Competing Visions: Domestic Forests, Politics and Forest Policy in the Central Western Ghats of South India

International audienceRural people in developing countries including India continue to access a number of types of 'forests' to meet specific needs such as fuelwood, fodder, food, non-timber forest produce and timber for both subsistence and income generation. While a plethora of terms exist to describe the types of forests that rural people use—such as farm forests, social forests, community forests and small-scale for-ests—the expression domestic forest has recently been proposed. Domestic forest is a term aimed at capturing the diversity of forests transformed and managed by rural communities and a way to introduce a new scientific domain that recognises that production and conservation can be reconciled and that local communities can be effective managers. This paper argues in the context of the central Western Ghats of south India that while the domestic forest concept is a useful umbrella term to capture the diversity of forests used by rural people, these domestic forests are often not autonomous local forests but sites of contestation between local actors and the state forest bureaucracy. Hence, a paradigm shift within the forest bureaucracy will only occur if the scientific forestry community questions its own normative views on forest management and sees forest policy as a means to recognise local claims and support existing practices of forest dependent communities

Filling in the (forest) blanks: the past, present and future of India’s savanna grasslands

For most people, savannas conjure up iconic images of vast open African landscapes, with giraffes, elephants, and large herds of wildebeest, zebras, and other herbivores. In reality, savannas are a pan-tropical vegetation formation, from the pampas and cerrados of Latin America, to the plains of northern Australia

PANC Study (Pancreatitis: A National Cohort Study): national cohort study examining the first 30 days from presentation of acute pancreatitis in the UK

Abstract Background Acute pancreatitis is a common, yet complex, emergency surgical presentation. Multiple guidelines exist and management can vary significantly. The aim of this first UK, multicentre, prospective cohort study was to assess the variation in management of acute pancreatitis to guide resource planning and optimize treatment. Methods All patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years presenting with acute pancreatitis, as per the Atlanta criteria, from March to April 2021 were eligible for inclusion and followed up for 30 days. Anonymized data were uploaded to a secure electronic database in line with local governance approvals. Results A total of 113 hospitals contributed data on 2580 patients, with an equal sex distribution and a mean age of 57 years. The aetiology was gallstones in 50.6 per cent, with idiopathic the next most common (22.4 per cent). In addition to the 7.6 per cent with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis, 20.1 per cent of patients had a previous episode of acute pancreatitis. One in 20 patients were classed as having severe pancreatitis, as per the Atlanta criteria. The overall mortality rate was 2.3 per cent at 30 days, but rose to one in three in the severe group. Predictors of death included male sex, increased age, and frailty; previous acute pancreatitis and gallstones as aetiologies were protective. Smoking status and body mass index did not affect death. Conclusion Most patients presenting with acute pancreatitis have a mild, self-limiting disease. Rates of patients with idiopathic pancreatitis are high. Recurrent attacks of pancreatitis are common, but are likely to have reduced risk of death on subsequent admissions. </jats:sec

Efficient Statistical Modeling for the Compression of Tree Structured Intermediate Code

We propose a scheme for the compression of tree structured intermediate code consisting of a sequence of trees specified by a regular tree grammar. The scheme is based on arithmetic coding, and the model that works in conjunction with the coder is automatically generated from the syntactical specification of the tree language. Experiments on data sets consisting of intermediate code trees yield compression ratios ranging from 2.5 to 8, for file sizes ranging from 167 bytes to 1 megabyte

Innovative technique for correction of open bite - A case report

Anterior open bite is defined as a condition in which upper incisor crowns fail to overlap the incisal third of the lower incisor crowns when the mandible is brought into full occlusion. The diagnosis, treatment, and successful retention of treated open-bite malocclusion continue to be a constant subject of discussion and study, contributing to the frustrations of clinicians. Various modalities have been used for the correction of open bite for the different age groups. In adult cases, an open bite can be corrected either by anterior extrusion or posterior intrusion, or a combination of both. Kim had described a method of using multiloop edgewise archwire for posterior intrusion. Here is a case report in which an innovative method is described which is a modification of Kim's method which is simpler, less time-consuming to place, hygienic, and they do not irritate the soft tissue. The bite closing mechanism and the treatment results are similar to Kim's method