Offshore Financial Services and the Internet: Creating Confidence in the Use of Cyberspace?

Abstract The use of the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW) as a distributive medium is seen by many businesses as a legitimate way to cut costs of operation. Confidence is growing in the use of this medium to transact business because of the increasing sophistication of firewalls, encryption software, and digital key technology. This paper presents empirical evidence from one offshore financial center where the process of legislative and regulatory reform put in place to establish confidence in the traditional provision of offshore financial services is now being used to regulate and legitimize the online distribution of such services. The results show that all firms surveyed for this study use the Internet for routine brochure‐ware purposes and the larger firms (particularly in the offshore life insurance sector) are developing more sophisticated customized transactional functions via extranet platforms. Tensions exist though with respect to “regulatory grasp” via the Internet, as offshore places are being put under increased pressure by supranational organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to require greater transparency in offshore financial transactions.     

Ozone pollution modifies the response of sugarbeet to the herbicide phenmedipham

Experiments were conducted in which sugarbeet plants (Beta vulgaris L. cv. Saxon) with 2 to 3 leaves were exposed to a simulated 2 day ozone episode (100 nl l^?1, 7 h d^?1). Three days later, the plants were sprayed with field rate phenmedipham (1.14 kg a.i. ha^?1) and growth analysis conducted 7 days later indicated an antagonistic interaction was occurring. Physiological and biochemical studies were undertaken to determine the nature of this antagonism. Treatment with phenmedipham increased the ratio of transpiration to photosynthetic rates within 2 days of spraying, whilst exposure to ozone had no effect. When the two treatments were combined, water use efficiency was not significantly different from that when phenmedipham was applied alone. In contrast, trends in the membrane permeability after treatment, indicated that the response of plants exposed to ozone followed by treatment with the herbicide, was intermediate between that of the herbicide (high permeability) and ozone (low permeability). Furthermore, when the two treatments were combined the results of antioxidant enzyme assays indicated greater than expected activities of enzymes which are mainly cytosolic, eg. guaiacol peroxidase, as well as a similar increase in the activity of the mainly chloroplastic superoxide dismutase. Treatment with ozone alone and phenmedipham alone only slightly increased superoxide dismutase. Ozone may therefore induce the activities of these protective enzymes. Thus, when another oxidative stress, such as the photosystem II inhibitor phenmedipham, was applied the plants could then respond more quickly and showed less herbicide visible damage.     

Changes to relative stand composition after almost 50 years of Heterobasidion root disease in California true fir and pine forests

The Agaricomycete Heterobasidion annosum sensu lato (s.l.), a species complex of fungal pathogens, causes root and butt rot on conifers throughout the northern hemisphere, thereby shaping structure, composition, and evolution of vast and diverse forest ecosystems. We analyze forest change 48–49 years following Heterobasidion root disease emergence in 63 permanent plots first established in 1970–1972 and measured at least once every decade through 2020. We use this dataset to infer the long-term consequences of Heterobasidion root disease in a set of common forest types that reflect some of the most important hosts for this set of diseases in western North America. We contrasted three host–pathogen systems located within the Sierra Nevada, southern Cascades Mountain Range and the Modoc Plateau: (1) H. irregulare in host communities dominated by several Pinus (pine) species and Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) in Yosemite Valley, on the Sierra Nevada Range western slope; (2) H. irregulare in a largely single species (Pinus jeffreyi) host disease system on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades as well as the Modoc Plateau; and (3) H. occidentale—also on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada—in stands with a mixture of susceptible Abies (true fir) and a diversity of non-hosts for this Heterobasidion species. Approximately 50 years after disease emergence, relative basal area and stem density were significantly reduced within disease centres in all three pathosystems, but changes to forest composition and relative species dominance were determined by pre-disease host and non-host diversity. In the western-slope H. occidentale system, the disease increased the dominance of non-susceptible species, Pinus species and C. decurrens. In the multi-genus Yosemite pathosystem, H. irregulare did not significantly shift species dominance, and as expected, species shifts did not occur in the largely single-genus eastern-slope forests. In these widespread California forest ecosystems, two factors appeared to determine forest conditions almost 50 years after Heterobasidion root disease monitoring: the size of the disease centre and the initial diversity of non-hosts. Along with pathogen species, these factors appear to affect the local severity of disease as well as the degree of species shifts relative to initial plot compositions, reaffirming host susceptibility classifications associated with these forest types.     

Copper-Catalyzed Oxidation of Alcohols to Aldehydes and Ketones: An Efficient, Aerobic Alternative

An efficient, copper-based catalyst has been discovered that oxidizes a wide range of alcohols into aldehydes and ketones under mild conditions. This catalytic system utilizes oxygen or air as the ultimate, stoichiometric oxidant, producing water as the only by-product.     

Suspected fatal venous air embolism during anaesthesia in a Pomeranian dog with pulmonary calcification

CASE HISTORY: Death occurred in a 1.25 kg, 9-month-old female Pomeranian dog undergoing anaesthesia for surgical repair of partially healed fractures of the radius and ulna.

CLINICAL FINDINGS: Following sedation, anaesthesia was induced using thiopentone and maintained with halothane in oxygen. An acute decrease in the dog's end-tidal carbon dioxide (EtCO₂) measurements was noted approximately 50 min after induction, immediately following delivery of a 5-ml bolus of lactated Ringer's solution (LRS) administered to flush a small (0.06 ml) volume of fentanyl via a pre-placed intravenous (I/V) catheter. Venous air embolism (VAE) was suspected and the dog died despite interventive therapy. On post-mortem examination, several air bubbles were noted when the right ventricle was opened under water. Histologically, the kidneys appeared abnormal with immature glomeruli, and the lungs appeared diffusely mineralised. The origin of the air was probably small bubbles and microbubbles that may have been present in the extension set and 20 ml syringe used for the administration of fentanyl and I/V fluids to the dog.

DIAGNOSIS: Renal dysplasia and diffuse pulmonary calcification, with VAE as the probable cause of death.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: In this case of VAE-associated anaesthetic death, it is further speculated that underlying pulmonary disease, in the form of pulmonary calcification, may have contributed to an increased sensitivity to the adverse effects of VAE.     

Growing common plantation tree species in Kenya for sale of carbon and wood supply: what is the best bet?

The introduction of carbon finance as an incentive in forestry farming has a potential of increasing the amount of carbon sequestered. However, this has created a daunting task among investors in forestry to optimise the joint production of wood and carbon sequestration. For instance, investors might find it profitable to give up some timber returns in exchange for carbon credits. This study evaluated expected income from growing Cupressus lusitanica Mill., Pinus patula Schiede ex Schltdl. & Cham., Eucalyptus saligna Sm. and Juniperus procera Hochst. ex Endl. for wood and/or the carbon market in central Kenya. The global average unit price of carbon and stumpage royalty were used to estimate expected returns from sale of carbon credits and wood, respectively. There were significant differences (p < 0.01) in the expected amount of income from sale of carbon and wood among the four species. Specifically, at economic rotation of 30 years with stand density of 532 trees ha^?1 P. patula and C. lusitanica yielded US$28 050 and US$23 650, respectively, from sale of carbon compared with US$59 000 and US$51 000, respectively, from sale of wood. This was twice the value investors receive from clear-felling as compared with sales from carbon. Similarly, at economic rotation of 33 years with stand density of 150 trees ha^?1, a forest investor in E. saligna would earn US$15 400 from sale of carbon compared with US$33 000 from sale of wood. Overall, the amount expected to be realised from sale of carbon was lower compared with that from sale of wood. This demonstrates that the price dynamics of carbon offsets in the voluntary and the compliance markets need to remain competitive and attractive for the forest owners to give up some timber returns in exchange for carbon income or to modify forest management regulation in order to increase carbon sequestration.