bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Transforming Breach of Confidence? Towards a Common Law Right of Privacy under the Human Rights Act
Authors: Phillipson Gavin
Published: August 2003

This article examines the development of a remedy for unauthorised publication of personal information that has resulted from the fusion of breach of confidence with the limited ‘horizontal’ application of Article 8 of the ECHR via the Human Rights Act. Its analysis of Strasbourg and domestic post‐HRA case law reveals the extent to which confidence has in some areas been radically transformed into a privacy right in all but name; however it also seeks to expose the analytical and normative tensions that arise in the judgments between the values of confidentiality and privacy as overlapping but not coterminous concepts, due in part to the failure to resolve decisively the horizontal effect conundrum. This judicial ambivalence towards the reception of privacy as a legal right into English law may, it will argue, also be seen in the prevailing judicial approach to the resolution of the conflict between privacy and expression interests which, it will suggest, is both normatively and structurally inadequate.
Rules, Principles and Ombudsmen: Norwich and Peterborough Building Society v The Financial Ombudsman Service
Authors: Nobles Richard
Published: August 2003

The judgment in Norwich and Peterborough Building Society v the Financial Ombudsman Service1 provides good evidence of the drawbacks of rule based adjudication, and the need for ombudsmen to be able to rely on principles of fairness. Further, it demonstrates, to those who associate ombudsmen and general standards of fairness with arbitrary and subjective decisions,2 how such determinations are constructed through, and constrained by, the legal context of codes, rights, etc in which the assessment is made. The decision also demonstrates an attempt to create a division of labour when courts and ombudsmen operate alongside each other, with the courts having a monopoly on the interpretation of legal rules, and ombudsmen being left to determine, with only minimal restrictions, a principled basis for the assessment of fairness.
Investment Opportunities and the Relation Between Equity Value and Employees’ Bonus
Authors: Chen Chih‐Ying
Published: August 2003

A sample of firms where employee stock options and other long‐term incentives are absent but an annual bonus is required is examined. A positive relation is found between firm equity value and stock bonus but not cash bonus. The positive relation is stronger when the firm has greater investment opportunities. Additionally, the relation is shown to be nonlinear in the sense that the marginal effect of stock bonus on equity value is positive but decreasing (negative) when the stock bonus is below (above) the breakpoint. Overall, the annual stock bonus is valued positively by investors even though it is linked to the firm's contemporaneous but not future performance.
Cointegration Analysis of Audit Pricing Model: A Panel Unit Root Test Approach
Authors: Chou Win Lin , Suk‐Yee Lee Dominica
Published: August 2003

In this study, we provide evidence on the stationarity of real audit fees and the major explanatory variables frequently used in the audit pricing models from a pooled data set, using panel unit root tests developed by Im et al. (1997). The panel unit root test supports the hypothesis of non‐stationarity of audit fees and their major determinants. We demonstrate that variables in the audit pricing model that were previously found to have impact on audit fees may turn out to be useless when more powerful tests like panel tests are applied to these variables. Our evidence implies that failing to employ appropriate procedure to test cointegration and to specify the appropriate model for audit fees and their determinants would generate results that may have exaggerated the effects of some variables on audit fees.
An Empirical Investigation of Determinants of Audit Reports in the UK
Authors: Ireland Jennifer C.
Published: August 2003

Prior studies of audit reporting in the UK only analyse either very small, private companies, or large listed companies. In addition, these studies focus on narrowly defined types of modified audit reports, respectively the ‘small company’ audit qualification, and going‐concern related modifications. In contrast, this paper employs a multinomial logit model to analyse the determinants of both going‐concern and non going‐concern related audit modifications, including modifications for disagreements and limitations on scope. Furthermore, this paper analyses reports over a wide range of both private and public (listed and non‐listed) companies. The determinants of audit reports are shown to differ between different types of audit modification. In addition, subsidiary companies hiring large auditors are significantly less likely to receive non going‐concern related modifications, whereas non‐subsidiary companies hiring large auditors are significantly more likely to receive going‐concern related modifications.
The Relative Relevance of Cash Flow and Accrual Information for Solvency Assessments: A Multi‐Method Approach
Authors: Sharma Divesh S. , Iselin Errol R.
Published: August 2003

This multi‐method study reports the results of two complementary experiments investigating the relevance of cash flow and accrual information. A behavioural field experiment investigated differences in the accuracy of solvency assessments between commercial lending managers using cash flow information and those using accrual information. Results indicated that commercial lending managers using cash flow information made more accurate solvency assessments than managers using accrual information. Results of an archival quantitative modeling experiment complemented these results and indicated cash flow information had incremental information content beyond accrual information. Our results confirmed the decision‐usefulness of cash flow information and supported the mandate of the Statement of Cash Flows.
The Value Relevance of Equity Method Fair Value Disclosures
Authors: Graham Roger C. , Lefanowicz Craig E. , Petroni Kathy R.
Published: August 2003

We assess the valuation implications of the fair value disclosures made for publicly traded securities accounted for under the equity method. We test the association between investors' stock price metrics and fair value disclosures while controlling for book values on a sample of 172 investor firm‐years during 1993–1997. Our results indicate that the information in the fair value disclosures is incremental to the information provided by both an investment's equity method book value and equity method reported income. This suggests that there is nothing unique about investments in publicly traded common stock that involve significant influence that makes the fair value disclosures irrelevant for firm valuation.
A Simultaneous Equations Analysis of Analysts’ Forecast Bias, Analyst Following, and Institutional Ownership
Authors: Ackert Lucy F. , Athanassakos George
Published: August 2003

In this paper we use a simultaneous equations model to examine the relationship between analysts’ forecasts, analyst following, and institutions’ investment decisions. Estimates of our three equation model using US data indicate that higher institutional demand leads to greater optimism among analysts and lower analyst following. At the same time, institutional demand increases with increasing optimism in analysts’ forecasts but decreases with analyst following. We also investigate firm characteristics as determinants of analysts’ and institutions’ decisions. Empirical estimates of the effects of these characteristics indicate that agency‐driven behavioral considerations are significant.
On the Use of the Log CAR Measure in Event Studies
Authors: Dissanaike Gishan , Le Fur Alexandre
Published: August 2003

Cross‐sectional averages of log returns have been used to measure shareholder wealth effects in several event studies. No adequate explanation of the implied portfolio strategy has ever been provided in the literature. We argue that the method is biased or does not portray a realistic portfolio strategy. It should therefore be used with caution in the event‐study' literature.
Interdependence and Volatility Spillovers Under Market Liberalization: The Case of Istanbul Stock Exchange
Authors: Darrat Ali F. , Benkato Omar M.
Published: August 2003

This paper analyzes stock returns and volatility relations between the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) and the global market as represented by stock markets in the US, the UK, Japan and Germany. Results from monthly data and multivariate cointegration tests suggest that the ISE became significantly integrated in the global market only in the period following market liberalization in late 1989. We also find evidence based on GARCH estimations that capital liberalization actually mitigated, rather than intensified, volatility in the ISE. Our results further suggest that the Asian crisis in mid‐1997 and the consequent Russian economic meltdown in mid‐1998 are partly responsible for the recent excessive volatility in the Turkish market. The results also identify the US and the UK markets as dominate sources of volatility spillovers for the ISE, even in the period following the Asian‐Russian crises. Consequently, it appears that the two matured markets of the US and the UK shoulder significant responsibility for the stability and financial health of smaller emerging markets like the ISE.
Length of Board Tenure and Outside Director Independence
Authors: Vafeas Nikos
Published: August 2003

I posit and test two competing views on the significance of outside director tenure lengths; the expertise hypothesis suggesting that extended board service time is a sign of director commitment, experience, and competence and the management‐friendliness hypothesis suggesting that extended board service time marks directors who befriend management at the expense of shareholders. I find evidence that Senior directors, defined as directors with twenty or more years of board service, are almost twice as likely to occupy a ‘management‐affiliated’ profession compared to the rest, and that they are also more likely to staff the firm's nominating and compensation committees. Senior director participation in the compensation committee is associated with higher pay for the CEO, especially when the CEO is more powerful in the firm. These results are consistent with the management‐friendliness hypothesis, and highlight a need for setting term limits for directors.
The Choice of Privatization Method and the Financial Performance of Newly Privatized Firms in Transition Economies
Authors: Jelic Ranko , Briston Richard , Aussenegg Wolfgang
Published: August 2003

There is a gap between the theoretical literature which almost unanimously advocates the privatization of enterprises, as part of the solution to the commitment problem in economies in transition, and the empirical evidence regarding the best way to design a privatization program in order to secure an efficient use of resources. This paper contributes to this debate by focusing on the determinants of the financial long‐run performance of privatized firms in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. This long‐run performance is mainly influenced by the extent of retained state ownership, the choice of privatization method, and firm size.
Gender Analysis of Land: Beyond Land Rights for Women?
Authors: Jackson Cecile
Published: August 2003

Gender analysts of development have worked on land and property relations in poor rural areas for over two decades and the JAC 2003 special issue carried a range of work reflecting some of these research trajectories. This article is both a response to Bina Agarwal's paper on ‘Gender and Land Rights Revisited’, in which she reiterates her advocacy of land rights, and also an argument for why we should temper her transformatory expectations, recognize the complexity of what she sees as ‘social obstacles’ to women claiming land, and not rush to policy closure on land rights in all circumstances, or to blanket prescriptions. It argues for a renewed emphasis on reflexive ethnographic research with a focus on gender as social relations, on subject positions and subjectivities, on the meshing of shared and separate interests within households and on power residing in discourse as well as material assets.
Land Markets, Risk and Distress Sales in Nicaragua: The Impact of Income Shocks on Rural Differentiation
Authors: Ruben Ruerd , Masset Edoardo
Published: August 2003

Farmers in the Nicaragua countryside face substantial risk due to legal uncertainty regarding property rights, price fluctuations and limited access to rural financial markets. Income shocks can lead to obligations to sell land, can fuel differentiation processes, and can drive people into poverty. We review empirical evidence on income shocks and related distress sales by households of different wealth endowments. From panel data of the 1995 and 2000 land market surveys, estimates are made to identify relevant farm household characteristics and the market forces that determine distress sales. Results show that small farms are most affected by idiosyncratic shocks and usually try to adopt a defensive strategy based on reduced consumption to retain their land resources. In the long run, this strategy occasionally succeeds in preserving land ownership and maintaining income at higher levels than those enjoyed by landless peasants. But the pressures towards distress sales can, nevertheless, be powerful, and different responses to income shocks by poor, middle and rich peasants are likely to increase rural differentiation.
Producing Community: The MST and Land Reform Settlements in Brazil
Authors: Wolford Wendy
Published: August 2003

This paper analyses the attempt to create an ‘imagined community’ among members of the MST (Movimento Dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, Movement of Rural Landless Workers) as a way of maintaining high levels of participation. As one of the most active rural movements in Brazilian history, MST owes much of its success to high levels of involvement among members who have already achieved their initial goal of access to land. Movement leaders and activists encourage participation by creating a community through ideas and practices and distilled into symbols, slogans and ritual. The lived experiences of community differ from the imaginings, however, and in this paper I show how MST members negotiate the movement's expression of community in ways that reflect historical experiences of economy and society. Ultimately, MST's imagined community is effective because the movement has established itself as a successful mediator between the settlers and the Brazilian State.
Food Crops as Cash Crops: The Case of Colonial Kigezi, Uganda
Authors: Carswell Grace
Published: August 2003

This article examines the case of Kigezi, where colonial efforts to introduce cash crops such as coffee and tobacco consistently failed. It argues that Kigezi farmers already had cash‐earning crops, which were food crops. These were widely produced and traded in the pre‐colonial and colonial periods, and the strength and vibrancy of this trade helps to explain the problems the colonial state encountered when it tried to introduce cash crops. Marketing policies introduced by the colonial state for different cash crops in Kigezi served only to discourage cash‐crop production there, in contrast to food production.
Aboriginal Labour and the Pastoral Industry in the Kimberley Division of Western Australia: 1960–1975
Authors: Smith Tony
Published: August 2003

This paper surveys the Kimberley pastoral (or livestock) industry – historically the economic mainstay and largest employer in this remote region of Western Australia – and its relationship with Aboriginal labour, utilizing empirical material, much of which is presented for the first time. Part of the analysis reviews the labour market and employment conditions that existed during the period 1960–1968, when a significant labour shortage occurred. However, in the Kimberley (as elsewhere), beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, unemployment grew rapidly. Reasons for the rapid growth in unemployment, of which Aboriginals constituted the greatest proportion, included, among other things, a global downturn in commodity prices for livestock products and especially beef in this case, concentration of ownership and increased capitalization in the livestock industry, and the decision to pay Aboriginal pastoral workers award rates. The period 1960–1975 graphically illustrates the changing nature of the Kimberley pastoral industry, as well as the repercussions of global dynamics for regional economies.
Women's Land Rights and the Trap of Neo‐Conservatism: A Response to Jackson
Authors: Agarwal Bina
Published: August 2003

In response to Cecile Jackson's article, I argue here that Jackson has seriously misrepresented my work, often attributing to me the opposite of what I have said, and turned nuanced and balanced formulations into one‐sided extremes. I seek to correct the important misrepresentations, as well as outline my substantive differences with Jackson. In particular, her argument that women should not claim family land for risk of destabilizing family relations could, by extension, have deeply conservative implications for all forms of women's struggles to enhance their freedoms and capabilities. In many South Asian communities, conflict is equally inherent in women choosing their own marriage partners or professions, or seeking gender‐equal education, or wanting freedom of reproductive choice or free public interaction. The fear of family conflict could tie women down on numerous such counts as well. Jackson also overextends the resistance to women's claims in family land by treating South Asia as a uniform entity. The analysis in my book on this subject shows a substantial regional variability in kinship structures and social norms, which would make for much less resistance in southern South Asia than in the north, providing promising initial avenues for extending women's land claims. Also, unlike Jackson, I do not locate the process of women acquiring land rights in each woman's isolated struggle within the family, but in a collective struggle that seeks to build support across multiple tiers of society.
Social Capital: The World Bank's Fungible Friend
Authors: Fine Ben
Published: August 2003

Book reviewed in this article:

Christian Grootaert and Thierry van Bastelaer (eds),The Role of Social Capital in Development: An Empirical Assessment
Strategies for sustainability: citizens and responsible environmental behaviour
Authors: Barr Stewart
Published: August 2003

Policymakers are becoming increasingly interested in the means by which individuals can be encouraged to engage in environmental actions around the home. This paper uses evidence from existing empirical research and a large questionnaire survey undertaken by the author to argue that environmental action is open to a range of influences, focusing especially on environmental values, situational characteristics and psychological variables. Accordingly, the paper asserts that strategies for promoting environmentally responsible behaviours (such as energy saving, water conservation and waste recycling) should take account of these factors. The implications for the study of environmental behaviour are considered.
Crisis, coincidences and strategic market behaviour: the internationalization of Indonesian clothing brand‐owners
Authors: Hassler Markus
Published: August 2003

Despite the fact that most Indonesian brand‐owners continue to emphasize their marketing activities in the domestic market, several brand‐owners have started to export clothing under their own label. This has been particularly the result of the economic crisis in the late 1990s, which affected companies serving the domestic market. Companies were trying to compensate for the loss of sales on the domestic market by redirecting their marketing activities to foreign countries. This export strategy has been driven largely by the sole aim to survive. However, in addition to these export activities, some companies have rather sophisticated, long‐standing business relations to their distributors in overseas markets. This paper explores these export activities in the context of the global commodity chain framework.
Locating art worlds: London and the making of Young British art
Authors: While Aidan
Published: August 2003

The international prominence of Young British art (YBa) in the 1990s gave London a contemporary art movement to match its role as one of the world's key centres of art exchange. Examining the rise of YBa in retrospect, this paper is concerned with the difference place makes in helping to shape the (hi)story of art. It is argued that London's established role as an international art centre was crucial in providing the density of networks, associations and facilities necessary to sustain an international art movement. At the same time, YBa's success can be linked to London's changing status as a cultural capital, as well as profound changes in the business of contemporary art. Attention is drawn to the ways in which the international art world is dominated by networks formed within and across a limited number of world art cities.
Polyvocalism and the public: ‘doing’ a critical historical geography of architecture
Authors: Llewellyn Mark
Published: August 2003

Loretta Lees’ recent call for a ‘critical geography of architecture’ argued that a more nuanced and truly interpretative methodology for analysing the relationship between space, place and architecture would involve active engagement with such architectural spaces. This paper argues that, in the same way, by broadening our approach to historical architectural geographies more meaningful interpretations will result. Utilizing a ‘polyvocal’ methodological approach, by which not only architects and planners but also residents of these spaces are considered as important actors, will facilitate this ‘critical’ engagement with architectural spaces. Further, by taking this polyvocal approach, interesting conclusions can be reached about the production, consumption and re‐production of space, both in the past and also in the present.
Dispelling a myth? Second homes in rural Wales
Authors: Gallent Nick , Mace Alan , Tewdwr‐Jones Mark
Published: August 2003

Second homes have been a source of considerable controversy in Wales for more than three decades. In this article we argue that they have, in reality, become less important in recent times, with the market contracting during the 1990s and other more fundamental demographic changes and housing pressures coming to the fore. Second homes are a highly localized issue, affecting a minority of communities – though, at times, quite severely. Retirement and other housing pressures, however, bring more significant socio‐economic changes and these pressures are all too frequently amplified by a planning system used to restrict housing supply rather than manage growth. This paper has three parts, beginning with a general review of the second home debate followed by an examination of the changing geography of second homes, showing how the distribution of these properties altered during the 1990s and how the market contracted. It ends with a review of secondary data, revealing that second homes are a relatively small component of wider processes affecting rural communities, though extremely significant in some areas.
The walking school bus: extending children's geographies?
Authors: Kearns Robin A , Collins Damian C A , Neuwelt Patricia M
Published: August 2003

In many Western cities, the journey between home and school has become problematic, due to intensifying traffic and growing fears for children's safety. Accordingly, many parents now chauffeur their children to and from school. This situation has compounded congestion, prompting efforts to identify safe alternatives. One recent innovation is the walking school bus (WSB). In this paper we report on the development of this initiative, and its adoption at a primary school in Auckland, New Zealand. We conclude that although WSBs extend children's geographies they are, at best, an ambivalent response to the hegemony of motorized transport.
Shooting in the city: an autophotographic exploration of the urban environment in Kingston, Jamaica
Authors: Dodman David R
Published: August 2003

This paper reports the results of an autophotographic study carried out in Kingston, Jamaica. Cameras were distributed to high school students from different social backgrounds in order for them to record their own impressions and interpretations of the urban environment. This combination of an unusual methodology with a high level of youth participation provides a unique insight into the human–environment interactions taking place in the city, and reveals a variety of information about the ways in which social class, age and gender influence perceptions of and relationships with the urban environment.
Interviewing in ‘place’: the socio‐spatial construction of interview data
Authors: Sin Chih Hoong
Published: August 2003

The intersubjective dialogic exercise through which identities and knowledge are constructed exists in a dialectic relation with the ‘place’ of the interview. The
in situ
nature of interviewing should not be overlooked. Two case studies of interviews conducted with older people in Britain about their social network and support are used to illuminate two aspects of the socio‐spatial construction of interview data. First, interview sites can yield important information about the way participants construct their individual and social identities. Second, such identities can influence interviewer–interviewee dynamics.
Science and the St Elias: an evolving framework for sustainability in North America's highest mountains
Authors: Danby Ryan K , Hik David S , Slocombe D Scott , Williams Andrew
Published: August 2003

The past, present, and future contributions of science in the St Elias Mountains, and its relationship with regional development, resource management, and traditional ecological knowledge is examined. Science has evolved from an early foundation of exploration, through stages of resource inventories and surveys, to deductive scientific research and, more recently, a promising reconnection with traditional knowledge. Directly and indirectly, events such as the Klondike Gold Rush, construction of the Alaska Highway, creation of the Arctic Institute of North America's Kluane Lake Research Station, and establishment of protected areas have helped foster scientific activities in the region. In turn, this scientific perspective has influenced regional development by providing detailed information that has been utilized, to varying degrees, in resource use, planning, and decisionmaking. Over the past decade, management of the region has become less sectoral and more cooperative in nature, due partly to the implementation of co‐management agreements, regional land use planning, and settlement of first nations’ land claims. Incorporating both science and traditional knowledge into this process through collaborative endeavours such as long‐term ecological monitoring, adaptive management, and information integration will contribute to ecosystem‐based management of the St Elias and ensure that both perspectives play an integral role in sustainable development of the region.
Peopling mountain environments: changing Andean livelihoods in north‐west Argentina1
Authors: Tanner Thomas
Published: August 2003

Structural adjustment and neoliberal policy implementation in Latin America have had dramatic consequences for livelihoods and patterns of natural resource use in mountain regions. Restructuring of the agricultural economy has increased socio‐economic hardship and reduced industrial labour requirements, altering traditional patterns of seasonal migration from these areas. This paper examines the implications of recent economic and political transformation for Andean livelihoods in the mountains of north‐west Argentina. Case study material illustrates the local impacts of such changes on socio‐economic dynamics, patterns of urban–rural interaction, and natural resource use. The research highlights the influence of agro‐industrial restructuring, protected areas creation, and the distribution of social funds in the region. It reveals that local development is constrained and controlled not only by distant policies but also by contemporary local networks of political clientalism. The influence of both distant and proximate factors governing livelihoods and environmental impacts reinforces the value of geographical study in mountain areas, given its acute spatial and scalar awareness. The paper reaffirms the conception of mountain livelihoods as diverse and dynamic, shaped by economic, political, social and cultural factors as well as physical reality, and critiques the economic rationality of resource use assumed by policymakers and economic models.
Ethnic minorities and marginality in the Pamirian Knot: survival of Wakhi and Kirghiz in a harsh environment and global contexts
Authors: Kreutzmann Hermann
Published: August 2003

This paper challenges the thesis that mountain areas are regions of refuge. The refuge concept attributes irrelevant exchange and limited communication to isolated mountain habitats which mainly depend on production for home consumption. In contrast, it is shown that exchange relations in all walks of life have been affected not only recently but for nearly two centuries in Central Asia, although the continued importance of subsistence strategies in the agricultural sector can be observed. The Pamirian Knot provides the mountainous interface between South and Central Asia for case studies of two ethnic communities – Wakhi mountain farmers and Kirghiz pastoralists – in order to exemplify socio‐political developments in similar mountain environments. Examples are presented from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and the People's Republic of China. The territories have been separated since the late nineteenth century by international boundaries conceived as the result of the imperial ‘Great Game’. Emphasis is placed on developments in the livestock sector and it is shown that adaptation to changing socio‐political frameworks has affected the livelihood strategies of nomads and mountain farmers alike.
Promoting social justice and conserving montane forest environments: a case study of Nepal's community forestry programme
Authors: Prasad Timsina Netra
Published: August 2003

This paper analyses participatory forest policy and the ways it has influenced the relationships between people as it relates to the forest resource management. This case study was conducted in the middle hills of Nepal, and information was collected through direct observation, individual interviews, group discussion and secondary information analysis. It substantiates a few examples of how the community forestry programme can be used as a means to promote the participation of the women, the poor and dalit (untouchables) in forest resource management, as well as enhancing social justice and improving the forest resources in their locality. However, it also demonstrates that though the community forestry programme has a positive impact, it faces several constraints and challenges. The local Forest User Group is controlled by a few élites making the poor and disadvantaged vulnerable to further marginalization. The results of the case study strongly indicate that community forestry processes must address the political, economic and social needs of the forest users, and also provide a neutral platform on which the poor can present their cases.
Alpine medicinal plant trade and Himalayan mountain livelihood strategies
Authors: Smith Olsen Carsten , Overgaard Larsen Helle
Published: August 2003

Commercial alpine medicinal plants are collected from the wild by local rural households throughout the Himalaya and sold in order to increase household incomes. Recent studies indicate that this annual trade amounts to thousands of tonnes of roots, rhizomes, tubers, leaves, etc., worth millions of US dollars. The main market is in India. Based on a national survey, including the most commonly traded species, and a village study this paper investigates the importance of the alpine medicinal plant trade at national and local levels in Nepal. The national survey included standardized open‐ended interviews with 232 harvesters, 64 local traders, 66 central wholesalers, 47 regional wholesalers, and 16 production companies. The village survey is based on the daily records of household activities in 15 households in a one‐year period. The annual Nepalese alpine and sub‐alpine medicinal plant trade is conservatively estimated to vary from 480 to 2500 t with a total harvester value of US$0.8–3.3 million; the average harvester value is estimated at US$66.0 ± 99.0. The trade in 1997/98 amounted to 1600 t with a harvester value of US$2.3 million and an export value equivalent to 2.5% of total export from Nepal. Medicinal plant harvesting was found to constitute an integrated part of local livelihood strategies, contributing from 3 to 44% (average of 12%) of the annual household income. Importance at household level depended on land and animal holdings, and the availability of adult male labour. The validity and reliability of methods and analyses is evaluated, and issues of conservation and management of alpine medicinal plant species under the community forestry scheme are discussed.
Tourism and deforestation in the Mt Everest region of Nepal
Authors: Stevens Stan
Published: August 2003

Over the past 50 years the Sherpa‐inhabited Mt Everest region of Nepal has become a premier international mountaineering and trekking destination. Tourism development has brought prosperity to many Sherpas. It has also, however, had adverse impacts on regional forests and alpine vegetation because of the use of firewood by camping groups and inns and the felling of trees to construct inns and other tourist facilities. Concern that tourism was causing widespread deforestation helped catalyse the 1976 establishment of an inhabited protected area, Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) National Park, in the Khumbu region and spurred the implementation of a series of forest conservation and alternative energy development measures both within the national park and in a recently declared buffer zone in the adjacent Pharak region. This paper examines the changing pressures that tourism has placed on regional forests and alpine vegetation over the past half century and their role in regional vegetation change. This analysis is based primarily on detailed accounts of past and present forest use and change obtained during fieldwork conducted in all Khumbu and Pharak villages, along with corroborating evidence from early foreign visitors’ accounts and photographs. Contrary to some early reports it now appears there has actually been little deforestation since 1950. The continuing use of firewood by inns, however, has contributed to the thinning of forests in some parts of the national park and to the depletion of shrub juniper in the most heavily visited alpine regions. There has been a greater impact on forests just outside the national park, which have been heavily thinned over an extensive area in order to provide timber to build inns within the national park.
Doing gender and development: understanding empowerment and local gender relations
Authors: Sharp Joanne , Briggs John , Yacoub Hoda , Hamed Nabila
Published: August 2003

A major dilemma in Gender and Development (GAD) work is why it is that sometimes women may feel better off colluding with gendered structures that ensure their continued subordination rather than seeking approaches that will allow them to break free of this. Kandiyoti (1988Gender and Society 2 274–90) has identified this apparent collusion as ‘patriarchal bargains’, which offer women greater advantages than they perceive can be achieved by challenging the prevailing order. Such women are therefore reluctant to engage in empowering activities that may challenge their gendered bargain. This paper explains this dilemma in the context of GAD work undertaken with Bedouin women in Southern Egypt.
Cross over food: re‐materializing postcolonial geographies
Authors: Ian Cook , Michelle Harrison
Published: August 2003

Recent geographical discussions of postcolonialism have highlighted its emphasis on texts and discourses, its neglect of more material aspects of (post)imperial/colonial domination and the need for detailed empirical research articulating postcolonialism and global capitalism. This paper addresses these issues by reporting on research based in a recent debate in the UK trade press over the ‘failure’ of Caribbean food to ‘cross over’ into the UK ‘mainstream’. It outlines the contrasting manufacturing and marketing practices of two Jamaican food companies whose accounts of (not) attempting this ‘cross‐over’ illustrate postcolonialism's hybrid, resistant, ambivalent, scale‐jumping, boundary‐crossing, material cultural politics.
The preservationist paradox: modernism, environmentalism and the politics of spatial division
Authors: Murdoch Jonathan , Lowe Philip
Published: August 2003

According to Bruno Latour, the imposition of crude classificatory schemes onto complex entities has two main effects: firstly, the classifications lead social actors to sift the world into the schemes’ simple categories; secondly, underlying relations subvert the schemes’ functioning, resulting in the production of transgressive ‘hybrids’. Thus, classification and relation interact and this interaction shapes both the practice of classification and the world that is classified. In this paper, we examine the interaction between a scheme of spatial classification and the spaces that are enrolled within the scheme. We show that a division between urban and rural areas was put in place in post‐war England in order to protect a ‘vulnerable’ rural nature from urban advance. However, as soon as it was imposed, this division was transgressed by complex socio‐economic processes. We assess the response to this transgression by considering the activities of the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), an environmental group that played some considerable part in constructing the urban–rural divide in the first place. We show that the CPRE has responded to the ‘paradox of preservationism’ by placing urban–rural divisions in the context of ‘ecological’ relationships. We illustrate this ‘ecologization’ of the modernist divide using the example of housing and we argue that the CPRE's ecological approach illustrates how a new alignment between ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ may herald a new and more sophisticated form of spatial classification.
Between realism and the ‘New Right’: geopolitics in Germany in the 1990s
Authors: Bassin Mark
Published: August 2003

This essay explores the connections between geopolitics and political conservatism. The introductory argument is that geopolitics historically has been appealing and useful for two very different expressions of conservatism: one which aims to preserve the political geography of the existing international status quo and one which seeks to transcend it and establish a new international order. Through an examination of the ‘renaissance’ of a conservative geopolitics in Germany, the essay considers how this particular pattern is reproduced in the present day. Although this conservative geopolitics operates for the most part at the fringes of political discourses in Germany, it does have a more specific significance for nationalist‐conservative perspectives and those of the ‘New Right’, both in Germany and elsewhere.
Reflex Responses in the Lower Leg following Landing Impact on an Inverting and Non‐Inverting Platform
Authors: Grüneberg C. , Nieuwenhuijzen P. H. J. A. , Duysens J.
Published: August 2003

In the lower leg, landing after a jump induces reflexes, the role of which is not well understood. This is even more so for reflexes following landing on inverting surfaces. The latter condition is of special interest since ankle inversion traumata are one of the most common injuries during sport. Most studies have investigated ankle inversions during a static standing condition. However, ankle injuries occur during more dynamic activities such as jumping. Therefore, the present study aimed at reproducing these situations but in a completely safe setting. EMG responses were recorded after landing on an inverting surface, which caused a mild ankle inversion of 25 deg of rotation (in a range sufficient to elicit reflexes but safe enough to exclude sprains). The results are compared with data from landing on a non‐inverting surface to understand the effect of the inversion. In general, landing on the platform resulted in short and long latency responses (SLR and LLR) in triceps surae (soleus, gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis) and peroneal muscles (long and short peroneal) but not in the tibialis anterior muscle. Landing on the inverting platform caused significant LLRs in the peroneal muscles (which underwent the largest stretch) but not in the triceps muscles. Conversely, landing on a non‐inverting platform induced larger SLRs in triceps than in the peroneal muscles. Although the peroneal LLRs thus appeared to be selectively recruited in an inverting perturbation, their role during such perturbations should be limited since the latency of these responses was about 90 ms while the inversion lasts only 42 ms. The SLRs, if present, had an onset latency of around 44 ms. In the period following the inversion, however, the responses may be important in preventing further stretch of these muscles.
G Protein‐Independent Inhibition of GIRK Current by Adenosine in Rat Atrial Myocytes Overexpressing A1 Receptors after Adenovirus‐Mediated Gene Transfer
Authors: Bösche Leif I. , Wellner‐Kienitz Marie‐Cécile , Bender Kirsten , Pott Lutz
Published: August 2003

G protein‐activated inwardly rectifying K+ (GIRK) channels, important regulators of membrane excitability in the heart and central nervous system, are activated by interaction with βγ subunits from heterotrimeric G proteins upon receptor stimulation. In atrial myocytes various endogenous receptors couple to GIRK channels, including the canonical muscarinic M2 receptor (M2AChR) and the A1 adenosine receptor (A1AdoR). Saturating stimulation of A1AdoR in atrial myocytes activates only a fraction of the GIRK current that is activated via M2AChR, which reflects a lower density of A1AdoR. In the present study A1AdoR were overexpressed by means of adenovirus‐mediated gene transfer using green fluorescent protein (GFP) as the reporter. Confirmatory to a previous study, this resulted in an increased sensitivity of macroscopic GIRK current (ACh‐activated K+ current (IK(ACh))) to stimulation by Ado. However, in the majority of GFP‐positive myocytes, exposure to Ado at concentrations ≥ 1 μm resulted in activation of IK(ACh) followed by a rapid inhibition. In those cells a rebound activation of current was recorded upon washout of Ado. The inhibitory component could be recorded in isolation when IK(ACh) was activated by M2AChR‐stimulation and brief pulses of Ado were superimposed. In myocytes loaded with GTP‐γ‐S, IK(ACh), irreversibly activated by brief exposure to agonist, was still reversibly inhibited by Ado, suggesting that inhibition is independent of G protein cycling. In myocytes co‐transfected with adenoviral vectors encoding A1AdoR and GIRK4 subunit, no inhibition of GIRK current by Ado was observed. As acute desensitization of atrial GIRK current, which is reminiscent of the inhibition described here, has been shown to be absent in myocytes overexpressing GIRK4, this suggests that acute desensitization and the novel inhibition might share a common pathway whose target is the GIRK channel complex or its GIRK1 subunit.
Nitric Oxide and the Mechanism of Rat Vascular Smooth Muscle Photorelaxation
Authors: Flitney Frederick Werner , Megson Ian L.
Published: August 2003

Photorelaxation of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) was studied using segments of tail artery from normotensive rats (NTR) or spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Isolated vessels with intact endothelium were perfused with Krebs solution containing phenylephrine. Perfusion pressures were recorded while arteries were irradiated with either visible (VIS; λ= 514.5 nm) or long wavelength ultra‐violet (UVA; λ= 366 nm) light. VIS light produced a transient vasodilator response: a rapid decrease of pressure that recovered fully during the period (6 min) of illumination. An irradiated artery was refractory to a second period of illumination delivered immediately after the first, but its photosensitivity recovered slowly in the dark, a process called ‘repriming’. Photorelaxations generated by UVA light were qualitatively different and consisted of two components: a phasic (or p‐) component superimposed on a sustained (or s‐) component. The p‐component is similar to the VIS light‐induced response in that both exhibit refractoriness and repriming depends upon endothelium‐derived NO. In contrast, the s‐component persists throughout the period of illumination and does not show refractoriness. We conclude that VIS light‐induced photorelaxations and the p‐component of UVA light‐induced responses are mediated by the photochemical release of NO from a finite molecular ‘store’ that can be reconstituted afterwards in the dark. The s‐component of the UVA light‐induced response does not depend directly on endothelial NO and may result instead from a stimulatory effect of UVA light on soluble guanylate cyclase. NO‐dependent photorelaxation is impaired in vessels from SHR while the s‐component is enhanced.
Taurine‐Induced Long‐Lasting Enhancement of Synaptic Transmission in Mice: Role of Transporters
Authors: Sergeeva O. A. , Chepkova A. N. , Doreulee N. , Eriksson K. S. , Poelchen W. , Mönnighoff I. , Heller‐Stilb B. , Warskulat U. , Häussinger D. , Haas H. L.
Published: August 2003

Taurine, a major osmolyte in the brain evokes a long‐lasting enhancement (LLETAU) of synaptic transmission in hippocampal and cortico‐striatal slices. Hippocampal LLETAU was abolished by the GABA uptake blocker nipecotic acid (NPA) but not by the taurine‐uptake inhibitor guanidinoethyl sulphonate (GES). Striatal LLETAU was sensitive to GES but not to NPA. Semiquantitative PCR analysis and immunohistochemistry revealed that taurine transporter expression is significantly higher in the striatum than in the hippocampus. Taurine transporter‐deficient mice displayed very low taurine levels in both structures and a low ability to develop LLETAU in the striatum, but not in the hippocampus. The different mechanisms of taurine‐induced synaptic plasticity may reflect the different vulnerabilities of these brain regions under pathological conditions that are accompanied by osmotic changes such as hepatic encephalopathy.