance institutions is an inquiry still in its infancy but promises large returns. In Part V, I re-examine corporate governance in terms of economies of scale, contract, markets, and property rights. Then I summarize and conclude

The Inevitable Instability of American Corporate Governance

American corporate governance faces two core instabilities. The first is the separation of ownership from control - distant and diffuse stockholders own, while concentrated management controls - a separation that creates not only great efficiencies but also big recurring breakdowns. In every decade since World War II, we've faced a fundamental large firm problem. Each emanated from this fundamental instability. We will not stabilize, once-and-for-all, this instability because some form of separation is necessary for large firms, because it provides large efficiencies, and because once we resolve one derivative problem, another will in time arise. The Enron-type scandals are just the latest manifestation of the core fissure in the large American public firm. The second instability arises from our decentralized and porous regulatory system. Decentralization has key advantages - such as flexibility, specialization, and multiple informational channels - but with the advantages come costs in porosity. Our decentralized regulatory system leaves each regulator with weaknesses. Most importantly, they are not fully independent from the regulated. The regulated entities often deter the incompletely independent regulated from acting. The regulated can induce political authorities to deny the regulator enough power to act, they can get Congress to cut the regulator's funding, they can fight the potential regulations in courts and Congress, and they can weaken the quality of the regulation that they face. The Enron-class scandals illustrate this regulatory instability of American corporate governance well. Thus one structural response to the first fissure - separation and managers without immediate bosses - would be to facilitate gatekeeping, via strong boards that check managers, via strong shareholders with the motivation to channel managers toward profitability, via powerfully independent, professionally-driven accountants who verify managers' report card, and so on. Some of these gatekeeping functions arise from contract, best practice, and the natural path of the market. Many are facilitated by regulation, but here the regulated - often managers themselves - can affect the regulatory outcomes, often weakening it. Some regulation that does occur arises when public outrage is sufficiently high that the regulation is more brittle and less supple than would be ideal. Neither of these instabilities can be solved once-and-for-all, so that we can put it behind us. Instead, we resolve the local and immediate problem, move on, and in time face a new problem emanating from one or both of these core instabilities. We muddle through; we don't solve, because we can't

From screen to target: insights and approaches for the development of anti-virulence compounds

A detailed understanding of host-pathogen interactions provides exciting opportunities to interfere with the infection process. Anti-virulence compounds aim to modulate or pacify pathogenesis by reducing expression of critical virulence determinants. In particular, prevention of attachment by inhibiting adhesion mechanisms has been the subject of intense research. Whilst it has proven relatively straightforward to develop robust screens for potential anti-virulence compounds, understanding their precise mode of action has proven much more challenging. In this review we illustrate this challenge from our own experiences working with the salicylidene acylhydrazide group of compounds. We aim to provide a useful perspective to guide researchers interested in this field and to avoid some of the obvious pitfalls

The structure of an orthorhombic crystal form of a 'forced reduced' thiol peroxidase reveals lattice formation aided by the presence of the affinity tag

Thiol peroxidase (Tpx) is an atypical 2-Cys peroxiredoxin, which has been suggested to be important for cell survival and virulence in Gram-negative pathogens. The structure of a catalytically inactive version of this protein in an orthorhombic crystal form has been determined by molecular replacement. Structural alignments revealed that Tpx is conserved. Analysis of the crystal packing shows that the linker region of the affinity tag is important for formation of the crystal lattice

Analysis of the retail survey of products that carry welfare- claims and of non-retailer led assurance schemes whose logos accompany welfare-claims.

This report serves two aims. Firstly, this report contains analysis of the retail audit (sub-deliverable 1.2.2.1) of welfare-friendly food products in the 6 study countries. The report gives the results of an emerging comparative analysis of the ‘market’ for welfare-friendly food products in the 6 study countries. It also outlines ‘non-retailer’ led schemes1 whose products occurred in the study. In this way, an emerging picture of the actual product ranges, that make claims about welfare-friendliness, will be drawn based on fieldwork carried out from November 2004 until April 2005. Also, the report explores how the different legislative and voluntary standards on animal welfare compare across different countries and how these actively advertise their welfare-friendlier component to consumers through food packaging. <br/