Sustainable development from rhetoric to practice? A New Zealand perspective

This article explores the changing conceptions of sustainable development with reference to planning policy and practice in New Zealand. In 1991, when New Zealand introduced its Resource Management Act 1991, the country was seen as being a leader internationally in promoting sustainable development planning approaches. Twelve years later the early optimism has waned and New Zealand is if anything now a laggard rather than a leader in this field. This article explores the ambivalent and uneven relationship with sustainable development that has been evident in central government and within local government planning practice in New Zealand. It goes on to examine the potential that the Long Term Council Community Plans, introduced in the new Local Government Act 2002, offer in delivering sustainable development and transcending the implementation gap between policy statements in support of sustainable development and practice. The example of the city of Dunedin, the first local authority in New Zealand to produce a Long Term Council Community Plan, is used to demonstrate some of the difficulties inherent in achieving sustainable development goals in practice.     

Kinetics of vanillin oxidation

Vanillin can be produced by oxidation of kraft lignin, with air, in alkaline medium. The optimal conditions for vanillin production strongly depend on pH and temperature. This paper addresses the effect of temperature and pH on vanillin degradation by oxidation. Experiments were carried out in a wide range of vanillin concentration, oxygen partial pressure, temperature and pH. Simple models are proposed to explain the observed rate of vanillin consumption under conditions of high alkalinity (pH>12) and lower alkalinity (pH<12). At pH>12,the reaction rate of vanillin oxidation is first order in dissolved oxygen concentration [O₂] and in vanillin concentration [C], i.e., (?r_C) ∝[O₂][C]; at pH<12, the rate is zero order in oxygen concentration and second order in vanillin concentration, i.e., (?r_C)∝f(pH)[C]².     

Nocturnal Hemodialysis in Australia

Background: Because home hemodialysis has long been a common Australian support modality, the advent of home‐based nocturnal hemodialysis (NHD) in Canada stimulated the extension of our existing home‐ and satellite‐based conventional hemodialysis (CHD) programs to NHD. As a result, the first government‐funded, home‐based, 6‐nights‐per‐week NHD program in Australia began in July 2001. Methods: Sixteen patients have been trained for NHD; 13 dialyzed at home 8 to 9 hr per night for 6 nights per week, whereas 3 preferred to train for NHD at home using an 8‐ to 9‐hr alternate‐night regime. Results: The program experience to March 1, 2003, was 655 patient‐weeks. Two patients had withdrawn for transplantation and 2 for social reasons, although 1 continues on alternate‐night NHD. There hade been no deaths. Ten patients had dialyzed without partners. All patients ceased phosphate binders at entry. Thirteen of 16 discontinued all antihypertensive drugs. There were no fluid or dietary restrictions. Phosphate was added to the dialysate to prevent hypophosphatemia. Pre‐ and postdialysis urea and phosphate levels were broadly within the normal ranges. All patients reported restorative sleep; similarly partners reported stable sleep patterns and noted improved mood, cognitive function, and marital relationships in their NHD partners. Preliminary cost analyses show that whereas consumables had doubled, and epoetin and iron expenditures had risen by 28.9%, other pharmaceutical costs had fallen by 47%, and nursing wage costs were 48% of the notional cost had these patients remained on CHD. Three patients on NHD were retired, 7 worked full‐time, 3 worked part‐time, and 3 drew disability support, whereas previously on CHD, 3 were retired, 3 had worked full‐time, 3 had worked part‐time, and 7 had drawn disability support. Conclusion: We believe that NHD is viable, safe, effective, and well accepted with significant lifestyle benefits and reemployment outcomes. Although initial setup costs are significant, NHD cost advantage over CHD progressively accrues as program numbers exceed 12 to 15 patients.     

Biological evaluation of the toxicity of products of pyrolysis and combustion of materials

This paper present observations on the toxicity of gases produced by materials under three different combustion conditions. The difficulty of the general problem of toxicity is emphasized and the impossibility—at the present stage in the research—of satisfying the increasing pressure to establish toxicity safety regulations is stated.     

Antecedents of self-regulation: A developmental perspective.

The emerging ability to comply with caregivers' dictates and to monitor one's own behavior accordingly signifies a major growth of early childhood. However, scant attention has been paid to the developmental course of self-initiated regulation of behavior. The literature devoted to early forms of control is summarized, highlighting the different philosophical orientations. Focusing on the period from early infancy to the beginning of the preschool years, an ontogenetic perspective is proposed that traces the kinds of modulation or control of which the child is capable. The developmental sequence of monitoring behaviors that is proposed calls attention to contributions made by the growth of cognitive skills. The role of mediators (e.g., caregivers) is also discussed. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Observations of cellular transformation products in nickel-base superalloys

Transmission electron microscopy has been used to identify the products in cellularly transformed regions of alloys based on the Nimonic 80 A composition. The commercial alloy is shown to undergo a small degree of cellular transformation even after conventional heat treatments, while recrystallization is found to increase the incidence of this reaction type. Low carbon versions of this alloy demonstrate cellular precipitation over a wider range of heat treatments. It is shown that the cellular reaction may take place in these alloys under a variety of different conditions and with a range of driving forces. Reasons for this unexpected behaviour are offered, as is a suggestion as to why the cellular reaction occurs on a local scale.     

Salience of ethnicity in the spontaneous self-concept as a function of one's ethnic distinctiveness in the social environment.

How likely people are to think of themselves in terms of a given personal characteristic is predicted from the distinctiveness postulate that the person, when confronted by a complex stimulus (such as the self), selectively notices and encodes the stimulus in terms of what is most peculiar about it, since these peculiar characteristics are the most informative in distinguishing it from other stimuli. This partial view of the person as an information-encoding machine (one is conscious of oneself insofar as, and in the ways that, one is different) is used to derive 4 predictions implying that ethnic identity is salient in children's spontaneous self-concepts to the extent that their ethnic group is in the minority in their social milieu at school. In testing 560 1st-, 3rd-, 7th-, and 11th-grade school children, the measure of salience of ethnicity was its being spontaneously mentioned by the children in response to a nondirective "Tell us about yourself" question. All 4 predictions were confirmed, though for several of the findings there are plausible alternative explanations. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health and development: Section introduction.

The articles in this section point to directions for action regarding children's health and their emotional and developmental well-being. More than this, the authors describe the kinds of problems children face and why they arise. Equally important, all acknowledge the progress already made. The 11 articles in this section are grouped into two major categories: the first pertains to risks to children's mental health and behavior, and the second deals with risk factors and risk-taking behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)