Fuelwood Scarcity, Energy Substitution and Rural Livelihoods in Namibia

In Namibia, as in many parts of Africa, households are highly dependent on fastdegrading forest resources for their livelihoods, including energy needs. Using data originally collected for Namibia's forest resource accounts and insights from a nonseparable household model, this paper empirically estimates household fuelwood demand. In particular, the factors underlying the substitution between fuelwood collected from open access forest resources, cow dung and fuelwood purchased from the market are analysed. Heckman two-step estimates show that households respond to forest scarcity, as measured by the opportunity costs of collecting fuelwood, by increasing labour input to collection more than by reducing energy consumption. There is limited evidence for substitution from fuelwood to other energy sources, particularly with the declining availability of forest stocks. All of the estimated elasticities are low confirming observations made elsewhere, particularly in South Asia. Policy interventions including energy efficiency measures and tree planting schemes are considered in the Namibian context. --Africa,forests,fuelwood,scarcity,energy,substitution,livelihoods

‘Advancing Professionalism in Teaching’? An exploration of the mobilisation of the concept of professionalism in the McCormac Report on the Review of Teacher Employment in Scotland

The report of the recent review of teacher employment in Scotland, commonly known as ‘the McCormac Report’ was published in 2011.This article explores the conceptualisation of professionalism inherent in the Report. Using a critical discourse analysis approach we interrogate the text in relation to three key issues: professionalism; the notion of teacher ‘flexibility’; and the extent to which economic pressures have driven the direction of the Report. The analysis suggests that the dominant form of professionalism being employed in the Report is managerial, and that there is little evidence of alternative conceptions. We conclude that while there is no explicit definition of professionalism in the text of the Report, there is some evidence of the concept being mobilised as a form of control over teacher behaviour

Principles in Patterns (PiP) : Institutional Approaches to Curriculum Design Institutional Story

The principal outputs of the PiP Project surround the Course and Class Approval (C-CAP) system. This web-based system built on Microsoft SharePoint addresses and resolves many of the issues identified by the project. Generally well received by both academic and support staff, the system provides personalised views, adaptive forms and contextualised support for all phases of the approval process. Although the system deliberately encapsulates and facilitates existing approval processes thus achieving buy-in, it is already achieving significant improvements over the previous processes, not only in reducing the administrative overheads but also in supporting curriculum design and academic quality. The system is now embedded across three faculties and is now considered by the University of Strathclyde to be a "core institutional service". Alongside the C-CAP system the PiP Project also cultivated a suite of approaches: an incremental systems development methodology; a structured and replicable evaluation approach, and; Strathclyde's Lean Approach to Efficiencies in Education Kit (SLEEK) business process improvement methodology Each is based on recognised formal techniques, providing the basis for a rigorous approach. This is contextualised within and adapted to the HE institutional context thus building the foundation not only for the project but ultimately for institution wide process improvement. This "institutional story" report summarises the principal outcomes of the Project

Using Economic Incentives to Conserve CITES-listed Species: A Scoping Study on ITQs for Sturgeon in the Caspian Sea

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Forest resources and rural livelihoods in the north-central regions of Namibia

Economics, Forestry, Markets, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Running Alone- And Together: Presidential Leadership In A Divided System

On the morning of November 5, 1956, Democrats across America were in despair. Dwight Eisenhower had done it again. His first victory, in 1952, had been understandable—memories of his military leadership in World War II were still fresh. But after four years of his bumbling presidency, as the Democrats saw it, Americans should have been turning back to the party of Roosevelt and Truman. But they didn’t. Even worse, Ike had improved his 1952 margin over Adlai Stevenson, this time beating him by almost ten million votes. How could this happen

Alimentary tract proteinases of the Southern corn rootworm (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi) and the potential of potato Kunitz proteinase inhibitors for larval control.

Proteolytic digestion by larval Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi (Barber) (D.undecimpunctata) has been investigated with the aim of producing transgenic plants possessing enhanced resistance to this economically important crop pest. Biochemical characterisation in vitro by pH dependent hydrolysis and inhibition assays incorporating E-64, pepstatin A and soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor showed the majority of hydrolytic activity occurs at pH 5.5 and is performed by cysteine and aspartic endopeptidases. Cysteine and aspartic proteinase encoding clones were isolated from a larval alimentary tract cDNA library. Four cathepsin L-like cysteine proteinases and two cathepsin D-like aspartic proteinase cDNA clones were identified by codmg homology to known proteinase sequences. Analysis of primary and secondary sequence features revealed D. undecimpunctata aspartic proteinase 1 exhibits features associated with cathepsins E and is proposed to be a D. undecimpunctata cathepsm E-like aspartic proteinase.Cathepsin D-like aspartic proteinase inhibitors of the potato Kunitz protemase inhibitor (PKPI) family have been isolated by PCR and expressed employing the pET expression system (Novagen). In vitro assays demonstrated the inhibitory activity of PKPI-A and PKPl-B inhibitors against larval D. undecimpunctata alimentary tract proteolytic enzymes. To the authors knowledge this work represents the first reporting of the expression and purification of biologically active PKPI proteins. In vitro assays incorporating oryzacystatin I and PKPI proteins resulted in increased inhibition of proteolytic activity compared to single inhibitor and uninhibited control reactions. Inhibition assays provide evidence for the potential of a dual protemase inhibitor strategy to arrest protein hydrolysis by larval D. undecimpunctata, preventing essential amino acid absorption. Further research is necessary to characterise the properties of the digestive enzymes isolated in this work and the inhibitory spectrum of PKPI proteins. Transgenic crops expressing a combination of oryzacystatin and PKPI proteins would be predicted to show enhanced resistance to insect herbivores by virtue of digestive proteolysis inhibition

Indentations and Starting Points in Traveling Sales Tour Problems: Implications for Theory

A complete, non-trivial, traveling sales tour problem contains at least one “indentation”, where nodes in the interior of the point set are connected between two adjacent nodes on the boundary. Early research reported that human tours exhibited fewer such indentations than expected. A subsequent explanation proposed that this was because the observed human tours were close to the optimal, and the optimal tours happened to have few indentations. The present article reports two experiments. The first was designed to test the “few indentations” hypothesis under more stringent conditions than previously, by including point sets with two (near) optimal solutions that had a different number of indentations. For these critical point sets, participants produced the optimal solution with fewer indentations significantly more often than the alternative optimal solution. In addition, participants’ solutions started on boundary points significantly more often than by chance. A second experiment tested whether the preference for fewer indentations is the result of a conscious strategy, or the product of the processes that generate a solution. The results supported the latter conclusion. The implications for theories of human tour generation are discussed

Neuromuscular Markers of High Performance Sport Preparation: Muscle Contractile Mechanics

Assessments of skeletal muscle functional capacity or bilateral muscular asymmetry often necessitate maximal contractile effort, which exacerbates muscle fatigue or injury. Tensiomyography (TMG) has been investigated in laboratory settings, as a means to assess muscle contractile function following fatigue; however observations have not been contextualised by concurrent physiological measures. TMG has more sparingly been applied in the field, with elite athletes. The aim of this thesis was to examine acute alterations and underlying variations in muscle contractile mechanics, through the application of TMG, contextualised with established physiological measures; and to apply TMG within high performance sports programmes. TMG successfully detected fatigue, evident from reduced strength, by displaying impaired muscle displacement, accompanied by elevated resting muscle tension. Greater asymmetry was detected in individuals with asymmetric strength; however, symmetry was masked during more complex tasks. Increased day-to-day variability was detected among highly trained athletes compared to recreationally active individuals. Acute training adaptations were detected, in contractile mechanics, in individual muscles. TMG could be useful in establishing fatigue status of skeletal muscle without exacerbating the functional decrements of the muscle, whilst also providing useful screening information for detecting asymmetry which may not be apparent during functional actions

A Computer Aided Method for Preliminary Design of SWATH Ships

This thesis describes a computer aided method for integrating the preliminary design and hydrodynamic analysis of SWATH ships. A considerable quantity of data for use in the design of these vessels is also provided. The thesis begins with a brief outline of the development history and the advantages and disadvantages of the SWATH concept. Some difficulties associated with the efficient design and operation of SWATH ships are described. A related need for integrating advances in hydrodynamics with a means of producing balanced designs is identified. A large collection of SWATH design data is presented and analysed. Several well defined expressions relating principal vessel dimensions are identified and proposed as aids in initial design. Current practices in the fields of ship design and computer aided engineering design are reviewed. These aspects are discussed with particular reference to SWATH design. From this background, an approach to the design of SWATH ships with computer assistance is developed. A number of methods for the initial sizing of SWATH ships are developed. These are; a computer database, a mini-synthesis program, a weight equation approach, and manual approaches based on curves relating SWATH size to desired seakeeping characteristics, payload weight and/or volume, deck area and enclosed volume. These are designed to increase the efficiency of more complex synthesis tools. The development and validation of a method for hull definition and associated hydrostatic analysis is described. This is a necessary link between simple geometry definitions and those required for full synthesis including hydrostatics, resistance, seakeeping, and graphics. A family of SWATH designs produced by this tool is introduced as a basis for parametric studies. A review is made of available methods for predicting the resistance of SWATH ships. The integration of these techniques with the synthesis model is described and results of some comparative and parametric studies presented. Methods currently used in preliminary design of propellers for SWATH ships are reviewed and a collection of model test data is presented. The available data is used to develop expressions relating self propulsion factors to basic design parameters. These are integrated with the open water characteristics of Troost B-series propellers in a computer program. A study of the propulsion aspects of a family of typical SWATH designs is presented. The machinery options available to the SWATH designer are considered. A collection of relevant data is provided as a basis for power plant selection and weight estimation, and a computer model to aid in SWATH machinery design is described. Results from studies carried out using this tool are used to illustrate important factors in this aspect of SWATH synthesis. Limiting powers and speeds are identified for a wide range of prime movers and hullforms. A method for estimating SWATH ship structural weight is developed. Design for primary wave loading and slamming impact is considered. The validation of this tool and its use in parametric studies is described. Data is provided to assist in the preliminary arrangement of structure and its weight estimation. A regression analysis performed on a collection of data is used to develop a parametric method for weight estimating. The development of a generalised computer program for estimating the space requirements of escort warships is also described. These weight and space routines are applied to the design of SWATH escort vessels and a strong conflict between space and weight demand is identified. The importance of vehicle density in balancing SWATH designs is illustrated. Some additional systems which provide greater design definition are briefly discussed. In particular, a graphics interface and link with a 3D motions and loading program are described. The use of the SWATH design method is illustrated by means of examples. The application of the procedure to two conceptual SWATH designs for the UK MoD and the design of the first SWATH ship to be constructed in the UK is described