Intrauterine manometry: Technique and application to fetal pathology

A technique is described for measuring pressure within the amniotic cavity and within fetal vessels and/or body compartments. Two saline-filled catheters were connected at one end to needles inserted during indicated invasive procedures and at the other to silicon strain gauge transducers. In 36 pregnancies with normal liquor volume, stable intra-amniotic pressure (IAP, range 1–14 mmHg) increased with gestation (r=0·48, p<0·01). In pregnancies complicated by severe oligohydramnios, IAP was ≤ 1 mm Hg and rose to normal levels with saline amnioinfusion. Raised IAP (range 17–26 mm Hg), found in pregnancies with gross polyhydramnios, fell with drainage of amniotic fluid. Subtraction manometry was used to determine supra-amniotic pressure within the intervillus space, umbilical vein, umbilical artery, abdominal and thoracic cavities, and the urinary tract in normal and/or pathological fetuses. Low intravesical and intrapelvicalyceal pressures (median 6·5, range 2–10 mmHg) were noted in fetuses with obstructive uropathies. Intrauterine subtraction manometry appears to be a useful tool in the understanding of fetal pathophysiology and may be of clinical benefit in the therapeutic drainage and infusion of amniotic fluid and in the assessment of certain fetal disease states.     

Public sector perspectives and policy implications for the Pitons Management Area World Heritage Site,St. Lucia

St. Lucia faces numerous challenges associated with striking a balance between its economic and conservation goals with respect to the Pitons Management Area (PMA) World Heritage Site. Among the various stakeholders, the public sector, which largely constitutes the administrative authorities representing the general public, plays an instrumental role in site management. They are primarily responsible for policy formulation as well as the provision of fiscal incentives and funds to assist in the maintenance of the site. Based on a qualitative inquiry approach, this study explored the perspectives of key persons among pertinent public and non-profit organizations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among local and national representatives from the public sector. Results revealed that the designation of the PMA as a World Heritage Site has presented both opportunities and challenges to the management of the site. Findings strongly indicate that the integrity and sustainability of the site is at stake due to a lack of commitment, coordination and political will in the public sector.     

Predicting tree diversity across the United States as a function of modeled gross primary production.

At the regional and continental scale, ecologists have theorized that spatial variation in biodiversity can be interpreted as a response to differences in climate. To test this theory we assumed that ecological constraints associated with current climatic conditions (2000-2004) might best be correlated with tree richness if expressed through satellite-derived measures of gross primary production (GPP), rather than the more commonly used, but less consistently derived, net primary production. To evaluate current patterns in tree diversity across the contiguous United States we acquired information on tree composition from the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program that represented more than 17,4000 survey plots. We selected 2693 cells of 1000 km2 within which a sufficient number of plots were available to estimate tree richness per hectare. Our estimates of forest productivity varied from simple vegetation indices indicative of the fraction of light intercepted by canopies at 16-d intervals, a product from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer), to 8- and 10-d GPP products derived with minimal climatic data (MODIS) and SPOT-Vegetation (Systeme Pour l'Observation de la Terre), to 3-PGS (Physiological Principles Predicting Growth with Satellites), which requires both climate and soil data. Across the contiguous United States, modeled predictions of gross productivity accounted for between 51% and 77% of the recorded spatial variation in tree diversity, which ranged from 2 to 67 species per hectare. When the analyses were concentrated within nine broadly defined ecoregions, predictive relations largely disappeared. Only 3-PGS predictions fit a theorized unimodal function by being able to distinguish highly productive forests in the Pacific Northwest that support lower than expected tree diversity. Other models predicted a continuous steep rise in tree diversity with increasing productivity, and did so with generally better or nearly equal precision with fewer data requirements.     

An empirical evaluation of the insurance hypothesis in diversity-stability models

An important stabilizing mechanism in most diversity stability models is the insurance hypothesis, which involves correlation/covariance relationships among species. These models require that species do not fluctuate synchronously over time: that is, the correlation between pairs of species does not equal 1.0. However, the strength of this stabilizing mechanism increases as correlations decline away from 1.0, especially as they become more negative and also as the summed covariance across all species pairs becomes more negative. We evaluated the importance of the insurance hypothesis as a stabilizing mechanism by examining a variety of terrestrial assemblages using long-term data from the Global Population Dynamics Database, the Breeding Bird Survey, and a long-term site in southeastern Arizona, USA. We identified co-occurring assemblages of species and calculated the Spearman rank correlations of all pairs of species and the summed covariance of the entire assemblage. We found that, in most assemblages, positive correlations were two to three times more common than negative and that the magnitude of the positive correlations tended to be stronger than the negative correlations. For all but three assemblages, the summed covariance was positive. Data from larger spatial scales tended to exhibit more positive correlations, but even at the smallest spatial scales, positive correlations outnumbered negative. We suggest that species often covary positively because coexisting species respond similarly to fluctuations in their resource base driven by climatic fluctuations. As such, our review suggests that the insurance hypothesis may not be a strong mechanism stabilizing fluctuations in natural terrestrial communities.     

Emergent conservation outcomes of shared risk perception in human-wildlife systems

Human perception of risks related to economic damages caused by nearby wildlife can be transmitted through social networks. Understanding how sharing risk information within a human community alters the spatial dynamics of human-wildlife interactions has important implications for the design and implementation of effective conservation actions. We developed an agent-based model that simulates farmer livelihood decisions and activities in an agricultural landscape shared with a population of a generic wildlife species (wildlife-human interactions in shared landscapes [WHISL]). In the model, based on risk perception and economic information, farmers decide how much labor to allocate to farming and whether and where to exclude wildlife from their farms (e.g., through fencing, trenches, or vegetation thinning). In scenarios where the risk perception of farmers was strongly influenced by other farmers, exclusion of wildlife was widespread, resulting in decreased quality of wildlife habitat and frequency of wildlife damages across the landscape. When economic losses from encounters with wildlife were high, perception of risk increased and led to highly synchronous behaviors by farmers in space and time. Interactions between wildlife and farmers sometimes led to a spillover effect of wildlife damage displaced from socially and spatially connected communities to less connected neighboring farms. The WHISL model is a useful conservation-planning tool because it provides a test bed for theories and predictions about human-wildlife dynamics across a range of different agricultural landscapes.     

Farmland size,chemical fertilizers,and irrigation management effects on maize and wheat yield in Mexico

ABSTRACT

Farmland size is a key factor in debates over agricultural land use, food security, agrochemical pollution, and the future of smallholder systems. This paper examines relationships between farmland size, chemical fertilizers and irrigation management, and maize and wheat yield in Mexico. We used agricultural census data to estimate the mean farmland areas and crop yields of 5.5 million farms and nine million agricultural plots in 2,455 Mexican municipalities. We also derived indices of socio-environmental and management factors to examine relationships with yield. Using multiple regression models, we found that although mean farmland area positively relates to maize and wheat yield, the relationships depend critically on the management contexts of chemical fertilizers and irrigation, which vary widely across farm size gradients. Smallholder yield gaps were associated with deficits in irrigation, rather than chemical inputs. Findings highlight the growing need for expanded irrigation access and/or water management assistance for smaller farms.     

NUTRIENT LOADS TO WISCONSIN LAKES: PART I. NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS EXPORT COEFFICIENTS1

ABSTRACT: Export coefficients (kg/km²/yr) for dissolved ortho-phosphate (OP), total phosphorus (TP), total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), and total nitrogen (TN) were derived for watersheds in Wisconsin using data bases available for 17 basins from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — National Eutrophication Survey, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Three general land use categories, representative of most regions in Wisconsin, were established: forest, mixed, and agricultural. Data for the 17 basins indicated greater exports of OP. TP, TIN, and TN as the percentage of forest decreased and agriculture increased. These region-specific coefficients are compared to the values reported in the literature representing much broader areas of the U.S.     

Will science parks generate the fifth wave?

The paper examines characteristics of science parks in the face of employment decline, raising doubts about the scale of their success. The paper re‐examines previous research on the existence and causes of long waves of economic growth and decline and concludes that if these are not generated by innovations in production, then it should not be surprising that science parks have not lived up to expectations.     

Legal and regulatory aspects of financing commodity exporters and the provision of bank hedging line credit in developing countries

Exporters of raw materials and commodities in developing countries depend on the availability of hard currency pre-export financing and the adoption of pricing policies which meet the requirements of the international marketplace to produce and market their products in an efficient manner. The author has identified a number of structural obstacles which impede access both to international financing and to price risk management tools which could be overcome through relatively simple modifications in export regulations, currency controls, insurance regulations and in laws concerning title to goods.