Challenging the developmental state: Nature conservation in Singapore

Abstract: Nature conservation efforts are often reactive to encroaching development plans and systematic conservation planning that is integral with development is not only uncommon, but is often fraught with difficulties even where it is actually attempted. Such obstacles to conservation are especially apparent in developmental states where state legitimacy is largely derived from the state's ability to develop the country. Among other things, developmental states place a premium on physical and economic development. This paper critiques, through the standpoint of nature conservation, the inadequate conceptualisation of ‘development’ in the developmental state thesis. Specifically, this paper argues that the seemingly value‐free (but ultimately economically based) underpinnings of development goals pushed by the developmental state needs to be tempered with a broader concern for the ethics of development. To that end, I draw on two case studies of nature conservation tussles in Singapore to show how alternative extra‐economic visions of development have been articulated, notwithstanding the developmental state's monopoly on the discourse (and practice) of progress and development. The case studies, set in the heady economic growth of the early 1990s, will critique two related aspects of the developmental state: its ‘amoral’ economistic conception of development and its use of growth and materialism as legitimacy.     

The nature and inheritance of sweetness and acidity in the cultivated apple

Summary A survey was made of the sweetness and sourness of the fruits of apple cultivars. Measurements of the concentration of sugars and malic acid in ripe fruits were made and the variation between samples of a cultivar, between cultivars, between years and between cultivars and their tetraploid and colour sports was studied and showed a wide range of variation between cultivars but fairly constant values within cultivars.The study of a number of progenies shows that sweetness and sourness are inherited independently. Sweetness shows a quantitative pattern of inheritance and the progeny mean approximates the mid-parent value. Sourness is controlled by a single gene, with medium and high acidity being dominant to very low, superimposed on a quantitative pattern.The mean sugar and acid concentrations of a progeny and the approximate range of variation can be predicted from the sugar and acid concentrations found in the parents.     

Polychlorobiphenyls in North Atlantic ocean water

Concentrations of polychlorobiphenyls (PCB's) have been measured at the surface and at various depths in the water of the North Atlantic Ocean between 26 degrees N and 63 degrees N. The concentrations average about 20 parts per trillion and amount to an estimated 2 x 10(4) metric tons of PCB's in the upper 200 meters of water. The average concentrations of PCB's in the surface water of the Sargasso Sea are lower than those in the northern North Atlantic.     

Effect of daily injections of ACTH on growth and on the adrenal and lymphoid tissues of two strains of immature fowls.

1. The effects of daily injections of ACTH (30 IU/kg) or physiological saline on growth and on adrenal and lymphoid tissues of Rhode Island Red (RIR) and Light Sussex (LS) chickens were compared at 1, 2 and 3 weeks of age. 2. Saline injections retarded skeletal growth in both strains during the 1st week but only affected weight gain in LS birds. 3. Injections of ACTH depressed growth rate, caused adrenal enlargement and deplenished adrenal cholesterol to the same extent in both strains. 4. ACTH caused a greater reduction in bursal size in RIR than in LS birds. Spleen size was reduced by ACTH only in RIR birds. 5. At 2 and 3 weeks the plasma concentrations of corticosterone of RIR birds were greater than those of LS birds. Plasma corticosterone concentrations were within the normal range 24 h after the last injection of ACTH in both strains. 6. Plasma concentrations of growth hormone was unaffected by ACTH treatment in RIR birds, but it was increased in LS birds after 3 weeks of treatment.     

Effect of active immunization against growth hormone releasing factor on concentrations of somatotropin and insulin-like growth factor I in lactating beef cows.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of immunoneutralization of growth hormone-releasing factor [GRF(1-29)-NH2] on concentrations of somatotropin (ST) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in lactating beef cows. In Experiment 1, multiparous Hereford cows were immunized against 2 mg GRF(1-29)-(Gly)4-Cys-NH2 conjugated to human serum albumin (GRFi, n = 3) or 2 mg human serum albumin (HSAi, n = 3) at 52 +/- 1 d prior to parturition. Boosters (1 mg) were administered on days 12, 40 and 114 postpartum (pp). Serum samples were collected at 15-min intervals for 5 hr on days 18, 46 and 120 pp, followed by administration (IV) of an opioid agonist (FK33-824; 10 micrograms/kg) and an antagonist (naloxone; .5 mg/kg) at hours 5 and 7, respectively. A GRF-analog ([desamino-Tyr1, D-Ala2, Ala15] GRF (1-29)-NH2; 3.5 micrograms/kg) and arginine (.5 g/kg) were administered at hour 10 on days 47 and 121, respectively. Percentage binding of [125I]GRF (1:100 dilution of serum) 28 d after primary immunization was greater in GRFi (14.3 +/- 4.9) than in HSAi (.7 +/- .3) cows. Binding increased to 29.3 +/- 6.5% after first booster in GRFi cows. Episodic release of ST was abolished by immunization against GRF; concentration and frequency of release of ST were lower (P less than .05) in GRFi than in HSAi cows on all days pp. Concentrations of IGF-I were lower in GRFi than in HSAi cows throughout lactation. Serum ST failed to increase following FK33-824 or arginine in GRFi; however, ST increased after both compounds in HSAi cows. Concentrations of ST following GRF-analog were greater (P less than .05) in HSAi than in GRFi cows. Experiment 2 was conducted to determine if a lower dose of antigen and a single booster would be sufficient to lower ST and IGF-I in lactating cows. Multiparous Hereford and Angus cows were assigned to GRFi (n = 6) or HSAi (n = 6). Primary (1.2 mg) and booster (.5 mg) immunizations were administered -14 and 8 d from calving, respectively. Cows were restricted to 60% of recommended intake of energy during lactation in order to elevate concentrations of ST. Serum samples were collected at 15-min intervals for 6 hr on days 26, 50, 73, 90 and 109 pp. Two of six GRFi cows had binding less than 10% (1:1,000 dilution of serum) and were omitted from further analyses.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)