Organisational restructuring, knowledge and spatial scale: the case of the US department store industry

Recent economic geography literature has underlined the role of tacit/local knowledge in embedding firms within their locales, characterised by the work on "learning regions", "territorial embeddedness", "institutional thickness" and "new industrial spaces". This paper contributes to this theoretical debate, using evidence from organisational restructuring of the U.S. department store industry to argue that, in contrast, retailers are using codified/universal knowledge, supported by tacit/local knowledge to successfully operate their retail operations across a range of spatial scales. As such, no one form of knowledge is exclusively relied upon but rather a blend of knowledges reduces costs and increases responsiveness across space

(S)-(-)-1-Phenylethanaminium hexanoate

A binary mixture of (S)-(-)-1-phenylethanamine and hexanoic acid was allowed to react to form the title salt, C8H12N+·C6H11O2-. This crystal contains a 1:1 stoichiometric mixture of the acid- and amine-derived species and displays a chiral structure with N-H...O hydrogen-bonded chains propagating along the c-axis direction.This work was supported by the Department of Chemistry, the BP Institute and the Oppenheimer Trust

Benzylammonium hexanoate

A binary mixture of benzylamine and hexanoic acid has been reacted to form the title salt, C7H10N+·C6H11O2-. This crystal has a 1:1 stoichiometry of acid- and amine-derived species which contrasts with other related species which can have a number of other integer ratios of acid and amine components. The diffraction data indicate complete transfer of a proton from the acid to the amine to give the salt, comprising a cation and anion combination, with the formation of three hydrogen bonds around each ammonium group. This contrasts with other related species.This work was supported by the Department of Chemistry, the BP Institute and the Oppenheimer Trust

Determining the relative sensitivity of benthic diatoms to atrazine using rapid toxicity testing: A novel method

Herbicides pose a potential threat to aquatic ecosystems, especially to phototrophic organisms such as benthic diatoms. Benthic diatoms may be a valuable indicator of the toxic impacts of herbicides in aquatic systems. However, this requires information on the herbicide sensitivity of a wide range of freshwater benthic diatom taxa. Unfortunately this information is only available for a limited number of species as current methods of developing new algae toxicity tests on individual taxa are lengthy and costly. To address this issue, we developed a new rapid toxicity test method to test natural benthic communities, from which the relative herbicide sensitivity of many individual taxa can be derived. This involved the collection of natural benthic communities from rocks in situ, which were placed directly into laboratory toxicity tests. Sensitivity data for several diatom genera in a 48hour exposure toxicity test were produced, without the need for cultures or multiple site visits. After exposure to the highest treatment of atrazine (500μgL-1) there were significant declines of healthy cells in the most sensitive genera: Gomphonema declined by 74%, Amphora by 62%, Cymbella by 54% and Ulnaria by 34% compared to control levels. In contrast, the genera, Eunotia, Achnanthidium and Navicula, had no statistically significant decline in cell health. This method can identify the diatom taxa most at risk of herbicide toxicity within the natural benthic diatom community. The rapid toxicity testing method presented is a simple and effective method to obtain sensitivity data for multiple taxa within a natural benthic diatom community in a relatively short period of time. © 2014 Elsevier B.V

Can CDM finance energy access in Least Developed Countries? Evidence from Tanzania.

Policy documents and academic literature suggest that Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) finance could complement traditional ‘energy access’ (EA) funding in developing countries, including the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Yet these propositions have not been empirically tested. This study helps fill this gap by examining constraints to CDM project passage through five stages of an idealized project development cycle (PDC) in Tanzania, and their implications for the ability of the CDM to contribute to financing energy access in LDCs. Twenty-five semi-structured interviews and documentary material were analysed using an analytical framework developed for systematic investigation of constraints. Institutional constraints such as the under-performance of Tanzania's Designated National Authority were the most often mentioned obstacles for project development. Yet non-institutional constraints such as limited energy sector mitigation potential, indigenous skill shortages, and low carbon market prices also hinder project development. Institutional constraints buttress, rather than supersede, pre-existing non-institutional constraints, and together they prevent energy projects from completing the PDC and accessing CDM finance. The number and severity of constraints suggest that the situation is unlikely to change rapidly, and that the CDM sustains and exacerbates existing global inequalities. Since traditional energy access funding is insufficient to address these inequalities, new funding and policy mechanisms are required

Can sacrificial feeding areas protect aquatic plants from herbivore grazing? Using behavioural ecology to inform wildlife management

Effective wildlife management is needed for conservation, economic and human well-being objectives. However, traditional population control methods are frequently ineffective, unpopular with stakeholders, may affect non-target species, and can be both expensive and impractical to implement. New methods which address these issues and offer effective wildlife management are required. We used an individual-based model to predict the efficacy of a sacrificial feeding area in preventing grazing damage by mute swans (Cygnus olor) to adjacent river vegetation of high conservation and economic value. The accuracy of model predictions was assessed by a comparison with observed field data, whilst prediction robustness was evaluated using a sensitivity analysis. We used repeated simulations to evaluate how the efficacy of the sacrificial feeding area was regulated by (i) food quantity, (ii) food quality, and (iii) the functional response of the forager. Our model gave accurate predictions of aquatic plant biomass, carrying capacity, swan mortality, swan foraging effort, and river use. Our model predicted that increased sacrificial feeding area food quantity and quality would prevent the depletion of aquatic plant biomass by swans. When the functional response for vegetation in the sacrificial feeding area was increased, the food quantity and quality in the sacrificial feeding area required to protect adjacent aquatic plants were reduced. Our study demonstrates how the insights of behavioural ecology can be used to inform wildlife management. The principles that underpin our model predictions are likely to be valid across a range of different resource-consumer interactions, emphasising the generality of our approach to the evaluation of strategies for resolving wildlife management problems

The mass miniature chest radiography programme in Cape Town, South Africa, 1948 - 1994: The impact of active tuberculosis case finding

Background. Tuberculosis (TB) control programmes rely mainly on passive detection of symptomatic individuals. The resurgence of TB has rekindled interest in active case finding. Cape Town (South Africa) had a mass miniature radiography (MMR) screening programme from 1948 to 1994.Objective. To evaluate screening coverage, yield and secular trends in TB notifications during the MMR programme.Methods. We performed an ecological analysis of the MMR programme and TB notification data from the City of Cape Town Medical Officer of Health reports for 1948 - 1994.Results. Between 1948 and 1962, MMR screening increased to 12% of the population per annum with yields of 14 cases per 1 000 X-rays performed, accounting for >20% of total annual TB notifications. Concurrent with increasing coverage (1948 - 1965), TB case notification decreased in the most heavily TB-burdened non-European population from 844/100 000 population to 415/100 000. After 1966, coverage declined and TB notifications that initially remained stable (1967 - 1978) subsequently increased to 525/100 000. MMR yields remained low in the European population but declined rapidly in the non-European population after 1966, coincidental with forced removals from District 6. An inverse relationship between screening coverage and TB notification rates was observed in the non-European adult population. Similar secular trends occurred in infants and young children who were not part of the MMR screening programme.Conclusion. MMR of a high-burdened population may have significantly contributed to TB control and was temporally associated with decreased transmission to infants and children. These historical findings emphasise the importance of re-exploring targeted active case finding strategies as part of population TB control

UK airport operators 'liabilty for corporate manslaughter as a result of terrorism: Will security management systems provide protection for the sector

Corporate governance broadly refers to the mechanisms, relations, and processes by which a corporation is controlled and is directed; involves balancing the many interests of a corporation’s stakeholders. Since the financial crisis of 2008, much of the literature dealing with corporate governance has focused on the financial welfare of its stakeholders. However, following 9/11, civil aviation corporations have also had to take account of the physical welfare of their stakeholders when assessing the risks of terrorist attacks. After the recent attacks at Brussels and Istanbul airports there is little evidence that significant changes have occurred to secure safety in the public areas of airports in the UK, known as ‘landside,’ leading to the check in gates. This raises the question of whether, should the risk of terrorism attacks materialise and lead to the death of victims, there can be criminal liability on the part of airport operators

Neutron Reflectometry for Studying Corrosion and Corrosion Inhibition

Neutron reflectometry is an extremely powerful technique to monitor chemical and morphological changes at interfaces at the angstrom-level. Its ability to characterise metal, oxide and organic layers simultaneously or separately and in situ makes it an excellent tool for fundamental studies of corrosion and particularly adsorbed corrosion inhibitors. However, apart from a small body of key studies, it has yet to be fully exploited in this area. We present here an outline of the experimental method with particular focus on its application to the study of corrosive systems. This is illustrated with recent examples from the literature addressing corrosion, inhibition and related phenomena