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Published Accounts (published + account)
Selected AbstractsMaking the Leap from Researcher to Planner: Lessons from Avian Conservation Planning in the Dominican RepublicCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2000Steven C. Latta Published accounts of national, multidisciplinary planning efforts and priority setting for avian conservation are not common. I describe the process and results of a broad-based, grassroots-oriented avian conservation planning workshop held in the Dominican Republic in which we designed a coordinated strategy for avian conservation in the country. The planning process sought to (1) increase communication and cooperation among conservationists; (2) familiarize participants with resources pertinent to avian conservation; (3) encourage the transfer of information between researchers and managers; (4) promote the concepts of long-term avian monitoring, avian conservation plans, and species management plans; and (5) develop a common, multidisciplinary strategy to promote the conservation of birds in the Dominican Republic. The workshop highlighted group discussions among research biologists, managers, educators, and public policy specialists to assess avian conservation needs and priorities with respect to each discipline and has since galvanized a significant portion of the conservation community around several cooperative projects involving diverse segments of the community. Avian biologists can play a significant role in conservation efforts through a willingness to work with key players in diverse fields and to envision holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to conservation issues. Resumen: Cuando los biologícos investigadores incursionan en la biología de la conservación enfrentan nuevos desafíos, especialmente en países extranjeros, al intentar prestar apoyo para esfuerzos de planificación de la conservación. Los informes publicados de esfuerzos de planificación nacional, multidisciplinaria y de establecimiento de prioridades para la conservación de aves no son comunes. Describo el proceso y los resultados de un taller nacional de planificación para conservación de aves en la República Dominicana que utilizaba un proceso fundamental de base amplia donde creamos una estrategia coordinada para la conservación de aves del país. El proceso de planeación buscaba (1) aumentar comunicación y cooperación entre conservacionistas, (2) familiarizar a los participantes con los recursos disponibles para la conservación de aves, (3) estimular la transferencia de información entre investigadores y manejadores, (4) promover los conceptos del monitoreo de aves a largo plazo, planes de conservación de especies y planes de manejo de especies y (5) desarrollar una estrategia multidisciplinaria común para promover la conservación de aves en la República Dominicana. El taller puso a relieve discusiones de grupo entre investigadores, manejadores, educadores y especialistas en política pública para evaluar las necesidaes y prioridades para la conservación de aves con respecto a cada disciplina, desde entonces se ha estimulado a una porción significativa de la comunidad conservacionista alrededor de proyectos de cooperación que involucran a diversos segmentos de la comunidad. Los ornitólogos pueden jugar un papel significativo en los esfuerzos de conservación mediante una buena disposición para trabajar con personas clave en diversas disciplinas y visualizar de una manera integral y multidisciplinaria las estrategias para abordar asuntos de conservación. [source] The UCLan community engagement and service user support (Comensus) project: valuing authenticity, making space for emergenceHEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 4 2007Soo Downe BA (Hons) RM MSc PhD Abstract Objective, To develop and evaluate service user, carer and community involvement in health and social care education. Background, Despite the high policy profile of involvement issues, there appear to be no published accounts of schemes that have used a systematic whole-faculty approach to community engagement in health and social care higher education. Focus of this paper, The set up and early development of a faculty-wide community engagement project. Setting and participants, Staff from the faculty of health in one University, local service users and carers and community group project workers and local National Health Service (NHS) and public sector staff. Design, Participatory action research including document review, field notes, questionnaires and interviews. Analysis, Thematic analysis. The emerging themes were tested by seeking disconfirming data, and through verification with stake-holders. Results, Prior to the study, there were examples of community engagement in the participating faculty, but they occurred in specific departments, and scored low on the ,ladder of involvement'. Some previous attempts at engagement were perceived to have failed, resulting in resistance from staff and the community. Despite this, an advisory group was successfully formed, and project framing and development evolved with all stake-holders over the subsequent year. The four themes identified in this phase were: building accessibility; being ,proper' service users/carers;moving from suspicion to trust: mutually respectful partnerships as a basis for sustainable change; and responses to challenge and emergence. Conclusions, Successful and sustainable engagement requires authenticity. Many problems and solutions arising from authentic engagement are emergent, and potentially challenging to organizations. [source] CREATING VALUE IN THE OIL INDUSTRYJOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 1 2004Nick Antill In contrast with current thinking that conglomerates are inefficient, this article begins by presenting arguments in favor of the size and structure of the large integrated oil companies, also known as "the supermajors." Among the advantages are tax efficiency, information flow, political and technological know-how, broad supplier and customer relationships, scale economies, cross-business economies of scope, brand power, and the ability to coordinate strategic initiatives across businesses. These advantages all translate into a lower cost of capital. One problem, however, is that this lower cost of capital does not seem to be reflected in the target returns on capital currently set by the supermajors. Observing that the financial goal of a corporation is to maximize not its return on capital but rather the net present value of expected future cash flows and earnings, the authors argue that the majors need to make two major changes to current practice. First, their investment hurdle rates should be reduced from their current level of 14,15% to the weighted average cost of capital, which is estimated to run about 8,9%. Second, the actual returns on capital reported in published accounts are largely meaningless; and when evaluating new investments and existing operations alike, the companies must find an annual performance measure that better reflects the economic realities of the business. This paper recommends use of a performance measurement framework based on economic profit that should serve two critical purposes: it will encourage managers to undertake all value-increasing projects (not just those that will maintain or increase reported return on capital), and it will help the companies communicate their strategy and results to the investment community. [source] Cheiron's origins: Personal recollections and a photographJOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2004Elizabeth ScarboroughArticle first published online: 19 MAR 200 When the Cheiron Society convened at the University of New Hampshire for its thirty-fifth annual meeting in June 2003, members were returning to the site where the proposal to establish a new scholarly organization to promote research in the history of the behavioral and social sciences originated in the summer of 1968. I was witness to Cheiron's birthing and have been closely involved in its evolution over the years, and so was asked to comment on the circumstances that produced what has become a vibrant source of stimulation and support for those of us interested in the field. (For other published accounts of the Institute and Cheiron's founding see Brozek, Watson, & Ross, 1969, 1970; Goodman, 1979, 1982; Watson, 1972, 1975; and Weyant, 1968.) © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Visual Images of America in the Sixteenth CenturyLITERATURE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2008Elaine Brennan Artists rarely accompanied sixteenth-century voyages of discovery and exploration.1 As a consequence, few first-hand visual representations of the New World were produced. Despite this, published accounts of the Americas in the sixteenth century often included illustrations. With some notable exceptions, the voyagers themselves did not supply the images, or directly supervise their publication. Accurate or not, these images, together with the texts they illustrated, contributed to the construction of the Americas in European consciousness. Only a small number of original first-hand pictorial works survive today, the most important being John White's drawings of the Algonquian Indians of Roanoke, Virginia, from 1585,86. The recent major exhibition of John White's drawings may provoke new scholarly interest in sixteenth-century visual images of the Americas, a topic which offers a rich and relatively neglected area of study.2 This article offers an introduction to the field together with some suggestions for avenues of further research.3 [source] Anomalous Experiences Reported by Field Anthropologists: Evaluating Theories Regarding ReligionANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS, Issue 2 2002James McClenon Ph.D. Content analysis of published accounts of 40 anomalous experiences reported by anthropologists allows qualitative evaluationof elements within evolutionary theories pertaining to religion . The analysis supports findings from previous studies indicating that certain anomalous experienceshave cross-culturally consistent features. Narrative and structural features within the anthropologists' accounts coincide with those gathered in northeastern North Carolina and many other areas. The data also reveal the capacity of these episodes to transform belief, supporting an experiential source theory regarding faith in spirits, souls, life after death, and magical abilities. The narratives indicate that anomalous perceptions cause some anthropologists to consider novel theories. This study supports evolutionary explanations for the origin of religion and provides predictions regarding research directions in anthropology. [source] Allergic contact dermatitis from exposure to Grevillea robusta in New ZealandAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2009José GB Derraik ABSTRACT There are a number of reports in the literature of allergic contact dermatitis as a result of exposure to the sawdust and plant parts of Grevillea robusta. While this tree is prevalent in New Zealand, there seems to have been no previous published accounts of contact dermatitis, although anecdotal evidence indicates that such cases may be common. Two brief case reports are provided regarding severe phytodermatitis to G. robusta among professional arborists in New Zealand. As with other common plants capable of inducing allergic contact dermatitis, greater awareness among arborists, orchardists, forestry workers, gardeners, and health professionals will likely result in a reduction of cases. [source] Evolutionary morphology of the circulatory system in Peracarida (Malacostraca; Crustacea)CLADISTICS, Issue 2 2010Christian S. Wirkner We demonstrate that by formulating guidelines for evolutionary morphology the transparency, reproducibility, and intersubject testability of evolutionary hypotheses based on morphological data can be enhanced. The five main steps in our concept of evolutionary morphology are (i) taxon sampling, (ii) structural analysis, (iii) character conceptualization, (iv) phylogenetic analysis, and (v) evolutionary interpretation. We illustrate this concept on the example of the morphology of the circulatory organs in peracarid Malacostraca. The analysis is based on recently published accounts in which detailed structural analyses were carried out, and on the older literature. Detailed conceptualizations of 22 characters of the circulatory system are given for 28 terminals. In a further step these characters are included in a recently revised matrix, resulting in 110 characters. The resulting parsimony analysis yielded a single most parsimonious tree with a length of 309 steps. The most significant results are that Peracarida is monophyletic, Amphipoda is the sister taxon to the Mancoida sensu stricto, the relict cave-dwelling taxa Thermosbaenacea, Spelaeogriphacea, and Mictocarididae form a monophylum and Tanaidacea is the sister group to a monophylum comprising Cumacea and Isopoda. The evolutionary analysis shows that the ground pattern features of the circulatory organs in Peracarida are a tubular heart extending through the whole thorax, a posterior aorta with lateral arteries, and a ventral vessel system. Important features within the Peracarida are the backward shift of the anterior border of the heart, the reduction of the ventral vessel system, and two patterns of cardiac arteries, one common to the amphipod and tanaidacean terminals, and one to the cumacean and isopod terminals. ,© The Willi Hennig Society 2009. [source] | ||||||||||||||||