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Indigenous nations worldwide are working with and lobbying private and public resource developers to ensure meaningful engagement in decisions tied to resource development in their territories. The diversity of approaches for engagement can be framed along a continuum, with voluntary practices at one end and legal responsibilities at the other. Given this continuum, the roles and responsibilities of various actors involved have become blurred, which leads to poor practice. In an effort to bring clarity, the aim of this research was to understand the distinctions between voluntary practices and legal responsibilities among key actors, identify how key actors understood their different roles and responsibilities, and explain the implications of these differences. In partnership with a First Nation and a public power utility in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada, we employed semi-structured interviews and group workshops with Indigenous, industry, and government actors who participate in environmental management and resource development decisions. We found that actors had distinct motivations for interacting with one another, that perceptions of voluntary practices and legal responsibilities aligned among some participants but not among others, and that participants were indeed confused about their roles and responsibilities in relation to legal requirements and voluntary engagement activities. Furthermore, we learned that clarifying the intended roles of those involved in resource development decisions would be insufficient for improving practice. This is because improved clarity may not address underlying mistrust of government by Indigenous people, or may not be possible where rights and interests are intertwined under a broad conception of Indigenous rights. Findings also suggest the need for government and industry to work with Indigenous nations as self-determining entities, rather than imposing unilateral processes upon them. Consequently, more serious scrutiny, understanding and action is needed by government and industry when employing and assessing voluntary actions and legal measures for Indigenous inclusion in resource development decision-making processes., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In evaluating effectiveness for collaborative environmental governance arrangements, a key concern is describing not just the processes and actors that are a part of these systems, but also the impacts that these processes have on ecological and social conditions. Existing research delineates an emphasis on process variables over outcome variables, as well as the difficulties of demonstrating causal relationships between collaborative governance processes and ecological outcomes. In this paper, we examined how process and outcome criteria are used by sponsors, industry practitioners, and participants of collaborative environmental governance (CEG) arrangements in Canada's forest sector to ascertain effectiveness. We explicitly sought evidence from sponsors and industry practitioners of self-described effective forest advisory committees, anticipating that sponsors or practitioners might place greater emphasis than participants on outcome criteria over process criteria. We analyzed data from a nation-wide survey of forest advisory committee participants, conducted interviews with sponsoring agencies, and completed two in-depth case studies. We found that sponsors and industry practitioners, like participants, perceived a strong relationship between process and effectiveness. The perspectives of all participants helped us articulate ten key process criteria that they determined as essential for CEG. By including the insights of sponsoring agencies, our study provides both on-the-ground and management interpretations of process and outcomes as well as a nuanced approach to understanding the relationship between the two. However, we conclude that systematic evaluation approaches involving outcome-based criteria are still necessary and would provide a clear step towards encouraging accountability in CEG decision-making, both for sponsors and members.

A challenge for transdisciplinary sustainability science is learning how to bridge diverse worldviews among collaborators in respectful ways. A temptation in transdisciplinary work is to focus on improving scientific practices rather than engage research partners in spaces that mutually respect how we learn from each other and set the stage for change. We used the concept of Nicolescu's "Hidden Third" to identify and operationalize this transformative space, because it focused on bridging "objective" and "subjective" worldviews through art. Between 2014 and 2017, we explored the engagement of indigenous peoples from three inland delta regions in Canada and as a team of interdisciplinary scholars and students who worked together to better understand long-term social-ecological change in those regions. In working together, we identified five characteristics associated with respectful, transformative transdisciplinary space. These included (1) establishing an unfiltered safe place where (2) subjective and objective experiences and (3) different world views could come together through (4) interactive and (5) multiple sensory experiences. On the whole, we were more effective in achieving characteristics 2-5-bringing together the subjective and objective experiences, where different worldviews could come together-than in achieving characteristic 1-creating a truly unfiltered and safe space for expression. The novelty of this work is in how we sought to change our own engagement practices to advance sustainability rather than improving scientific techniques. Recommendations for sustainability scientists working in similar contexts are provided.

The decoupling of human-ecosystem relationships in underutilized forested or agricultural regions poses a threat to cultural and biological diversities. Some scholars have proposed transformative strategies involving local-led efforts to reconnect social and ecological systems with the support of bridging organizations (BOs). However, empirically-based understandings about how and under what conditions BOs can address context-specific social conditions to enable transformation work remain limited. Using the concept of social fit - how institutional arrangements address contextual social conditions to enhance governance effectiveness - this study examines the work of the Kyoto Model Forest Association (KMFA), a BO, in improving the relationship between forests and people in Kyoto, Japan. We employed a mixed method approach involving a questionnaire survey, document review, semi-structured interviews, and direct observations. Our findings showed that to improve human-ecosystem interdependence, the KMFA prioritized the provision of public education; invested in places and systems to reduce participation costs; built trust and reduced value mismatches; provided incentives and built management capacity; provided leadership to diverse local forestry groups; facilitated institutional integration of forest and non-forest organizations; and drew resources from diverse organizations. These roles broadened the participation of different actors with novel connections to local ecosystems, enhanced self-organizing capacities, and streamlined the roles of forest management institutions. To sustain these efforts, the KMFA needs to continuously adapt to meet the needs and perceptions of diverse and dynamic actors and to broaden participation. Our analysis provides evidence of the efficacy of BOs to recouple human-ecosystem relationships and improve governance outcomes in underutilized social-ecological systems., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Researchers of adaptive capacity and sustainable livelihoods have frequently used social, cultural, human, economic and institutional capitals to better understand how rural and resource-dependent communities address environmental, social and economic stresses. Yet few studies have considered how men and women contribute differently to these capitals to support community resilience overall. Our research sought to understand the differential contributions of Sami men and women to the adaptive capacity of reindeer husbandry and reindeer herding communities in northern Sweden. Our focus revealed a gendered division of labour in reindeer herding as an economic enterprise as well as gendered contributions to a broader conceptualization of reindeer husbandry as a family and community-based practice, and as a livelihood and cultural tradition. Based on our results, we recommend that community resilience be enhanced by generating more opportunities for men to achieve higher levels of human and economic capital (particularly outside of herding activities) and encouraging women to contribute more directly to institutional capital by participating in the formation and implementation of legislation, policies and plans.

Collaborative forest governance arrangements have been viewed as promising for sustainable forestry because they allow local communities to participate directly in management and benefit from resource use or protection. Such arrangements are strengthened through social learning during management activities that can enhance capacity to solve complex problems. Despite significant research on social learning in collaborative environmental governance, it is not clear how social learning evolves over time, who influences social learning, and whether learning influences management effectiveness. This study investigates how social learning outcomes change over time, using an in-depth study of a community forest in Canada. Personal interviews, focus group meetings, and participant observation revealed that most participants started engaging in community forestry with limited knowledge and learned as they participated in management activities. However, as the community forest organization became effective at complying with forestry legislation, learning opportunities and outcomes became more restricted. Our results run contrary to the prevalent view that opportunities for and outcomes of social learning become enlarged over time. In our case, learning how to meet governmental requirements increased professionalism and reduced opportunities for involvement and learning to a smaller group. Our findings suggest the need to further test propositions about social learning and collaborative governance, particularly to determine how relationships evolve over time.

Deliberation, dialogue and systematic learning are now considered attributes of good practice for organizations seeking to advance sustainability. Yet we do not know whether organizations that span spatial scales and governance responsibilities can establish effective communities of practice to facilitate learning and action. The purpose of this paper is to generate a framework that specifies actions and processes of a community of practice designed to instill collective learning and action strategies across a multi-level, multi-partner network. The framework is then used to describe and analyze a partnership among practitioners of Canada's 16 UNESCO biosphere reserves, and additional researchers and government representatives from across Canada. The framework is a cycle of seven action steps, beginning and ending with reflecting on and evaluating present practice. It is supported by seven characteristics of collaborative environmental management that are used to gauge the success of the partnership. Our results show that the partnership successfully built trust, established shared norms and common interest, created incentives to participate, generated value in information sharing and willingness to engage, demonstrated effective flow of information, and provided leadership and facilitation. Key to success was the presence of a multi-lingual facilitator who could bridge cultural differences across regions and academia-practitioner expectations. The project succeeded in establishing common goals, setting mutual expectations and building relations of trust and respect, and co-creating knowledge. It is too soon to determine whether changes in practices that support sustainability will be maintained over the long term and without the help of an outside facilitator., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The combination of noninvasive compositional analysis by Raman microspectrometry with high-resolution imaging in the scanning electron microscope greatly expands the analytical capabilities of the electron microscope. However, the chemical preparation of scanning electron microscope (SEM) specimens, although adequate for low-resolution imaging of superficial detail, is not the true representation of the chemistry and composition of the sample, as extraction and aggregation artefacts as a result of dehydrating and cross-linking agents are abundant. The original chemical composition and ultrastructure is only preserved using cryo preparation methods. Therefore, a complete cryo transfer flange was designed and built to add cryogenic control of specimens to the configuration of the EMRAM instrument, a combined Raman spectrometer and XL-30 ESEM instrument. The Raman spectra of two model specimen, polystyrene beads and 2.3M sucrose were studied at ambient and cryogenic temperatures as well as during a heating ramp. Comparing the fingerprint regions of polystyrene and sucrose, both measured at ambient and at cryogenic conditions, only small spectral differences were observed for the main peaks of both molecules. A pronounced sharpening of the bands occurred in the 800-400 cm(-1) region, a result of the reduction of intermolecular interactions. The enhanced visibility of the lower frequency modes may offer interesting potential for more detailed interpretation of Raman spectra., (© 2011 The Authors Journal of Microscopy © 2011 Royal Microscopical Society.)

Bronchial Asthma is a worldwide condition with particularly high prevalence in first world countries. The reasons are multifactorial but a neglected area is the psychological domain. It is well known that heavy emotions can trigger attacks and that depression negatively affects treatment outcomes. It is also known that personality type has a greater effect on disease prevalence than in many other conditions. However, many potential psychological treatments are hardly considered, neither in treatment guidelines nor in reviews by asthma specialists. Moreover, there is very little research concerning the beliefs and practices of doctors regarding psychological treatments. Using a questionnaire survey we ascertained that local GPs in Saxony-Anhalt have reasonably good knowledge about the psychological elements of asthma; a third consider it to be some of the influence (20-40% aetiology) and a further third consider it to be even more important than that (at least 40% total aetiology). Our GPs use psychosomatic counseling sometimes or usually in the areas of sport and smoking (circa 85% GPs), although less so regarding breathing techniques and relaxation (c40% usually or sometimes do this) However despite this knowledge they refer to the relevant clinicians very rarely (98% sometimes, usually or always refer to a respiratory physician compared with only 11% referring for psychological help).

The stereological estimation of second-order descriptors of spatial architecture appears to be inherently more time-consuming and labour-intensive than the estimation of first-order quantities (total quantities or ratios). Therefore, far fewer researchers tend to make use of second-order approaches in their stereological research projects. In this paper, we use a tutorial approach to illustrate how a desire for practical simplicity has provided us with a data collection method that can be used to simultaneously estimate both first-order and second-order properties of the microstructure of a defined anatomical feature of an organ. The approach does not rely on new results from theory, but nevertheless allows either isotropic uniform random or vertical uniform random sections to be used to make estimates of a comprehensive list of 10 microstructural parameters using relationships that are well known in the literature. The probe used in all cases is an isotropically distributed Ruler and the data collection protocol is easy to learn and apply. We illustrate the method on brain tissue but emphasize that the approach can also be applied to non-biological material.

Advocates of community-based approaches to environmental management argue that by respecting local circumstances, skills, and concerns we may improve the prospects of achieving environmental sustainability; yet, within nation states such as Canada, environmental conditions, management and enforcement costs and capabilities, and power differentials within and among civic and public sectors may result in a highly differentiated capacity for environmental management across different localities and regions. This article draws on insights of political ecology to 1) create a conceptual framework that identifies key elements shaping regional environmental management regimes and to 2) undertake a comparative analysis to assess how elements interact to generate uneven management outcomes. I compare experiences of two Canadian biosphere reserves designated in 2000: Clayoquot Sound, BC; and Redberry Lake, SK. Analysis reveals that differences in governance and institutional capacities in the biosphere reserves are key to explaining uneven local outcomes. Where the public and civic sectors are strong, a robust and publicly vetted form of management will emerge. Where these sectors are weak and land is held as private property, environmental nongovernmental organizations can set the type and level of management, to the exclusion of effective civic and state involvement. This result may improve environmental sustainability but hinder social sustainability of a management regime and raises questions about the efficacy of community-based management.

The estimation of object volume from rotationally randomised sections relies on an ancient geometrical principle due to the Alexandrian mathematician Pappus. In this paper we describe two studies that make estimates of eye volume using a stereological version of the Pappus principle. The first study uses a design-based version of the Pappus theorem to make estimates of eye volume in Sprague-Dawley rats and the second uses a model-based implementation for estimating eye volume in juvenile Dover sole. In the sole study we compare the estimates of volume with estimates made using the Cavalieri method and show that the Pappus method gives identical volume estimates with a markedly lower coefficient of variation (2.5%) than the Cavalieri method (13.5%).

A novel modification of the physical disector is described which was used to estimate the total number of terminal bronchiolar duct endings (TBDEs) in human infant lung. TBDEs are closed three-dimensional space curves of complex shape that are inherently difficult to count from histological sections. However, careful consideration of the microanatomy of the terminal duct endings provides us with the opportunity to define a very simple and unbiased counting rule. To apply the rule in practice we also need to determine a suitable disector height. Owing to the complex shape of the TBDE we had no prior knowledge of what disector height would be suitable for counting the TBDE structures. Exhaustive serial sectioning of complete TBDE structures was carried out and showed that any disector height under 90 microm would give unbiased counts. A further empirical study was then undertaken to determine the most efficient disector height. This was found to be 50 micro. The total number of TBDEs in the upper lobe of the right lung of six human infants aged between 13 and 25 weeks was also estimated. The estimates of numerical density obtained with our modification of the physical disector were multiplied by estimates of lung lobe volume obtained using Cavalieri's Principle. The total number of TBDEs in the lobes ranged from 15 323 to 57 768, with a mean of 40 306. The average coefficient of error of the number estimates was 19%, which was deemed precise enough given the biological coefficient of variation between TBDE number of 36%.

The reliability and validity of a comprehensive, integrative strategy for assessing adversity exposure in childhood and adolescence was examined in a community-based longitudinal study of 205 children. Extensive data from multiple measures completed by adolescents and their parents regarding chronic and acute life experiences were aggregated into a Life Chart record of lifetime adversity exposure. Severity of adversity in three nonoverlapping time spans was rated by trained judges with excellent interrater reliability. As hypothesized, Family adversity predominated over all other types of adversity in childhood, remained salient into midadolescence, and showed considerable stability over time. Adversity related to an individual's own behavior and psychological functioning rose to equal prominence by late adolescence. Adversity arising from physical ailments that were independent of the individual's psychological functioning declined over time, while adversity arising from the community rose; physical and community events were uncommon for most individuals but substantial for some. Results suggest that coherent developmental trends in adversity exposure may be identified effectively through judges' ratings of severity of adversity over multiple-year time spans.

Classical stereology is capable of quantifying the total amount or 'density' of a geometrical feature from sampled information, but gives no information about the local spatial arrangement of the feature. However, stereological methods also exist for quantifying the 'local' spatial architecture of a 3D microstructure from sampled information. These methods are capable of quantifying, in a statistical manner, the spatial interaction in a structure over a range of distances. One of the key quantities used in a second-order analysis of a volumetric feature is the set covariance. Previous applications of covariance analysis have been 'model-based' and relied upon computerized image analysis. In this paper we describe a new 'design-based' manual method, known as linear dipole probes, that is suitable for estimating covariance from microscopic images. The approach is illustrated in practice on vertically sectioned lung tissue. We find that only relatively sparse sampling per animal is required to obtain estimates of covariance that have low inter-animal variability.

The commercial fungicide methyl 1-[(butylamino) carbonyl]-1H-benzimidazol-2-ylcarbamate (benomyl) is teratogenic in rats. Its mode of action is believed to be related to its ability to inhibit the polymerization of brain tubulin. In this study its effects were studied in cultured neuronal cells during differentiation and neurite outgrowth. Mouse NB2a and human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were induced to differentiate by addition of dibutyryl cyclic AMP and at the same time were exposed to various concentrations of benomyl. Benomyl significantly inhibited neurite outgrowth in both cell lines at concentrations of 10(-8) M and above with IC50 values of 5.9 x 10(-7) M and 1.0 x 10(-6) M in the NB2a and SH-SY5Y cells respectively. The results show that benomyl inhibits neuronal cell differentiation at concentrations likely to be achieved during the development of fetal abnormalities in rats in vivo.

The estimation of 'size' for an interconnected nonconvex phase is an ongoing problem in materials science and biomedicine. Examples of this type of phase include the pore space in a porous rock such as sandstone or the marrow space found in cancellous bone. A reasonable definition of size for this type of phase is provided by the mean volume-weighted star volume. This is defined as the average volume of the phase of interest seen unobscured from a typical point within the phase. One practical advantage of this definition of size is that it is easy to estimate stereologically. In this paper we extend the concept of star volume to consider the mean surface-weighted star volume. The mean surface-weighted star volume is the volume of a continuous phase seen unobscured from a typical point of the interface. We expect that this parameter could be useful in biological problems involving mass transfer across an interface. The stereological estimation of mean surface-weighted star volume is described and the method is illustrated on piglet lung tissue.