A longitudinal study of the biometric and refractive changes in full-term infants during the first year of life

AbstractChanges in ocular axial dimensions and refraction were followed longitudinally, using ultrasonography and retinoscopy, during the first year of life (mean ages 4–53 weeks) of a group of 20 full-term infants (10 male, 10 female). Using a mixed-model regression analysis, axial length changes as a function of time were found to be best described by a quadratic expression (AL=17.190+0.128x−0.0013x2, where AL is the axial length in mm and x is the age in weeks), while anterior chamber depth changed linearly (ACD=2.619+0.018x, where ACD is the anterior chamber depth in mm): lens thickness was essentially constant. Spherical equivalent refraction through most of the first year showed a steady reduction in hypermetropia (SER=2.982−0.032x, where SER is the spherical equivalent refraction in dioptres): astigmatism also tended to diminish. Mean hyperopic refractive errors through the year were negatively correlated with corresponding axial lengths (SER=12.583−0.541AL), but some individual subjects showed marked departures from this pattern. These results are discussed in relation to concepts of emmetropization

Trade-off analysis for marine protected area management

This paper outlines an approach to natural resource management that incorporates multiple objectives for protected area management within a decision-making framework. Both regulators and other major stakeholders are directly incorporated into the approach to enhance decision-making processes. We call this approach trade-off analysis. The approach uses a framework based on multi-criteria analysis (MCA) but involves stakeholders at all stages. This holistic approach is appropriate for multiple use, complex systems such as marine protected areas (MPAs), where many different users are apparently in conflict and where linkages and feedbacks between different aspects of the ecosystem and economy exist. The paper applies trade-off analysis to the case of Buccoo Reef Marine Park (BRMP) in Tobago. Stakeholder analysis is undertaken, and social, economic and ecological criteria identified. The impacts of four different development scenarios are evaluated for these criteria. Stakeholders are asked to weight different criteria and then the outcomes of different stakeholder weightings in the MCA are used to explore different management options. For BRMP, the MCA suggests consensus around development options characterised as limited tourism development for the area surrounding the park in association with the implementation of complementary environmental management. The approach has been used to enhance stakeholder involvement in decision-making and develop consensus-based approaches to management of the MP

Empathy, place and identity interactions for sustainability

Sustainability science recognises the need to fully incorporate cultural and emotional dimensions of environmental change to understand how societies deal with and shape anticipated transformations, unforeseen risks and increasing uncertainties. The relationship between empathy and sustainability represents a key advance in understanding underpinning human-environment relations. We assert that lack of empathy for nature and for others limits motivations to conserve the environment and enhance sustainability. Critically, the relationship between empathy and sustainability is mediated by place and identity that constrain and shape empathy's role in pro-environmental sustainability behaviour. We review emerging evidence across disciplines and suggest a new model exploring interactions between place, identity and empathy for sustainability. There are emerging innovative methodological approaches to observe, measure and potentially stimulate empathy for sustainability

Book reviews

Community Development around the World: Practice, Theory, Research and Training. Edited by Hubert Campferns. Toronto and London: University of Toronto Press, 1997. Pp.xvi + 481. NP. ISBN 0 8020 0903 4 and 7884 2 Cultural Perspectives on Development. Edited by Vincent Tucker. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass/EADI, 1997. Pp.136. �16. ISBN 0 7146 4337 8 Questioning Development: Essays in the Theory, Policies and Practice of Development Interventions. Edited by Gabriele Kohler, Charles Gore, Utz-Peter Reich and Thomas Ziesemer. Marhurg: Metropolis-Verlag, 1996. Pp.450. NP. ISBN 3 895180750 Development Economics: From the Poverty to the Wealth of Nations. By Yujiro Hayami. Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press, 1997. Pp.xx + 316. �40. ISBN 0 19 829207 4 Development Economics. By Richard Grabowski and Michael Shields. Cambridge, MA and Oxford: Blackwell, 1996. Pp.xi + 299. �21.99. ISBN 1 55786 706 2 The Process of Economic Development. By James Cypher and James Dietz. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp.xxiii + 608. �65 and �19.99. ISBN 0 415 11027 0 and 11028 9 The Diploma Disease: Education, Qualification and Development. By Ron Dore. Second Edition. London: Institute of Education, 1997. Pp.xxxii + 214. �7.95. ISBN 0 85473 498 8 Special Issue: The Diploma Disease Twenty Years On,Assessment in Education, Vol.4, No.1, 1997. Pp.208. ISSN 0969 594 X The Environment and Emerging Development Issues (2 volumes). Edited by Partha Dasgupta and Karl-Goran Maler. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997. Pp.xviii + 593. �30 (Vol.1); �35 (Vol.2). ISBN 0 19 828767 4 (Volume 1); 0 19 828768 2 (Volume 2) The Economic Organization of East Asian Capitalism. By Marco Orru, Nicole Woolsey Biggart and Gary G. Hamilton. London and New Delhi: Sage, 1997. Pp.xii + 426. �43 and �19.95. ISBN 0 7619 0479 4 and 0480 8 Power in Motion. Capital Mobility and the Indonesian State. By Jeffrey A. Winters. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press, 1996. Pp.xvi + 241. �27.50. ISBN 0 8014 3148 4 Environmental Change in South East Asia: People, Politics and Sustainable Development. Edited by Michael J.G. Parnwell and Raymond L. Bryant. London: Routledge, 1996. Pp.383. �50 and �15.99. ISBN 0 415 12933 8 Big Men, Small Boys and Politics in Ghana: Power, Ideology and the Burden of History, 1982-94. By Paul Nugent. London and New York: Pinter, 1996. Pp.xiv + 306. �49.50. ISBN 1 85567 373 8 Rural Industrialization in Indonesia: A Case Study of Community-Based Weaving Industry in West Java. By Kosuke Mizuno. Tokyo; Institute of Developing Economies, Occasional Papers Series No.31, 1996. Pp.viii + 114. US$58. ISBN 4 258 52031 4 Missing a Moving Target? Colonist Technology Development on the Amazon Frontier. By Michael Richards. London: Overseas Development Institute, 1997. Pp.xvi + 94. �10.95. ISBN 0 85003 301 2 Societies and Nature in the Sahel. By Claude Raynaut. London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.xxiii + 351. �50. ISBN 0415 14102 8 Changing the Rules: The Politics of Liberalization and the Urban Informal Economy in Tanzania. By Aili Mari Tripp. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 1997. Pp.xxii + 260. �38 and �13.95. ISBN 0 520 20278 3 and 20279 1

The Implementation Gap: Environmental Rhetoric Versus Reality in Lao Cai, Vietnam

International audienceThis study draws upon a case study of Lao Cai, a province recognized as one of the most important ecological regions in Vietnam, but also one of the most vulnerable to climate hazards. The province has recently adopted an action plan for climate change adaptation. However, the national authorities intend to promote Lao Cai as a major secondary city on the main route from China to Hanoi. In a context of rapid, strategic, state-driven urban development, I identify three main obstacles to effective implementation of environmental and climate change policies: (1) the pre-eminence of economic growth over any environmental goal, (2) the under- enforcement of existing regulations, and (3) a failure of environmental governance. Environmental risk management is mainly based on the reinforcement of defensive infrastructures (such as the river embankment) and the displacement of exposed people. These actions are likely inefficient in a context of increased major hazards that might put great pressure on displaced residents’ livelihoods. In other words, there is a wide gap between discourse and implementation