Nutrition policy in developing countries : large-scale implementation constraints and the case of Mozambique

Increased knowledge of causes and consequences of malnutrition, and of the inherent potential of investing in improved nutrition, has contributed to renewed attention to nutrition in policy and on the development agenda. Nevertheless, malnutrition remains a significant development challenge in many developing countries, and countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular appear to be lagging behind. This study seeks to gain insights into issues that pose as constraints for progress towards improved nutritional conditions and hamper desirable progress. The focus is thus on implementation dynamics experienced in nutrition policy at country and population level, and on developing countries with Mozambique as a case study. The question formulated to guide the study asks: what are the key constraints to progress of large-scale policy efforts towards reducing malnutrition in developing countries, and of what relevance are these in the case of Mozambique? To answer the question the study employs a review-based method, and explores relevant existing literature in order to map out what actors and researchers have so far identified as the key challenges for large-scale policy efforts. The main findings of the review center on challenges of cross-sectoral coordination, nutrition awareness in policy and continued political support, capacity-relates issues, lack of institutional home for nutrition, and problematic aspects related to funding. Hence, these were presented in thematic sections, and the relevance in the case of Mozambique was elaborated upon. The study also found that the interrelatedness and close linkages between the various implementation constraints made clear-cut distinctions and discussions complicated. Suggestions about further research are also made.Master in International Social Welfare and Health Polic

Writing New Rites: John Donne\u27s and John Milton\u27s Elegies as Mourning Ritual

In this study, I read John Donne\u27s The Anniversaries and John Milton\u27s Lycidas in the context of the changing funeral and mourning ritual since the Reformation and England\u27s turn to Protestantism, approximately begun in the 1540s. In Donne\u27sAnniversaries, I find that he is exploring how the body can sign spiritual health or sickness, as well as negotiating how the dead (body and spirit) might be exemplum for the living. I argue that this negotiation is particularly Protestant in that the body, despite conventional notions about Protestantism\u27s tendency to privilege the soul, is still important in divining the quality of the soul. In Lycidas, the speaker\u27s concern for the dead body of Lycidas is striking, although as an imagined absence/presence, rather than as a spokesperson for the soul. I argue that Milton\u27s Lycidas, although attempting new Protestant mourning rites, also exhibits reluctant continuity with some of the funeral and mourning rituals that were practiced before the Reformation in England, such as the obit, a ceremony where funeral services were repeated on the anniversary of death (or burial), including an empty casket. This thesis works to challenge typical periodization, as it is possible to see funeral and mourning rituals continue in these early modern elegies

Cluster PEACE observations of electron pressure tensor divergence in the magnetotail

Cluster crossed the magnetotail neutral sheet on four occasions between 16: 38 and 16: 43 UT on 08/17/2003. The four-spacecraft capabilities of Cluster are used to determine spatial gradients from the magnetic field vectors and, for the first time, full electron pressure tensors. We find that the contribution to the electric field from the Hall term (max of similar to 6 mV/m) pointed towards the neutral sheet, whereas that from the electron pressure divergence ( max of similar to 1 mV/m) pointed away from the neutral sheet. The electric field contributions in this direction were closely anti-correlated. During this period Clusters 1 and 4 were sometimes above and below the neutral sheet respectively. This allowed the simultaneous observation of magnetic fields that are interpreted as two quadrants of the Hall magnetic field system. An associated field-aligned current system was detected using the curlometer and moments of the particle distributions

Solar Wind Electric Fields in the Ion Cyclotron Frequency Range

Measurements of fluctuations of electric fields in the frequency range from a fraction of one Hz to 12.5 Hz are presented, and corrected for the Lorentz transformation of magnetic fluctuations to give the electric fields in the plasma frame. The electric fields are large enough to provide the dominant force on the ions of the solar wind in the region near the ion cyclotron frequency of protons, larger than the force due to magnetic fluctuations. They provide sufficient velocity space diffusion or heating to counteract conservation of magnetic moment in the expanding solar wind to maintain nearly isotropic velocity distributions

Assessing the Role of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the Management of Chronic Nonspecific Back Pain

Purpose: The aim of this study is to provide a narrative review of the current state of knowledge of the role of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the management of chronic nonspecific back pain. Methods: A literature search on all studies published up until July 2012 (PubMed and PsycINFO) was performed. The search string consisted of 4 steps: cognitive behavioral therapy/treatment/management/modification/intervention, chronic, back pain (MeSH term) or low back pain (MeSH term), and randomized controlled trial (MeSH term). The conclusions are based on the results from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and reviews of RCTs. Interventions were not required to be pure CBT interventions, but were required to include both cognitive and behavioral components. Results: The search yielded 108 studies, with 46 included in the analysis. Eligible intervention studies were categorized as CBT compared to wait-list controls/treatment as usual, physical treatments/exercise, information/education, biofeedback, operant behavioral treatment, lumbar spinal fusion surgery, and relaxation training. The results showed that CBT is a beneficial treatment for chronic back pain on a wide range of relevant variables, especially when compared to wait-list controls/treatment as usual. With regards to the other comparison treatments, results were mixed and inconclusive. Conclusion: The results of this review suggest that CBT is a beneficial treatment for chronic nonspecific back pain, leading to improvements in a wide range of relevant cognitive, behavioral and physical variables. This is especially evident when CBT is compared to treatment as usual or wait-list controls, but mixed and inconclusive when compared with various other treatments. Multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary interventions that integrate CBT with other approaches may represent the future direction of management of chronic back pain, with treatments modified for specific circumstances and stakeholders. There is a need for future intervention studies to be specific in their use of cognitive behavioral elements, in order for results to be comparable

Evaluación del rendimiento de los estudiantes de magisterio: Influencia del tipo de evaluación

Novenes Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 2003-2004

Relating near-Earth observations of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection to the conditions at its site of origin in the solar corona

A halo coronal mass ejection (CME) was detected on January 20, 2004. We use solar remote sensing data (SOHO, Culgoora) and near-Earth in situ data (Cluster) to identify the CME source event and show that it was a long duration flare in which a magnetic flux rope was ejected, carrying overlying coronal arcade material along with it. We demonstrate that signatures of both the arcade material and the flux rope material are clearly identifiable in the Cluster and ACE data, indicating that the magnetic field orientations changed little as the material traveled to the Earth, and that the methods we used to infer coronal magnetic field configurations are effective

Measurement of the electric fluctuation spectrum of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the solar wind is observed to show the spectral behavior of classical Kolmogorov fluid turbulence over an inertial subrange and departures from this at short wavelengths, where energy should be dissipated. Here we present the first measurements of the electric field fluctuation spectrum over the inertial and dissipative wavenumber ranges in a $\beta \gtrsim 1$ plasma. The $k^{-5/3}$ inertial subrange is observed and agrees strikingly with the magnetic fluctuation spectrum; the wave phase speed in this regime is shown to be consistent with the Alfv\'en speed. At smaller wavelengths $k \rho_i \geq 1$ the electric spectrum is softer and is consistent with the expected dispersion relation of short-wavelength kinetic Alfv\'en waves. Kinetic Alfv\'en waves damp on the solar wind ions and electrons and may act to isotropize them. This effect may explain the fluid-like nature of the solar wind.Comment: submitted; 4 pages + 3 figure

Global MHD simulation of flux transfer events at the high-latitude magnetopause observed by the cluster spacecraft and the SuperDARN radar system

A global magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulation is used to study the large-scale structure and formation location of flux transfer events (FTEs) in synergy with in situ spacecraft and ground-based observations. During the main period of interest on the 14 February 2001 from 0930 to 1100 UT the Cluster spacecraft were approaching the Northern Hemisphere high-latitude magnetopause in the postnoon sector on an outbound trajectory. Throughout this period the magnetic field, electron, and ion sensors on board Cluster observed characteristic signatures of FTEs. A few minutes delayed to these observations the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) system indicated flow disturbances in the conjugate ionospheres. These “two-point” observations on the ground and in space were closely correlated and were caused by ongoing unsteady reconnection in the vicinity of the spacecraft. The three-dimensional structures and dynamics of the observed FTEs and the associated reconnection sites are studied by using the Block-Adaptive-Tree-Solarwind-Roe-Upwind-Scheme (BATS-R-US) MHD code in combination with a simple open flux tube motion model (Cooling). Using these two models the spatial and temporal evolution of the FTEs is estimated. The models fill the gaps left by measurements and allow a “point-to-point” mapping between the instruments in order to investigate the global structure of the phenomenon. The modeled results presented are in good correlation with previous theoretical and observational studies addressing individual features of FTEs