1,856 research outputs found
Potential impact of climate change on improved and unimproved water supplies in Africa
With significant climate change predicted in Africa over the next century, this chapter explores a key question: how will rural water supplies in Africa be affected? Approximately 550 million people in Africa live in rural communities and are reliant on water resources within walking distance of their community for drinking water. Less than half have access to improved sources (generally large diameter wells, springs, or boreholes equipped with handpumps); the majority rely on unimproved sources, such as open water and shallow wells. Major climate modelling uncertainties, combined with rapid socio-economic change, make predicting the future state of African water resources difficult; an appropriate response to climate change is to assume much greater uncertainty in climate and intensification of past climate variability. Based on this assumption the following should be considered:
1. Those relying on unimproved water sources (300 million in rural Africa) are likely to be most affected by climate change because unimproved sources often use highly vulnerable water resources.
2. Improved rural water supplies in Africa are overwhelmingly dependent on groundwater, due to the unreliability of other sources.
3. Climate change is unlikely to lead to continent-wide failure of improved rural water sources that access deeper groundwater (generally over 20 metres below ground surface) through boreholes or deep wells. This is because groundwater-based domestic supply requires little recharge, and the groundwater resources at depth will generally be of sufficient storage capacity to remain a secure water resource. However, a significant minority of people could be affected if the frequency and length of drought increases – particularly those in areas with limited groundwater storage.
4. In most areas, the key determinants of water security will continue to be driven by access to water rather than absolute water availability. Extending access, and ensuring that targeting and technology decisions are informed by an understanding of groundwater conditions, will become increasingly important.
5. Accelerating groundwater development for irrigation could increase food production, raise farm incomes and reduce overall vulnerability. However, ad hoc development could threaten domestic supplies and, in some areas, lead to groundwater depletion.
Although climate change will undoubtedly be important in determining future water security, other drivers (such as population growth and rising food demands) are likely to provide greater pressure on rural water supplies
Alien Registration- Macdonald, Helen T. (Portland, Cumberland County)
https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/22129/thumbnail.jp
Light Sheet Tomography (LST) for <i>in situ</i> imaging of plant roots
The production of crops capable of efficient nutrient use is essential for addressing the problem of global food security. The ability of a plant's root system to interact with the soil micro-environment determines how effectively it can extract water and nutrients. In order to assess this ability and develop the fast and cost effective phenotyping techniques which are needed to establish efficient root systems, in situ imaging in soil is required. To date this has not been possible due to the high density of scatterers and absorbers in soil or because other growth substrates do not sufficiently model the heterogeneity of a soil's microenvironment. We present here a new form of light sheet imaging with novel transparent soil containing refractive index matched particles. This imaging method does not rely on fluorescence, but relies solely on scattering from root material. We term this form of imaging Light Sheet Tomography (LST). We have tested LST on a range of materials and plant roots in transparent soil and gel. Due to the low density of root structures, i.e. relatively large spaces between adjacent roots, long-term monitoring of lettuce root development in situ with subsequent quantitative analysis was achieved
Seasonal Variation in 25(OH)D at Aberdeen (57°N) and Bone Health Indicators- Could Holidays in the Sun and Cod Liver Oil Supplements Alleviate Deficiency?
Vitamin D has been linked with many health outcomes. The aim of this longitudinal study, was to assess predictors of seasonal variation of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25(OH)D) (including use of supplements and holidays in sunny destinations) at a northerly latitude in the UK (57°N) in relation to bone health indicators. 365 healthy postmenopausal women (mean age 62.0 y (SD 1.4)) had 25(OH)D measurements by immunoassay, serum C-telopeptide (CTX), estimates of sunlight exposure (badges of polysulphone film), information regarding holidays in sunny destinations, and diet (from food diaries, including use of supplements such as cod liver oil (CLO)) at fixed 3-monthly intervals over 15 months (subject retention 88%) with an additional 25(OH)D assessment in spring 2008. Bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine (LS) and dual hip was measured in autumn 2006 and spring 2007 (Lunar I-DXA). Deficiency prevalence (25(OH)
So mote it be! : an anthropological investigation of contemporary feminist witchcraft
The aim of this thesis was to produce an ethnography of contemporary feminist witches and the practice of their 'craft' in New Zealand, particularly the Otago and Canterbury regions. Data was collected over a sixteen month period using the traditional anthropological method of participant observation and formal interviews with practising witches. I became a member of a coven and participated in its formation with other interested women who attended a course on ritual making. Upon meeting witchcraft practitioners, I attempted to place them in a sociological pigeonhole of 'witch', which defies definition. It became evident that contemporary witches encompass a set of chaotic images, each with important implications for ritual practice and the self labelling process. By naming herself a witch, a woman empowers herself with a history, and a set of ideological beliefs, that challenge the prevailing rationalistic and scientific world view. The practice of witchcraft expands beyond important religious implications to provide the resources and tools for a political agenda compatible with feminist, environmental, alternative health, art and peace movement ideologies and protest strategies. Their world view is best explained through eco-feminist theorising that acknowledges the connections between women, ecology and spirituality, and explains why 'witch' is used as an all encompassing self-label by these women, instead of other equally valid but limited labels such as 'femmie', or 'greenie'
Children under the Care of the Scottish Poor Law, 1880-1929
This thesis contributes to the debate about the division of responsibility between parents and the state towards children through a survey of the development of child welfare policy in Scotland under the Poor Law. The emergence of a distinctive Scottish practice was characterised by an intrusive approach to the family and reliance on the boarding out of pauper children to foster parents. To illustrate this, the administration of policy at both central and local level is examined and is compared with English Poor Law policy. The focus of the thesis is in the period 1880-1929 although the earlier sections provide a background to the reform of the Scottish Poor Law in 1845. Section one explores the shaping of child care policy under the 1845 Act and the arrangements for its administration. Section Two looks more closely at the implementation of policy at local level and the evolution of discretionary and legislative intervention in parent-child relations. Section Three evaluates the application and effectiveness of Poor Law child care with boarding out as the main method and poorhouse provision as the 'last resort.' What emerges is the existence of an approach to child welfare in Scotland which drew on traditional practice but no less responded to contemporary concern about the effects of social and economic change on children. Moreover, Scottish policy proved to be an important prototype in the framing of English Poor Law child care legislation. The study concludes by examining why the Poor Law care of children was discontinued, but argues that it nonetheless left a continuing legacy in modern Scottish child care policy
The power of role-modelling: White teacher educators normalising anti-racism and cultural reflexivity for white pre-service teachers
Every child has a right to feel culturally safe in schools, yet for countless Indigenous students this is not the case. Many White pre-service teachers in Australia enter initial teacher education with a limited understanding of racial identity, Indigenous knowledge or White anti-racism. This autoethnographic study applies Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour to understand the role of the White teacher educator in racial conscientisation of White pre-service teachers. We examine how White teacher confidence in enacting anti-racist behaviours builds when White teacher educators role-model the professional approaches which White teachers can use to teach about race and be culturally reflexive in K-12 classrooms. Such cultural reflexivity requires that White teachers acknowledge their positionality and make visible Indigenous cultural authority over course material. In doing so, this culturally reflexive approach provides an effective and authentic critical pedagogy for developing anti-racist conscience and practice amongst White educators
The need for a standard approach to assessing the functionality of rural community water supplies
The Sustainable Development Goals set a vision for universal access to safely managed household water-supply. However, in rural Africa and south Asia basic access achieved through communal boreholes will remain the main source of improved water supply for decades. Understanding the relative drivers of the functionality these supplies is critical to future service provision. There is currently no sector-wide definition of borehole functionality, and establishing a clear definition, and how to measure it, is a critical first step
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