1,975 research outputs found

    Delivering Quality Early Learning In Low-Resource Settings: Progress And Challenges In Ethiopia

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    The potential of high quality early childhood care and education ECCE programmes to deliver positive outcomes for children and society is well recognised. But delivering on this potential presents huge challenges, especially in low and middle income countries. This final working paper in the Transitions in Early Childhood series focusses on Ethiopia. While in many respects Ethiopia is a success story of Education For All, in terms of increased enrolments in primary education, the early years of schooling is faced with numerous access and quality challenges. This working paper reviews the government of Ethiopia's 2010 policy framework for ECCE and highlights these different challenges in rural and urban areas of Ethiopia, drawing on survey and qualitative research data collected as part of Young Lives longitudinal research

    Mantle heterogeneity during the formation of the North Atlantic Igneous Province: Constraints from trace element and Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope systematics of Baffin Island picrites

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    Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope and major and trace element data from ~62 Ma picrites from Baffin Island constrain the composition of mantle sources sampled at the inception of North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) magmatism. We recognize two compositional types. Depleted (N-type) lavas have low 87Sr/86Sri (0.702990–0.703060) and 187Os/188Osi (0.1220–0.1247) and high 143Nd/144Ndi (0.512989–0.512999) and are depleted in incompatible elements relative to primitive mantle. Enriched (E-type) lavas have higher 87Sr/86Sri (0.703306–0.703851) and 187Os/188Osi (0.1261–0.1303), lower 143Nd/144Ndi (0.512825–0.512906), and incompatible element concentrations similar to, or more enriched than, primitive mantle. There is also a subtle difference in oxygen isotope composition; E-type lavas are marginally lower in δ18Oolivine value (5.16–4.84‰) than N-type lavas (5.15–5.22‰). Chemical and isotopic variations between E- and N-type lavas are inconsistent with assimilation of crust and/or subcontinental lithospheric mantle and appear to instead reflect mixing between melts derived from two distinct mantle sources. Strontium-Nd-O isotope compositions and incompatible trace element abundances of N-type lavas suggest these are largely derived from the depleted upper mantle. The 187Os/188Osi ratios of N-type lavas can also be explained by such a model but require that the depleted upper mantle had γOs of approximately −5 to −7 at 62 Ma. This range overlaps the lowest γOs values measured in abyssal peridotites. Baffin Island lava compositions are also permissive of a model involving recharging of depleted upper mantle with 3He-rich material from the lower mantle (Stuart et al., Nature, 424, 57–59, 2003), with the proviso that recharge had no recognizable effect on the lithophile trace element and Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope composition. The origin of the enriched mantle component sampled by Baffin Island lavas is less clear but may be metasomatized and high-temperature-altered recycled oceanic lithosphere transported within the proto Iceland plume. Differences between Baffin Island lavas and modern Icelandic basalts suggest that a range of enriched and depleted mantle sources have been tapped since the inception of magmatism in the province. Similarities between Baffin Island lavas erupted and those of similar age from East and West Greenland also suggest that the enriched component in Baffin Island lavas may have been sampled by lavas erupted over a wide geographic range

    Considering connections between Hollywood and biodiversity conservation

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Cinema offers a substantial opportunity to share messages with a wide audience. Given its global range and potentially high impact, there is an urgent need for research that evaluates the effects of this form of visual media on conservation outcomes. Cinema can influence the awareness and behaviours of non-specialist audiences, and could therefore play an important positive and/or negative role in biodiversity conservation through behavioural change and social pressure on key stakeholders and policy makers. Limited awareness about the potential benefits and limitations of cinema for conservation, as well as a lack of evidence about impacts, currently hinder our ability to learn from previous and ongoing initiatives, and to engage productively with the movie industry. We discuss the key opportunities and risks that arise from cinematic representations of conservation issues and species of concern, making use of examples and case studies where they are available. We additionally provide a framework that enables conservationists to better understand and engage with the film industry, highlighting how this can facilitate engagement with the movie industry, harness its potential, and improve work to mitigate any negative consequences. A robust evidence base is key for evaluating and planning these engagements, and for informing related policy and management decisions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.NERC (grant number: NE/M004546/1), Darwin Initiative and the University of Exeter unrelated to this work

    Multi-scale isotopic heterogeneity reveals a complex magmatic evolution : An example from the wallundry suite granitoids of the lachlan fold belt, Australia

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    Open-system magmatic processes are expected to impart various sorts of isotopic heterogeneity upon the igneous rocks they produce. The range of processes under the "open-system " umbrella (e.g., simple two-component mixing, magma mingling, assimilation with fractional crystallization) cannot usually be uniquely identified using data from a single isotope system. The use of bulk-rock, mineral separate and in situ techniques and multiple isotope systems allows the characterization of isotopic variability at different sampling scales, illuminating details of the petrogenesis of a magmatic system. This approach has been applied to granitoids of the Wallundry Suite in the Lachlan Fold Belt, Australia. The Wallundry Suite exhibits variations in mineral assemblage, mineral composition and trends in bulk-rock major and trace element compositions consistent with the involvement of liquid-crystal sorting processes such as fractional crystallization. In situ paired O-Hf isotope data from zircon in six samples show an array indicating the isotopic evolution of the melt phase. Similarly, bulk-rock Sr-Nd-Hf isotope arrays support open-system magma evolution. These data combined with the petrographic observations and major and trace element geochemical variations suggest some form of assimilation-fractional crystallization process in the petrogenesis of the Wallundry Suite. Added complexity is revealed by two observations: 1) the isotopic variations are only weakly coupled to the lithology and major element compositions of the samples; and 2) there are distinguishable differences between the Hf isotope compositions of bulk-rock samples and those of the magmatic zircons they host. To varying degrees the rocks consistently show negative delta epsilon Hfbulk-zrc values (i.e., the bulk-rock compositions have less radiogenic Hf isotope values than their coexisting zircons). The preservation of distinctly low Nd and Hf isotope ratios in an Fe-Ti oxide mineral separate suggests that the bulk-rock vs. zircon discrepancy is caused by the presence of unmelted components derived from a contaminant of continental origin (i.e., a rock with low Sm/Nd and Lu/Hf and thus unradiogenic Nd and Hf). Evidently, a complex interplay of assimilation, crystallization and melt segregation is required to account for the data. This investigation demonstrates that such complexity can, nevertheless, be disentangled through comparison of complementary isotope data at multiple sampling scales.Peer reviewe
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