614 research outputs found
Multi-Actor Response to the Internal Displacement of Iraqi Nationals: A Field Study on Coordination of the Humanitarian Emergency Response in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
In the summer of 2014, about one million Iraqis were forced into internal displacement in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) following successful incursions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant into bordering areas. To mobilize assistance and respond to the immense humanitarian needs, the UN assigned the situation its highest level of emergency, L3. This thesis investigates the emergency response coordination structure that had evolved four months later between the Kurdistan Regional Government, the UN, and non-governmental organizations, and analyses factors that constrain efficient coordination. Through a field study made in the KR-I, and based on approximately 50 key informant interviews, this thesis found that the emerged structure was so complex, non-uniform, and unsystematized that few understood or trusted it. Coordination at all levels of the response was insufficient, leading to both gaps and over-lappings: inconsistencies and redundancies. Characteristics of organized anarchies (i.e. fluid partici¬pa¬tion, unclear technology, and problematic preferences) help explain the low level of coordination. Furthermore, weak leadership as well as dispersed and inadequate resources—financial and human—intensified competition among the actors involved, which further impaired incentives for coordination (e.g., lack of information sharing). This, in combination with uncertainties regarding future funding and security, poses challenges to meet the needs of the internally displaced Iraqis in a systematic, coordinated, and sustainable manner
Transportation fuels from the well of the wheels:development and use of a model to analyse energy consumption and emissions in fuel chains
Habitual Chocolate Consumption May Increase Body Weight in a Dose-Response Manner
Objective Habitual chocolate intake was recently found to be associated with lower body weight in three cross-sectional epidemiological studies. Our objective was to assess whether these cross-sectional results hold up in a more rigorous prospective analysis. Methods We used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities cohort. Usual dietary intake was assessed by questionnaire at baseline (1987–98), and after six years. Participants reported usual chocolate intake as the frequency of eating a 1-oz (∼28 g) serving. Body weight and height were measured at the two visits. Missing data were replaced by multiple imputation. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate cross-sectional and prospective associations between chocolate intake and adiposity. Results Data were from 15,732 and 12,830 participants at the first and second visit, respectively. More frequent chocolate consumption was associated with a significantly greater prospective weight gain over time, in a dose-response manner. For instance, compared to participants who ate a chocolate serving less often than monthly, those who ate it 1–4 times a month and at least weekly experienced an increase in Body Mass Index (kg/m2) of 0.26 (95% CI 0.08, 0.44) and 0.39 (0.23, 0.55), respectively, during the six-year study period. In cross-sectional analyses the frequency of chocolate consumption was inversely associated with body weight. This inverse association was attenuated after excluding participants with preexisting obesity-related illness. Compared to participants without such illness, those with it had higher BMI and reported less frequent chocolate intake, lower caloric intake, and diets richer in fruits and vegetables. They tended to make these dietary changes after becoming ill. Conclusions Our prospective analysis found that a chocolate habit was associated with long-term weight gain, in a dose-response manner. Our cross-sectional finding that chocolate intake was associated with lower body weight did not apply to participants without preexisting serious illness
Habitual chocolate consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease among healthy men and women
Objective: To examine the association between chocolate intake and the risk of future cardiovascular events. Methods: We conducted a prospective study using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk cohort. Habitual chocolate intake was quantified using the baseline food frequency questionnaire (1993–1997) and cardiovascular end points were ascertained up to March 2008. A systematic review was performed to evaluate chocolate consumption and cardiovascular outcomes. Results: A total of 20 951 men and women were included in EPIC-Norfolk analysis (mean follow-up 11.3±2.8 years, median 11.9 years). The percentage of participants with coronary heart disease (CHD) in the highest and lowest quintile of chocolate consumption was 9.7% and 13.8%, and the respective rates for stroke were 3.1% and 5.4%. The multivariate-adjusted HR for CHD was 0.88 (95% CI 0.77 to 1.01) for those in the top quintile of chocolate consumption (16–99 g/day) versus non-consumers of chocolate intake. The corresponding HR for stroke and cardiovascular disease (cardiovascular disease defined by the sum of CHD and stroke) were 0.77 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.97) and 0.86 (95% CI 0.76 to 0.97). The propensity score matched estimates showed a similar trend. A total of nine studies with 157 809 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Higher compared to lower chocolate consumption was associated with significantly lower CHD risk (five studies; pooled RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.92), stroke (five studies; pooled RR 0.79, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.87), composite cardiovascular adverse outcome (two studies; pooled RR 0.75, 95% CI 0.54 to 1.05), and cardiovascular mortality (three studies; pooled RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.83). Conclusions: Cumulative evidence suggests that higher chocolate intake is associated with a lower risk of future cardiovascular events, although residual confounding cannot be excluded. There does not appear to be any evidence to say that chocolate should be avoided in those who are concerned about cardiovascular risk
The use of species sensitivity distributions and monitoring to predict the ecological effect of longitudinal training dams
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Climate change. From an Integrated Farm Management perspective
Integrated Farm Management (IFM) is a holistic approach characterised by a continuous improvement process in the delivery of more sustainable agriculture. Members of EISA collaborate on this in order to create a united voice for sustainable agriculture and its practical implementation on the ground through the development and promotion of IFM. In this presentation impacts from integrated farmers who are associated by EISAs national members LEAF (UK) and Skylark (the Netherlands) will be highlighted. What measures do they take, how is the adoption rate, what are the innovations the farmers are working on and how does it work in between these two regions that are characterised as mostly intensive agricultural areas? The main question for debate is whether farming is able to deliver solutions to the aims of the Paris Agreement and what MACSUR can do in order to support the farmers in achieving this
'Ja, de Litteratuur is nu eenmaal een wonderlik vak': Ideeën ten aanzien van het bloemlezen van eigentijdse poëzie voor gebruik in de hoogste klassen van gymnasium en h.b.s., 1898-1941
In de loop van de eerste vier decennia van de twintigste eeuw dringt de poëzie vanaf 1880 door in bloemlezingen voor de hoogste klassen van gymnasium en h.b.s. In deze studie worden de overwegingen om poëzie te bloemlezen en de keuzes die daaruit voortkomen van een vijftal bloemlezers (allen leraren) beschreven. Elk van hen propageert een methodiek om poëzie in de literatuurles te verwerken, van een open, globale kennismaking tot een intensieve analyse van een gedicht. Soms wordt een gedicht van een context voorzien maar doorgaans wordt een gedicht als zelfstandige tekst aangeboden. Naast deze bloemlezers brengt voordrachtskunstenaar Paul Huf ter ondersteuning van het onderwijs op een veertiental grammofoonplaten zijn gesproken bloemlezing. Zijn voordracht kan als voorbeeld dienen. Verder inventariseert deze studie de inhoud van 85 schoolbloemlezingen uit de periode 1898–1941 met in totaal 6758 gedichten van 254 dichters. Uit deze inventarisatie blijkt naast de voorkeur voor dichters uit de eerste jaren vanaf 1880 de vrij snelle popularisatie van anderen in de loop van de jaren 1920, 1930. Bloemlezers volgen op literair-historische gronden keuzes van voorgangers, daarnaast tonen zij een brede persoonlijke keuze. Schoolbloemlezingen representeren de voortgang van de contemporaine poëzieproductie en representeren het belang dat docenten voor de literatuurles hechten aan poëzie.Modern and Contemporary Studie
Sensitivity of native and introduced fish species to changes in flow velocity of European rivers
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