The southern regional conference on technology assessment: Summary

The proceedings of a conference on technology assessment are presented. A survey of recent Federal activity in technology assessment was discussed initially. Emphasis was placed on state and local activities with respect to technology assessment to include the following subjects: (1) the technology assessment desired by states, (2) organization of technology assessment activities, (3) how to perform technology assessments for less than $5,000, and (4) the preparation of environmental impact statements. Specific application of technology assessment to solid waste management in Connecticut is reported

A review and preliminary evaluation of methodological factors in performance assessments of time-varying aircraft noise effects

The effects of aircraft noise on human performance is considered. Progress is reported in the following areas: (1) review of the literature to identify the methodological and stimulus parameters involved in the study of noise effects on human performance; (2) development of a theoretical framework to provide working hypotheses as to the effects of noise on complex human performance; and (3) data collection on the first of several experimental investigations designed to provide tests of the hypotheses

Building the Full Annual Cycle Picture for Long-Billed Curlews: Correlates of Nest Success in the Breeding Grounds and Spatial Distribution and Site Fidelity in the Wintering Grounds

Migratory birds face threats throughout the annual cycle, and cumulative effects from linkages between the breeding and non-breeding grounds may impact species at the population level. Long-billed Curlews (Numenius americanus) are a migratory shorebird of conservation concern associated with grasslands that show breeding population declines at some regional and local scales. Curlews exhibit high site fidelity to breeding territories, but also spend approximately 75% of the year on the wintering grounds. Therefore, localized population declines could indicate localized threats, in the breeding or wintering grounds. However, little information is available regarding the spatial distribution of curlews on the wintering grounds, especially for Mexico. Furthermore, breeding ground studies which examine habitat selection and nest success in the context of predator and anthropogenic pressures are lacking. We add critical information that could help pinpoint conservation issues, including understanding limitations to nesting success and mapping spatial distribution and habitat use patterns during the non-breeding season. On the breeding grounds, we used a conditional logistic regression model to compare used nest-sites to available random sites and examine habitat selection within territories. We also studied correlates of nesting success with a generalized linear model for 128 curlew nests at five sites in the Intermountain West. During the non-breeding season, we attached satellite transmitters to track 21 curlews that bred in the Intermountain West and wintered in California and Mexico and quantified 95% home range and 50% core use size via utilization distributions created with dynamic Brownian Bridge Movement Models. For 14 individuals, we tracked multiple winter seasons and compared inter-annual site fidelity among winter areas, sexes, and habitat type with a Utilization Distribution Overlap Index. We documented four main wintering areas: (1) Central Valley of California, (2) the adjoining Imperial and Mexicali Valleys of California and Mexico, (3) the Chihuahuan Desert of inland Mexico, and (4) coastal areas of western Mexico and the Baja Peninsula. Curlews wintering in coastal areas had significantly smaller home ranges and fewer core use areas than inland-wintering curlews. Home ranges in the Central Valley were larger than other inland areas, and Central Valley females had larger home ranges than Central Valley males. Inter-annual site fidelity for wintering curlews was high, regardless of habitat type or sex. On the breeding grounds, curlews selected habitats for nest-sites with lower vegetation height and lower percent cover of grasses, bare ground, and shrubs than available sites. Nest-sites were six times more likely to have a cowpie within 50 cm than random sites. Higher probability of nest success was associated with higher curlew density in the nesting area, increasing percent cover of conspicuous objects such as cowpies within approximately two meters of the nest, and – surprisingly – higher densities of American Crows and Black-billed Magpies in the breeding area. In a separate analysis with a subset of nests (n = 100), we found nests had higher probability of success when they were farther from roads and perches. Given the central role of working lands to breeding curlews in much of the Intermountain West, an understanding of limitations to nesting success in these diverse landscapes is necessary to guide adaptive management strategies in increasingly human-modified habitats. Similarly, foundational understanding of winter spatial ecology is essential for understanding population declines which may be related to linkages between breeding and non-breeding seasons. Overall, these findings provide valuable information for full annual cycle conservation and will be particularly constructive for conservation planning once range-wide migratory connectivity is mapped

The Increasingly Visible Hand of Government behind Corporate Citizenship & Conscious Capitalism

This paper examines three recent and significant policy actions by the governments in India, the United States, and the European Union that make dramatic changes in how global societies view corporate behavior in the home and host country regions where economic benefits are accrued. These interventions point to growth of sharper policy instruments to push for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligations in nation states. The familiar concept CSR has spun-off important notions of Corporate Citizenship, and Consciousness Capitalism. Both of these conceptualizations build on Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line (TBL)—which remains the central tenet of CSR philosophy. This paper discusses the three cases of government interventions in India, U.S. and EU. It argues that the new era of an increasingly visible hand of government has dawned to counteract market failure on the TBL, and to foster national and global sustainability values

Non-surgical management of an oro-antral fistula in a patient with HIV infection

The document attached has been archived with permission from the Australian Dental Association. An external link to the publisher’s copy is included.Background: The risk of post-extraction complications is higher in patients who are immunosuppressed compared to other patients with normal immune function. In addition, invasive dental procedures are more likely to have serious complications in these patients. This case report demonstrates an effective non-surgical procedure to treat an oro- antral fistula in an HIV-infected man. Methods: The oro-antral fistula was de-epithelialized under local anaesthesia and the patient wore a surgical splint continuously, removing it only for cleaning, for an eight week period. Chlorhexidine gel was regularly applied to the fitting surface of the splint and the oro-antral communication. The patient was reviewed on a regular basis. Results: This procedure resulted in resolution of the patient's symptoms within two weeks. Complete healing of the oro-antral fistula was evident following eight weeks of wearing the surgical splint. Conclusions: This procedure provided an effective method of treating an oro-antral fistula in an immunocompromised patient without causing any detrimental effects to the patient's overall health. Adequate pre-surgical assessment of patients prior to extractions is important in all patients to help prevent the occurrence of such complications.RM Logan, EA Coate

Is there an Enhanced Role for Corporate Leadership to Integrate Its CSR Strategies into Supply Chain Management? A Conceptual Inquiry

This paper argues that there is an emergent and enhanced role for corporate governance in the area of supply chain oversight, due to on-going problems in the multi-tiered webs of today’s buyer-supplier relationships. The challenge is for corporate leadership in buyer firms to develop improved methods of ensuring that their suppliers manage with ethical values consonant with the sustainability strategies of those buyer firms, whose brands and reputations are at stake. For pragmatic reasons, today’s corporate leaders must view embedding of ethics in their supply chains not only as deontological value, but as crucial risk management tools. This study raises the question: what is the role of corporate leadership in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility (Note 1) in Supply Chain Management? (Note 2

The small quinolone derived compound HT61 enhances the effect of tobramycin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro and in vivo.

HT61 is a small quinolone-derived compound previously demonstrated to exhibit bactericidal activity against gram-positive bacteria including methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). When combined with the classical antibiotics and antiseptics neomycin, gentamicin, mupirocin and chlorhexidine, HT61 demonstrated synergistic bactericidal activity against both MSSA and MRSA infections in vitro. In this study, we investigated the individual antimicrobial activity of HT61 alongside its capability to increase the efficacy of tobramycin against both a tobramycin sensitive laboratory reference strain (PAO1) and tobramycin resistant clinical isolates (RP73, NN2) of the gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). Using broth microdilution methods, the MICs of HT61 against all strains were assessed, as well as the effect of HT61 in combination with tobramycin using both the chequerboard method and bacterial time-kill assays. A murine model of pulmonary infection was also used to evaluate the combination therapy of tobramycin and HT61 in vivo. In these studies, we demonstrated significant synergism between HT61 and Tobramycin against the tobramycin resistant P. aeruginosa strains RP73 and NN2, whilst an additive/intermediate effect was observed for P. aeruginosa strain PA01 which was further confirmed using bacterial time kill analysis. In addition, the enhancement of tobramycin by HT61 was also evident in in vitro assays of biofilm eradication. Finally, in vivo studies revealed analogous effects to those observed in vitro with HT61 when administered in combination with tobramycin against each of the three P. aeruginosa strains at the highest tested dose (10 mg/kg)