Seagrass ecosystem contributions to people's quality of life in the Pacific Island Countries and Territories

Seagrass ecosystems provide critical contributions (goods and perceived benefits or detriments) for the livelihoods and wellbeing of Pacific Islander peoples. Through in-depth examination of the contributions provided by seagrass ecosystems across the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), we find a greater quantity in the Near Oceania (New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands) and western Micronesian (Palau and Northern Marianas) regions; indicating a stronger coupling between human society and seagrass ecosystems. We also find many non-material contributions historically have been overlooked and under-appreciated by decision-makers. Closer cultural connections likely motivate guardianship of seagrass ecosystems by Pacific communities to mitigate local anthropogenic pressures. Regional comparisons also shed light on general and specific aspects of the importance of seagrass ecosystems to Pacific Islanders, which are critical for forming evidence-based policy and management to ensure the long-term resilience of seagrass ecosystems and the contributions they provide

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with mild airflow limitation: current knowledge and proposal for future research - a consensus document from six scientific societies

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, with high and growing prevalence. Its underdiagnosis and hence under-treatment is a general feature across all countries. This is particularly true for the mild or early stages of the disease, when symptoms do not yet interfere with daily living activities and both patients and doctors are likely to underestimate the presence of the disease. A diagnosis of COPD requires spirometry in subjects with a history of exposure to known risk factors and symptoms. Postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity <0.7 or less than the lower limit of normal confirms the presence of airflow limitation, the severity of which can be measured by FEV1% predicted: stage 1 defines COPD with mild airflow limitation, which means postbronchodilator FEV1 6580% predicted. In recent years, an elegant series of studies has shown that "exclusive reliance on spirometry, in patients with mild airflow limitation, may result in underestimation of clinically important physiologic impairment". In fact, exercise tolerance, diffusing capacity, and gas exchange can be impaired in subjects at a mild stage of airflow limitation. Furthermore, growing evidence indicates that smokers without overt abnormal spirometry have respiratory symptoms and undergo therapy. This is an essential issue in COPD. In fact, on one hand, airflow limitation, even mild, can unduly limit the patient's physical activity, with deleterious consequences on quality of life and even survival; on the other hand, particularly in younger subjects, mild airflow limitation might coincide with the early stage of the disease. Therefore, we thought that it was worthwhile to analyze further and discuss this stage of "mild COPD". To this end, representatives of scientific societies from five European countries have met and developed this document to stimulate the attention of the scientific community on COPD with "mild" airflow limitation. The aim of this document is to highlight some key features of this important concept and help the practicing physician to understand better what is behind "mild" COPD. Future research should address two major issues: first, whether mild airflow limitation represents an early stage of COPD and what the mechanisms underlying the evolution to more severe stages of the disease are; and second, not far removed from the first, whether regular treatment should be considered for COPD patients with mild airflow limitation, either to prevent progression of the disease or to encourage and improve physical activity or both

The effect of harvesting system on forest residue production in Fiji

Pacific Island Countries including Fiji have large tract of forest areas and plantation forestry mainly for log production. With the current increases in world oil prices and Fiji’s dependence on oil for its transport and energy sector, Fiji is looking at renewable energy sources from forest biomass to minimise reliance on oil for energy production and also to utilise forest residues arising from annual harvesting operations. Fiji‘s current harvesting system is mainly semi-mechanised with manual felling, delimbing and conversion. Rubber tiered skidders are mainly used for tree hauling from the cut-over areas to the landings although in native forest logging tracked bulldozers are used. Current log supply volume form the forest totals to 300,000 tonnes per annum and is expected to increase to 500,000 tonnes from 2010. Fiji Pine Limited, the owners of the plantations, also see forest biomass sale as a source of revenue especially with the planned increase in log supply volume. Independent power producers will soon be demanding biomass for their renewable energy production. This research will compare conventional with integrated harvesting on Pinus caribaea plantations, establishing production estimates and costs for biomass supply. This research is to be undertaken for a PhD degree at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. The forest residue production research based on commercial harvesting operations will be the first to be conducted for Pacific Island Countries and hence it is hoped the research findings can be widely applied

A study of the electrochemical oxidation and reduction of polyaniline

The mechanisms of the reactions involved during oxidation and the reduction of polyaniline films were investigated under time-resolved conditions using a Pt ultramicroelectrode. Potentiostatic and potentiodynamic methods were used for the study of the redox processes at different pH values but constant ionic strength and also at low temperature. The redox behaviour of polyaniline changes as the pH is increased in the same way as observed when the temperature is decreased. The rates of the redox processes at low pH values are extremely fast and are largely controlled by the rapid exchange of protons between the electrolyte and the polyaniline film. At high pH values the process is slower and is controlled by the slow ingress of anions. The current response for oxidation at low pH values shows excellent agreement with the two-dimensional progressive nucleation model used to describe the formation of anodic films such as Hg2Cl2. This shows that during oxidation conducting strands propagate preferentially normal to the electrode surface followed by sideways expansion. Choronopotentiometric studies coupled with reflectance measurements on polyaniline indicate rapid structural transformation from leucoemeraldine to emeraldine. The hysteresis noted in the reflectance shows that the structural changes depend on the direction of change, i.e. oxidation or reduction. The oxidation of leucoemeraldine proceeds by the formation of radical cations then dications. The `memory effect' is shown to be related to incomplete reduction and slow structural transformations.</p