GUYANA AND THE RESOURCE CURSE

Immense oil deposits were discovered in the offshore Guyana Basin in 2015 and Guyana is now on the verge of a monumental economic transformation. Significant financial and societal benefits might be byproducts of Guyana’s oil wealth; however, scholars have well documented that resource blessing can become a resource curse. This thesis examines Guyana’s history leading up to oil discovery, evaluates the post-discovery political events that exhibit mechanisms of the resource curse, and assesses Guyana’s economic progress and policies implemented to understand how these mechanisms affect Guyana and how Guyana is mitigating the harmful effects of the resource curse. This thesis concludes that several mechanisms of the resource curse are contributing to the contentious political environment and negatively affecting economic development and growth. However, Guyana has progressed in politics, including improvements in transparency, implementation of local elections, and adoption of rules to mitigate violence. Guyana also has implemented several economic policies, including establishing a development strategy, a natural resource fund, and a local content policy to reduce the economic effects of the resource curse. These safeguards, among others, are helping Guyana to avoid the resource curse.Lieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Building Resilient Farming Communities in the UK: Encouraging Agroecological Practices on UK Farms in Relation to Climate Change

Faced with a future including environmental impacts on agriculture and food production from climate change, alongside a growing population: this thesis considers agroecology and sustainable agriculture farming practices to enable farmers in the UK to have climate-resilient livelihoods. The research explores existing agroecological interventions in the UK, along with drivers and barriers to changing behaviour amongst those farmers towards using agroecological techniques. Through an investigation of sustainable livelihoods, an analytical framework was developed to assist with the data collection and analysis. Using a mixed method study of data collection, the first phase comprised a quantitative and qualitative survey, and the second phase an in-depth qualitative individual and group interviews. The results were analysed using a conceptual model of resilient rural agricultural livelihoods in the UK. By comparing back to the theory and concepts, the results were discussed and evaluated. These included the importance of sustainable livelihoods in assessing agroecology and sustainable farming in the UK. Evaluation of the results highlighted the following issues: hazards to farmers from climate change through to finances; how farmer assets (social, human, natural, financial and physical) can help build resilience to those hazards; and how barriers to change - including sociological and psychological barriers - can reduce a farmer’s assets and increase their vulnerability to climate change and other hazards. Key findings included one which has already been acknowledged to be important for climate-resilient agriculture, which was to improve soil health, both for improved nutrients, but also for carbon sequestration and water retention. Another key finding was the emergence of the “digital electronic hedge” for farmer learning, mentoring and communication. Through video, social media, web forums and email, farmers are collapsing geographical barriers to look over their ‘neighbour’s hedge’ at opposite ends of the country. Furthermore, the same mediums can bridge the gap between farmers and researchers which can be important for extending new techniques and theories

Computational Algebra Applications in Reliability

Reliability analysts are typically forced to choose between using an \u27algorithmic programming language\u27 or a \u27reliability package\u27 for analyzing their models and lifetime data. This paper shows that computational languages can be used to bridge the gap to combine the flexibility of a programming language with the ease of use of a package. Computational languages facilitate the development of new statistical techniques and are excellent teaching tools. This paper considers three diverse reliability problems that are handled easily with a computational algebra language: system reliability bounds; lifetime data analysis; and model selection

Pacifying the Tepehuanes from 1590 to 1642

In the sixteenth century, Spanish missionaries entered the northern frontier of Mexico in hopes of converting the “barbarous” native peoples of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Upon their arrival, they found a population of warlike people, the Tepehuanes, who controlled large amounts of territory near valuable mines. The Spanish soon realized the need to missionize the Tepehuanes in order to gain access to a large labor force and pathways to the mines. Following the outbreak of epidemics among the natives, the Tepehuanes descended from the mountains in the 1590s. In the decades following missionization, the Tepehuanes appeared stable and peaceful to their colonial rulers. But the Tepehuanes continued to make sacrifices to traditional deities. Traditional practices persisted within the mission. Then, in 1616, the Tepehuán Revolt ignited throughout Nueva Vizcaya. The Spanish eventually defeated the Tepehuanes and worked toward total submission and pacification beginning in 1619. However, pacification proved more difficult than the Spanish imagined

Try to learn to let what is unfair teach you: an investigation into metafiction, self- consciousness and morality AND ‘A diamond geeza is a girl’s best friend’ a collection of short stories, vignettes and snapshots

A Diamond Geeza is a Girl’s Best Friend is a collection of short stories and vignettes that demonstrates predominantly working-class men, trapped within a toxic, patriarchal sphere and explores themes such as power, reclamation of honour and the changing cultural landscape of Great Britain. The main story from the creative folder, ‘Author of His Own Doom’ chronicles, through the first-person narrative, how the protagonist attempts to rise above his surroundings and baser instincts and works towards discovering his identity and self-respect. The accompanying critical study contributes to the knowledge of metafictional writing. The creative process contributes by acknowledging the existence of a limiting and often degrading space for working class men and the ways in which they may seek a redress. This study refutes the assumption that metafiction is elitist or passé and is instead a powerful social tool to understand both cultural perimeters and the self, demonstrating the value of building a narrative for men who may feel that they have little or no voice. The sources that support this research include creative and critical texts, as follows: Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust, Martin Amis’s Money, and Davis Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men; David Lodge’s The Art of Metafiction, Robert Scholes’ Fabulation and Metafiction, Patricia Waugh’s Metafiction The Theory and Practice of Self- Conscious Fiction, William H. Gass’s Fiction and the Figures of Life, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, Dan Ariely ’s Predictably Irrational, Mary K. Holland’s A Companion to David Foster Wallace Studies and Jonathon Greenberg’s Was Anyone Hurt: The End of Satire in A Handful of Dust

Population Size Estimates of Sturgeon in the Suwannee River, Florida, U.S.A.

An inventory of the Gulf of Mexico sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus de sotoi) population in the Suwannee River was conducted from 1986 to 1997. Sturgeon were collected using gill nets as the fish migrated from the ocean into the river during their annual spring migrations. The average population size for sturgeon was estimated at 3,152 ± 369 individuals using the Jolly-Seber capture-recapture model for open populations. Annual population estimates ranged from 2,097 to 5,312 individuals over a 10-yr period. The Suwannee River sturgeon population may represent one of the last viable populations of the species and may require special management. Habitat restoration, protection, and establishment of a population augmentation and replenishment program for the species is advocated

A Critical Evaluation of Touch DNA Recovery Methods for Forensic Purposes

Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the number of submissions of touch DNA evidence to forensic laboratories. Previous research has indicated that analysis of these samples produces poor results, with only 5-6% of handled items generating a full profile (Quinones and Daniel, 2012). Published research, as well as case work review by forensic practitioners, has also indicated more consideration of how to improve the evidential value of touch DNA samples is needed. Therefore, this research aims to critically evaluate low-level DNA recovery and analysis methods in order to maximise efficiency for forensic identification purposes. Typical evidential items, such as plastic handled screwdrivers, aluminium cans, drinking glasses and wooden handles, were handled in a mock-operational trial. The deposited DNA was recovered from these items using a range of swabbing materials including cotton, polyester, nylon flocked, foam and rayon (also known as viscose). These samples were then quantified using human specific quantitative PCR and profiled using AmpFℓSTR™ NGM SElect™ and the RapidHIT™ 200 instrument. The DNA quantity and quality were compared and a statistically significant difference was found to be present between recovery methods from the different surfaces. The findings of this research allow for an optimal recovery strategy to be recommended based upon the surface type the DNA is being recovered from. Additionally, it was determined that it is possible to analyse touch DNA evidence using Rapid DNA technologies which may provide great benefits to criminal investigations. The way in which the DNA interacts with the surfaces and the swabbing materials was also preliminarily evaluated to determine the impact this has upon the recovery efficiency of each recovery method. This research will inform best practice for the recovery and analysis of low-level DNA samples from forensic exhibits and can influence the ISO validation procedures for crime scene examination processes (ISO17020)

Protonation of the isopropenylcyclopentadienyl anion : trapping of the isomer mixture with tetracyanoethylene

The isomers obtained by protonation of the isopropenylcyclopentadienyl anion undergo reactions on standing which change the relative percentages of each isomer in the mixture. The suitability of tetracyanoethylene as a trapping agent is confirmed by the internal consistency of the relative percentages of the Diels-Alder adducts and isomers. Trapping of the isomer mixture with tetracyanoethylene yields three stable Diels-Alder adducts. The adducts were isolated by fractional crystallization and identified by their characteristic nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectra, and elemental analyses. The adducts and their relative percentages were: 7-isopropylidene- 5,5,6,6-tetracyanonorbornene (11.4 ± 2.0%), 2-isopropenyl- 5,5,6,6-tetracyanonorbornene (28.9 ± 1.3%), and 3a,6,6- trihydro-4,4,5,5-tetracyanoindene (58.5 ± 3.2%). Protonation of the anion yielded 17 ± 3% dimethylfulvene, 25 ± 2% 2-isopropenyl-l,3-cyclopentadiene, and 57 ± 2% 1-isopropenyl- l,3-cyclopentadiene

Critical Evaluation of Touch DNA Recovery Methods for Forensic Purposes

Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in the number of submissions of ‘touch DNA’ evidence to forensic laboratories. Previous research has indicated that analysis of these samples produces low success rates. Published research, as well as case work review by forensic practitioners, has also indicated more consideration of how to improve the evidential value of ‘touch DNA’ samples is needed. Therefore, this research aims to critically evaluate low level DNA recovery methods in order to maximise efficiency for forensic identification purposes. Typical evidential items, such as plastic handled screwdrivers, aluminium cans, drinking glasses and wooden handles, were handled in a mock-operational trial. The deposited DNA was recovered from these items using a range of swabbing materials including cotton, polyester and foam. These samples then underwent quantitative PCR analysis and were profiled using AmpFLSTR™ NGM SElect™. The DNA quantity and quality were compared and a statistically significant differences were found to be present between recovery methods with the foam swab recovering more donor alleles overall

Heat-flow variability of suspended timber ground floors: Implications for in-situ heat-flux measuring

Reducing space heating energy demand supports the UK’s legislated carbon emission reduction targets and requires the effective characterisation of the UK’s existing housing stock to facilitate retrofitting decision-making. Approximately 6.6 million UK dwellings pre-date 1919 and are predominantly of suspended timber ground floor construction, the thermal performance of which has not been extensively investigated. This paper examines suspended timber ground floor heat-flow by presenting high resolution in-situ heat-flux measurements undertaken in a case study house at 15 point locations on the floor. The results highlight significant variability in observed heat-flow: point U-values range from 0.56 ± 0.05 to 1.18 ± 0.11 Wm−2 K−1. This highlights that observing only a few measurements is unlikely to be representative of the whole floor heat-flow and the extrapolation from such point values to whole floor U-value estimates could lead to its over- or under- estimation. Floor U-value models appear to underestimate the actual measured floor U-value in this case study. This paper highlights the care with which in-situ heat-flux measuring must be undertaken to enable comparison with models, literature and between studies and the findings support the unique, high-resolution in-situ monitoring methodology used in this study for further research in this area