AbstractNote by Managing Editor: The impossibility of a global airlift can be established by very simple means intuitively. However, the methods used by the authors in arriving at this same conclusion, even by a limited analysis, may be of interest to the reader. This paper gives quantitative proof of the magnitude of effort required for importing by air in lieu of using sea lift.
SummaryBirths to women aged 35 years and older are compared with births to women aged 20–34 in three hospitals, one each in Mexico, Egypt and Hungary. In the two developing countries, babies born to the older women had lower rates of survival until hospital discharge, and were more likely to have depressed 5-minute Apgar scores. They were not, however, more likely to be of low birth weight. The differences were statistically significant, and remained when several other variables were controlled. The variables controlled were known to be age-related and to influence pregnancy outcome.Hungary, the only developed country in the analysis, was quite different. Age had a significant influence on the weight of the infant, but not on survival or Apgar score. It seems therefore that when older women are in general good health and there are no concurrent social risk factors, advanced maternal age does not necessarily increase the risk of an adverse pregnancy outcome.
Non-technical summary There has been a long history of conflicts, studies, and debate over how to both protect rivers and develop them sustainably. With a pause in new developments caused by the global pandemic, anticipated further implementation of the Paris Agreement and high-level global climate and biodiversity meetings in 2021, now is an opportune moment to consider the current trajectory of development and policy options for reconciling dams with freshwater system health. Technical summary We calculate potential loss of free-flowing rivers (FFRs) if proposed hydropower projects are built globally. Over 260,000 km of rivers, including Amazon, Congo, Irrawaddy, and Salween mainstem rivers, would lose free-flowing status if all dams were built. We propose a set of tested and proven solutions to navigate trade-offs associated with river conservation and dam development. These solution pathways are framed within the mitigation hierarchy and include (1) avoidance through either formal river protection or through exploration of alternative development options; (2) minimization of impacts through strategic or system-scale planning or re-regulation of downstream flows; (3) restoration of rivers through dam removal; and (4) mitigation of dam impacts through biodiversity offsets that include restoration and protection of FFRs. A series of examples illustrate how avoiding or reducing impacts on rivers is possible - particularly when implemented at a system scale - and can be achieved while maintaining or expanding benefits for climate resilience, water, food, and energy security. Social media summary Policy solutions and development pathways exist to navigate trade-offs to meet climate resilience, water, food, and energy security goals while safeguarding FFRs.
This book reconsiders fundamental questions about relationships between community engagement, art and education within cultural spheres. Transdisciplinary chapters bring together researchers as "insider-practitioners" to challenge assumptions and offer new insights about practice, engagement and possibilities for transformation. The chapters reflect both localised projects and international perspectives on ecologies of practice as a key marker of the mobility of ideas as well as social mobility. Addressing socially engaged, informal pedagogy re-examines the aesthetic possibilities of social capital in the public domain. Re-considering contributions of education and research through transfer of knowledge and expertise across small social collectives, partnerships and larger institutional agencies is a growing practice. Examining equity and types of participation alongside issues of local and global significance is emergent in new, pop-up and continuing communities. Gauging social impact through case studies is an important project within the tertiary sector to ensure that critically reflexive visual research methodologies gain currency within contemporary neo-liberal funding and educational agendas. In the current milieux we ask, is all engagement transformative, educative, sustainable and linked to democratizing principles that address civic agendas? Re-imagining sites/situations of learning, culture and place as "practice encounters" utilises practices relevant for educators and practitioners. Applications of ecology, practice architectures and site ontologies inform broader social challenges. Conceiving arts-based research as a network, prioritises transitions and becomings to re-conceptualise the significance of relationships within local/global connectivity. Linking professional networks and agencies to adaptive communities, creates an expanded field of real world creative partnerships to enable changing pedagogies.