Building Towards a Future in Which Urban Sanitation Leaves No One Behind

Plans to improve access to sanitation in towns and cities of the global South are hampered by multiple challenges. One is a lack of reliable information. In particular, global and national-level data often diverge from data on particular settlements, collected by inhabitants of those settlements themselves. Local data highlight the inadequacy of living conditions -- and in so doing evidence the difficulties in securing improvements. Another challenge lies in the setting of standards around acceptable sanitation. At a global level, for instance, shared sanitation is not considered part of "improved" sanitation. Yet the reality for many low-income urban populations is that communal sanitation can be hygienic, cost-effective and locally acceptable.The difficulties in reaching a consensus around data and standards point to the importance of diverse approaches to increasing and improving sanitation, including considering both on-site and off-site solutions. They also highlight how crucial it is for the planning and implementation of all such solutions to be inclusive of those often missing from global debates, such as the low-income urban groups that cannot afford substantial sanitation spending. Financial and political commitments, drawing on the circumstances and approaches articulated by low-income groups themselves, will be key to securing a future in which everyone has access to the sanitation they need

Urbanisation as a Threat or Opportunity in the Promotion of Human Wellbeing

It is possible to present a credible picture of urbanisation as one of the greatest threats to human health, wellbeing and development, although this paper will argue that to do so requires focusing on a limited set of cities. There is a stronger evidence base on cities and urbanisation underpinning good health, fulfilment of civil rights, democracy and freedom from deprivation, although with important exceptions. It is possible to present urbanisation as the most serious driver of human-induced climate change (and of most other kinds of ecological damage). But cities also have the potential to be places where high living standards can be delinked from unsustainable ecological footprints and high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (and there are some cities that demonstrate this). Of course, a very different set of urban centres get highlighted, depending on which of these points one wants to substantiate. What this paper seeks to do is to highlight both the threats and the opportunities posed by urbanisation

Shape of a liquid front upon dewetting

We examine the profile of a liquid front of a film that is dewetting a solid substrate. Since volume is conserved, the material that once covered the substrate is accumulated in a rim close to the three phase contact line. Theoretically, such a profile of a Newtonian liquid resembles an exponentially decaying harmonic oscillation that relaxes into the prepared film thickness. For the first time, we were able to observe this behavior experimentally. A non-Newtonian liquid - a polymer melt - however, behaves differently. Here, viscoelastic properties come into play. We will demonstrate that by analyzing the shape of the rim profile. On a nm scale, we gain access to the rheology of a non-Newtonian liquid.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

With and beyond the state -- co-production as a route to political influence, power and transformation for grassroots organizations

This paper reviews the use of co-production – with state and citizensworking together – as a grassroots strategy to secure political infl uence and accessresources and services. To date, the literature on social movements has concentratedon more explicitly political strategies used by such movements to contest forpower and infl uence. Co-production, when considered, is viewed as a strategy usedby citizens and the state to extend access to basic services with relatively littleconsideration given to its wider political ramifi cations. However, co-productionis used increasingly by grassroots organizations and federations as part of anexplicit political strategy. This paper examines the use of co-productive strategiesby citizen groups and social movement organizations to enable individualmembers and their associations to secure effective relations with state institutionsthat address both immediate basic needs and enable them to negotiate for greaterbenefits.ESRC-DFI

Frequency Dispersion of Sound Propagation in Rouse Polymer Melts via Generalized Dynamic Random Phase Approximation

An extended generalization of the dynamic random phase approximation (DRPA) for L-component polymer systems is presented. Unlike the original version of the DRPA, which relates the (LxL) matrices of the collective density-density time correlation fumctions and the corresponding susceptibilities of polymer concentrated systems to those of the tracer macromolecules and so-called broken links system (BLS), our generalized DRPA solves this problem for (5xL)x(5xL) matrices of the coupled susceptibilities and time correlation functions of the component number, kinetic energy and flux densities. The presented technique is used to study propagation of sound and dynamic form-factor in disentangled (Rouse) monodisperse homopolymer melt. The calculated sound velocity and absorption coefficient reveal substantial frequency dispersion. The relaxation time is found to be N times less than the Rouse time (N is the degree of polymerization), which evidences strong dynamic screening because of interchain interaction. We discuss also some peculiarities of the Brillouin scattering in polymer melts. Besides, a new convenient expression for the dynamic structural function of the Rouse chain in (q,p)-representation is found.Comment: 37 pages, 2 appendices, 48 references, 1 figur

Newspaper article, Mississippi State Introduces Negro History and Literature, April 11, 1969

In this newspaper article, Mitlin described Mississippi State\u27s efforts to include Black contributions to American History and Literature to its curriculae. Black students welcomed these updated curriculae as a way to raise white students\u27 awareness of Black contributions to American culture and life and advance the Civil Rights Movement\u27s goal of integration.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/ua-reflectors-1965-1975/1433/thumbnail.jp

Newspaper article, School Funds Stripped, May 10, 1968

This article discusses the loss of federal funds to the Starkville school system is causing a re-examination of the city\u27s integration programs in schools.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/ua-reflectors-1965-1975/1401/thumbnail.jp

Newspaper article, Evers Speakers Ban Heads List of Semester\u27s Traumatic Tribulation, January 7, 1969

In this newspaper article, Mitlin recounted the controversy and student reaction to the State College Board speaker ban.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/ua-reflectors-1965-1975/1421/thumbnail.jp

Amplification of Fluctuations in Unstable Systems with Disorder

We study the early-stage kinetics of thermodynamically unstable systems with quenched disorder. We show analytically that the growth of initial fluctuations is amplified by the presence of disorder. This is confirmed by numerical simulations of morphological phase separation (MPS) in thin liquid films and spinodal decomposition (SD) in binary mixtures. We also discuss the experimental implications of our results.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure