European Springtails Orchesella cincta (L.) and O. villosa (L.) (Collembola: Entomobryidae): Vagabond Species of the Nearctic Region

North American specimens of the European invasive springtail Orchesella cincta (L.) were compared to several published European haplotypes in a phylogenetic framework using likelihood methods based on a portion of cytochrome oxidase II (cox2). Our analyses provide direct evidence of at least two distinct introductions of this invasive to North America from different regions of Europe. Additional introduction events cannot be ruled out because detection is limited by extremely low sequence divergence among populations inhabiting different regions of the continent. Orchesella villosa (L.), another invasive from Europe, is another candidate for multiple introductions. Herein we include the cox2 sequence from single specimens of O. villosa from Maine and Oregon. Although these two specimens are identical in sequence, they differ from a published sequence from a European specimen by 15%, indicating significant undocumented genetic variation in the natal range of O. villosa. Additional sampling of Nearctic populations of O. villosa might reveal the same situation reported herein for O. cincta

UK consumer reactions to organic certification logos

Purpose - This paper considers the question of whether UK consumers recognise and trust organic certification logos and whether the presence of these logos on a product increases consumer willingness to pay for that product. Methodology/approach - To ascertain the reaction of UK consumers to organic certification logos commonly used in the UK, this study makes use of three methods: focus groups, a consumer survey and a willingness to pay experiment (choice experiment). Findings - These three approaches reveal that UK consumers associate certain benefits with organic foods but are generally unaware of how the industry is regulated. With regards to trust of the logo, the standards they think underlie the logo and the inspection system that they think is associated with the logo, UK consumers rate the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers logos more highly than the EU logo or products labelled with just the word “organic”. They appear willing to pay a premium for the additional assurance that these two logos provide, suggesting that where they are recognised, certification logos are valued. Originality – To the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies exist on whether UK consumers recognise and trust different organic certification logos. These findings show that where such logos are recognised they can help to give some assurance to the UK consumer and this is reflected in a willingness to pay a premium for foods labelled with the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers certification logos as opposed to no logo or the (less well known) EU logo

OCIS Public Goods Tool Development

There has recently been an increase in interest amongst policy-makers in the question of whether farming provides a “public good” beyond the simple production of food, which justifies support from, for instance, EU agricultural policy. Benefits such as an improved environment or better water quality can be perceived to be public goods. It is the provision of these sorts of benefits which may be used in the future to justify continued support of the agricultural sector through subsidies. Given the current level of interest in this topic Natural England, with the approval of Defra, through OCIS (Organic Conversion Information Service), wished to create a tool which could be used by an advisor or an informed land owner to assess the public good provided by a/their farm. Thus, the OCIS Public Good Tool was developed

Assessing the public goods provided by organic agriculture: lessons learned from practice

The role of farms as providers of public goods has long been recognised, and measuring performance in this area is of increasing interest to policy makers, in light of the approaching Common Agricultural Policy reform. The Organic Research Centre has been working on this topic in recent years, through the development of sustainability assessment tools. The latest outcome from this process is a ‘Public Goods’ assessment tool, developed through a Natural England funded project which aimed to evaluate the benefits accruing from organic management and entering into an Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS) agreement. This paper describes the development of the Public Goods (PG) tool, and what has been learned in the process

Speech and language therapy versus placebo or no intervention for speech problems in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease patients commonly suffer from speech and vocal problems including dysarthric speech, reduced loudness and loss of articulation. These symptoms increase in frequency and intensity with progression of the disease). Speech and language therapy (SLT) aims to improve the intelligibility of speech with behavioural treatment techniques or instrumental aids

Peer Learning in Virtual Schools

This is the published version. Copyright 2014 Canadian Network for Innovation in EducationThis article is about peer-to-peer learning amongst students within K–12 virtual schools. This issue is examined through a case study of experiences of three students with disabilities enrolled in one virtual school and that of their parents, teachers, and school administrators. The article is framed around variability in learners’ aptitudes for peer-to-peer learning, in the design of the learning environment and what it affords for interpersonal interactions, and in the context where that learning design is implemented (and whether or not it promotes peer-to-peer learning). Each of these areas of variability impacted whether or not peer-to-peer learning occurred

Early-type stars observed in the ESO UVES Paranal Observatory Project - V. Time-variable interstellar absorption

The structure and properties of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) on small scales, sub-au to 1 pc, are poorly understood. We compare interstellar absorption-lines, observed towards a selection of O- and B-type stars at two or more epochs, to search for variations over time caused by the transverse motion of each star combined with changes in the structure in the foreground ISM. Two sets of data were used: 83 VLT- UVES spectra with approximately 6 yr between epochs and 21 McDonald observatory 2.7m telescope echelle spectra with 6 - 20 yr between epochs, over a range of scales from 0 - 360 au. The interstellar absorption-lines observed at the two epochs were subtracted and searched for any residuals due to changes in the foreground ISM. Of the 104 sightlines investigated with typically five or more components in Na I D, possible temporal variation was identified in five UVES spectra (six components), in Ca II, Ca I and/or Na I absorption-lines. The variations detected range from 7\% to a factor of 3.6 in column density. No variation was found in any other interstellar species. Most sightlines show no variation, with 3{\sigma} upper limits to changes of the order 0.1 - 0.3 dex in Ca II and Na I. These variations observed imply that fine-scale structure is present in the ISM, but at the resolution available in this study, is not very common at visible wavelengths. A determination of the electron densities and lower limits to the total number density of a sample of the sightlines implies that there is no striking difference between these parameters in sightlines with, and sightlines without, varying components.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA