Water for food, water for life: a comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture: summary. In Arabic

Water management / Irrigation management / Policy / Water scarcity / Poverty / Water rights / Ecosystems / Rainfed farming

Water security for food security: findings of the Comprehensive Assessment for Sub-Saharan Africa. [This report draws directly from the book Water for food, water for life: a Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture].

Rainfed farmingIrrigated farmingFood securityWater productivity

Accounting for water use and productivity

Water managementIrrigation managementWater supplyTerminologyPerformance indexesWater useWater allocationProductivityWater balance

A phenomenological investigation into the impact of parenthood: giving a voice to mothers with visual impairment in the UK

Issues around parenting and psychological support for parents have increased in prominence in UK public policy and discourse over the last decade. However, there has been minimal focus on parenting with a disability, and specifically scant information on the experiences of what it is like to be a parent with visual impairment. In this investigation, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), I examined how the experience of becoming a parent impacts nine mothers with visual impairment, aged 32 to 47, living in the UK. The findings highlighted various aspects of the mothers’ experience under four meta-themes: 1) struggles around independence, 2) visibility and the impact of the other’s gaze, 3) “life can sometimes be more complicated” and 4) the changed relationship with time. The discussion raised the possibility of counselling psychologists and psychotherapists moving towards a new integrative model to conceptualise the experience of parenting with a disability. It also highlighted three major areas: (i) the need for increased opportunity, flexibility and access to emotional support services for mothers with visual impairment and their partners, (ii) an emphasis on the use of online social networks to reduce isolation and the risk of depression, and (iii) the mothers’ daily experience of stigmatisation and marginalisation in interaction with the other (including an exposition of how the mothers use humour as a way of dealing with this experience)

Basin-level use and productivity of water: examples from South Asia

Water managementWater conservationRiver basinsWater useProductivityCase studiesIrrigated farmingIndicatorsWater scarcity

Water for rural development: Background paper on water for rural development prepared for the World Bank

Water management / Irrigation management / Rural development / Water resources development / Small scale systems / Land management / Groundwater / Environment / Health / Water policy / Institutions / Food consumption / Water supply / Water demand / Water allocation / Crop yield / Cereals / Water scarcity / Food production / Food security / Crop production / Population growth

Using the Radial Velocity to Search for Orbiting Planets Around Mira

We researched radio astronomical data from the star Omicron Ceti, more commonly known as Mira, to determine if there is evidence for orbiting planets. There is a variation in the silicon monoxide maser radial velocity of Mira that could have been due to the effect of orbiting planets. We analyzed the radial velocity data collected from Mira over the past forty years. The data were examined for periodicities. A periodicity refers to a repeating pattern within the data. Three possible frequencies were found. Each frequency within the star had the potential to be a pattern caused by an orbiting planet. The three frequencies were approximated with three sine waves. The radial velocity versus time was fit with a curve that was the sum of the three sine waves. The amplitudes of the fit sine waves model the change in velocity centroid of Mira possibly due to orbiting planets. From the wave amplitudes the masses of the suspected planets were estimated. If the periodicities of Mira were caused by orbiting planets, two of the “planets” would be about one twentieth the mass of Mira and the other “planet” would be about one fifth the mass of Mira. The amplitudes of the three fit sine waves are too large to be caused by orbiting planets. The changes in the velocity of Mira are probably due to periodicities within the star.https://digitalcommons.morris.umn.edu/urs_2013/1001/thumbnail.jp

Hydronomic zones for developing basin water conservation strategies

Water conservation / River basins / Groundwater / Case studies / Irrigation / Water management / Water use efficiency / Sri Lanka / India / Egypt / Turkey / Kirindi Oya / Nile River / Bhakra Irrigation System / Gediz Basin

Will there be enough water to grow enough food?

Global food production has outpaced population growth since 1960, but meeting growing demand for food and water in the future will be challenging. There is an intimate link between food and water, said David Molden, deputy director general for research at the International Water Management Institute and an internationally known expert on water management. In his public lecture, Will there be Enough Water to Grow Enough Food? Aug. 27 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Molden said the answer to this critical question is no, unless we change the way we think and act on water issues. PDF output of the slideshow follows