Articles in this issue of the newsletter include: LFPDC Enhances Economic Development in Louisiana; An Integrated Market-based Methodology for Value-added Solid Wood Products Sector Economic Development; Metafore, LSU AgCenter team up in Tropics; Properties of Bagasse Fiberboard Studied; First Memorial Lecture Features First Grad Student; Guide to Raised Floor Systems Now Available; LFPDC Researchers Look at Sugarcane Rind as a Raw Material for Composite Panels.

Articles in this newsletter include: Louisiana Forest Products Laboratory is Up and Running, Helping Louisiana Producers to Promote their Products, LFPL at Louisiana Tech University, SERBEP Study Yields Unexpected Result, Knowing Your Accidents, Software for the Rough Mill.

In this issue, we present the following articles: Grant Awarded for Employment, Development Study; Research on Environmental Certification Finished; Causes & Analysis of Warp in Overlaid Furniture Panels; Third Annual 3-Day Lumber Drying Workshop to be Held February 24-26 in Baton Rouge; Hardwood Workshop Set for Louisiana Tech.

Articles in this issue include: Developing Termite-resistant Structural Wood-based Panels from Southern Wood Species, LSU School of Forestry Adopts New Name, Formosan Subterranean Termite-resistant Wood-based Materials Under Investigation, Marketing Program Helps Louisiana Producers, Accident Analysis Saves Lives in Logging Industry, Can Decommissioned CCA-Treated Wood Be Used for Structural Flakeboard?

Newsletter articles: Training Programs for Louisiana's Forest Products Industries Needed, New Study on Employment and Training Needs in the Louisiana Value-Added Wood Products Industry, LSU Forestry Club Students Go to Forestry Conclave, LFPL Researchers Turning Louisiana's Wood and Ag Residues into Fire Logs.

Articles in this issue of the newsletter include: FRA Gulf-States Forest Products International Trade Center (GULFPIC), Louisiana Style of Log Yard Profile, Studies on Oriented Strand Board, A Farewell Message to Dr. Rado Gazo.

Articles in this issue include: A Call For Action For Louisiana Forest Products Industry Develoment, Opportunity for Horizontal Diversification in Manufacturing Value-Added Wood Products, Studies on Warping Behavior of Overlaid Particleboards.

Articles in this issue are: LFPL Steering Committee Helps Set Path For Year 2000, Controlling Wood Moisture Content to Prevent Panel Warping, Linking Resource Characteristics to Product Characteristics, Louisiana Value-Added Wood Products Industry Report Now Available, A Softer Way to Harvest Timber.

Articles covered in this issue of the newsletter include: Workshop on Water Quality, Hardwood Workshop at Louisiana Tech., Welfare Reform and Forest Products Industry Development in Louisiana, The Second Annual Lumber Drying Workshop, Worldwide Concern of Resource Quality.

Articles in this newsletter include: How We Touch Louisiana, Description of the Expertise of the Forest Products Laboratory, Combined Efforts to Develop Termite Field Site, Using Near Infra Red Spectra to Link Wood and Genetic Properties.

Newsletter articles: Research Initiative on Wood-Based Panel Products Funded; Drying Operation Analysis; Touching Base With the Louisiana Forest Products Lab; Workshop on Cooperative Extension; List of Research Briefs, Visual Productions, Working Papers, Fact Sheets, and other Reports; Wood Products Research Offers Plan to Boost Northwest Louisiana Economy.

The following articles are presented in this issue of the newsletter: Unified Efforts, Governor's Forest Products Industry Task Force, New Extension Service Employee, Accidents Rate: Are we Measuring the Wrong Thing?, Louisiana Forest Products Laboratory Conducts Marketing Study in Northwest Louisiana, Lumber Drying Workshop and Small Wood Products Business Workshop.

Articles include: Director’s Message, Storm Clean up?, Experts Say Forest Management Requires Environmental Component, CBIT works with LFPDC on Supply Chain Initiative and Web Site, Process Holds Promise For Recycling Pressure Treated Wood, Forest Products Economic Development Update, Mechanical Forest Fuel Reduction vs. Burn-Only, Tax Incentive Programs Offered for Louisiana Companies.

Articles in this issue include: LFPDC Director’s Message, Rutherford Named New Director of the School of Renewable Natural Resources, Vlosky Participates in Forest Products Marketing Capacity Building in Europe, LFPDC Receives $170,000 Grant to Build Extrusion Capability, Value-Added Wood Products Extension at LFPDC, LFPDC Hires New Value added Extension Faculty, Vlosky Named to Louisiana Forestry Association Board, Fragmentation Challenging Louisiana Forests Owners.

The following articles are presented in this issue: Director’s Message, Preliminary Investigation of Bio-composites Fabricated From Liquefied Wood/Phenol/Formaldehyde Co-condensation Resin, Nanoassembly on Recycled Fibers to Improve Resource Utilization, Using GPS to Document Skidder Motions, Unprecedented Economic Development Opportunities, Roy O. Martin Lumber Company and Martco Limited Partnership Experience With FSC Certification.

Articles in this issue include: Extension Expands Reach of Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, We Have a New Name, Chancellor Holds Industry Roundtable on Louisiana Forest Sector Development, Lumber Quality and Lumber Yields at Small Lumber Processing Operations, Wood-based Composites Research at the LFPDC, LFPDC Celebrates 10th Anniversary, Formosan Subterranean Termite Product Testing.

Articles in this issue of the newsletter include: Director's Message, LFPDC Has First and Second Place Award Winners, Engineered Wood Composite Program on the Run, Wood Products Extension Programming, E-Commerce Opportunity for Wood Products, An Economic Opportunity for Reducing Forest Fuels, Vlosky to Lead UNECE Marketing Team, Treated Wood Research Series.

This issue contains: Director’s Message; Chitosan-metal Complex Helps Protect Engineered Wood Products; Louisiana Launches Forest Sector Economic Development Web Site; Input-Output Applications to Forest Product Sector Development; Forest Product Activities at Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry; LSU AgCenter Establishes Center; "Meet" our Graduate Students, Research Associates, Post-docs, and Visiting Students and Professors.

In this study, we research US imports of tropical hardwood. The results indicate that the U.S. imports 161 different species of tropical hardwoods, 20 percent from Africa, 43 percent from Asia, and 37 percent from Latin America. However, importers are often resistant to market new tropical wood species as it is difficult to introduce new species that compete with species currently accepted in the market.

In this research, we studied the implications of digital divide for African business development. We conclude that in order for the digital divide to be closed in Africa, the importance of the Internet and why it is needed has to win the hearts and minds of Africans.

This paper highlights the success of LSU AgCenter and Honduras Participatory Forest Sector Development program. We conclude that success of development projects such as this will be measured in the future by the ability to encourage environmentally sound forest management practices and sustainable growth of the forest based industry sector.

This paper empirically tests a theoretical model that makes the connection between organizational resources and capabilities and successful IICT adoption. Results suggest that, in addition to a robust information technology (IT) infrastructure, investment in organizational change management, the ability to sense changes in the technology environment, development of managerial IT knowledge, and a culture of freely shared internal information are key to a company's IICT development.

In this study, we investigate four dimensions of customer interface IICT adoption. Our findings indicate that customer interface IICT adoption can improve information sharing with customers, reduce operational inefficiencies along the value chain, enhance the competitive position in the market, and deepen customer relationships. Business impacts were perceived to be positive across all tested constructs.

The findings of this research indicate that a reduction in air-dried lumber production in Ghana was significantly and negatively related to imposition of the air-dry levy but had no significant relationship with raw material levels. It was further observed that products that are processed further downstream, including rotary and plywood, could not be significantly affected by the strategies.

In this study, we studied how the Rural/Urban Digital Divide could be bridged. We conclude that internet is becoming an invaluable tool for development. However, there is a challenge of how to ensure that all participants, industrialized and developing, urban and rural, rich and poor, and all races benefit from this technology. America should strive to turn the digital divide into digital opportunities to maintain economic growth.

In this research, we studied Ghana's wood products sector and its competitiveness in the international wood products market. Our conclusions are that Ghana’s wood products industry can be competitive if changes are implemented collectively and in a coordinated and cooperative fashion by all stakeholders. These changes include improving processes and procedures in wood products value and supply chains and taking a more proactive approach in resource utilization and creating effective market.

In this study, we surveyed U.S. Extension professionals on their employment experiences and personal perceptions about scholarship and service. Further, we segmented the results by U.S. census region to identify similarities and differences between regions. Overall, respondents receive satisfaction more important than scholarship in their jobs.

In this research, we study the history of the various processes of harvesting, skidding and transportation practices used in the Cypress Swamps of the Southern United States.

This paper seeks to provide guidance, understanding and reasons why private landowners should consider forest certification. It is also a useful source of information on types of certification systems available to date and more importantly the steps necessary to follow to achieve certification.

The study discussed in this paper, conducted in 2000, indicates that overall growth of Internet use in the wood forest products industry in the United States is expected to increase in 2001. Larger firms, typically lead technology adopters, are predominant users of the Internet for eBusiness and are more likely to continue to be predominant eBusiness technology implementers in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between age and environmental perceptions. The context is environmental issues and “green certification” in the forest product industry. We conclude that most of the differences that are due to age and gender may be due to income and class or culture.

This paper describes a model that examines how corporate culture impacts IT adoption. Future research will include testing the model in the forest products industrial sector in the United States.

Over the past decade, the Ghana timber industry has experienced major changes that have subjected the industry to severe pressure regarding raw material availability and a struggle for efficient use of limited available timber. This research evaluates the impact of government interventions in the forest product trade and the marketing implications.

In this research, we study Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and buyer-supplier relationship. This paper presents the report of the study. Some of our conclusions are that forest products companies that have developed good working long-term relationships with home center customers are likely to have difficulties in adapting EDI into their business.

This study was undertaken to update the knowledge base on adoption of Internet-based information technologies in the U.S lumber industry. Results indicate that respondents that adopted Internet-technologies did so because they found them to be an important tool in conducting business and in meeting their corporate needs.

In this research, we studied the legal aspects and the various relevant clauses of a timber sale contract. We conclude that while a good contract is important, it is no substitute for being present at the work site. The landowner should walk the tract with the logger before commencement of the operations and visit the site often during harvesting. This way, problems can be prevented, and both parties will be much more satisfied.

This paper reports the results of some informal sound level readings made of the logging industry.

This study identifies Louisiana non-industrial private forest landowner attitudes toward forestry certification. The result of the studies identified that NIPF goals and objectives for their forestland are diverse. In the context of forest certification, initiatives are being developed by certifiers to accommodate the unique ownership characteristics of NIPFs.

A study was conducted in 1999 to study eBusiness in the pulp and paper industry in the United States and Canada. This study indicates that Canadian and U.S. pulp and paper respondents were fairly evenly matched in Internet implementation in 1998. They had similar concerns and faced similar impediments. This report presents the main study findings.

The objectives of this study were to examine the use of some lesser-used wood-based inputs and to determine their selection criteria by furniture and cabinet manufacturers in the Southern United States. In this research we found that no respondents used OSB (oriented strandboard). Respondents in all industry sectors studied said that they planned to increase usage of lumber and plywood. We also found that the main reason respondents are not using OSB, LVL, PSL and LSL is customer objections.

This paper presents an overview of key drivers which are going to bring wide spread usage of remote sensing in the forest products industry. The article also discusses reasons behind the surge of interest in remote sensing, surveys its present status in the industry, and attempts to envision the short- and medium-term future.

In this paper, we discuss the results of Ready-To-Assemble (RTA) furniture market research which was conducted to better understand the current dynamics in this furniture sector. Within the furniture industry, the RTA furniture segment is a high growth segment which is likely to continue to outperform most other segments in the industry. We conclude that for individual manufacturers to succeed, quality, pricing and, above all, design has to be progressive and competitive.

In this report we provide some statistical information on the nature and scope of occupational injuries in the logging industry in Louisiana from 1985 through 1998.The data presented in this report are based on reportable claims (fatality, a permanent disability, or a disability resulting in more than 7 lost calendar days) which were received by the Office of Workers' Compensation between 1985 and 1998 for employees covered under the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Act.

In this research, we studied how the paper industry makes use of E-commerce. We conclude that the paper industry is aware of the potential gains to be made by creating an effective supply chain management systems communicating through the Internet. E-commerce has provided new applications for use in the paper industry customer interface including e-marketplaces, EDI connections and papiNet.

In our previous study, the NIPF of Louisiana indicated that Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) would be most acceptable to them as a certifying agency. A key question remained, however: Is the approach currently utilized by the LDAF to implement Stewardship an equivalent surrogate for certification? This research attempts to answer that question by comparing the Louisiana Forest Stewardship Program with the guidelines of four sustainable forest management standards.

Successful Internet-based business practice adoption and implementation is contingent on a number of factors. In this paper, we examine the influence of corporate culture on Internet adoption. Although not all results were statistically significant, all were directionally as hypothesized with a high marketing orientation being more positively correlated to perceived Internet implementation effectiveness.

The eBusiness revolution is impossible to ignore. It has transformed businesses in virtually every industry and reshaped the global economy. In this study, we research to further describe factors that influence the success of an extranet implementation in business.

In this study we looked at US South homeowner awareness of treated wood issues and their perceptions about using treated wood indifferent possible applications in and around their homes. Although there was some confusion among respondents on what types and brands of treatments exist in the marketplace, there appears to be a bright future for treated wood in homebuilding and remodeling application in the US South.

The forest sector is an important component of the economy of Ecuador. This paper discusses the current situation of the forest sector and a planning framework that can contribute to crafting national policies to promote a sustainable forest sector for Ecuador.

The objective of this study was to compare paper supplier and buyer perceptions regarding using eIntermediaries to conduct business. Results indicate that paper buyer and supplier respondent attitudes and expectations regarding the use of eIntermediaries do not differ significantly. In addition, neither group has a strong desire to use eIntermediaries.

At present, there are several leading certification programs in operation. This paper reviews the history of forest certification, development of different certification schemes, their progress and current issues.

In this research, a study was conducted on the major certification schemes currently in operation. A comparison of these schemes was made. Analysis of the principles applied by these schemes was also made while certified areas by the various schemes was also identified and presented as part of our comparison of the schemes.

The objective of this study was to determine U.S. home builder and architect use of tropical hardwood products. The results of the study indicate that just under half of respondents are engaged in purchasing or specifying tropical hardwood products and that, for the most part, tropical hardwoods account for a small percentage of wood product purchases by US home builders.

In this working paper we examine the use of the World Wide Web by primary wood products exporters. The study discovered that respondents used the Web mostly for promotion activities. The study also found that currently, multilingual Web sites are not likely to be more successful in reaching their objectives than English-only Web sites.

This paper compares the use of extranets between the forest products industry and other U.S. business sectors. Extranets are secure networks that electronically link companies over the Internet. Results of the study indicate that the forest products industry uses extranet-based business applications with less frequency than other industrial sectors, receives fewer benefits and has greater concerns from using this business tool.

This exploratory study examined current and potential use of the Internet to conduct business and market products by the wood products industry in Louisiana. Respondents were asked to discuss their current or planned Internet strategies and impacts that are perceived to exist or could exist with Internet linked exchange partners.

Recent wild fires in various states have led foresters/firefighters/land managers to seriously investigate and execute the methods required to carry out a successful fuel reduction project. A survey was mailed to target these types of individuals nationwide. The analysis resulted in classifying mechanical and burn only operations based on the nature of projects.

Certified forests may be the next trend in lumber marketing, but non-industrial, private forest landowners generally are unwilling to foot the bill, according to a recent study.