“The mines make us poor”: Large-scale mining in Burkina Faso

GLOCON's new Country Report looks at the impact of industrial mining in Burkina Faso on the local rural population and presents the view of residents close to six industrial mines. Surveys in the affected villages show that – in contrast to the promises of mining companies and the government – the opening of the mines has not improved the living conditions. On the contrary, respondents report the loss of their livelihoods and damage to their health, as well as experienced disrespect by the mine operators. Those affected protest in various ways and demand compensation payments, the creation of jobs and income generating opportunities, as well as investment in local infrastructure. This report is available in English and French.Der neue Country Report von GLOCON beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen des industriellen Bergbaus in Burkina Faso auf die lokale Bevölkerung und stellt den Blick von Anwohner*innen von sechs industriellen Minen vor. Befragungen in den betroffenen Dörfern zeigen, dass sich – entgegen der Versprechungen von Unternehmen und der Regierung – die Lebensbedingungen durch die Eröffnung der Minen nicht verbessert haben. Im Gegenteil: Die Befragten berichten vom Verlust ihrer Existenzgrundlagen und gesundheitlichen Schäden sowie von Respektlosigkeit, die sie seitens der Minenbetreiber erfahren. Die Betroffenen protestieren auf vielfältige Weise und fordern Entschädigung durch Kompensationszahlungen, die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen und Einkommensmöglichkeiten sowie Investitionen in die lokale Infrastruktur. Es gibt Versionen auf Englisch und Französisch

The political-economic dimension of transformations in EU-Russia gas trade mechanisms

This thesis investigates the political-economic implications of changes in EU-Russia gas trade mechanisms resorting to qualitative and quantitative tools and combining TCE, NIE, and IPE. TCE explains the original choice of long-term contracting, why contracts came under pressure, the nature and outcome of renegotiations, and the importance of relational contracting. The weakening of long-term contracts may lead to underinvestment in future. Long-term contracts are still needed because the trend towards lower asset specificity will not necessarily continue indefinitely. IPE explains how liberalisation – a political process – influenced the economic rules of the game, and how in turn these altered the EU’s and Russia’s relative economic and political power. The EU exerted structural power and shaped the milieu to its own benefit. Liberalisation is not neutral: it has an inherent consumer/EU bias. While the introduction of hub indexation can be interpreted as a neoliberal policy transfer, IPE helps us rejecting the radical Realist argument that the EU promoted it to hurt Russia. NIE notions of logic of appropriateness and institutional complementarity explain why EU-style gas market liberalisation in Russia is neither likely nor desirable. Two different institutional environments will coexist. Transformations in EU-Russia gas trade mechanisms have benefitted the EU and Gazprom’s revenues have been dented. However, the negative impact on Russian economy and federal budget has been limited. The last word is not said: should certain circumstances arise in future, these transformations might turn out to be detrimental for the affordability and security of gas supplies to the EU

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF RESTORATIVE CIRCLES ON STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS? A STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

Restorative practices have the ability to shape the framework of communication in schools. Restorative circles are a safe space created to help students connect with their peers and build community with the guidance of a facilitator. The purpose of this qualitative narrative study is to explore the impact that restorative circles have on school connectedness at the high school level. By utilizing a theoretical framework linking critical theory, culture of care theory and the whole child approach, the researcher was able to examine how students connect with the school, their peers, and their restorative circle facilitator. The sample for this study consisted of ninth grade students, seven females and two males, whose ages ranged from 14 to 15, and all of whom were children of color and from a suburban New York public school district. Through 45-minute narrative interviews, the participants were able to share their experience with the program and the influence it had on their school relationships. Data were analyzed in this study through a triangulation of a logbook, interviews, and codebook. Each of these forms of data that were collected were used together in order to come to conclusions regarding students’ views on restorative circles and the school environment. The researcher came to four conclusions; (a) restorative circles allowed for students to understand the commonalities that exist between themselves and their peers, (b) students feeling connected to their restorative circle facilitator is imperative for school connectedness, (c) students feeling connected to their restorative circle facilitator is imperative for school connectedness, and (d) students feeling connected to their restorative circle facilitator is imperative for school connectedness. The researcher addressed the gap in the existing literature by exploring the perceptions of students and how restorative practices shape their ability to develop relationships with their peers, staff, community, and themselves

Development and Validation of a Computational Tool for Fusion Reactors\u27 System Analysis

On the roadmap to fusion energy the development and the operation of a demonstration power plant (DEMO) is the next step after ITER, a key facility currently devoted to the exploration of the physics aspects for self-sustained fusion plasmas with sizes and fusion power comparable to those attended in fusion power plants (FPP). Fusion systems codes are essential computational tools aimed to simulate the physics and the engineering features of a FPP. The main objective of a system code is to find one (or more) reactor configurations which simultaneously comply with physics operational limits, engineering constraints and net electric output requirements. As such simulation tools need to scope many design solutions over a large parameter phase space, they rely on rather basic physics and engineering models (mostly at zero or one-dimensional level) and on a relatively large number of input specifications. Within the conceptual design of a FPP, systems codes are interfaced to the detailed transport codes and engineering platforms, which operate in much larger time scales. To fill the gap between systems and the detailed transport and engineering codes the high-fidelity system/design tool MIRA (Modular Integrated Reactor Analysis) has been developed. MIRA relies on a modular structure and provides a refined FPP system analysis, with the primary goal of generating a more robust plant baseline. It incorporates into a unique computing environment a mathematical algorithm for the utmost tokamak fusion problems, including two-dimensional plasma magnetic equilibrium and core physics, transport of neutron and photon radiations emitted from the plasma and electromagnetic and engineering characterization of the toroidal field (TF) and poloidal field (PF) field coil systems. Most of the implemented modules rely on higher spatial resolution compared to presently available system codes, such as PROCESS. The multiphysics MIRA approach has been applied to the DEMO 2015 baseline, generated by means of the PROCESS system code. The analysis has been carried out by taking an identical set of input assumptions and requirements (e.g. same fusion power, major radius and aspect ratio) and observing the response on certain figures of merit. This verification study has featured the violation of some constraining conditions imposed on plasma safety factor, TF ripple and plasma burn time. The DEMO 2015 baseline has been found not in line with all the imposed requirements and constraints, hence necessitates a set of active measures on some of the input parameters. Such measures have been reported in form of parameter scans, where three variables have been identified, such as plasma internal inductance, blanket breeding zone inboard thickness and vacuum vessel/TF coil gap radial outboard width. The addressed sensitivity analyses have shown non-trivial inter-parametric dependencies, never explored in fusion system analyses. For instance, large influences of the plasma internal inductance on safety factor, plasma shape, density and temperature features, peak divertor flux and plasma burn time have been observed. Moreover, an optimal overall breeding blanket + TF coil inboard width has been observed with respect to the maximization of the plasma burn time, representing a meeting point between neutronic tritium breeding and technological limits in central solenoid and TF coils superconducting cables. These outcomes have inspired important changes in the way of designing a tokamak reactor like DEMO, where more extended analyses of the key physics and engineering aspects of the reactor can speed up and improve the design process of a FPP

THE EMOTIONAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BURDEN OF THE "BURNOUT" IN FAMILIES OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

People, who assist patients with chronic health problems for work, voluntary or for family reasons, may be affected by burnout. This is defined as an excessive reaction to stress caused by one\u27s environment that may be characterized by feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion, coupled with a sense of frustration and failure. A person who assists a suffering person, beyond the professional role, is indicated generally by the term "caregiver". The definition of Burnout in families is fairly recent, because the psychology of trauma has ignored a large segment of traumatized and disabled subjects (family and other assistants of "suffering people") unwittingly, for a long time. The burnout of secondary stress is due to one’s empathic ability, actions trough disengagement, and a sense of satisfaction from helping to relieve suffering. Figley (1995) claims that being a member of a family or other type of intimate or bonded interpersonal relationship, one feels the others’ pain. Closely associated with the suffering of the family caregiver is the concept of compassion fatigue, defined as a state of exhaustion and disfunction-biologically, psychologically, and socially - as a result of prolonged exposure to compassion stress and all that it evokes. In families, this can be the cause of serious conflicts and problems, quarrels, verbal and physical aggression, and broken relationships. The intervention on families requires practice and effectiveness approaches performed by experienced professionals. Some approaches focus more specifically, such as those that adopt a cognitive/behavioural technique with direct exposure, implosion methods, various drug treatments and family group psychotherapy. One of the most common models of intervention is based on the principle that the observation unit for the understanding of the disorder is not the single individual but the relationship between individuals