Journal of African Christian Biography: v. 1, no. 1

A publication of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography with U.S. offices located at the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University. This issue focuses on: 1. "Walatta Petros and Hakalla Amale, Pious Women of Ethiopia," with commentary by Dr. Jonathan Bonk, Project Director. 2. Walatta Petros. 3. Hakalla Amale. 4. Recent Print and Digital Resources Related to Christianity in Africa

A bibliography of planetary geology principal investigators and their associates, 1979 - 1980

This bibliography cites 698 reports and articles published from May 1979 through May 1980 by principal investigators and associates who received support from NASA's Office of Space Science, as part of the Planetary Geology program. Entries are arranged in the following categories: (1) general interest; (2) solar system, asteroids, comets, and satellites; (3) structure, tectonics, and stratigraphy; (4) regolith and volatiles; (5) volcanism; (6) impact craters; (7) Eolian glacial An author index is provided. The bibliography serves as a companion document to NASA TM 81776, "Reports of Planetary Geology Programs, 1979-1980"

The Usambara Knowledge Project: Place as Archive in a Tanzanian Mountain Range

The essay chronicles the early phases of a digital history project on landscape change in the mountains of eastern Tanzania. In collecting sources for a land and culture narrative, the project aims ultimately to create an archive that is locally produced in Tanzania and maintained by Utah State University Library\u27s Special Collections and Archives division. The project draws on more than thirty early twentieth-century landscape photographs from the Usambara Mountains in northeastern Tanzania by Walther Dobbertin, a professional photographer living in German East Africa. In the fall of 2015, team members scouted the sites for repeat photographs. The following summer, the project team began repeat photography and expanded the range of local collaborators to develop an oral history collection tied to the region\u27s landscape history. The essay lays out the problems, pitfalls, and successes of the preliminary collaborative work among academics, university students, archival specialists, and elders\u27 groups intent on collecting and preserving knowledge

The Southeastern Librarian v 64, no. 1 (Spring 2016) Complete Issue

Complete Issue of The Southeastern Librarian, vol. 64. no. 1

The Southeastern Librarian v 62, no. 3 (Fall 2014) Complete Issue

Complete issue of The Southeastern Librarian, vol. 62, no. 3

UK earthquake monitoring 2002/2003

The aims of the Seismic Monitoring and Information Service are to develop and maintain a national database of seismic activity in the UK for use in seismic hazard assessment, and to provide near-immediate responses to the occurrence, or reported occurrence, of significant events. The British Geological Survey (BGS) has been charged with the task of operating and further developing a uniform network of seismograph stations throughout the UK in order to acquire standardised data on a long-term basis. The project is supported by a group of organisations under the chairmanship of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) with major financial input from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). This Customer Group is listed in Annex A. In the 14th year of the project (April 2002 to March 2003), three subnetworks were upgraded with the installation of data loggers running under the QNX operating system, and a strong motion instrument was installed at Hartland in North Devon. The increasing number of acceleration records being captured by strong motion instruments, is feeding into a better understanding of attenuation and seismic hazard in the UK. Some 235 earthquakes were located by the monitoring network in 2002, with 87 of them having magnitudes of 2.0 ML or greater (Annex B). A total of 42 events in this magnitude category were reported as felt along with 6 smaller ones. Nine strong-motion records were captured from six of the nineteen sites now equipped with strong motion instruments. The largest earthquake in the reporting year, with a magnitude of 4.7 ML, occurred near Dudley on 22 September. It was felt up to 337 km away and over an area of 126,000 km2 (Isoseismal 3 EMS) and reached a maximum intensity of 5 on the European Macroseismic Scale (EMS, Annex H). A peak ground acceleration of 153 mms -2 was recorded on the three-component accelerometer at Keyworth, a distance of 83 km from the epicentre. The focal mechanism indicates strike slip movement along near vertical fault planes striking either NNE-SSW or WNW-ESE. The following month, an earthquake sequence commenced near Manchester with 117 events located, 37 of which were felt by the local population. The sequence caused widespread alarm in the greater Manchester area. The largest offshore earthquake occurred in the central North Sea on 12 October 2002 with a magnitude of 3.5 ML, approximately 70 km east of the Shetland Islands. In addition to earthquakes, BGS frequently receives reports of seismic events felt and heard, which on investigation prove to be sonic booms, spurious or in coalfield areas, where much of the activity is probably induced by mining. During the reporting period, data from six sonic events were processed and reported upon following public concern or media attention. All significant felt events and some others were reported rapidly to the Customer Group through seismic alerts sent by e-mail. The alerts were also published on the Internet (http://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk). Monthly seismic bulletins were issued six weeks in arrears and, following revision, were compiled into an annual bulletin (Simpson, 2003). In all these reporting areas, scheduled targets have been met or surpassed. Maintenance and protection of historical archives, another primary goal of the project, has continued and has been enhanced by donations of the Soil Mechanics UK data, from a study in the early 1980’s and the British Association for the Advancement of Science Seismological Committee archives. The environmental monitoring stations at Eskdalemuir and Hartland observatories recorded a variety of parameters throughout the year and the data are now accessible on-line through an Internet connection

Enhancing Learners’ Engagement with Educational Apps

Technology-enabled learning environment provides increased opportunities for enhancing learners’ engagement, interaction and collaboration. With the advent of technology, educational applications (apps) have become popular in learning, teaching, and research at all levels of education. Learning through the use of apps is therefore gaining momentum as it affords flexible learning opportunities, coupled with 21st century learning paradigm. The nature of educational apps is varied, be it an app downloadable on a mobile device or customized apps, designed to provide bite sized information or a learning activity based on learning design. The core function of these apps remain the same, which is to provide learners an engaging and meaningful interaction with content and interface such that it enhances not only the learning experience but also success in learning. In short, apps are designed to enhance learning efficiency and effectiveness. The use of apps, from early childhood education through to higher education, provides continuous opportunities to enhance learners’ engagement with learning materials (Diliberto-Macaluso, & Hughes, 2016; Hirsh-Pasek, Zosh, Golinkoff, Gray, Robb, & Kaufman, 2015; Pechenkina, Laurence, Oates, Eldridge, & Hunter, 2017), however there is a need for more research in this area (Hirsh-Pasek et al, 2015; Pechenkina et al, 2017). Hamari, Koivisto, and Sarsa (2014) reported that integration of gamified elements into apps has the potential to engage students and motivate them in a way that it can in turn affect other factors, which influence the learning process

Climate Change Adaptation: Opportunities and Challenges from Two Communities in Ethiopia

Climate change is real and is disproportionately affecting poor communities in poorer countries. Climate change drives climate extremes which manifest in the form of extreme droughts in some areas and excessive precipitations in others. The nature of impacts from climate extremes depends not only on the intensities of the extremes themselves but also on exposure and vulnerability of communities. Communities in poor countries are the most exposed to such extremities and are forced to bear a huge burden to adapt to these extremes. As such, adaptation to disasters is not new to these communities in a sense that they have been adapting to extremes even before climate change became a concern. What is now new is the extent of exposure factors exerting an ever-increasing pressure on livelihoods of already destitute communities. As if their poverty was not enough, climate change extends the plights beyond previous adaptation capacities. These communities and countries not only have to tackle clime-driven consequences, but also other forms of disaster impacts and poverty in general. How can these communities and countries deal with such intricately related environmental management, disaster risk reduction and overall poverty alleviation challenges all at the same time? A survey was carried out in communities with varying socio-cultural and environmental conditions in two different parts of Ethiopia to understand their perceptions on climate change and variability, and their capacity to adapt. Institutional support levels provided to such disaster-prone communities in terms of policy, technical and material from local governments and international organizations has also been reviewed. The results of various group discussions suggest that community awareness on climate change impacts is fairly good, but commensurate action lags behind for various reasons. The groups also identified opportunities, challenges and concerns. Local institutional support is growing as manifested through, among other things, ratification and implementation of relevant international conventions, integrating climate change issues in development programming, creating coordinating faculties, apportioning significant resources in important sectors such as agriculture, and creating public knowledge, though with enough challenges and concerns. Given their current levels of human, financial, natural and socio-political capital, poor communities in Ethiopia and perhaps other poor countries in Africa, are tackling their part of the problem with the needed intentionality and vigour. However, their resources and technical capacities are not enough to deal with the current levels of disasters, let alone with the projected increase of climate and weather impacts. On the other hand, the current level of global adaptation funding and technical support for developing countries is below even conservative estimates. Noting the gravity of the problem and the level of poverty prevalent in the most climate affected areas, and existing difficulties in adaptation, global institutions need to take the implementation of the already-agreed upon international conventions for the reduction of GHG and adaptation funding more seriously. The situation is already dire for the poor communities and countries and if GHG emissions continue unabated even more resources will be needed in the future to respond to climate change impacts. Keywords: Adaptation, drought impacts, environmental degradation, Ethiopian highlands, famine, forests, perception