Narratives of ethnic identity among practitioners in community settings in the northeast of England

The increasing ethnic diversity of the UK has been mirrored by growing public awareness of multicultural issues, alongside developments in academic and government thinking. This paper explores the contested meanings around ethnic identity/ies in community settings, drawing on semi-structured interviews with staff from Children’s Centres and allied agencies conducted for a research project that examined the relationship between identity and the participation of parents/carers in services in northeast England. The research found that respondents were unclear about, especially, white ethnic identities, and commonly referred to other social categorizations, such as age, nationality, and circumstances such as mobility, when discussing service users. While in some cases this may have reflected legitimate attempts to resist overethnicizing non-ethnic phenomena, such constructions coexisted with assumptions about ethnic difference and how it might translate into service needs. These findings raise important considerations for policy and practice

Validation and recalibration of the Framingham cardiovascular disease risk models in an Australian Indigenous cohort: Does the current Framingham risk calculator accurately estimate true CVD risk for Indigenous Australians?

In this study, we validated both the 1991 and 2008 Framingham CVD models using a cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults drawn from remote Indigenous communities in Far North Queensland. Recalibration was also conducted to help generate more accurate CVD risk predictions for this population. Finally, we developed a CVD risk chart that could help improve the assessment and management of CVD in the Australian Indigenous population, particularly those in remote regions of Australia.The research reported in this paper is a project of the Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, which is supported by a grant from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing under the Primary Health Care Research, Evaluation and Development Strategy

Are Eucalyptus clones advantageous for the pulp mill?

Eucalyptus clones, the ultimate exploitation of genetic variation, are perceived to be the ideal raw material for the pulp mill but is this really true? Their attributes include uniformity, superior pulp properties and faster growth while their only limitation is lack of the natural genetic variation which provides protection against adverse elements. This shortcoming, unless managed, is likely to have a dramatic impact on a mill. Commercial compartments of clones rarely exceed 100ha and are more commonly less than 50ha. The maximum that is planted to an individual clone in one year is 200ha. At an assumed production of 200t / ha this implies that parcels of up to 10, 000t of timber (but more often less) from a single genetic entity will arrive at the mill gate at the same time. Dramatic differences between clones are likely introduce more variation in the form 'slugs' than is experienced with seedlings where the variation is more of a continuous nature. The ten E. grandis hybrid clones used commercially by Sappi Forests have been evaluated for wood and dissolving pulp properties across a number of trial sites. Although wood and pulp properties varied between trees within clones, most of the variation was found to occur between clones and, as expected, clones were more uniform than seedlings. Dissolving pulp yield of clones varied from 43.8 to 45.6%, viscosity from 41.4 to 69.8cps and brightness from 43.7 to 50.7. Wood density was found to vary between clones from 460 to 570kg / m3, fibre diameter from 12.05 to 14.49:m and cell wall thickness from 2.40 to 2.64: m. Differences in wood and dissolving pulp properties between and within clones are compared here with E. grandis seedlings, the impacts on daily running of a dissolving pulp mill are discussed and suggestions are provided for management of clones in the mill to make best use of their unique properties. Southern African Forestry Journal No.190 2001: 61-6

Understanding and adding value to Eucalyptus fibre

Eucalyptus wood has become one of the most important hardwood resources for pulp mills worldwide. Furthermore, bleached Eucalyptus pulp is used extensively both in paper-making globally where it is included in such diverse products as tissue, packaging, as well as printing papers and in chemical cellulose products such as viscose, acetate and microcrystalline cellulose. This paper investigates and highlights the physical and chemical attributes of the wood and pulp fibre from Eucalyptus that contribute to its popularity in the pulp and paper-making industries and to suggest how these can be enhanced or conserved in the manufacturing process to add maximum value. The fibre properties of macerated wood samples from a range of Eucalyptus species used commercially in South Africa are compared with those of North American hardwoods such as birch, maple and aspen. In comparison to the American hardwoods, the Eucalyptus species were found to have short and thin fibres (on average, fibre length from 0.6 to 0.8 mm and fibre width between 15 and 17 &#181m, compared with 0.6–1.4 mm and 17–30 &#181m, respectively, for the American hardwoods. This particular combination of dimensions for the Eucalyptus fibre produces a low fibre coarseness, which is a highly desirable attribute for products such as coated and uncoated papers. The Eucalyptus fibre is therefore reasonably fragile and this makes it particularly vulnerable to damage during the pulp and bleaching processes. Fibre damage occurs throughout the pulp process but is most severe in the mechanical sections such as digester blowing, high shear mixers, medium- and high-consistency pumps as well as low-consistency refining. These areas are highlighted in this paper and possibilities for fibre conservation are discussed. Keywords: eucalypts; Eucalyptus pulp; E. nitens; fibre morphology; hardwoodsSouthern Forests 2008, 70(2): 169–17