Mitigating the High Cost of ISO 14001 EMS Standard Certification: Lessons from Agribusiness Case Research

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) account for an estimated 90% of the world's economic activity, implying that environmental management strategies customized specifically for such organizations are important in a global environmental management initiative such as ISO 14001. The cost of third party ISO 14001 standard registration can be extremely high, and generally beyond the means of SMEs. Three dimensions to ISO 14001 EMS standard registration, which can substantially affect the cost associated with developing, implementing and obtaining ISO 14001 accreditation, were examined: i) whether the EMS implementation and registration process is direct or indirect; ii) how an organization can demonstrate compliance with ISO 14001 requirements; and iii)scale of the ISO 14001 certification process. In addition, case studies are used to highlight important ISO 14001 certification considerations, and assess how the organizations studied mitigated the high cost of ISO 14001 registration.International, ISO 14001, Small/medium interprises, Environmental entrepreneurship., Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy,

First report of venereal and vertical transmission of canine leishmaniosis from naturally infected dogs in Germany

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Canine leishmaniosis (CanL) is a zoonotic disease caused by <it>Leishmania (L.) infantum</it>. It is endemic to several tropical and subtropical countries but also to the Mediterranean region. It is transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies but occasional non-vector transmissions have been reported, including vertical and horizontal transmission.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>The authors report a case of CanL in a female boxer dog from Dusseldorf, Germany, that had never been in an endemic region. A serum sample from the bitch was tested positive for antibodies against <it>Leishmania </it>(IFAT 1:2,000, ELISA 72). The bitch had whelped three litters, and one puppy from the third litter was also found to be seropositive for <it>Leishmania </it>antibodies (IFAT 1:4,000, ELISA 78).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Up to now, despite intensive searching, the occurrence of sandflies could not be proved in the bitch's region of origin. Thus, vertical and horizontal transmission are to be discussed as possible ways of infection. This may be the first report of venereal and vertical transmission of <it>L. infantum </it>in naturally infected dogs in Germany.</p

Effects of dry period energy intake on insulin resistance, metabolic adaptation, and production responses in transition dairy cows on grass silage-based diets

High energy intake in the dry period has reportedly had adverse effects on mobilization of body reserves, dry matter intake, and productivity of dairy cows. We investigated whether grass silage (GS) fed ad libitum (high energy intake, HEI; 141% of daily metabolizable energy requirements) in an 8-wk dry period affects metabolic adaptation-specifically, peripheral insulin resistance-compared with a total mixed ration consisting of GS, wheat straw, and rapeseed meal (55/40/5%; controlled energy intake, CEI; 108% of metabolizable energy/d) fed ad libitum. Multiparous Ayrshire dairy cows (n = 16) were used in a randomized complete block design until 8 wk after parturition. Commercial concentrates were fed 1 and 2 kg/d during the last 10 to 6 and 5 to 0 d before the expected calving date, respectively. Postpartum, a similar lactation diet with ad libitum access to GS and increasing concentrate allowance (maximum of 16 kg/d) was offered to all. The HEI group gained more body weight and had higher plasma insulin, glucose, and beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations than the CEI group prepartum. Postpartal plasma glucose tended to be higher and milk yield was greater from wk 5 onward for HEI compared with CEI cows. An intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) was performed at -13 +/- 5 d and 9 +/- 1 d relative to calving. The HEI cows had greater insulin response to glucose load and smaller area under the response curve for glucose than CEI cows in prepartal IVGTT. Thus, compensatory insulin secretion adapted to changes in insulin sensitivity of the peripheral tissues, preserving glucose tolerance of HEI cows. Higher insulin levels were needed in HEI cows than in CEI cows to elicit a similar decrement of nonesterified fatty acid concentration in prepartal wurr, suggesting reduced inhibition of lipolysis by insulin in HEI cows before parturition. In conclusion, high energy intake of moderately digestible GS with low concentrate feeding in the close-up dry period did not have adverse effects on metabolic adaptation, insulin sensitivity, and body mobilization after parturition. Instead, this feeding regimen was more beneficial to early-lactation performance than GS-based total mixed ration diluted with wheat straw.Peer reviewe

Mitigating the High Cost of ISO 14001 EMS Standard Certification: Lessons from Agribusiness Case Research

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) account for an estimated 90% of the world's economic activity, implying that environmental management strategies customized specifically for such organizations are important in a global environmental management initiative such as ISO 14001. The cost of third party ISO 14001 standard registration can be extremely high, and generally beyond the means of SMEs. Three dimensions to ISO 14001 EMS standard registration, which can substantially affect the cost associated with developing, implementing and obtaining ISO 14001 accreditation, were examined: i) whether the EMS implementation and registration process is direct or indirect; ii) how an organization can demonstrate compliance with ISO 14001 requirements; and iii)scale of the ISO 14001 certification process. In addition, case studies are used to highlight important ISO 14001 certification considerations, and assess how the organizations studied mitigated the high cost of ISO 14001 registration

ISO 14001 EMS standard registration decisions among Canadian organizations

This study characterized the costs and benefits associated with adopting ISO 14001 environmental management system (EMS) standard, based on a survey of ISO 14001-registered organizations in Canada. Decision makers are contemplating whether it is necessary to register to one or more of the ISO and other international standards and, if so, which ones. Furthermore, an organization that has registered separate departments to different standards and contemplates integrating such standards across the different units may be interested in attributes of particular units that will facilitate integration. Discriminant analysis was conducted to characterize the factors that distinguish between organizations that adopted ISO 14001 alone (single standard), versus those that registered to ISO 14001 along with other quality, health, and safety standards (i.e., multiple standards). The most important factor that motivated adoption to ISO 14001 was to establish a positive environmental profile, thereby promoting goodwill and integrity. Internal factors tended to dominate the motivations for adopting ISO 14001, supporting the hypothesis that external benefits may not be fully realized due to market and policy failure. Internal costs associated with registration depended on the size of the organization and ranged, on average, from CND$17,000 (for organizations with less than 100 employees), to CND$42,000 (for organizations with more than 500 employees). External costs depended more on the type (i.e., sector of the Canadian economy) than on size of the organization. The most important variable that distinguished between Canadian organizations that adopted ISO 14001 alone versus those that adopted ISO 14001 and other standards was whether the organization had an international orientation, that is, those with more than 50% of services or exports to other countries. &lsqb;EconLit citations: L150, L200, Q290&rsqb;. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 19: 439-457, 2003.

Thermoregulatory differences in lactating dairy cattle classed as efficient or inefficient based on residual feed intake

It is suggested that one-third of the inter-animal differences in efficiency is explained by differences in digestion, heat production, body composition and activity; while the remaining variation is the result of energy expenditure due to biological processes such as ion pumps and mitochondrial function. Inefficient animals may be wasting energy on inefficient processes resulting in increased heat production that may be reflected by differences in skin and core temperature. While the association between heat production and residual feed intake (RFI) has been touched on, it is yet to be fully elucidated. It is hypothesised that more efficient animals will expend less energy as heat, which will be reflected by differences in core and skin temperature measures. Fifty-four primiparous, Holstein-Friesian cows previously assessed for RFI (26 inefficient/high RFI, 28 efficient/low RFI) were selected and drafted into outdoor holding yards for measurements on two occasions (once during lactation and once during the non-lactating 'dry' period). Measures of body temperature were obtained using an infrared (IR) camera to obtain skin (surface) temperatures at multiple locations [muzzle, eye, jaw, ear, leg (front and back), rump, shoulder, teat, udder, side and tail] and rectal temperatures were measured using a digital thermometer. Respiration rates (RR) were obtained by counting the number of flank movements in 1 min. A subset of 16 cows (8 efficient and 8 inefficient) were utilised for further IR imagery in an undercover environment (to eliminate the influences of external environments). Skin temperature measurement obtained using an IR camera during the outdoor period demonstrated that inefficient cows had higher (0.65°C) teat temperatures (P ≤ 0.05). Rectal temperature and RR were not influenced by efficiency group. When IR images were obtained undercover inefficient cows tended to have higher shoulder (0.85°C) and neck (0.98°C) temperatures than efficient cows (P < 0.087); while udder temperature was significantly greater (1.61°C) for inefficient than efficient cows (P ≤ 0.018). These data indicate that some of the differences in efficiency may be attributed to differences in thermoregulation, as reflected by differences in skin (but not core) temperature and that IR imagery is a suitable method for determining these differences in a non-invasive manner. Further research is required to further establish these relationships, and the measurement of skin temperatures should be undertaken indoors to eliminate external environmental influences