Is there a commercial case for tropical timber certification?

The authors estimate the potential commercial benefits that tropical timber producing countries could enjoy by adopting timber certification schemes. Such benefits are crucial for encouraging the supply of certified timber. Timber certification is a reality: various countries and organizations have launched initiatives for it. The initial response among producing countries was less than positive, but some have come to realize its potential benefits and have begun to adopt timber certification schemes. Tropical timber trade accounts for only a small fraction of tropical timber production, and most of that trade is concentrated among developing countries in Asia and Japan - markets where demand for certified timber is currently weak. Only a small part of the trade reaches the eco-sensitive markets of Europe and the United States, where there is demand for certified timber. Developing countries can benefit commercially from timber certification in two ways: through the"green premium"(consumers'willingness to pay a premium for certified timber"and by averting losses of market share in the tropical timber market from not having timber certified. Based on surveys, on discussions with nongovernmental organizations, on market participants and analysts, and on estimates of price elasticity, the authors develop a scenario for estimating the potential commercial benefits from adopting timber certification. Under this scenario, benefits would not exceed US$500 million a year (roughly 4 percent of all tropical-timber-related revenues earned by developing countries). Timber certification is not expected to provide significant commercial benefits to developing countries in the near future. But timber certification could provide significant rents to individual firms that develop market niche strategies. And producing countries that pursue certification may enjoy longer-term social, economic, and environmental benefits by adopting the better forest management practices required for timber certification.Environmental Economics&Policies,Silviculture,Agribusiness&Markets,Roads&Highways,Forests and Forestry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Forestry,Silviculture,Agribusiness&Markets,Roads&Highways

Vitamin D toxicity of dietary origin in cats fed a natural complementary kitten food

Case series summary This case series describes two young sibling cats and an additional unrelated cat, from two separate households, that developed hypercalcaemia associated with hypervitaminosis D. Excessive vitamin D concentrations were identified in a natural complementary tinned kitten food that was fed to all three cats as part of their diet. In one of the cases, there was clinical evidence of soft tissue mineralisation. The hypercalcaemia and soft tissue mineralisation resolved following withdrawal of the affected food and medical management of the hypercalcaemia. Relevance and novel information This case series demonstrates the importance of obtaining a thorough dietary history in patients presenting with hypercalcaemia and the measurement of vitamin D metabolites when investigating such cases. Complementary foods may have the potential to induce nutritional toxicity even when fed with complete, nutritionally balanced diets

Psychopolitics: Peter Sedgwick’s legacy for mental health movements

This paper re-considers the relevance of Peter Sedgwick's Psychopolitics (1982) for a politics of mental health. Psychopolitics offered an indictment of ‘anti-psychiatry’ the failure of which, Sedgwick argued, lay in its deconstruction of the category of ‘mental illness’, a gesture that resulted in a politics of nihilism. ‘The radical who is only a radical nihilist’, Sedgwick observed, ‘is for all practical purposes the most adamant of conservatives’. Sedgwick argued, rather, that the concept of ‘mental illness’ could be a truly critical concept if it was deployed ‘to make demands upon the health service facilities of the society in which we live’. The paper contextualizes Psychopolitics within the ‘crisis tendencies’ of its time, surveying the shifting welfare landscape of the subsequent 25 years alongside Sedgwick's continuing relevance. It considers the dilemma that the discourse of ‘mental illness’ – Sedgwick's critical concept – has fallen out of favour with radical mental health movements yet remains paradigmatic within psychiatry itself. Finally, the paper endorses a contemporary perspective that, while necessarily updating Psychopolitics, remains nonetheless ‘Sedgwickian’

Effects of Iron, Silicate, and Light on Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Production in the Australian Subantarctic Zone

Shipboard bottle incubation experiments were performed to investigate the effects of iron, light, and silicate on algal production of particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSPp) in the Subantarctic Zone (SAZ) south of Tasmania during March 1998. Iron enrichment resulted in threefold to ninefold increases in DMSPp concentrations relative to control treatments, following 7 and 8-day incubation experiments. Additions of Fe and Si preferentially stimulated the growth of lightly-silicified pennate diatoms and siliceous haptophytes, respectively, to which we attribute the increased DMSPp production in the incubation bottles. Both of these algal groups were previously believed to be low DMSPp producers; however, our experimental data suggest that addition of iron and silicate to the low-silicate low-iron waters of the SAZ will result in increased production of DMSPp by lightly silicified diatoms and siliceous haptophytes, respectively. Increased irradiance enhanced DMSPp production in iron-amended treatments with both low (0.5 nM) and high (5 nM) concentrations of added iron. However, the role of light in stimulating DMSPp production was apparently of secondary importance compared to the effects of iron addition. The combination of high irradiance and high iron enrichment produced the highest DMSPp production in the experiments, suggesting that iron and light may have a synergistic effect in limiting algal DMSPp production in subantarctic waters

The effects of a varus unloader brace for lateral tibiofemoral osteoarthritis and valgus malalignment after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A single case study

We investigated the immediate effects of a varus knee brace on knee symptoms and knee-joint biomechanics in an individual with predominant lateral tibiofemoral joint osteoarthritis (TFJOA) and valgus malalignment after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. A varus unloader brace was prescribed to a 48-year-old male with predominant lateral radiographic and symptomatic TFJOA and valgus malalignment eight-years following ACL reconstruction. During a step-down task, the participant rated knee pain, task-difficulty, knee-stability and knee-confidence on four separate visual analogue scales. Quantitative gait analysis was conducted during self-selected walking trials under three test conditions in a randomized order: (i) no brace; (ii) brace without frontal plane adjustment (no varus re-alignment); and (ii) brace with frontal plane adjustment (varus re-alignment). Post-processing of gait data involved calculation of knee kinematics and net joint moments for the reconstructed limb. The participant reported improved pain (3%), task difficulty (41%), stability (46%) and confidence (49%) when performing the step-down task with the brace. The varus brace resulted in immediate reductions in knee abduction angle (24%) and internal rotation angle (56%), and increased knee adduction moment (18%). These findings provide preliminary evidence for potentially beneficial effects of bracing on knee-symptoms and biomechanics in individuals with lateral TFJOA after reconstruction

‘It stays with you’: multiple evocative representations of dance and future possibilities for studies in sport and physical cultures

This article considers the integration of arts-based representations via poetic narratives together with artistic representation on dancing embodiment so as to continue an engagement with debates regarding multiple forms/representations. Like poetry, visual images are unique and can evoke particular kinds of emotional and visceral responses, meaning that alternative representational forms can resonate in different and powerful ways. In the article, we draw on grandparent-grandchild interactions, narrative poetry, and artistic representations of dance in order to illustrate how arts-based methods might synergise to offer new ways of ‘knowing’ and ‘seeing’. The expansion of the visual arts into interdisciplinary methodological innovations is a relatively new, and sometimes contentious approach, in studies of sport and exercise. We raise concerns regarding the future for more arts-based research in the light of an ever-changing landscape of a neoliberal university culture that demands high productivity in reductionist terms of what counts as ‘output’, often within very restricted time-frames. Heeding feminist calls for ‘slow academies’ that attempt to ‘change’ time collectively, and challenge the demands of a fast-paced audit culture, we consider why it is worth enabling creative and arts-based methods to continue to develop and flourish in studies of sport, exercise and health, despite the mounting pressures to ‘perform’

Control of Phytoplankton Growth by Iron and Silicic Acid Availability in the Subantarctic Ocean: Experimental Results From the SAZ Project

Subantarctic Southern Ocean surface waters in the austral summer and autumn are characterized by high concentrations of nitrate and phosphate but low concentrations of dissolved iron (Fe, similar to0.05 nM) and silicic acid (Si, \u3c1 muM). During the Subantarctic Zone AU9706 cruise in March 1998 we investigated the relative importance of Fe and Si in controlling phytoplankton growth and species composition at a station within the subantarctic water mass (46.8degreesS, 142degreesE) using shipboard bottle incubation experiments. Treatments included unamended controls; 1.9 nM added iron (+Fe); 9 muM added silicic acid (+Si); and 1.9 nM addediron plus 9 muM added silicic acid (+Fe+Si). We followed a detailed set of biological and biogeochemical parameters over 8 days. Fe added alone clearly increased community growth rates and nitrate drawdown and altered algal community composition relative to control treatments. Surprisingly, small, lightly silicified pennate diatoms grew when Fe was added either with or without Si, despite the extremely low ambient silicic acid concentrations. Pigment analyses suggest that lightly silicified chrysophytes (type 4 haptophytes) may have preferentially responded to Si added either with or without Fe. However, for many of the parameters measured the +Fe+Si treatments showed large increases relative to both the +Fe and +Si treatments. Our results suggest that iron is the proximate limiting nutrient for chlorophyll production, photosynthetic efficiency, nitrate drawdown, and diatom growth, but that Si also exerts considerable control over algal growth and species composition. Both nutrients together are needed to elicit a maximum growth response, suggesting that both Fe and Si play important roles in structuring the subantarctic phytoplankton community

Control of Phytoplankton Growth by Iron Supply and Irradiance in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean: Experimental Results From the SAZ Project

The influence of irradiance and Fe supply on phytoplankton processes was studied, north (47°S, 142°E) and south (54°S, 142°E) of the Subantarctic Front in austral autumn (March 1998). At both sites, resident cells exhibited nutrient stress (Fv/Fm 0 at 47°S and 9% I0 at 54°S because of MLDs of 40 (47°S) and 90 m (54°S), when these stations were occupied. The greater MLD at 54°S is reflected by tenfold higher cellular chlorophyll a levels in the resident phytoplankton. In the 47°S experiment, chlorophyll a levels increased to \u3e1 μg/L-1 only in the high-Fe treatments, regardless of irradiance levels, suggesting Fe limitation. This trend was also noted for cell abundances, silica production, and carbon fixation rates. In contrast, in the 54°S experiment there were increases in chlorophyll a (to \u3e2 μg/L-1), cell abundances, silica production, and carbon fixation only in the high-light treatments to which Fe had been added, suggesting that Fe and irradiance limit algal growth rates. Irradiance by altering algal Fe quotas is a key determinant of algal growth rate at 54°S (when silicic acid levels are nonlimiting); however, because of the integral nature of Fe/light colimitation and the restricted nature of the current data set, it was not possible to ascertain the relative contributions of Fe and irradiance to the control of phytoplankton growth. On the basis of a climatology of summer mean MLD for subantarctic (SA) waters south of Australia the 47° and 54°S sites appear to represent minimum and maximum MLDs, where Fe and Fe/irradiance, respectively, may limit/colimit algal growth. The implications for changes in the factors limiting algal growth with season in SA waters are discussed

Limitation of Algal Growth by Iron Deficiency in the Australian Subantarctic Region

In March 1998 we measured iron in the upper water column and conducted iron- and nutrient-enrichment bottle-incubation experiments in the open-ocean Subantarctic region southwest of Tasmania, Australia. In the Subtropical Convergence Zone (∼42°S, 142°E), silicic acid concentrations were low (\u3c 1.5μM) in the upper water column, whereas pronounced vertical gradients in dissolved iron concentration (0.12-0.84 nM) were observed., presumably reflecting the interleaving of Subtropical and Subantarctic waters, and mineral aerosol input. Results of a bottle-incubation experiment performed at this location indicate that phytoplankton growth rates were limited by iron deficiency within the iron-poor layer of the euphotic zone. In the Subantarctic water mass (∼46.8°S, 142°E), low concentrations of dissolved iron (0.05-0.11nM) and silicic acid (\u3c 1μM) were measured throughout the upper water column, and our experimental results indicate that algal growth was limited by iron deficiency. These observations suggest that availability of dissolved iron is a primary factor limiting phytoplankton growth over much of the Subantarctic Southern Ocean in the late summer and autumn

Personal goals, group performance and ‘social’ networks: participants’ negotiation of virtual and embodied relationships in the ‘Workplace Challenge’ physical activity programme

County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) epitomise the growing reliance upon building networks and partnerships sports delivery. This study investigated how social networks were created and contested in a CSP-led programme entitled the ‘Workplace Challenge’ (WPC). The WPC used a web-platform to encourage workplace-based teams to engage in physical activity by self-recording their activity over an eight-week period. Points were awarded for activity completed and a peer-challenge facility was promoted via online league tables, prizes and the opportunity to ‘challenge’ other users. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of seventeen participants recruited from one public and one private sector workplace and from a sample of participants registered as individuals. Two programme planners employed by the CSP also took part. A figurational framework was utilised to investigate participants’ negotiation of networks of embodied and virtual relationships within the programme. Findings suggest the messages promoted in the WPC were disseminated and transformed according to the organizational structure of these networks. Embodied social relationships within workplaces reinforced peer support in professional I-we identities, whereas virtual networks sometimes highlighted participants’ isolation. Moreover, emphasis upon competition within and between teams caused some to question their performance. Often, competition motivated engagement. For less active participants, constant comparison could prove discouraging, particularly if participants felt they had let their colleagues down. Planners of similar programmes must be cognizant of the uneven manner of programme dissemination. Contextual differences at the point of delivery including existing organizational structures and power hierarchies have an impact upon participants’ perceptions of a programme