The roles of agricultural biodiversity in the McLaren Vale landscape

Douglas K. Bardsley, Elisa Palazzo, Nathanael D. Wiseman, and Randy Stringe

Shock tunnel studies of scramjet phenomena

Commissioning of the new T4 shock tunnel at the University of Queensland implied that it was no longer necessary to focus the work of the research group about an annual test series conducted in the T3 shock tunnel in Canberra. Therefore, it has been possible to organize a group for work to proceed along lines such that particular personnel are associated with particular project areas. The format of this report consists of a series of reports on specific project areas, with a brief general introduction commenting on each report. The introduction is structured by project areas, with the title of the relevant report stated under the project area heading. The reports themselves follow in the order of the project area headings

Links between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development in land policy and ecosystem restoration projects: lessons from South Africa

Links between climate change adaptation, mitigation and development co-benefits in land policy and ecosystem restoration projects are hampered by limited understanding of how multi-faceted policy, institutions and projects interact. This paper explores perceptions of co-benefits produced by two community-level projects that pursue ecosystem restoration in South Africa. It develops a new analytical framework to assess the enabling and constraining factors in delivering triple wins for adaptation, mitigation and development. The aim is to investigate the potential for integrating community perspectives into policy and project development and implementation. Data collected through mixed-methods (policy analysis, semi-structured interviews, participatory site visits and focus groups) are analysed using thematic analysis. We find that while the projects investigated have potential to deliver triple wins, siloed approaches presently hinder effective implementation. In particular, project focus on job creation hampers the achievement of longer-term mitigation and adaptation benefits. Operational flexibility, long-term goals, multi-sectoral cooperation and enabling frameworks are imperative to the achievement of triple wins. Findings provide valuable lessons that can be applied across sub-Saharan Africa towards achieving triple wins in climate and development policy and practice, especially those developed with job creation and ecological restoration aims

Unpacking Brazil’s leadership in the global biofuels arena: Brazilian ethanol diplomacy in Africa

Biofuels represent an opportunity for Brazil to exert global leadership by substantially scaling up the production, consumption, and international trade of bioethanol. Africa represents an ideal venue in which to do this, given its suitable agro-climatic conditions and extensive land area. Brazil has consequently sought to establish bilateral partnerships with African countries, as well as North-South-South trilateral partnerships involving the EU and US. However, empirically grounded assessments of how Brazil’s leadership aspirations have unfolded in practice through these partnerships are limited. In this article, we examine Brazil’s potential to exert global political leadership, by analyzing its policy-based, structural, and instrumental qualities in making bilateral and trilateral inroads regarding bioethanol production in Africa. Interviews in Brazil, Africa, and Europe suggest that both the bilateral and trilateral avenues have produced meager results. Lack of domestic strategy and vision, economic recession, and a fragmented alliance network have reduced Brazil’s capacity to achieve its ethanol diplomacy objectives

Delivering Climate-Development Co-Benefits through Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Projects in Madagascar: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper explores multi-stakeholder perspectives on the extent to which forestry projects that pursue ecological restoration and rehabilitation in Madagascar engage with local communities and can co-deliver climate-development benefits. Drawing on mixed methods (policy analysis, semi-structured interviews, participatory site visits and focus groups) in two different forestry contexts, we show that by strengthening access to capital availability, projects can enhance local adaptive capacity and mitigation and deliver local development. We show that active consideration of ecological conservation and action plans early in project design and implementation can co-develop and support monitoring and reporting systems, needed to progress towards integrated climate-compatible development approaches. Climate mitigation benefits remain poorly quantified due to limited interest in, and low capacity to generate, carbon revenues. Monitoring alone does not ensure carbon benefits will materialize, and this research stresses that institutional considerations and strengthened engagement and cooperation between practitioners and communities are key in achieving both climate mitigation and community development impacts. Multiple benefits can be fostered by aligning objectives of multiple landscape actors (i.e., community needs and project developers) and by systematically linking project deliverables, outputs, outcomes and impacts over time, grounded in a theory of change focused on ensuring community buy-in and planning for delivery of tangible benefits

Implementation of START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) for dementia carers in the third sector: Widening access to evidence-based interventions

Family members remain the main care providers for the increasing numbers of people with dementia, and often become depressed or anxious. In an implementation research project, we aimed to widen access to Strategies for RelaTives (START), a clinically and cost-effective intervention for the mental health of family carers, by laying the foundations for its implementation in the third sector. We used the integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) framework to guide implementation of START, a manual-based, individually-delivered, multicomponent eight-session coping strategy intervention. We interviewed a maximum variation sample of twenty-seven stakeholders from the English Alzheimer's Society (AS), about possible difficulties in management, training, and delivery of START. We trained and supervised three AS dementia support workers in different locations, to each deliver START to three family carers. Two researchers independently coded pre-intervention interviews for themes. We assessed intervention feasibility through monitoring delivery fidelity, rating audio-recordings from 1-5 (5 being high) and interviewing facilitators, family carers and AS managers about their experiences. We assessed effectiveness on family carers' mental health using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) before and after receiving START (scores 0-42). We changed START's format by reflecting carer diversity more and increasing carer stories prominence, but core content or delivery processes were unchanged. All carers received START and attended every session. The mean fidelity score was 4.2. Mean HADS-total score reduced from baseline 18.4 (standard deviation 7.4) to follow-up 15.8 (9.7). Six (67%) carers scored as clinically depressed on baseline HADS and 2 (22%) at follow-up. Facilitators and carers rated START positively. Appropriately experienced third sector workers can be trained and supervised to deliver START and it remains effective. This has the potential for widened access at scale

A mixed-method process evaluation of an East Midlands county summer 2021 holiday activities and food programme highlighting the views of programme co-ordinators, providers, and parents

BACKGROUND: The Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme is a UK Government initiative created to alleviate food insecurity and promote health and well-being among children and their families, who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), during the school holidays. This process evaluation investigated factors that facilitated and acted as a barrier to the delivery of the HAF Programme from the perspectives of key stakeholders (Co-ordinators, Providers, and Parents) involved in the HAF Programme across an East Midlands county. METHODS: This evaluation utilized a mixed-methods approach, incorporating focus groups and online surveys to gain rich, multifaceted data. The focus groups were analyzed using a hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis and the online surveys were analyzed using mixed-methods approach due to the variation in question type (i.e., quantitative, Likert scale and open response) to align themes to the Government Aims and Standards of the HAF Programme. FINDINGS: The stakeholders highlighted several factors that facilitated and acted as a barrier to the delivery of the HAF Programme. Facilitating factors included existing and maintaining relationships between Co-ordinators, Providers, and facilities/schools/communities as this improved communication and attendance. Additionally, transport provision for those attending the Programme helped overcome barriers to attendance. The primary barrier of the Programme was the late awarding of the Programme contract as this limited the time available to prepare and organize the Programme. This in turn, had several “knock on” effects that created more barriers and resulted in some of the Government Aims and Standards not being met such as, nutrition education for children and parents. Despite the challenges faced, Co-ordinators and Providers were able to deliver the Programme and positively impact upon the children and their families that attended the Programme. CONCLUSION: Following the facilitators and barriers that were highlighted in this evaluation, several recommendations have been made to enhance the delivery of the HAF Programme and ensure Government Aims and Standards, to improve children and family's health and well-being, are attained

The impact of assisted reproductive technology treatments on maternal and offspring outcomes in singleton pregnancies: A review of systematic reviews

Objectives: Assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments are commonly used to aid conception in subfertile couples. We aimed to evaluate the risks of adverse maternal and offspring outcomes in singleton pregnancy conceived with different ART treatments and techniques. / Evidence review: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and HTA until December 2020 for all systematic reviews evaluating adverse outcomes in pregnancies conceived with various ART techniques, autologous or donor gametes, and embryo development stages. We assessed review quality using the AMSTAR2 tool risk (RR) or odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) from the top quality reviews for each of the outcomes of interest across the identified ART treatments and population subgroups. / Results: We included 24 systematic reviews, most reported on observational studies. Compared to spontaneous conception, ART pregnancies had a higher risk of placenta previa (PP) (RR 3.71, 95%CI 2.67-5.16), antepartum haemorrhage (APH) (RR 2.11, 95%CI 1.86-2.38), preterm birth (PTB) (RR 1.71, 95%CI 1.59-1.83), very preterm birth (VPTB) (RR 2.12, 95%CI 1.73-2.59), small for gestational age (SGA) (RR 1.35, 95%CI 1.20-1.52), low birthweight (LBW) (RR 1.61, 95%CI 1.49-1.75) and very low birthweight (VLBW) (RR 2.12, 95%CI 1.84-2.43). Frozen vs fresh embryo transfer was associated with a lower risk for PTB (RR 0.90, 95%CI 0.84-0.97), SGA (RR 0.61, 95%CI 0.56-0.67), LBW (RR 0.72, 95%CI 0.67-0.77) and VLBW (RR 0.76, 95%CI 0.69–0.82). Embryo transfer at blastocyst vs cleavage showed higher risk for PTB (RR 1.10, 95%CI 1.01-1.20) and large for gestational age (LGA) (RR 1.12, 95%CI 1.03-1.21) with lower risk for SGA (RR 0.84, 95%CI 0.76-0.92). Using donor vs autologous oocytes increased the odds of PTB (OR 1.57, 95%CI 1.33-1.86), LBW (OR 1.94, 95%CI 1.10-3.41) and VLBW (OR 1.37, 95%CI 1.22–1.54) as well as maternal complications (postpartum haemorrhage OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.20-3.20, gestational diabetes OR 1.27 95%CI 1.03-1.56, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy OR 2.63, 95%CI 2.17-3.18, and caesarean section OR 2.28, 95%CI 2.14-2.42). / Conclusions: ART treatments are associated with increased risks of adverse maternal and offspring outcomes, especially with donor oocytes. The characteristics of ART treatment should be incorporated into prenatal care planning to mitigate those risks