Giving evidence in Parliament: summing it up with ten top tips for academics

Providing evidence to policymakers through select committees is a great way for researchers to influence current policy debates. But if you haven’t done it before, the formality of the task may appear daunting. In the final part of a series on giving evidence in Parliament, Patrick Hanley has compiled thoughts and experiences from LSE academics and reveals the top tips on how to make the most of engaging with select committees

Giving evidence in Parliament: a how-to guide for academics

Providing evidence to policymakers through select committees is a great way for researchers to influence current policy debates. But if you haven’t done it before, the formality of the task may appear daunting. Patrick Hanley has compiled thoughts and experiences from several LSE academics with their tips on preparing and giving evidence to policymakers. This is part one of a series on giving evidence in Parliament

Giving evidence in Parliament: training and support to engage with select committees

Providing evidence to policymakers through select committees is a great way for researchers to influence current policy debates. But if you haven’t done it before, the formality of the task may appear daunting. In the third part of a series on giving evidence in Parliament, Patrick Hanley has compiled thoughts and experiences from several LSE academics and reveals tips on what support and training is available ahead of your select committee appearance

Giving evidence in Parliament: how to make yourself known to select committees

Providing evidence to policymakers through select committees is a great way for researchers to influence current policy debates. But if you haven’t done it before, the formality of the task may appear daunting. In the second part of a series on giving evidence in Parliament, Patrick Hanley has compiled thoughts and experiences from several LSE academics and reveals their tips on how to make yourself known to select committees, secure an invite and prepare for the day itself

Sociocultural Dimensions of Environmental Stewardship in New Hampshire: Implications for Adult Environmental Education

The overarching aim of this dissertation is to expand evidence and theory of adult identity processes in the context of environmental stewardship, as well as to provide knowledge and recommendations to environmental stewardship and environmental education professionals. The intent is to better understand variation in how adult environmental stewards report on and value their own engagement with both sociocultural and natural systems. This line of inquiry stems from the fundamental claim that environmental stewardship activity is not singularly based on environmental content knowledge but is also related to forms of cultural and social engagement. By recognizing these dual aspects of environmental stewardship, organizers and educators can provide better support and resources for environmental stewardship efforts. This dissertation contains three manuscripts, two empirical and one conceptual work, that explore the sociocultural dimensions relevant to adult engagement in environmental stewardship

Infant and young child feeding practices and child linear growth in Nepal : regression-decomposition analysis of national survey data, 1996–2016

Suboptimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices have profound implications on child survival, health, growth, and development. First, our study analysed trends in 18 IYCF indicators and height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and stunting prevalence across Nepal's Family Health Survey 1996 and four rounds of Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys from 2001-2016. Second, we constructed multivariable regression models and decomposed the contribution of optimal IYCF practices on HAZ and stunting prevalence over the 1996-2016 period. Our findings indicate that most age-appropriate IYCF practices and child linear growth outcomes improved over the past two decades. At present, according to the World Health Organization's tool for national assessment of IYCF practices, duration of breastfeeding is rated very good, early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) are rated good, whereas minimal bottle-feeding and introduction of solid, semi-solid or soft foods are rated fair. Our study also reports that a paucity of age-appropriate IYCF practices-in particular complementary feeding-are significantly associated with increased HAZ and decreased probability of stunting (p < .05). Moreover, age-appropriate IYCF practices-in isolation-made modest statistical contributions to the rapid and sustained reduction in age-specific child linear growth faltering from 1996-2016. Nevertheless, our findings indicate that comprehensive multisectoral nutrition strategies-integrating and advocating optimal IYCF-are critical to further accelerate the progress against child linear growth faltering. Furthermore, specific focus is needed to improve IYCF practices that have shown no significant development over the past two decades in Nepal: EBF, minimum acceptable diet, and minimal bottle-feeding

SB73-20/21: Resolution Establishing the Code of Ethics in the ASUM Bylaws as Enforceable

SB73-20/21: Resolution Establishing the Code of Ethics in the ASUM Bylaws as Enforceable. This resolution was approved unanimously during the April 7, 2021 meeting of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM)

Drivers of under-five stunting trend in 14 low- and middle-income countries since the turn of the millennium : a multilevel pooled analysis of 50 demographic and health surveys

Background: Understanding the drivers contributing to the decreasing trend in stunting is paramount to meeting the World Health Assembly's global target of 40% stunting reduction by 2025. Methods: We pooled data from 50 Demographic and Health Surveys since 2000 in 14 countries to examine the relationships between the stunting trend and potential factors at distal, intermediate, and proximal levels. A multilevel pooled trend analysis was used to estimate the association between the change in potential drivers at a country level and stunting probability for an individual child while adjusting for time trends and child-level covariates. A four-level mixed-effects linear probability regression model was fitted, accounting for the clustering of data by sampling clusters, survey-rounds, and countries. Results: Stunting followed a decreasing trend in all countries at an average annual rate of 1.04 percentage points. Among the distal factors assessed, a decrease in the Gini coefficient, an improvement in women's decision-making, and an increase in urbanization were significantly associated with a lower probability of stunting within a country. Improvements in households' access to improved sanitation facilities and drinking water sources, and children's access to basic vaccinations were the important intermediate service-related drivers, whereas improvements in early initiation of breastfeeding and a decrease in the prevalence of low birthweight were the important proximal drivers. Conclusions: The results reinforce the need for a combination of nutrition-sensitive and -specific interventions to tackle the problem of stunting. The identified drivers help to guide global efforts to further accelerate stunting reduction and monitor progress against chronic childhood undernutrition

New carbon-nitrogen bond-forming reactions of palladium

Here we report the synthesis of a series of palladium amido complexes that undergo some of the fundamental reactions of organometallic chemistry. We have discovered two new palladium mediated C-N bond-forming reactions: the migratory insertion of an unactivated alkene into a palladium-nitrogen bond and the reductive elimination of an alkylamine from a low-valent alkylpalladium amido complex. These reactions were previously proposed as steps in palladium catalyzed reactions, however, these are the first examples of isolated palladium complexes that undergo these C-N bond-forming reactions. The discovery of a series of amidopalladium complexes ligated by a cyclometallated benzylphosphine that react with unactivated alkenes is described. Kinetic and stereochemical analysis indicate that these complexes react by migratory insertion of an alkene into the Pd-N bond. In the presence of ethylene at low temperature (-65°C), an olefin adduct was observed by 31P and 13C NMR spectroscopy that, upon warming to -40 °C, reacted to generate enamines. The final products, enamines, are formed by migratory insertion and subsequent β-hydride elimination. In a subsequent report, reactions of a family of these complexes containing ancillary ligands having systematically varied electronic and steric properties allowed us to map the effect these properties have on the binding of the alkene and the rate of migratory insertion. Reactions of Pd-amides with functionalized vinylarenes were studied experimentally and computationally to determine the effect of the electronic properties of the alkene on the equilibrium for olefin binding and the rate of insertion. Alkene insertions into Pd-N bonds have been proposed in many catalytic reactions, and these are the first detailed studies of the steric and electronic effects on the migratory insertion step of the reaction of well-defined amido complexes with alkenes. In the final chapter, we describe the first alkylpalladium amido complexes that undergo C(sp3)-N bond-forming reductive elimination of alkylamines. Three-coordinate norbornylpalladium anilido complexes ligated by bulky monodentate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands undergo thermal reductive elimination to generate alkylamine products. The stereochemistry of the norbornylamine product suggests that the reductive elimination occurs by a concerted mechanism. The experimentally determined free energy barrier for the reductive elimination of 26 kcal/mol is similar to the computed free energy barrier of 23.9 kcal/mol. Although the reductive elimination of alkylamine to form C(sp3)-N bonds has been proposed to occur in several palladium catalyzed reactions this is first example of isolated low-valent amido complex that undergoes these reactions. We also report preliminary results of reductive elimination of alkylamines from Pd-amido complex ligated by bulky monophosphine ligands