Evaluating Flood Forecasting System Performance in Cambodia

Every year, Cambodia experiences flooding as a result of monsoon rains and typhoons. Flood forecasting systems are designed to enable people to mitigate economic and social impacts from these events. However, in order for forecasts to be used effectively, an assessment of their accuracy is needed. This study demonstrates the performance of regional and global flood forecasting systems over the 2019 flood season. To do this, we assess the flood forecast accuracy at different forecast lead times and gauge locations in Cambodia. We then compare the flood forecast performance to satellite-based flood maps produced by the Hydrological Remote Sensing Analysis of Floods (HYDRAFloods) tool currently being co-developed by SERVIR-Mekong in collaboration with the Myanmar Department of Disaster Management. This assessment of the flood forecasting systems performance and comparison to flood extents helps (1) provide valuable information to forecasters and disaster managers as they make improvements to their models, and (2) provides support to forecast users as they evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different systems for taking action

Dissolved organic matter in major rivers across the Pan-Arctic from remote sensing

Climate-driven changes in Arctic hydrology and biogeochemistry are impacting transport of water and water-borne material from land to ocean. This includes massive amounts of organic matter that are mobilized and exported from the pan-Arctic watershed via rivers each year. Dissolved organic matter (DOM), an important part of the Arctic carbon cycle, has received growing attention in recent years, yet long-term studies of riverine biogeochemistry remain rare in these remote and logistically challenging regions. Remote sensing of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM, the portion of the DOM pool that absorbs light), provides a unique opportunity to investigate variations in DOM in major Arctic rivers over multiple decades. CDOM is a useful proxy for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and is essential to photochemical processes in surface waters. This dissertation presents the development and application of remote sensing regression models across six major Arctic rivers: the Kolyma, Lena, Mackenzie, Ob', Yenisey and Yukon. Frozen, archival samples of CDOM were used to develop calibration data for remote sensing regressions. Remote sensing methods estimated CDOM with R² of 85% across all rivers, although individual rivers varied in their predictability in association with sediment loading and hydrology. As with previous studies of Arctic systems, concentrations and export of CDOM and DOC were highest during spring freshet in most of these rivers. Interannual variability in DOM export may be linked to the Arctic Oscillation. Within the Mackenzie, Ob', and Yenisey rivers, observations of DOM concentration and export were extended back to the 1980s, the first known empirical records of this length for Arctic rivers that span both continents. Although no pan-Arctic trends in CDOM export were detected, there is some evidence of long-term changes in riverine DOM. For example, discharge-specific CDOM concentrations decreased in the Yenisey River and increased in the Ob' River. Additionally, CDOM concentrations increased over the past ~30 years within the Mackenzie River. This dissertation also includes results from experiments used to quantify the effects of cryopreservation on CDOM analyses, and potential approaches for ameliorating freezing effects. These experiments showed that freezing for preservation introduces some error into CDOM measurements, although these effects vary between river systems. Sonication may improve CDOM measurements in some river systems, but the effects of both cryopreservation and sonication should be quantified on a case-by-case basis. Overall, this dissertation work demonstrates that 1) remote sensing of CDOM is a viable tool for tracking fluvial DOM in the major Arctic rivers, 2) only the Mackenzie River showed significant increases in CDOM concentration from the 1980s to present and 3) long-term changes in discharge-specific CDOM concentrations have occurred in the Yenisey and Ob' rivers. These long-term trends cannot be definitively linked to climate change, but may be related to effects of warming on permafrost, hydrology, and biogeochemistry within in Arctic watersheds with consequences for carbon cycling on both regional and global scales.Marine Scienc

Uncovering the structural diversity of Y(III) naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate MOFs through coordination modulation

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) – network structures built from metal ions and clusters and connecting organic ligands – are typically synthesized by solvothermal self-assembly. For transition metal based MOFs, structural predictability is facilitated by control over coordination geometries and linker connectivity under the principles of isoreticular synthesis. For rare earth MOFs, coordination behaviour is dominated by steric and electronic factors, leading to unpredictable structures and poor control over self-assembly. Herein we show that coordination modulation – the addition of competing ligands into MOF syntheses – offers programmable access to six different Y(III) MOFs all connected by the same naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate ligand, despite controlled synthesis of multiple phases from the same metal-ligand combination often being challenging for rare earth MOFs. Four of the materials are isolable in bulk phase purity, three are amenable to rapid microwave synthesis, and the fluorescence sensing ability of one example towards metal cations is reported. The results show that a huge variety of structurally versatile MOFs can potentially be prepared from simple systems, and that coordination modulation is a powerful tool for systematic control of phase behaviour in rare earth MOFs

L'identite professionnelle des professeurs d'anglais "locuteurs natifs" exercant en France depuis le traité de Maastricht : Entre conservation ontologique et acculturation. Les limites du capital natif.

Since the early 1990s, EU citizens have been able to sit the competitive examinations which give access to qualified teacher status within the French education system, without needing to have French nationality. This change has attracted British and Irish candidates who were not necessarily qualified to teach before moving to France and who, as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs), were not socialized there. Consequently, it sometimes takes them years to decode the French education system. For these teachers, comfortable professional integration depends on their capacity to adjust not only to the requirements of French schools, but also to the French approach to teaching and learning English. Taking the CAPES is one step towards interculturation, since by doing so, English-speaking candidates gain an insight into the norms, rules and values of the French education system and see how English is taught at university and in schools in France. However, passing the exam is only the first step towards building aprofessional teacher identity, which is a long process. The present investigation into the professional identity of NESTs from the UK and Ireland was constructedfrom a Grounded Theory and interpretative perspective using mixed methods. The researcher seeks to understand how participants perceive their professional identity and life as English teachers in the French education system. An analysis of participants’ discourse and of interviewer/participant interaction brings tolight the following paradox: the initial “gift” which helps NESTs through the rigorous state examinations can be weakened by strong interculturation and needs to be updated and enriched in order to remain an asset.Depuis l’ouverture des concours de recrutement de l’Éducation nationale aux ressortissants européens, au début des années 1990, de nombreux Britanniques et Irlandais ont rejoint le contingent d’enseignants certifiés et agrégés d’anglais. Ces professeurs d’anglais « locuteurs natifs » (PALN) n’ont pas été socialisésen France et mettent parfois des années à décoder le système éducatif français et leur intégration professionnelle dépend de nombreux facteurs. Si le CAPES et l’Agrégation constituent une étape cruciale dans le processus d’interculturation, parce qu’ils initient les candidats anglophones aux normes, règles et valeurs du système éducatif français et de l’anglais-objet d’étude universitaire et d’enseignement-apprentissage en France, ces premiers ne sont en réalité que les prémisses d’une longue construction de l’identité professionnelle de ces enseignants. La présente enquête, élaborée dans une perspective ancrée et compréhensive et qui s’appuie sur des méthodes mixtes, a permis au chercheur d’explorer comment les PALN perçoivent leur vie et leur identité professionnelles. Une analyse du discours des participants et des interactions enquêteur-enquêté amène le chercheur au cœur de la problématique identitaire des enseignants« natifs » qui se retrouvent face à un paradoxe : si le « capital natif » est un atout pour réussir les concours de recrutement, une interculturation (Demorgon, 1999) « trop » réussie peut fragiliser ce même capital qui, pour conserver son intérêt et rester dynamique, doit être sans cesse actualisé

Methods to place a value on additional evidence are illustrated using a case study of corticosteroids after traumatic brain injury

Objectives\ud To establish whether evidence about the effectiveness of a health care intervention is sufficient to justify the use of the intervention in practice and show how value of information (VOI) analysis can be used to place a value on the need for additional evidence and inform research prioritization decisions.\ud \ud Study Design and Setting\ud Meta-analysis provides an estimate of the effect of an intervention with uncertainty. VOI analysis determines the adverse health consequences of not resolving this uncertainty. A case study examining the evidence before the high profile trial of Corticosteroid Randomisation After Significant Head injury (CRASH) shows the consequences on patient outcomes if this trial had not been successfully funded.\ud \ud Results\ud The consequences of uncertainty before CRASH were high at 40 deaths and 1,067 years of full health per annum. VOI analysis indicates that CRASH was worthwhile and the UK National Health Service would have had to spend an additional £205 million elsewhere to generate health benefits similar to CRASH.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud VOI analysis can be integrated with the results of meta-analysis to help inform whether a particular research proposal is potentially worthwhile and whether it should be prioritized over other research topics that could be commissioned with the same resource

Fostering independence through care? A study of the preparedness and deployment of Special Needs Assistants when supporting pupils’ behavioural care needs and independence development in mainstream primary schools in Ireland

The educational landscape in Ireland for persons with special educational needs (SEN) has changed significantly over the past two decades. This research project sought to explore the preparedness and deployment of Special Needs Assistants (SNA) in supporting pupils with behavioural care needs in mainstream primary schools in Ireland. In particular, the research aimed to obtain a detailed and integrated account of the preparedness and deployment of SNAs when supporting target pupils’ behavioural care needs and developing target pupils’ independence. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to data collection. The study’s research design was modelled on that employed in Strand 2 Wave 1 of the internationally renowned ‘Deployment and Impact of Support Staff’ project (Blatchford et al., 2008), as conducted in the United Kingdom. This study comprised a large scale SNA survey (n = 814), in addition to systematic classroom observations and case studies conducted across 20 mainstream class contexts. Throughout the study, focus was placed on the preparedness of SNAs to engage in their pupil care role including their training, continuing professional development, knowledge and understanding of pupils’ needs, and school-based planning. The deployment of SNAs to support pupils’ behavioural care needs and independence development was explored through minute-by-minute systematic classroom observations and in-depth case studies, with additional comparative observational data collected on average-attaining comparison pupils. Focus was placed on contextual classroom information, pupil interactions with the class teacher, SNA and peers, level of pupil independence and support patterns employed by SNAs with the target pupils. Data was analysed using a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Findings highlighted an array of strengths and limitations of the current SNA scheme in Ireland in supporting pupils with behavioural care needs, particularly in terms of SNA training, school-based preparation and use of evidence-based strategies to support pupils’ behavioural care needs and development of pupils’ independence. In addition, findings revealed the disparate classroom experiences of pupils with behavioural care needs in receipt of SNA support when compared with their average-attaining peers. Results are discussed in light of the current status of the SNA scheme in Ireland, with a focus on implications for research, theory, policy and practice. This research serves to extend the limited data-set on SNAs in mainstream schools in Ireland and addresses the dearth of national and international research on the role of paraprofessionals in educational contexts, particularly in relation to positive behaviour support and supporting pupils’ development of independence

Crude fibre determination of Malva sylvestris L. and evaluation of its faecal bulking and laxative properties in rats

Malva sylvestris L. or as it is widely known, the common mallow, is a renowned medicinal plant which can be found growing in abundance in Europe, North Africa and Asia. The percentage crude fibre content present in M. sylvestris samples collected from Malta was studied. Variation in crude fibre content with time and location was also considered in this study. Results showed that the percentage stem fibre content (27.61%) significantly (p<0.001) supersedes the percentage content in leaves (6.49%). These values confirm results attained by various authors in similar studies. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the down trending in percentage leaf fibre content observed over the 3-month study period was only statistically significant (p<0.01) for one locality (N=4). In the latter, a significant (p<0.01) dip in fibre content was noted for samples collected in April. Conversely, the percentage stem fibre content increased as the plant matured. This observed increase in stem fibre was statistically significant (p<0.05) for two of the localities (N=4) studied. The faecal bulking competency of this fibrous plant was studied in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Throughout the study, the control group was fed fibre-free pellets. Whilst the test group, was fed pellets containing 100 g/kg M. sylvestris ground stems. An increase in faecal weight by 105% and 86% was observed in the test group when compared to the fresh and dry faecal weights of the control group. These findings confirm faecal bulking properties and support the potential use of this plant species as a complementary and alternative medicine in the treatment of constipation.peer-reviewe

Clinicians’ Perceptions of The Health Status of Formerly Detained Immigrants

Background In the past decade, the U.S. immigration detention system regularly detained more than 30,000 people; in 2019 prior to the pandemic, the detention population exceeded 52,000 people. Inhumane detention conditions have been documented by internal government watchdogs, news media and human rights groups, finding over-crowding, poor hygiene and sanitation and poor and delayed medical care, as well as verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Methods This study surveyed health professionals across the United States who had provided care for immigrants who were recently released from immigration detention to assess clinician perceptions about the adverse health impact of immigration detention on migrant populations based on real-life clinical encounters. There were 150 survey responses, of which 85 clinicians observed medical conditions attributed to detention. Results These 85 clinicians reported seeing a combined 1300 patients with a medical issue related to their time in detention, including patients with delayed access to medical care or medicine in detention, patients with new or acute health conditions including infection and injury attributed to detention and patients with worsened chronic conditions or special needs conditions. Clinicians also provided details regarding sentinel cases, categorized into the following themes: Pregnant women, Children, Mentally Ill, COVID-19, and Other serious health issue. Conclusions This is the first survey, to our knowledge, of health care professionals treating individuals upon release from detention. Due to the lack of transparency by federal entities and limited access to detainees, this survey serves as a source of credible information about conditions experienced within immigration detention facilities and is a means of corroborating immigrant testimonials and media reports. These findings can help inform policy discussions regarding systematic changes to the delivery of healthcare in detention, quality assurance and transparent reporting