Reconciling timber extraction with biodiversity conservation in tropical forests using reduced-impact logging

Over 20% of the world's tropical forests have been selectively logged, and large expanses are allocated for future timber extraction. Reduced-impact logging (RIL) is being promoted as best practice forestry that increases sustainability and lowers CO2 emissions from logging, by reducing collateral damage associated with timber extraction. RIL is also expected to minimize the impacts of selective logging on biodiversity, although this is yet to be thoroughly tested. We undertake the most comprehensive study to date to investigate the biodiversity impacts of RIL across multiple taxonomic groups. We quantified birds, bats and large mammal assemblage structures, using a before-after control-impact (BACI) design across 20 sample sites over a 5-year period. Faunal surveys utilized point counts, mist nets and line transects and yielded >250 species. We examined assemblage responses to logging, as well as partitions of feeding guild and strata (understorey vs. canopy), and then tested for relationships with logging intensity to assess the primary determinants of community composition. Community analysis revealed little effect of RIL on overall assemblages, as structure and composition were similar before and after logging, and between logging and control sites. Variation in bird assemblages was explained by natural rates of change over time, and not logging intensity. However, when partitioned by feeding guild and strata, the frugivorous and canopy bird ensembles changed as a result of RIL, although the latter was also associated with change over time. Bats exhibited variable changes post-logging that were not related to logging, whereas large mammals showed no change at all. Indicator species analysis and correlations with logging intensities revealed that some species exhibited idiosyncratic responses to RIL, whilst abundance change of most others was associated with time. Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates the relatively benign effect of reduced-impact logging (RIL) on birds, bats and large mammals in a neotropical forest context, and therefore, we propose that forest managers should improve timber extraction techniques more widely. If RIL is extensively adopted, forestry concessions could represent sizeable and important additions to the global conservation estate – over 4 million km2

Effects of intra- and inter-laminar resin content on the mechanical properties of toughened composite materials

Composite materials having multiphase toughened matrix systems and laminate architectures characterized by resin-rich interlaminar layers (RIL) have been the subject of much recent attention. Such materials are likely to find applications in thick compressively loaded structures such as the keel area of commercial aircraft fuselages. The effects of resin content and its interlaminar and intralaminar distribution on mechanical properties were investigated with test and analysis of two carbon-epoxy systems. The RIL was found to reduce the in situ strengthening effect for matrix cracking in laminates. Mode 2 fracture toughness was found to increase with increasing RIL thickness over the range investigated, and Mode 1 interlaminar toughness was negligibly affected. Compressive failure strains were found to increase with increasing resin content for specimens having no damage, holes, and impact damage. Analytical tools for predicting matrix cracking of off-axis plies and damage tolerance in compression after impact (CAI) were successfully applied to materials with RIL

Real Islamic Logic

Four options for assigning a meaning to Islamic Logic are surveyed including a new proposal for an option named "Real Islamic Logic" (RIL). That approach to Islamic Logic should serve modern Islamic objectives in a way comparable to the functionality of Islamic Finance. The prospective role of RIL is analyzed from several perspectives: (i) parallel distributed systems design, (ii) reception by a community structured audience, (iii) informal logic and applied non-classical logics, and (iv) (in)tractability and artificial intelligence

Tingkat Kebisingan dan Suhu pada USAha Stone Crusher PT. X, Kabupaten Pasaman Barat, Provinsi Sumatera Barat

PT. X adalah salah satu Perusahaan swasta yang bergerak disektor pertambangan, yaitu pengolahan pemurnian Stone crusher di Jorong Bandua Balai, Nagari Kinali, Kecamatan Kinali, Kabupaten Pasaman Barat Propinsi Sumatera Barat. Kegiatan pertambangan merupakan kegiatan yang padat akan aktivitas peralatan mesin yang dapat menimbulkan gangguan pada lingkungan kerja. Efek tekanan lingkungan kerja pada pekerja dapat berupa penurunan kualitas fisik dan nonfisik (psikologi) dan juga akan menjadi pemicu munculnya berbagai konflik lingkungan yang ada. Salah satu bentuk tekanan lingkungan adalah kebisingan dan suhu di tempat kerja. Pengukuran kebisingan di PT. X bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah tingkat kebisingan di lokasi kegiatan Stone crusher memenuhi persyaratan menurut standar baku tingkat kebisingan berdasarkan Nilai Ambang Batas (NAB) yang telah ditetapkan oleh Keputusan Menteri Tenaga Kerja Nomor KEP-51/MENAKER/1999 untuk lokasi kerja. Dari hasil penelitian ini berdasarkan ruang lingkup kerja bahwa di lokasi penelitian pada jarak 3 m dari stone crusher untuk operatornya sebesar 97,31 dB, dan di daerah perlintasan pekerja pada jarak 6m adalah sebesar 95,47 dB sementara di lokasi bengkel yang berjarak 12 m dari stone crusher sebesar 89,14 dB. Berdasarkan KEP-51/MENAKER/1999 untuk semua lokasi pengukuran tersebut sudah melebihi Nilai Ambang Batas (NAB) yang diizinkan untuk pekerja yang terperjan kebisingan selama 8 jam/hari. Untuk hasil pengukuran suhu/tekanan panas lokasi operator dan lokasi bengkel rata-rata adalah 27,40C dan 26,80C. Bila dirujuk kepada KEP-51/MENAKER/1999 untuk berkerja selama 6 jam/hari (75% kerja) dengan status beban kerja sedang dengan Nilai Ambang Batasnya (NAB) 280C berarti masih dibawah NAB. Tetapi bila bekerja penuh 8 jam/hari (100%) kedua lokasi tersebut telah melebihi NAB yaitu 26,70C

Effects of homeopathic and antibiotic mastitis treatment considering mediumterm parameters in an organic dairy herd

Introduction: Homeopathic treatment is a common method against bovine mastitis in organic herds. In a study conducted in a large biodyn farm in Brandenburg (D) considering 261 cases of acute or chronical mastitis, we used four different combinations of homeopathic remedies depending on clinical state of the mastitis (e.g. general findings, pain, swelling or secretion). The remedies were administrated orally. The control group was treated with antibiotics intracisternally for three days at minimum until the cow was clinically cured or defined as therapy failure. While the cure rate was calculated from clinical and laboratory data (bacterial findings and somatic cell count), the further development of the treated cows during the lactation was confirmed using monthly provided somatic cell counts of cows, mastitis and culling data. Results: We found an overall cure rate (complete healing) after administration of homeopathic remedies (H) of 21.7 % compared to 35.8 % in the antibiotically treated control group (A). Though there was an obviously poor treatment success in the homeopathy group, we found no remarkable depression of general udder health in the herd. So it was fair to assume that there must exist positive mediumterm effects of homeopathic remedies. We compared the parameters "Remain in Lactation (RIL)", "Acceptable Cell Count (ACC; < 200.000/ ml)" and analysed the reasons of culling or leaving production by other reasons. We found that there were no differences in RIL (H: 26 % vs. A: 24 %) and ACC (14 % vs. 10 %) in general six month after treatment. The risk of unsuccessful homeopathic treatment during the observing time only was higher in cases of Staph. aureus mastitis and in cows in second lactation. The most important fact was that treated cows which were classified as- subclinical infected 3 weeks after treatment- (n = 35) showed the best relative mediumterm results in the homeopathatic treatment group (ACC: 10 % vs. 0 %; RIL: 29 % vs. 7 %). We conclude that maybe the time frame of 3 weeks after treatment is not suitable to describe the effects of regulatory (homeopathic) mastitis treatment. The mediumterm effects at least six months after treatment are comparable to those after antibiotic administration. We suppose that it is possible to keep the udder health standard in a herd avoiding antibiotics

Recombinant interleukin-1β dilates steelhead trout coronary microvessels : effect of temperature and role of the endothelium, nitric oxide and prostaglandins

© 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. Acknowledgements We thank Wenjuan Xu and Xin Xu (Hein Lab) for their excellent instruction in microvessel techniques, Dr David Heeley (Biochemistry Department, MUN) for assistance with selecting an appropriate (non-vasoactive) protein stabilizer, Dr Zou (SFIRC, Aberdeen) for advice with regards to the use of rIL-1β and Gordon Nash (Gamperl Lab) for his assistance with the rIL-1β purification protocol. Funding This research was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant [RGPIN249926] and Accelerator Supplement [RGPAS412325-2011] to A.K.G. a National Institutes of Health Grant [EY018420] to T.W.H., and a doctoral fellowship from Fundaçã o para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal [SFRH/BD/27497/2006] to I.A.S.F.C. Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Successive Wyner-Ziv Coding Scheme and its Application to the Quadratic Gaussian CEO Problem

We introduce a distributed source coding scheme called successive Wyner-Ziv coding. We show that any point in the rate region of the quadratic Gaussian CEO problem can be achieved via the successive Wyner-Ziv coding. The concept of successive refinement in the single source coding is generalized to the distributed source coding scenario, which we refer to as distributed successive refinement. For the quadratic Gaussian CEO problem, we establish a necessary and sufficient condition for distributed successive refinement, where the successive Wyner-Ziv coding scheme plays an important role.Comment: 28 pages, submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Information Theor