Climate Change Adaptation in West Africa: A critical analysis of climate change adaptation policies and their implications for coastal communities in West Africa

The UNFCCC, (2019) identifies climate change as a “threat multiplier” meaning that a sizeable amount of the UNs 17 Sustainable Development Goals are at threat from climate change. The recently published sixth assessment report by the IPCC further highlights that climate change is now at some level an unavoidable reality (IPCC, 2021). Whilst many West African coastal countries have adaptation framework to respond to the threat of climate change, several studies have highlighted an apparent gap in policy implementation, meaning that the policies are not as effective as intended at a grassroots level (Boateng, 2018; Davies-Vollum, Raha, and Koomson, 2021). Aims: 1. To critically analyse the institutional and organisational structure of climate change adaptation (CCA) policies and strategies in West African Coastal Countries. 2. To evaluate socio-cultural or socio-economic issues influencing policy implementation at a grassroots level. 3. To recommend alternative systematic policies or practical processes that could enable successful implementation of climate change adaption plans. Academic supervisors for this project - Dr Debadayita Raha & Dr Sian Davies-Vollum.University of Derby URSS

Experimental and theoretical soft x-ray study of nicotine and related compounds

The valence and core electronic structure of nicotine, nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide have been studied by photoelectron and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy, supported by theoretical calculations, which take into account conformational isomerism. The core-level photoionization spectra of all molecules have been assigned, and theory indicates that the effects of conformational differences are small, generally less than the natural line widths of the core ionic states. However, in the case of nicotinamide, the theoretical valence ionization potentials of cis and trans conformers differ significantly in the outer valence space, and the experimental spectrum is in agreement with the calculated outer valence cis conformer spectrum. In addition, the C, N, and O K edge near-edge absorption fine structure spectra are reported and interpreted by comparison with reference compounds. We find evidence at the N and O K edges of interaction between the delocalized orbitals of the pyridine ring and the substituents for nicotinic acid and nicotinamide. The strength of the interaction varies because the first is planar, while the second is twisted, reducing the extent of orbital mixing

By Us and For Us: A Story of Early Childhood Development Systems Change and Results in a Rural Context

Since 2007, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund — a donor-advised fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation — has invested in early childhood development in Coös County — New Hampshire’s largest and most rural and economically disadvantaged county. Community providers from a range of disciplines formed strong professional relationships and agreed on common goals and evidence-based strategies to improve services for children and families. This article describes how local community members joined forces with the fund to create an integrated early childhood development system for Coös’ children and families. It provides background on the investment and initiative strategy, summarizes key results, and outlines lessons for funders and others pursuing systems change efforts in early learning, in rural areas, or more broadly. With increasing interest in strategies to promote childhood resilience, school readiness, and community revitalization, Coös County’s rural story of relationship and community systems change can inform the field

An experimental and theoretical investigation of XPS and NEXAFS of nicotine, nicotinamide, and nicotinc acid

The electronic structures of nicotine, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide have been studied by valence photoemission spectroscopy (PES), core X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and interpreted with the aid of quantum chemical calculations. Nicotinamide and nicotinic acid are closely related and show correspondingly similar spectral features, while nicotine is both structurally and spectroscopically diverse

Evidence for models of diagnostic service provision in the community: literature mapping exercise and focused rapid reviews

Background Current NHS policy favours the expansion of diagnostic testing services in community and primary care settings. Objectives Our objectives were to identify current models of community diagnostic services in the UK and internationally and to assess the evidence for quality, safety and clinical effectiveness of such services. We were also interested in whether or not there is any evidence to support a broader range of diagnostic tests being provided in the community. Review methods We performed an initial broad literature mapping exercise to assess the quantity and nature of the published research evidence. The results were used to inform selection of three areas for investigation in more detail. We chose to perform focused reviews on logistics of diagnostic modalities in primary care (because the relevant issues differ widely between different types of test); diagnostic ultrasound (a key diagnostic technology affected by developments in equipment); and a diagnostic pathway (assessment of breathlessness) typically delivered wholly or partly in primary care/community settings. Databases and other sources searched, and search dates, were decided individually for each review. Quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews and primary studies of any design were eligible for inclusion. Results We identified seven main models of service that are delivered in primary care/community settings and in most cases with the possible involvement of community/primary care staff. Not all of these models are relevant to all types of diagnostic test. Overall, the evidence base for community- and primary care-based diagnostic services was limited, with very few controlled studies comparing different models of service. We found evidence from different settings that these services can reduce referrals to secondary care and allow more patients to be managed in primary care, but the quality of the research was generally poor. Evidence on the quality (including diagnostic accuracy and appropriateness of test ordering) and safety of such services was mixed. Conclusions In the absence of clear evidence of superior clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, the expansion of community-based services appears to be driven by other factors. These include policies to encourage moving services out of hospitals; the promise of reduced waiting times for diagnosis; the availability of a wider range of suitable tests and/or cheaper, more user-friendly equipment; and the ability of commercial providers to bid for NHS contracts. However, service development also faces a number of barriers, including issues related to staffing, training, governance and quality control. Limitations We have not attempted to cover all types of diagnostic technology in equal depth. Time and staff resources constrained our ability to carry out review processes in duplicate. Research in this field is limited by the difficulty of obtaining, from publicly available sources, up-to-date information about what models of service are commissioned, where and from which providers. Future work There is a need for research to compare the outcomes of different service models using robust study designs. Comparisons of ‘true’ community-based services with secondary care-based open-access services and rapid access clinics would be particularly valuable. There are specific needs for economic evaluations and for studies that incorporate effects on the wider health system. There appears to be no easy way of identifying what services are being commissioned from whom and keeping up with local evaluations of new services, suggesting a need to improve the availability of information in this area. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme

Southern leadership during the Vicksburg campaign

The Confederate surrender at Vicksburg on the 4th July 1863 was a disaster for the South during the American Civil War, because it caused the loss of control of the Mississippi River Valley. President Jefferson Davis was responsible for the loss of Vicksburg, not because the Union had superior resources, but because of his own shortcomings, chief of which were: not providing a co-ordinated defence plan for the West, incorrectly assessing the capabilities of his western generals, failing to understand the deficiencies in his own capabilities, and not reacting to the change needed, as the North developed new tactics to prosecute the war. Whilst the main historical facts of Davis’ involvement are well documented by Woodworth (1990), W. C. Davis (1991), Cooper (2000) and Ballard (2004), the extent of the political failures of the President have not been fully explored in relation to the Vicksburg catastrophe. Woodworth, in a seminal work, has examined the failure of Confederate command in the Western Theatre for the whole Civil War. Cooper and Davis, the President’s most comprehensive biographers, have reviewed his Civil War career. Ballard has produced the standard account of the Vicksburg Campaign. These historians provided analysis of Davis’ shortcomings during the Vicksburg Campaign, but there was room for a more detailed treatment as to how the defeat occurred. The Mississippi River Valley was attacked from the north under the command of Major-General Ulysses S. Grant, using both banks of the river. In early 1863, the Confederate geographical command structure was still split along the line of the Mississippi River, with Lieutenant-General Edmund Kirby Smith in charge on the west bank and General Joseph E. Johnston in command on the east. Johnston was with the Army of Tennessee, commanded by his other key subordinate General Braxton Bragg, in Chattanooga many miles to the east of Vicksburg. Lieutenant-General John C. Pemberton, at Vicksburg, was left in isolation to control the forces on the east bank of the river. There was little co-operation between the Confederate forces in the Western Theatre and an earlier attempt by Secretary of War George W. Randolph to insist that Lieutenant-General Theophilus H. Holmes, commanding in Arkansas, provide reinforcements to Pemberton, lead to Randolph's resignation. Neither Davis nor Kirby Smith ordered Holmes to support the defence of Vicksburg. Instead, Davis ordered the reinforcement of Pemberton by the detachment of a division from the already- outnumbered Army of Tennessee. Pemberton enjoyed the support and friendship of Davis, but Johnston, as his superior, was hampered by this relationship. Davis was the only person able to change the situation because, whilst he was in control of the appointments and the geographical command structure, he was also in a position to support Johnston rather than isolate him. Thus the weak political leadership of Davis, despite the relative individual abilities of the military commanders, set up the conditions for the Confederacy to lose Vicksburg and created a strategic framework within which the subsequent military operations did not succeed

The relationship between railway loading-gauge constraints and mode split in the Anglo-European unitised freight market

Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D88405 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Women's relationships in classical Attika

This thesis offers a new assessment of the relationships of fifth- and fourth-century Attic women, of citizen and metic status. Chapter 1 demonstrates women’s capacity to build and use relationships through and against the vicissitudes of their lives, particularly their transitions between marriages and households. Chapter 2 argues for women’s ability to shape formal and informal kinship structures in response to their own affective relationships. Chapter 3 suggests that women could use their relationships with enslaved people, particularly enslaved women, either to confirm or challenge their other roles and relationships within the household. Chapter 4 shows how income-generating work expanded women’s social networks, gave them opportunities publicly to present themselves in terms and contexts independent of their family relationships, and enabled them to redefine their roles within their families. Chapter 5 shows how women formed, used, and defined their friendships, considering in particular the role of the neighbourhood and of religion as contexts within which women could shape their social landscapes. The thesis weighs up different approaches to writing women’s history. Chapter 1 argues for the value of reconstructive biography. Later chapters focus on re-reading narratives about men to draw out the experiences of women, without attempting complete biographies, and on understanding epigraphic testimonies that women were involved in authoring as instances of women’s self-writing—not autobiographies but women’s brief portraits of themselves and others. The thesis argues that women’s formal and circumstantial relationships did not necessarily commit them to fixed roles or social behaviours but provided a framework within which they could develop and shape their affective relationships and negotiate their own roles. It demonstrates the potential breadth of women’s networks, affiliations, and relationships; how they were formed and changed across the course of women’s lives, and how they cross-cut other groupings and divisions in Attic society. It argues that women were more able to shape their lives and relationships than has previously been thought, and therefore played a more dynamic role in the social history of classical Attika

Women's relationships in classical Attika

This thesis offers a new assessment of the relationships of fifth- and fourth-century Attic women, of citizen and metic status. Chapter 1 demonstrates women’s capacity to build and use relationships through and against the vicissitudes of their lives, particularly their transitions between marriages and households. Chapter 2 argues for women’s ability to shape formal and informal kinship structures in response to their own affective relationships. Chapter 3 suggests that women could use their relationships with enslaved people, particularly enslaved women, either to confirm or challenge their other roles and relationships within the household. Chapter 4 shows how income-generating work expanded women’s social networks, gave them opportunities publicly to present themselves in terms and contexts independent of their family relationships, and enabled them to redefine their roles within their families. Chapter 5 shows how women formed, used, and defined their friendships, considering in particular the role of the neighbourhood and of religion as contexts within which women could shape their social landscapes. The thesis weighs up different approaches to writing women’s history. Chapter 1 argues for the value of reconstructive biography. Later chapters focus on re-reading narratives about men to draw out the experiences of women, without attempting complete biographies, and on understanding epigraphic testimonies that women were involved in authoring as instances of women’s self-writing—not autobiographies but women’s brief portraits of themselves and others. The thesis argues that women’s formal and circumstantial relationships did not necessarily commit them to fixed roles or social behaviours but provided a framework within which they could develop and shape their affective relationships and negotiate their own roles. It demonstrates the potential breadth of women’s networks, affiliations, and relationships; how they were formed and changed across the course of women’s lives, and how they cross-cut other groupings and divisions in Attic society. It argues that women were more able to shape their lives and relationships than has previously been thought, and therefore played a more dynamic role in the social history of classical Attika.</p