An analysis of organisational adaptation to climate change: the case of the Bardiya National Park

This research is concerned with understanding how the management authority of the Bardiya National Park (the BNPMA) is able to adapt to the pressures of increasing climate variability and change. To that end, this study employs a mixed-methods case study approach to elucidate the key drivers of change facing the BNPMA, the processes through which the organisation adapts to these challenges, and the factors that enable and constrain action. In doing so it intends to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the potential future effectiveness of adaptation interventions. Analysis of local weather data, in conjunction with data obtained from village level surveys, highlights a number of climatic trends which, along with related environmental changes are shown to have an important role in driving change within the BNPMA. A range of anthropogenic drivers are also shown to be relevant. The factors enabling and constraining the BNPMA’s ability to respond to these identified drivers of change are subsequently examined through the analysis of data obtained from Likert questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and field observations. Organisational systems, culture, internal resources and the process of knowledge generation and sharing are all found to play a pivotal role in determining the capacity of the BNPMA to respond to its drivers of change. The final analytical section of this thesis uses three examples to evaluate the learning processes through which the BNPMA operationalises its adaptive capacity and mobilises it as adaptive management interventions. Drawing on the results of semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, official park documents, and fieldwork observations, three distinct types of learning are identified within the organisation. In conclusion, this study argues that learning plays a key role in adaptive management approaches to conservation and in operationalising organisational adaptive capacity, enabling the BNPMA to effectively respond to new challenges. However, further research is needed to assess the wider applicability of the drivers of change highlighted in this study, within Nepal and beyond, as well as the interplay of components of adaptive capacity in conservation organisations and the learning processes through which this capacity is mobilised

Collaborative Epistemic Discourse in Classroom Information Seeking Tasks

We discuss the relationship between information seeking, and epistemic beliefs – beliefs about the source, structure, complexity, and stability of knowledge – in the context of collaborative information seeking discourses. We further suggest that both information seeking, and epistemic cognition research agendas have suffered from a lack of attention to how information seeking as a collaborative activity is mediated by talk between partners – an area we seek to address in this paper. A small-scale observational study using sociocultural discourse analysis was conducted with eight eleven year old pupils who carried out search engine tasks in small groups. Qualitative and quantitative analysis were performed on their discussions using sociocultural discourse analytic techniques. Extracts of the dialogue are reported, informed by concordance analysis and quantitative coding of dialogue duration. We find that 1) discourse which could be characterised as ‘epistemic’ is identifiable in student talk, 2) that it is possible to identify talk which is more or less productive, and 3) that epistemic talk is associated with positive learning outcomes

Advances in Human Factors in Complex Trauma and Emergency Anaesthesia and their Implementation into Military and Civilian Trauma Systems

The role of human factors in healthcare was introduced into the mainstream medical literature following two important seminal reports, ‘To Err is Human’ from the United States and ‘An Organisation with A Memory’ from the United Kingdom. This subsequently led to work conducted by the University of Aberdeen into defining the role of non-technical skills in the Operating Theatre for Anaesthetists, Surgeons and Scrub Practitioners. This thesis is an overview of work that I have undertaken in both Military and Civilian settings exploring and defining the importance of human factors in the management of complex trauma and emergency anaesthesia. I have undertaken original research investigating the barriers that exist to challenging seniors and have created guidelines for the management of non-iatrogenic airway injuries. This thesis also discusses a novel project that I have been involved in, the development of the ‘Trauma WHO’, which is a simple checklist designed to improve patient safety during their pathway in complex trauma. I will describe how this was developed, tested in a field hospital in Afghanistan and is now embedded into military practice and some civilian centres. This thesis also describes further knowledge assimilation in the form of two published peer reviewed systematic reviews exploring the importance of human factors in the emergency department and operating theatre and the management of non-iatrogenic trauma to the airway. Additionally, I have selected five papers for inclusion that demonstrate a translation of knowledge into different trauma arenas where the importance of human factors is essential and now embedded. The implications of this thesis are that advances in human factors in complex trauma and emergency anaesthesia that were originally developed in the military setting have now been refined and adopted into certain areas of the NHS. The impact of these advances in guidelines for the management of penetrating airway injuries, streamlining communication and flattening hierarchies by awareness of barriers to challenge have been recently witnessed in the expert and successful management of seriously injured patients. Further work to promote these advances is still required to encourage further adoption in other major trauma centres in England

Tools for Dataset Lifecycle Management

With a growing demand for transparency and openness around scientific research and an emphasis on the sharing of scientific workflows and datasets, there is a similarly increasing number in the variety of client and web-based tools required to manage each stage in the lifecycle of individual datasets. Datasets are produced from a variety of instruments and computations; are analyzed and manipulated; are stored and referenced within the context of a research project; and, ideally, are archived, stored, and shared with the rest of the world. Each of these efforts, however, requires a number of user actions involving a growing number of systems and interfaces. In an effort to preserve the flexibility and autonomy of the researchers, but also to minimize the logistical effort involved, we present in this paper a partial solution approach to this problem through the integration of workflow execution, project collaboration, project-based dataset management and versioning, and long-term archiving and dissemination. This example demonstrates the orchestration of a number of existing Microsoft Research projects; however, the interaction between each uses existing web interoperability protocols and can easily support the replacement of individual architectural components with related services

Tools for Dataset Lifecycle Management

With a growing demand for transparency and openness around scientific research and an emphasis on the sharing of scientific workflows and datasets, there is a similarly increasing number in the variety of client and web-based tools required to manage each stage in the lifecycle of individual datasets. Datasets are produced from a variety of instruments and computations; are analyzed and manipulated; are stored and referenced within the context of a research project; and, ideally, are archived, stored, and shared with the rest of the world. Each of these efforts, however, requires a number of user actions involving a growing number of systems and interfaces. In an effort to preserve the flexibility and autonomy of the researchers, but also to minimize the logistical effort involved, we present in this paper a partial solution approach to this problem through the integration of workflow execution, project collaboration, project-based dataset management and versioning, and long-term archiving and dissemination. This example demonstrates the orchestration of a number of existing Microsoft Research projects; however, the interaction between each uses existing web interoperability protocols and can easily support the replacement of individual architectural components with related services

Diffusion maps for changing data

Graph Laplacians and related nonlinear mappings into low dimensional spaces have been shown to be powerful tools for organizing high dimensional data. Here we consider a data set X in which the graph associated with it changes depending on some set of parameters. We analyze this type of data in terms of the diffusion distance and the corresponding diffusion map. As the data changes over the parameter space, the low dimensional embedding changes as well. We give a way to go between these embeddings, and furthermore, map them all into a common space, allowing one to track the evolution of X in its intrinsic geometry. A global diffusion distance is also defined, which gives a measure of the global behavior of the data over the parameter space. Approximation theorems in terms of randomly sampled data are presented, as are potential applications.Comment: 38 pages. 9 figures. To appear in Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis. v2: Several minor changes beyond just typos. v3: Minor typo corrected, added DO

Combustion waves in a model with chain branching reaction and their stability

In this paper the travelling wave solutions in the adiabatic model with two-step chain branching reaction mechanism are investigated both numerically and analytically in the limit of equal diffusivity of reactant, radicals and heat. The properties of these solutions and their stability are investigated in detail. The behaviour of combustion waves are demonstrated to have similarities with the properties of nonadiabatic one-step combustion waves in that there is a residual amount of fuel left behind the travelling waves and the solutions can exhibit extinction. The difference between the nonadiabatic one-step and adiabatic two-step models is found in the behaviour of the combustion waves near the extinction condition. It is shown that the flame velocity drops down to zero and a standing combustion wave is formed as the extinction condition is reached. Prospects of further work are also discussed.Comment: pages 32, figures 2

Patients' views on interactions with practitioners for type 2 diabetes:a longitudinal qualitative study in primary care over 10 years

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that interactions between patients and practitioners in primary care have the potential to delay progression of complications in type 2 diabetes. However, as primary care faces greater pressures, patient experiences of patient-practitioner interactions might be changing.AIM: To explore the views of patients with type 2 diabetes on factors that are of significance to them in patient-practitioner interactions in primary care after diagnosis, and over the last 10 years of living with the disease.DESIGN AND SETTING: A longitudinal qualitative analysis over 10 years in UK primary care.METHOD: The study was part of a qualitative and quantitative examination of patient experience within the existing ADDITION-Cambridge and ADDITION-Plus trials from 2002 to 2016. The researchers conducted a qualitative descriptive analysis of free-text comments to an open-ended question within the CARE measure questionnaire at 1 and 10 years after diagnosis with diabetes. Data were analysed cross-sectionally at each time point, and at an individual level moving both backwards and forwards between time points to describe emergent topics.RESULTS: At the 1-year follow-up, 311 out of 1106 (28%) participants had commented; 101 out of 380 (27%) participants commented at 10-year follow-up; and 46 participants commented at both times. Comments on preferences for face-to-face contact, more time with practitioners, and relational continuity of care were more common over time.CONCLUSION: This study highlights issues related to the wider context of interactions between patients and practitioners in the healthcare system over the last 10 years since diagnosis. Paradoxically, these same aspects of care that are valued over time from diagnosis are also increasingly unprotected in UK primary care.</p

Producing interventions for AIDS-affected young people in Lesotho's schools: Scalar relations and power differentials

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Geoforum. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2009 Elsevier B.V.Children and youth are a key target group for interventions to address southern Africa’s AIDS pandemic. Such interventions are frequently implemented through schools, and are often complex products of negotiation between a range of institutional actors including international agencies, NGOs, government departments and individual schools. These institutions not only stand in different (horizontally scaled) spatial relationships to students in schools; they also appear to operate at different hierarchical levels. Empirical research with policy makers and practitioners in Lesotho, however, reveals how interventions are produced through flows of knowledge, funding and personnel within and between institutions that make it difficult to assert that any intervention is manifestly more international or more local than any other. Scale theory offers the metaphor of a network or web which usefully serves to move attention away from discrete organisations, sectors and scalar positionings and onto the relationships and flows between them. Nevertheless, organisations and development interventions are often partly structured in scalar hierarchical ways that express substantive power differentials and shape the forms of interaction that take place, albeit not binding them to strict binaries or nested hierarchies. A modified network metaphor is useful in aiding understanding of how particular interventions are produced through intermeshing scales and diverse fluid interactions, and why they take the form they do.RGS-IB