2,740 research outputs found
Community-driven sanitation improvement in deprived urban neighbourhoods: meeting the challenges of local collective action, co-production, affordability and a trans-sectoral approach.
There is an international consensus that urban sanitary conditions are in great need of improvement, but sharp disagreement over how this improvement should be pursued. Both market-driven and state-led efforts to improve sanitation in deprived communities tend to be severely compromised, as there is a lack of effective market demand (due to collective action problems) and severe barriers to the centralized provision of low-cost sanitation facilities. In principle, community-driven initiatives have a number of advantages.
But community-driven sanitary improvement also faces serious challenges, including: 1) The collective action challenge of getting local residents to coordinate and combine their demands for sanitary improvement; 2) The co-production challenge of getting the state to accept community-driven approaches to sanitary improvement, and where necessary to co-invest and take responsibility for the final waste disposal; 3) The affordability challenge of finding improvements that are affordable and acceptable to both the state and the community â and to other funders if relevant; 4) The trans-sectoral challenge of ensuring that other poverty-related problems, such as insecure tenure, do not undermine efforts to improve sanitation.
Each of these challenges is analysed in some detail in the pages that follow. The report then goes on to examine two community-driven approaches to urban sanitation improvement that have been expanding for more than two decades, one in Pakistan and the other in India. It is argued that a large part of their success lies in the manner in which they have met and overcome the aforementioned challenges. Indeed, both overcame the co-production challenge to the point where sanitary improvement became the basis for attempts to radically improve communityâgovernment relations â relations unfortunately also very dependent on other political dynamics. They also systematically tackled other, less institutionally-rooted challenges, such as the lack of local technical skills in building and maintaining improved sanitary facilities
The Rise and Fall of the Jumbo Breakfast Roll: How a Sandwich Survived the Decline of the Irish Economy
This paper examines a specific food item - the Jumbo Breakfast Roll [JBR] - through a sociological lens, in order to trace the factors that contributed to its rise to prominence in Irish food culture in the 'Celtic Tiger' period of the late 20th/early 21st century. It also examines the development of these factors in the period following the crash of the Irish bubble economy. It is argued that the JBR arose at the intersection of a number of key trends in the food technology, retail, transport, distribution and construction sectors. Yet the JBR also had its antecedents in established foodways and traditions. It reflects on how the JBR could be interpreted as a 'national dish' that symbolised a particular moment in contemporary Irish society, and raises the possibility that a sociologically-informed analysis of such emblematic dishes allows us to explore aspects of national society, culture and economy within a globalised world.Fast Food; Ireland; Culture; Economic Conditions; Celtic Tiger; Convenience Stores; Baking Technology; Sandwich
Properties of the energetic particle distributions during the October 28, 2003 solar flare from INTEGRAL/SPI observations
Analysis of spectra obtained with the gamma-ray spectrometer SPI onboard
INTEGRAL of the GOES X17-class flare on October 28, 2003 is presented. In the
energy range 600 keV - 8 MeV three prominent narrow lines at 2.223, 4.4 and 6.1
MeV, resulting from nuclear interactions of accelerated ions within the solar
atmosphere could be observed. Time profiles of the three lines and the
underlying continuum indicate distinct phases with several emission peaks and
varying continuum-to-line ratio for several minutes before a smoother decay
phase sets in. Due to the high-resolution Ge detectors of SPI and the
exceptional intensity of the flare, detailed studies of the 4.4 and 6.1 MeV
line shapes was possible for the first time. Comparison with calculated line
shapes using a thick target interaction model and several energetic particle
angular distributions indicates that the nuclear interactions were induced by
downward-directed particle beams with alpha-to-proton ratios of the order of
0.1. There are also indications that the 4.4 MeV to 6.1 MeV line fluence ratio
changed between the beginning and the decay phase of the flare, possibly due to
a temporal evolution of the energetic particle alpha-to-proton ratio.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication by A&
Directionality of Solar Flare Accelerated Protons and Alpha Particles from Gamma-Ray Line Measurements
The energies and widths of gamma-ray lines emitted by ambient nuclei excited
by flare-accelerated protons and alpha particles provide information on the
ions directionality and spectra, and on the characteristics of the interaction
region. We have measured the energies and widths of strong lines from
de-excitations of 12C, 16O, and 20Ne in solar flares as a function of
heliocentric angle. The line energies from all three nuclei exhibit ~1%
redshifts for flares at small heliocentric angles, but are not shifted near the
limb. The lines have widths of ~3% FWHM. We compare the 12C line measurements
for flares at five different heliocentric angles with calculations for
different interacting-particle distributions. A downward isotropic distribution
(or one with a small upward component) provides a good fit to the line
measurements. An angular distribution derived for particles that undergo
significant pitch angle scattering by MHD turbulence in coronal magnetic loops
provides comparably good fits
Spatial and Temporal Variability of the Gamma Radiation from Earth's Atmosphere during a Solar Cycle
The Solar Maximum Mission satellite's Gamma Ray Spectrometer observed Earth's
atmosphere for most of the period 1980-1989. Its 28deg orbit ensured that a
range of geomagnetic latitudes (geomagnetic cutoff rigidities) was sampled. We
measured the variation with time and rigidity of albedo gamma-ray lines at 1.6
MeV, 2.3 MeV and 4.4 MeV which are diagnostic of Galactic cosmic radiation
penetrating the cutoff and of the secondary neutrons produced in the
atmosphere. We found that the gamma-ray line intensities varied inversely with
solar activity and cutoff rigidity, as expected. The line ratio (1.6 MeV + 2.3
MeV)/4.4 MeV was remarkably constant (close to 0.39) at all times and
rigidities; the former two lines are produced by 5-10 MeV secondary neutrons
causing excitation and de-excitation of 14N, while the latter is produced by
more energetic (>20 MeV) neutrons inducing spallation. We infer that the shape
of the secondary neutron energy spectrum is virtually constant everywhere and
at all times. We also measured the intensity of the 0.511 MeV electron-positron
annihilation line. This line too varies with solar cycle and cutoff rigidity,
but its fall-off from low to high rigidity is less marked than that of the
nuclear lines. This results from the energy dependences of the cross sections
for positron production and for the hadronic processes which which produce
secondary neutrons.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figs., J. Geophys. Res. in pres
\u27Thinking Outside the Box\u27: Extending Our Analysis of Surplus Food Movement
The concept of movement in relation to food can be applied in diverse ways, literally, but also as metaphor. Food waste, similarly, is an open and contested signifier. To bring the two concepts together, then, is a potentially complicated analytical exercise. Nevertheless, to think of food waste in terms of âmovementâ may be productive. This paper examines, in terms of movement, the activities of Irish community and voluntary organisations (CVOs), partners with an Irish-based NGO, FoodCloud, in the distribution of surplus food. These are examined within the context of the COVID19 pandemic in Ireland during 2020 and 2021. The paper is based on research conducted by the authors in 2021-2. It outlines aspects of the concept of movement within food waste studies; describes the aims and methodology of the research; reports findings in relation to surplus food distribution in terms of movement; and suggests implications for our broader understanding of food waste. It asks scholars of food waste to âthink outsideâ a number of boxes, to ask how the food chain is extended through surplus food distribution; how surplus food may be used in multiple ways; and in how surplus food distribution activities may have the potential to support, more broadly, sustainable food communities
The magnetic connectivity of coronal shocks from behind-the-limb flares to the visible solar surface during -ray events
Context. The observation of >100 MeV {\gamma}-rays in the minutes to hours
following solar flares suggests that high-energy particles interacting in the
solar atmosphere can be stored and/or accelerated for long time periods. The
occasions when {\gamma}-rays are detected even when the solar eruptions
occurred beyond the solar limb as viewed from Earth provide favorable viewing
conditions for studying the role of coronal shocks driven by coronal mass
ejections (CMEs) in the acceleration of these particles.
Aims: In this paper, we investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of the
coronal shocks inferred from stereoscopic observations of behind-the-limb
flares to determine if they could be the source of the particles producing the
{\gamma}-rays.
Methods: We analyzed the CMEs and early formation of coronal shocks
associated with {\gamma}-ray events measured by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope
(LAT) from three eruptions behind the solar limb as viewed from Earth on 2013
Oct. 11, 2014 Jan. 06 and Sep. 01. We used a 3D triangulation technique, based
on remote-sensing observations to model the expansion of the CME shocks from
above the solar surface to the upper corona. Coupling the expansion model to
various models of the coronal magnetic field allowed us to derive the
time-dependent distribution of shock Mach numbers and the magnetic connection
of particles produced by the shock to the solar surface visible from Earth.
Results: The reconstructed shock fronts for the three events became
magnetically connected to the visible solar surface after the start of the
flare and just before the onset of the >100 MeV {\gamma}-ray emission. The
shock surface at these connections also exhibited supercritical Mach numbers
required for significant particle energization.
[...] (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, version published in A&
Alien Registration- Share, Sadie (Bangor, Penobscot County)
https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/10691/thumbnail.jp
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