Libya and Britain: a study of the history of British-Libyan relations 1969-1979

This thesis examines relations between Libya and the United Kingdom after 1969 when a new government came to power in Tripoli which seemed to pose a direct threat to a number of key British interests. The thesis is grounded on a careful reading of secondary literature which has been integrated into newly available official documents available in the National Archive. The main claim to originality is in the light these documents throw on our understanding of that relationship. The thesis uses a case study approach which examines specific themes in UK-Libya relations which include arguments over arms sales, the oil economy and the role of oil companies, and relations over the Irish question and the problematic Libyan supply of weapons and support to the IRA in the 1970s. It inevitably touches on relations between both governments and the United States, but that is not a main focus of the study. These areas have been chosen for study because they represent the most significant areas of bargaining and conflict between Libya and the UK in the time period, according to both the secondary literature and press debate at the time and the newly available documentation. The author has been aware of the limitations of using the National Archives, especially where material has newly arrived for view. These include the scope of official ‘weeding’ before documents are made available to conserve space and to avoid repetition, but also to exclude sensitive material relating to intelligence and cognate aspects of relations with other governments. These limitations qualify, but do not undermine, the conclusions drawn

Evaluation of runoff estimation from GRACE coupled with different meteorological gridded products over the Upper Blue Nile Basin

Study Region: The Upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin, Ethiopia. Study Focus: In efforts to accurately close the water balance equation for the UBN basin using remote sensing products, river runoff is calculated as a residual from the water balance equation by incorporating Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) terrestrial water storage (TWS) and remote sensing products for precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET). The calculated river runoff is then compared to the gauge records located at the basin's outlet. The best performing combination among the various combinations is chosen by aggregating rankings attributed to both error and linear fit metrics. The errors associated with each satellite product were assessed by forcing the In-Situ runoff to estimate the P, ET, and TWS. This methodology helps in addressing the uncertainty linked with each hydrological component. New Hydrological Insights for the Region: The best P, ET, and TWS combination performance products to estimate runoff are SM2RAIN-CCI, GLEAM, and GRACE Spherical Harmonic products, respectively. The statistical results for the six metrics are R2 = 0.7, slope = 1.6, y-intercept = - 0.5 cm, RMSE = 3 cm, MAE = 2.8 cm, and PBIAS = 36%. The uncertainty from each hydrological component was quantified and showed that improving the accuracy of P and ET estimation is a crucial step to successfully close the water balance

Why do women not use antenatal services in low and middle income countries? A metasynthesis of qualitative studies

Background: Almost 50% of women in low & middle income countries (LMIC’s) don’t receive adequate antenatal care. Women’s views can offer important insights into this problem. Qualitative studies exploring inadequate use of antenatal services have been undertaken in a range of countries, but the findings are not easily transferable. We aimed to inform the development of future antenatal care programmes through a synthesis of findings in all relevant qualitative studies. Methods and Findings: Using a pre-determined search strategy, we identified robust qualitative studies reporting on the views and experiences of women in LMIC’s who received inadequate antenatal care. We used meta-ethnographic techniques to generate themes and a line of argument synthesis. We derived policy relevant hypotheses from the findings. We included 21 papers representing the views of more than 1230 women from 15 countries. Three key themes were identified: ‘Pregnancy as socially risky and physiologically healthy’; ‘Resource use and survival in conditions of extreme poverty’and ‘Not getting it right first time’. The line of argument synthesis describes a dissonance between programme design and cultural contexts that may restrict access and discourage return visits. We hypothesize that centralized, risk-focused antenatal care programmes may be at odds with the resources, beliefs and experiences of pregnant women who underuse antenatal services. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there may be a mis-alignment between current antenatal provision and the social and cultural context of some women in LMIC’s. Antenatal care provision that is theoretically and contextually at odds with local contextual beliefs and experiences are likely to be underused, especially when attendance generates increased personal risks of lost family resource or physical danger during travel; when the promised care is not delivered due to resource constraints; and when women experience covert or overt abuse in care settings

Determinants of low family planning use and high unmet need in Butajira District, South Central Ethiopia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The rapid population growth does not match with available resource in Ethiopia. Though household level family planning delivery has been put in place, the impact of such programs in densely populated rural areas was not studied. The study aims at measuring contraception and unmet need and identifying its determinants among married women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 5746 married women are interviewed from October to December 2009 in the Butajira Demographic Surveillance Area. Contraceptive prevalence rate and unmet need with their 95% confidence interval is measured among married women in the Butajira district. The association of background characteristics and family planning use is ascertained using crude and adjusted Odds ratio in logistic regression model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Current contraceptive prevalence rate among married women is 25.4% (95% CI: 24.2, 26.5). Unmet need of contraception is 52.4% of which 74.8% was attributed to spacing and the rest for limiting. Reasons for the high unmet need include commodities' insecurity, religion, and complaints related to providers, methods, diet and work load. Contraception is 2.3 (95% CI: 1.7, 3.2) times higher in urbanites compared to rural highlanders. Married women who attained primary and secondary plus level of education have about 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.6) and 2 (95% CI: 1.4, 2.9) times more risk to contraception; those with no child death are 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.5) times more likely to use contraceptives compared to counterparts. Besides, the odds of contraception is 1.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.6) and 1.5 (1.1, 2.0) times more likely among women whose partners completed primary and secondary plus level of education. Women discussing about contraception with partners were 2.2 (95% CI: 1.8, 2.7) times more likely to use family planning. Nevertheless, contraception was about 2.6 (95% CI: 2.1, 3.2) more likely among married women whose partners supported the use of family planning.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The local government should focus on increasing educational level. It must also ensure family planning methods security, increase competence of providers, and create awareness on various methods and their side effects to empower women to make an appropriate choice. Emphasis should be given to rural communities.</p

Synthesis of (cinnamate-zinc layered hydroxide) intercalation compound for sunscreen application

Background: Zinc layered hydroxide (ZLH) intercalated with cinnamate, an anionic form of cinnamic acid (CA), an efficient UVA and UVB absorber, have been synthesized by direct method using zinc oxide (ZnO) and cinnamic acid as the precursor. Results: The resulting obtained intercalation compound, ZCA, showed a basal spacing of 23.9 Å as a result of cinnamate intercalated in a bilayer arrangement between the interlayer spaces of ZLH with estimated percentage loading of cinnamate of about 40.4 % w/w. The UV–vis absorption spectrum of the intercalation compound showed excellent UVA and UVB absorption ability. Retention of cinnamate in ZLH interlayers was tested against media usually came across with sunscreen usage to show low release over an extended period of time. MTT assay of the intercalation compound on human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells showed cytotoxicity of ZCA to be concentration dependent and is overall less toxic than its precursor, ZnO. Conclusions: (Cinnamate-zinc layered hydroxide) intercalation compound is suitable to be used as a safe and effective sunscreen with long UV protection effect

SPARC 2018 Internationalisation and collaboration : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2018 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the launch of our Doctoral School, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 100 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to take up this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas from your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers