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Natural resources are limited. The circular economy is one of several different concepts that has been useful in the quest to understand how resources can be used most efficiently. It proposes that closing loops and repeatedly using resources has the potential to procure maximum eco-efficiency. To track society's progress towards a circular economy, indicators and measures are needed. The majority of these aim to capture the circularity of resource flows, yet fail to simultaneously consider the length of time for which a resource is in use. More recently, a longevity indicator has been proposed, but similarly, it fails to take into account how many times a resource is used. Both longevity and circularity are needed for sustainable resource use, but to date, no measure that combines both approaches is in use. Based on existing measures we develop and further develop indicators for both circularity and longevity that focus on the contribution that organisations and other resource users make to the sustainability of resource use. By combining both indicators we enhance their explanatory power.

Eco-efficiency is often considered an adequate response to the problem of the scarcity of non-renewable resources. Even if a more eco-efficient use of natural resources cannot guarantee lower resource consumption, it can allow a better combination of desirable economic activity with undesirable resource use. However, more eco-efficient use of resources at the micro-level does not always lead to higher eco-efficiency at the macro-level. This is due to resource flows between actors at the micro-level. They use both virgin resources and resources that have been previously used. Virgin resources represent the relevant scarcity at the macro-level, while eco-efficiency at the micro-level typically does not discriminate between virgin and used resources. We develop an eco-efficiency formula that closes this gap. Our formula not only allows the measurement of the eco-efficiency of virgin resource use at the micro-level, but also helps to identify the drivers of the eco-efficiency of virgin resource use. Application of the formula to the case of gold in smartphones points to the very limited potential of technical improvements and shows that behavioural and collaborative endeavours promise dramatically higher improvements in eco-efficiency. This calls for a reconsideration of the focus of efforts to increase eco-efficiency for sustainable development.

This paper examines concerned market innovations i.e. new market configurations which integrate non-economic values and collective concerns. We focus on a specific example of concerned market innovation: the evolution over a ten-year period of a cell phone take-back scheme in a single European country. Adopting a practical constructivist perspective, we note that in the case of concerned market innovation, market configurations are shaped by non-economic values and collective concerns and that, in turn, non-economic values and collective concerns are shaped by market configurations. The analysis of market practices integrating, and at the same time, performing values and concerns, leads us to the conceptualization of a theoretical model which shows that one of the difficulties of realizing concerned market innovations resides in the distinction between market and society.

Surveys on tropical invertebrates must gather as much information as possible over the shortest period, mainly because of financial limitations and hyperdiversity. Fruit-feeding butterflies in the subfamilies Biblidinae, Charaxinae, Nymphalinae and Satyrinae (Nymphalidae) are attracted to decaying material and can be sampled with standardized methodologies, but (1) some groups can be difficult to collect, despite being quite common in Amazonian forest understorey; moreover, (2) the duration of the sampling period is not consistent among studies and (3) the sufficient effort for financially limited projects remains unknown. With this study, we aimed to fulfill points 1–3 in order to recommend a less costly protocol for monitoring purposes in the Amazon. In 25 km2 of rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, we evaluated the performance of sampling schemes for these butterflies (four, three, two and one visit in 250 m-long plots), using both nets and bait traps, while considering reductions in sampling effort and the removal of rare and infrequent taxa to optimize field and laboratory work. Reduced-effort schemes are only validated if they reflect both taxonomic and ecological information provided by the maximum effort. Procrustes superimposition was used to estimate the dissimilarity in the spatial distribution of species between schemes. Spatial turnover in herb, liana, palm tree and diameter-at-breast-height > 10 cm tree species composition was used as predictor for the butterfly community through linear regressions. The three-visit scheme was sufficient to retrieve high species similarity and the ecological patterns observed with maximum effort. The two-visit scheme lost a significant amount of information on species composition similarity, but recovered stronger environmental relationships than those observed with the four-visit scheme. The removal of uncommon species did not affect the ecological response of the community, thereby suggesting that common species are driving the spatial patterns of the studied butterflies. Thus, large reductions in costs by reducing sampling effort could be achieved with relatively little loss of information on the species turnover of butterflies and their relationships with the environment. The proposed sampling protocols with reduced effort will allow projects to use their time and financial supply more effectively, showing that cost-effective shortcuts for biodiversity assessments can be useful for conservation, biomonitoring and land use management.

This paper provides a new indicator for environmental assessment performance linked to Circular Economy. Almost all existing techniques evaluate resource use based on their burden relative to value, while the central point of Circular Economy is to create value through material retention. The existing burden-orientated techniques are therefore unsuitable for guiding managers in relation to Circular Economy objectives. This paper presents a new performance metric, the longevity indicator, which measures contribution to material retention based on the amount of time a resource is kept in use. The measure is composed of three generic components: initial lifetime, earned refurbished lifetime and earned recycled lifetime. Management of these components can be used for decision making and performance assessment in the Circular Economy. The example of precious metals in mobile phone handsets is used to illustrate the general application and suitability of this indicator. Findings show that for materials to be retained, managers should encourage longer lifetime use, increase product return levels for initial use and refurbished phones, and select the most effective recycling processes available. This paper advances performance indicators for Circular Economy, and provides a tool which can be applied at managerial and organizational levels to measure the impact of business decisions on the longevity of precious materials.

Orthodontists love to create beautiful smiles. You all work hard to formulate effective treatment plans, and treat your patients with diligence and care, working toward a successful outcome. When things go smoothly, your job is easy and satisfying. Life is good! You can go home and sleep soundly. But, what happens when things do not go as completely planned? Suppose your treatment plan is not achieving the result that you expected; or that the treatment itself is not progressing satisfactorily. It could be that the patient is not cooperating in the manner they need to; or, it could just be that physiology is working against you. When these instances occur, and they do, the lack of progressed is experienced by not only you, but by your patient as well; and it is this lack of progress may be causing the doctor/patient relationship to deteriorate. Now, how do you feel? Are you stressed during the work day? Do you carry that stress home at night? Many doctors have reported difficulty sleeping when they encounter patient and/or treatment problems. While these scenarios have kept some doctors awake at nights, others have reported that they feel like they have chosen the wrong career. Almost every job has some type of problems associated with it. Every interpersonal interaction is subject to misinterpretations and misunderstandings. You spent many years choosing the career path you did, do not doubt your career choice. However, it is possible that you may not be managing the occasional big issues or even the smaller day to day problems well. This is a skill you can learn. How? By learning to communicate with people and manage these problems so that they do not consume you nor take up more space in your mind and heart than is appropriate. The following are a few examples of problems that orthodontists have frequently reported to the claims department and they are accompanied by exemplars of how good communications can play a role in alleviating these adverse occurrences.

Organismal fitness is fuelled by resources. However, resource acquisition often involves conflicting functional demands that may ultimately shape broader ecological patterns. For instance, termites play major roles in ecosystem functioning through their foraging and building activities. Yet, while experiments suggest improved foraging in sand, nest construction depends on clay. Hence, these functions may trade off, with species optima reflecting interspecific variation in building requirements. We investigated whether a foraging–building trade-off could affect termite populations by using three species differing in building requirements, namely Neocapritermes braziliensis, Anoplotermes banksi and Labiotermes labralis. We characterized their populations in relation to soil texture and food amount across a tropical rain forest landscape, and then compared the observed patterns. Colony density was unrelated to food amount in the three species. However, A. banksi was denser at balanced mixtures of sand and clay, consistent with a compromise between foraging and building demands. Further, the species building more mineralized nests (L. labralis) was more abundant on clayish soils, whereas the species relying less on soil for nest construction (N. braziliensis) was more abundant on sandy soils. Changes in colony density correlated with changes in size structure: in N. braziliensis and A. banksi, colony mass variability increased with density due to a sharp decrease in minimum colony mass, consistent with higher productivity and/or size-asymmetric competition. This study suggests a novel functional trade-off that may help drive population density and size structure both within and across termite species.

Environmental gradients may influence species distributions by filtering their functional traits, resulting in a correspondence between community functional composition and local environmental conditions. We used a vegetation gradient as an indicator for environmental complexity to test whether it predicted the morphological composition of ground-dwelling ant assemblages across geographic extents. The sampling design covered 126 plots distributed across eight sampling sites along a broad environmental gradient in the Amazon Basin. Plots covered different phytophysiognomies that have a strong relation with forest biomass and, consequently, litter production. We selected six morphological traits related to ant foraging strategies and behavior. Generalized linear mixed models were used to predict how environmental complexity affects trait composition of ground-dwelling ant assemblages. Structurally less complex environments (eg. Amazonian savannah) harboured more species of smaller ants, with relatively smaller mandibles and relatively larger eyes. In more complex environments (eg. dense ombrophylous forest), there were more ant species of larger size, with relatively larger mandibles and relatively smaller eyes. No relationship was detected between relative femur length and the environmental gradient investigated. The functional approach focused on individual traits may illuminate which ant foraging strategies are best adapted to a particular habitat. Our data reveal that the morphological composition of ground-dewelling ant assemblages responds clearly to environmental complexity suggesting that certain ant characteristics offer ecological advantages to particular species in particular habitats.

a b s t r a c t In view of the rapid loss of biodiversity, large-scale environmental monitoring programs are urgently needed, over a range of local, regional and global scales. These programs can be made more efficient and cost-effective through shortcuts such as reduction of sampling effort and the use of low-cost surrogates. We revisited a large-scale dataset composed by 161 species recorded in 72 plots of 250 m, distributed over an 8 m × 8 m sampling grid in the tropical rainforest. Samples of litter and soil were collected and oribatid mites were extracted with a Berlese-Tullgren apparatus. Using a "moving window" procedure, we delimited smaller 5 km × 5 km grids in 16 possible positions within the larger grid. We first evaluated which fraction was more important to explain environmental and spatial patterns in the species com- position: known environmental or spatial filters representing unknown causes of aggregation, and the confounded variance that might be associated with either or both. We used soil clay content, litter quan- tity, soil pH, number of trees, and distance to the nearest stream as environmental predictors. The spatial filters were generated using Moran Eigenvector mapping through the Principal Coordinates of Neighbor Matrices technique. To evaluate the influence of these fractions on the species composition, we used partial Redundancy Analysis. Using Principal Coordinates Analysis for abundance and presence/absence data, we evaluated if reduced matrices, discarding sets of less-frequent species, could identify the relation- ships captured with the complete dataset. All smaller grids contained more than 100 species. The effect of environmental variables on oribatid-mite community composition was always low, and each smaller grid position produced different results. Soil clay content and pH were the main factors associated with oribatid-mite distributions. The effects of unknown spatial patterns were greater than the environmental ones. Independently of the grid position, similar results were obtained for analyses with all oribatid-mite species, to the results obtained from analyses of only the most frequent species. Sets of more frequent and easily identifiable species proved to be a reliable surrogate for the complete assemblage. Omitting identifications of most species will improve the cost-effectiveness of monitoring programs. More empha- sis should be placed on investigating the role of spatial heterogeneity and the effects of grid position in relation to patterns in species associations. Efficient biomonitoring could target surrogate species, to enable rapid tracking of environmental change while enlarging the sampling area to provide data for conservation strategies.

The need for biodiversity conservation is increasing at a rate much faster than the acquisition of knowledge of biodiversity, such as descriptions of new species and mapping species distributions. As global changes are winning the race against the acquisition of knowledge, many researchers resort to the use of surrogate groups to aid in conservation decisions. Reductions in taxonomic and numerical resolution are also desirable, because they could allow more rapid the acquisition of knowledge while requiring less effort, if little important information is lost. In this study, we evaluated the congruence among 22 taxonomic groups sampled in a tropical forest in the Amazon basin. Our aim was to evaluate if any of these groups could be used as surrogates for the others in monitoring programs. We also evaluated if the taxonomic or numerical resolution of possible surrogates could be reduced without greatly reducing the overall congruence. Congruence among plant groups was high, whereas the congruence among most animal groups was very low, except for anurans in which congruence values were only slightly lower than for plants. Liana (Bignoniaceae) was the group with highest congruence, even using genera presence–absence data. The congruence among groups was related to environmental factors, specifically the clay and phosphorous contents of soil. Several groups showed strong spatial clumping, but this was unrelated to the congruence among groups. The high degree of congruence of lianas with the other groups suggests that it may be a reasonable surrogate group, mainly for the other plant groups analyzed, if soil data are not available. Although lianas are difficult to count and identify, the number of studies on the ecology of lianas is increasing. Most of these studies have concluded that lianas are increasing in abundance in tropical forests. In addition to the high congruence, lianas are worth monitoring in their own right because they are sensitive to global warming and the increasing frequency and severity of droughts in tropical regions. Our findings suggest that the use of data on surrogate groups with relatively low taxonomic and numerical resolutions can be a reliable shortcut for biodiversity assessments, especially in megadiverse areas with high rates of habitat conversion, where the lack of biodiversity knowledge is pervasive.

Animals may acquire information socially, but do they also need to learn independently to make effective use of such information? Tandem running is a form of recruitment in certain ants in which one individual leads another to an important resource such as a better nest site. Tandem runs speed information flow because tandem followers typically discover new nest sites much more rapidly than through independent searching. Moreover, tandem followers often go on to lead new tandem runs, thereby recruiting others. However, former tandem followers do not slavishly follow the route they have been shown. Here, we show that individual ants can improve upon the directness and reduce the duration of tandem runs they subsequently lead but do so only if, between being a follower and becoming a tandem leader, they have explored independently. Similarly, an ant that independently discovers a new nest site, and subsequently leads tandem runs to such a discovery, improves upon the route taken only when she has also explored independently after finding the nest site. Thus, we show that learning through independent exploration is important both to individuals and to their society because it augments information gained through tandem runs and is the basis of route improvement. This will further hasten the transfer of information between members of the society, causing more effective information cascades. Tandem running allows one ant to teach another the location of a resource, but to improve their routes, taught ants also need to learn for themselves.

Sampling ground-dwelling ants in the field is relatively fast, but sorting and identifying in the laboratory is costly and time-consuming. Using sub-samples collected in 25 km2 grids, we surveyed ant assemblages using sardine baits, pitfall traps and Winkler extraction in three Amazonian vegetation types. Combining all three techniques detects the greatest number of species, but may be inefficient. Therefore, we compared the pooled results from the three techniques to results using one or two techniques combined. We evaluated whether the extra information acquired by adding a sampling technique compensates for the time and money associated with the extra processing. We also evaluated the consequences of the reduced effort on the retention of ecological information captured by the three techniques, using soil clay content, terrain slope and altitude as predictor variables in an ecological analysis. Pitfall traps captured the largest number of species and had the highest congruence with ant assemblages recorded by other techniques. Redundancy analysis indicated that pitfall-trapping is the most efficient technique, allowing reduction of 48% in cost and 43% in time. The loss of information about species richness when using only pitfall traps is apparently compensated by the saving of cost and time in the field and laboratory, because use of this technique alone was sufficient to detect all the responses of the ant assemblage to environmental variables that were detected by other techniques. These results indicate that considerable gains in efficiency can be obtained in most Amazonian-forest monitoring programs for ants by using only pitfall traps.

Plant litter from selected tree species has been used for improving soil productivity in low-input systems of secondary vegetation in Central Amazon, leading to different conditions for invertebrates. Soil invertebrate assemblages were monitored to test the effects of adding litter types of contrasting nutritional quality and periods of exposure on the development of the community. We established four second growth plots with 80 subplots of 3 m 2 from which the original litter was removed and replaced in 60 subplots. Twenty subplots received Hevea brasiliensis leaves, 20 others Carapa guianensis leaves, and another 20 an equal mixture of H. brasiliensis , C. guianensis and Vismia guianensis . Twenty subplots were left with the original litter. Litter and mineral soil (5 cm deep) sub-horizons were collected after 45, 100, 160, 240 and 300 days of exposure. The invertebrates were extracted using Kempson apparatus. At the day 210, the litter was replenished to match the surrounding litter. Regression analyses showed no significant effect of litter type, but the period of exposure did affect the community in both sub-horizons. Only after the litter replenishment, the type of litter and periods of exposure affected the community in the litter sub-horizon. Because we tried to isolate the effects of litter composition from other large-scale phenomena, several factors interfered in the experiment and potential problems were identified to optimize the investigation. The sampling design must be improved by using a larger number of subsamples for each kind of litter within each plot. Coarse parameters of Order and Family were suited to detect major environmental patterns on soil invertebrates, but taxonomic resolution to species and/or morphospecies is required to detect more subtle effects. Future manipulations should also be done on a longer time scale, and the replicates need to be spread over larger areas to capture the natural variations within the ecosystems.

Using ordinations techniques, we investigated the effects of different types of plant cover on the relationship between soil structure and invertebrate communities in an Amazonian savanna. Vegetation islands were chosen where four selected shrubs species were present on sandy and clayey soils. For each sample under a selected shrub within the clump, another sample was taken in the grass-tuft and extracted in Berlese-Tullgren. Classifying at higher taxonomic levels, we detected 27 zoological categories. The mean number of individuals was generally higher on shrubs. Acari and Collembola were the dominant groups. Non-Oribatid mites dominated in the savanna, in contrary with what occurs in most Amazonian ecosystems, where the dominance of Oribatida is always higher than others Acari. The level of taxonomic resolution utilized was sufficient to show the main differences of the spatial variation in community structure. We detected effects of soil type, vegetation structure and plant specie identity on the composition of the communities. The mesofauna have a mosaic distribution in the savanna dependent on the soil-food web structure of the vegetation. Shrubs and grass-tuft generate different ecosystems. Therefore, studies with better taxonomic resolution will be necessary to assess the magnitude of the effect of biotic and abiotic factors.

The question, Why do orthodontists get sued?, is a vexing one for mostorthodontists. The circumstances that evolve to make one person challenge, verbally attack, or sue another is a very individual issue that involves multiple aspects of the interpersonal relationship. Doctor-patient relationships are not infallible. They involve the personalities of each of the participants, the activity on which the relationship is founded, the relative success or failure of the treatment, communication or the lack thereof, and possibly psychological issues. The bottom line is that orthodontic lawsuits can and do happen. This article describes a number of orthodontic lawsuits, the basis for each suit, and the risk management lessons that one should take home today and put into use tomorrow.

orrigendum to “Geographic position of sample grid but not the emoval of uncommon species affect multivariate analyses of diverse ssemblages. The case of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida)” Ecol. Indicat. 34 (2013) 172–180] lizabeth Franklina,∗, Jamile de Moraesb, Victor Lemes Landeiroc, orge Luiz Pereira de Souzab, Pedro Aurelio Costa Lima Pequenod, illiam Ernest Magnussona, Jose Wellington de Moraisa