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Greater Pressure (greater + pressure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	40%

Selected Abstracts

MAKING SUSTAINABLE CREATIVE/CULTURAL SPACE IN SHANGHAI AND SINGAPORE,

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
LILY KONG
ABSTRACT. Shanghai and Singapore are two economically vibrant Asian cities that have recently adopted creative/cultural economy strategies. In this article I examine new spatial expressions of cultural and economic interests in the two cities: state-vaunted cultural edifices and organically evolved cultural spaces. I discuss the simultaneous precariousness and sustainability of these spaces, focusing on Shanghai's Grand Theatre and Moganshan Lu and on Singapore's Esplanade,Theatres by the Bay and Wessex Estate. Their cultural sustainability is understood as their ability to support the development of indigenous content and local idioms in artistic work. Their social sustainability is examined in terms of the social inclusion and community bonds they engender; environmental sustainability refers to the articulation with the language of existing urban forms and the preservation of or improvements to the landscape. Although both Shanghai and Singapore demonstrate simultaneous precariousness and sustainability, Singapore's city-state status places greater pressure on it to ensure sustainability than does Shanghai, within a much larger China in which Beijing serves as the cultural hearth while Shanghai remains essentially a commercial center. [source]

Effect of size and pressure of surface recording electrodes on amplitude of sensory nerve action potentials

MUSCLE AND NERVE, Issue 2 2004
Antoon A. Ven MSc
Abstract The influence of electrode size on sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitude of the lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve (LACN) and sural nerve (SN) was studied in 63 healthy volunteers. The SNAP amplitudes were measured using surface recording electrodes of three different sizes, positioned across the nerve. Mean amplitudes using a 5-mm electrode were 9.0% (SN) and 15.3% (LACN) higher than with a 20-mm electrode and 19.4% (SN) and 25.8% (LACN) higher than using a 40-mm electrode. To study the influence of pressure on surface recording electrodes, studies were performed on the LACN in 31 healthy volunteers. Light pressure of the recording electrodes on the skin gave lower amplitudes (15.3%) than did greater pressure or pressure applied between active and reference electrodes. These studies demonstrate that standardized surface recording electrode size and pressure are imperative for obtaining valid and reliable results in experimental studies or in clinical follow-up of patients undergoing nerve conduction studies. Muscle Nerve 30: 234,238, 2004 [source]

The peri-urban Pacific: From exclusive to inclusive cities

ASIA PACIFIC VIEWPOINT, Issue 3 2003
Donovan Storey
Abstract:,As the Pacific Islands continue to urbanise, existing models of governance and planning are coming under greater pressure and scrutiny. Both the city council approach and the ,good' urban governance agenda of donors have weaknesses in the region, especially in dealing with peri-urban settlements where the most rapid urban population growth is occurring. This is resulting in increased social discontent and conflict. This paper critiques the ways in which Pacific Island towns and cities are governed and calls for an approach which is more inclusive (and less hierarchical) and informed by concepts of citizenship and social justice. Indeed, policy makers will need to broaden their concepts and practices of governance if many Pacific cities are to be socially, politically, and envir-onmentally sustainable. However, the political-economy of urban development in the region is not proving conducive to consensus, with conflict a more likely outcome in the foreseeable future. [source]

Understanding pressures on fishery resources through trade statistics: a pilot study of four products in the Chinese dried seafood market

FISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 1 2004
Shelley Clarke
Abstract This study investigates the dried seafood trade, centred in Chinese markets, in order to better understand the pressures its demand exerts on global marine resource stocks. Using Hong Kong, the region's largest entrepôt, as a focal point, the trade in shark fins, abalone, bêche-de-mer and dried fish is characterized in terms of product history, volume, source fisheries and species composition. Trends identified in the Hong Kong market are interpreted in the context of the larger Chinese market. Shark fin imports grew 6% per year between 1991 and 2000, most likely because of market expansion in Mainland China, posing increasingly greater pressures on global shark resources. In contrast, the quantities of dried abalone traded through Hong Kong remained steady, but inferences based on this trend are discouraged by suggestions of increasing preferences for fresh product forms and growing domestic production in Mainland China. Hong Kong's imports of dried bêche-de-mer (sea cucumber) have decreased, while the percentage of imports re-exported has remained steady, suggesting that Hong Kong continues as an entrepôt for Mainland China despite declining domestic consumption. Few conclusions can be drawn regarding dried fish products, including whole fish and fish maws, because of a lack of product differentiation in customs data, but a market survey was conducted to provide information on species composition. Comparison of Hong Kong dried seafood trade statistics to those of other key trading partners indicates that, in general, Hong Kong's duty-free status appears to encourage more accurate reporting of traded quantities. Under-reporting biases ranged from 24 to 49% for shark fin and bêche-de-mer, respectively. Comparison to United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) databases indicates additional under-reporting for shark fin such that an alternative minimum estimate of world trade is at least twice the FAO estimates in 1998,2000. The results of a survey of Hong Kong traders provide insight into their attitudes toward harvest, economic and regulatory factors, and suggest that conservation efforts are unlikely to emerge from, or be actively supported by, dried seafood trade organizations. The market's apparent sensitivity to economic sentiment, however, reveals an opportunity for consumer education to play a role in shaping future market growth and resource conservation. Recommendations are provided for improving trade statistics and for developing better analytical techniques to complement traditional methods for monitoring the exploitation and management of fisheries resources. [source]

Twenty years of rest returns grazing potential, but not palatable plant diversity, to Karoo rangeland, South Africa

JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
Colleen L. Seymour
Summary 1.,Up to 73% of the world's rangelands are degraded, and increasing demand for meat in developing countries and a growing human population are likely to exert even greater pressures on rangelands in the next 20,50 years. Restoration of rangeland grazing potential and resilience is therefore important, particularly in the face of climate change. 2.,We investigated the influence of past stocking rates (from 1910 to 1987), rainfall, and current grazing regimes (from 1988 to 2008) on plant assemblages, grazing potential, and diversity of palatable species in southern Karoo rangelands, South Africa. 3.,We used herbivore exclusion experiments to test whether resting rangeland for 20 years enables recovery of plant assemblages (where seed sources are present within 50 m), regardless of previous grazing history. Mean annual rainfall over this period was 15% higher than the mean annual rainfall for the preceding 80 years and included two exceptionally wet years. 4.,While rainfall was a primary driver of total vegetation cover, grazing history explained differences in plant species composition: plots with shared historical grazing intensity were more similar than plots with the same grazing regimes between 1988 and 2008. 5.,In historically heavily-grazed exclusion plots, cover of the palatable species Tripteris sinuata (formerly Osteospermum sinuatum) returned to levels comparable to that in both exclusion and lightly-grazed plots with a moderate grazing history. Five palatable species (Pteronia empetrifolia, Tetragonia spicata, Berkheya spinosa, Hereroa latipetala and Ruschia spinosa) failed to re-establish, however, despite the presence of seed-producing plants nearby. Furthermore, only cover of P. empetrifolia increased significantly in historically moderately-grazed plots. Cover of unpalatable plants (e.g. Pteronia pallens) increased in all plots over time. 6.Synthesis and applications. These findings suggest that present species composition of arid shrublands reflects historical management at time scales greater than 20 years. Despite high rainfall enabling the return of grazing potential through recovery of a single forage species, rest alone did not ensure the return of all palatable species, with implications for rangeland resilience. Restoring the full suite of palatable species over management timeframes will require more complex interventions such as reseeding or selective clearing. [source]