Foresters' beliefs about farmers: a priority for social science research in social forestry

This study suggests that one of the most productive (and most neglected) uses of social science research in forestry development projects is to examine foresters' beliefs regarding rural peoples. This suggestion is illustrated with data from the Forestry Planning and Development Project, Pakistan's first nation-wide social forestry project.The operational component of this project, intended to assist small farmers to cultivate trees on their farmlands, ran into immediate difficulties. Many of the foresters involved insisted that small farmers were simply not interested in tree cultivation. A comprehensive base-line study subsequently was carried out to examine the validity of this belief. The results of this study (confirmed by the subsequent experience with the project in the field) varied markedly from the foresters' beliefs.While many of the foresters believed small farmers were opposed to having trees on their farms and would not agree to plant trees under the project, most farmers already had trees on their farms and expressed interest in planting more; while many foresters believed farmers would only be interested in planting large blocks of market-oriented exotics, most farmers requested small plantings of multi-purpose native trees; while many foresters believed farmers would plant trees only for market sale, most farmers requested trees to meet household needs for fuel and timber; and while many foresters did not think that increasing supplies of fuelwood could reduce the burning of dung, all of the evidence provided by the farmers suggested that it would.The disparity between farmer reality and forester belief is attributed to failures on the part of both foresters and social scientists — failure by foresters to distinguish their non-empirical beliefs about farmers from their empirically-based knowledge of trees, and failure by social scientists to recognize the belief systems of foresters as a legitimate and important object of study. Their study comprises three parts: finding out what the foresters think the farmers want, finding out from the farmers what they actually want, and then analyzing and explaining the differences.     

Thermal properties of interior decorating material and the sensation of cold/warm by contact II: the relations among heat flux, temperature change of material, and sensation of cold/warm by contact

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in heat flux and temperature after the subject's palm was in contact with interior decorating materials. The relations among heat flux, temperature, and sensation of cold/warm during contact were studied. Ten men and ten women were selected and introduced to 21 materials for the contact test. They were in contact with the specimens for 30min without seeing them in a climate-controlled room at 25°±1°C and 65% RH. Changes in the heat flux and temperature of the specimens were determined by a heat flux meter. A sensory evaluation test was applied to evaluate the cold-warm contact. Results indicated that the heat flux and temperature increased with increasing time after the subject's palm was in contact with the specimens. The heat flux (Q ₃₀) and temperature (T ₃₀) 30min after the subject's palm contacted the specimens were greater for male subjects than for female subjects. A positive linear regression equation existed between the values for Q₃₀ andT ₃₀, whereas a negative linear regression formula existed the sensation of cold-warm by contact (5) and the values of ln(Q ₁·). Therefore, the sensation of cold/warm by contact could be estimated simply by using the thermal physical properties of the interior decorating materials.Part of this report was presented at the International Conference on Effective Utilization of Plantation Timber, Chi-Tou, Taiwan, ROC, May 1999     

Fruit infestation of Acacia tortilis (Forsk) hyne by Bruchidius andrewesi Pic. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) in the Thar desert

Bruchidius andrewesi Pic. has been recorded as a serious pest of pods and seeds of Acacia tortilis in the Thar desert of India. Pest infestation on developing pods and its relationship with morphological traits is reported. Pod infestation varied from 5 to 19% with 5–29% infestation of seeds. Infestation of pods is directly related to infestation of seed (r = 0.72^**), and both pod and seed infestation are also directly correlated with loss in seed biomass (r = 0.79^** and R = 0.88^**). The infestation of pods starts in November and increases steady until harvest. Seeds kept in the laboratory for further studies were found to be 100% infested with B. andrewesi, as the insect multiplied faster under these conditions. The heavy infestation is damaging not only to A. tortilis but also to other leguminous trees of the desert. Bruchidius andrewesi has also been found on pods and seeds of Prosopis cineraria, an important indigenous tree of the region.     

Semi-quantitative method to evaluate the α-carbonyl content in lignin

A method to estimate the content of -carbonyl structures in lignin was developed. This method consists of two successive treatments: NaBD₄ treatment of pulp to reduce an -carbonyl structure in lignin, and nitrobenzene oxidation. NaBD₄ was used to convert an -carbonyl structure to a deuterium-labeled hydroxymethine structure. The ratio of D-vanillin [(HO)(H₃CO)C₆H₃CDO] to H-vanillin [(HO)(H₃CO)C₆H₃CHO] or that of their syringyl analogues obtained by nitrobenzene oxidation was used as the measure of the content of -carbonyl structure. Model experiments demonstrated that when sodium hydroxide was used as alkali for the nitrobenzene oxidation, the retention of deuterium at the side chain -position was very low due to the displacement of deuterium with hydrogen by an unknown reaction mechanism. In order to depress this unexpected displacement, the reaction conditions of the nitrobenzene oxidation were modified. The modified nitrobenzene oxidation employs 0.5mol/l of lithium hydroxide as a reaction medium instead of 2.0mol/l sodium hydroxide. By this modification, this method could successfully trace the formation and the degradation of the -carbonyl structure in milled wood lignins.This paper was presented in part at the 11th International Symposium on Wood and Pulping Chemistry, Nice, France, June 2001 and at the 46th Lignin Symposium, Kyoto, Japan, November 2001     

Synthesis of dihydroxyphenacyl glycosides for biological and medicinal study: β-oxoacteoside from Paulownia tomentosa

The protected structure of -oxoacteoside (tomentoside A), 2-oxo-2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethyl 3-O-(2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl--l-rhamnopyranosyl)-4-O-caffeoyl--d-glucopyranoside 14 was synthesized in 14% overall yield in 11 steps, starting from d-glucose for biological and medicinal studies of phenylpropanoid glycosides. The first step was the preparation of a 3-O-rhamnopyranosyl disaccharide sugar core 2 from a suitably protected rhamnosyl trichloroacetimidate 10 and glucose derivative (diacetone-d-glucose 1) in 71% yield. To the glucose moiety of this sugar core, several protection/deprotection procedures were performed sequentially to obtain a fully acetylated sugar core 7 with a 4-OH group on the glucose moiety, in 57% yield in five steps. Thereafter, to the 4-OH group of the glucose moiety, selective 4-O-caffeoylation was achieved by proton-transfer esterification with 3,4-di-O-allylcaffeic acid 16 to give the caffeoyl disaccharide 11 in 97% yield. Then, it was converted to trichloroacetimidate 13 for a glycosylation donor in 90% in two steps. Finally, anomeric glycosylation was conducted with 2-oxo-2-(3,4-di-allyloxyphenyl)ethyl alcohol 19 with catalytic amounts of BF₃·Et₂O to give 2-oxo-2-(3,4-di-allyloxyphenyl)ethyl 2,6-di-O-acetyl-3-O-(2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl--l-rhamnopyranosyl)-4-O-(3,4-di-allyloxycaffeoyl)--d-glucopyranoside 14 in 60% yield. Deprotected intermediates of compounds 2, 11, 14, and 19 which were obtained in high yield would be useful for biological and medicinal studies of phenylpropanoid glycosides.Part of this study was presented at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Japan Wood Research Society, Gifu, April, 2002     

探索低成本连续生产中、高密度纤维薄板和异型板的方式

连续生产中、高密度薄板的方式是采用连续双钢带冷热压机,而国内人造板设备制造行业尚无制造连续双钢带冷热压机的能力。本文依据木纤维薄板矫直原理,提出采用简易连续热辊压压机加矫直机的方案,探索低成本连续生产中、高密度纤维薄板和异型板的方式,以解决实际生产问题。     

ＦＲ—１、ＦＲ—２及ＰＦ树脂对木材阻燃、防腐、尺寸稳定等效果的研究

功能性改良药剂ＦＲ－１、ＦＲ－２及ＰＦ树脂处理马尾松、毛白杨后对木材阻燃、防腐、尺寸稳定及ＭＯＥ／ＭＯＲ的研究结果表明，ＦＲ－１处理的马尾松吸药量为３４．５kg/m^3时，氧指数可达６１％。ＦＲ－１处理的马尾松、毛白杨达到阻燃标准时，其用药理根据板材的厚度进行了初步确定，剂量范围为３０－９０kg/m^3。ＦＲ－１及ＦＲ－２在达到阻燃用药量的同时，处理后的马尾松、毛白杨耐腐试验的重量损失率小于或按拉１０％。ＦＲ－１处理的马尾松、毛白杨、吸药量分别为７５．６及９３．５kg/m^3时，吸水至饱和时，木材抗湿胀率（antiswelling ef-ficacy,ASE)分别为３０％、４６％；ＰＦ树脂处理的马尾松、毛白杨 、吸药量分别为７９．０％、６３．８kg/m^3时，ＡＳＥ分别为４６．２％、４１．４％。各处理对抗弯弹性模具（ＭＯＥ）影响为，ＦＲ－１处理的马尾松，ＭＯＥ差异不明显，ＦＲ－１处理的毛白杨，ＭＯＥ增加幅度为６．１％，ＰＦ树脂处理的马尾松，毛白杨、ＭＯＥ增加幅度分别为１０．６％及１７．９％。ＦＲ－１处理的马尾松、毛白杨对抗弯强度（ＭＯＲ）影响不明显。     

利用91卫图助手软件实现林业矢量数据坐标系的转换

以永平县林业矢量数据为例,利用91卫图助手软件和ArcGIS软件,通过北京54坐标系矢量数据在各坐标系下叠加、坐标系转换参数的计算、矢量数据坐标系的转换等步骤,阐述实现矢量数据坐标系WGS84、北京54、西安80和国家2000坐标系相互转换的方法,以实现各类自然资源矢量数据的共享。     

Use of Near Infrared Spectroscopy to Measure Mechanical Properties of Solid Wood

The visible and near infrared （NIR） （350-2500 nm） spectra and the MOE of 438 small clear wood samples from Chinese fir, eucalyptus and poplar 72 were measured. Using partial least-square （PLS） modeling, the NIR spectra could be used to predict MOE and MOR of the clear-wood samples from Chinese fir and eucalyptus solid wood. NIR spectra could only be used to Predict MOE but not MOR of poplar clear-wood samples. With the exception of MoR of poplar clear-wood samples, the correlations between NIR and the mechanical properties are very strong, and the calibration and test correlation coefficients are both above 0.80.