Managing coastal environments under climate change: pathways to adaptation

This paper deals with the question of how to manage vulnerable coastal systems so as to make them sustainable under present and future climates. This is interpreted in terms of the coastal functionality, mainly natural services and support for socio-economic activities. From here we discuss how to adapt for long term trends and for short terms episodic events using the DPSIR framework. The analysis is presented for coastal archetypes from Spain, Ireland and Romania, sweeping a range of meteo-oceanographic and socio-economic pressures, resulting in a wide range of fluxes among them those related to sediment. The analysis emphasizes the variables that provide a higher level of robustness. That means mean sea level for physical factors and population density for human factors. For each of the studied cases high and low sustainability practices, based on stakeholders preferences, are considered and discussed. This allows proposing alternatives and carrying out an integrated assessment in the last section of the paper. This assessment permits building a sequence of interventions called adaptation pathway that enhances the natural resilience of the studied coastal systems and therefore increases their sustainability under present and future conditions.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

C9orf72 repeat expansions cause neurodegeneration in Drosophila through arginine-rich proteins

An expanded GGGGCC repeat in C9orf72 is the most common genetic cause of frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A fundamental question is whether toxicity is driven by the repeat RNA itself and/or by dipeptide repeat proteins generated by repeat-associated, non-ATG translation. To address this question we developed in vitro and in vivo models to dissect repeat RNA and dipeptide repeat protein toxicity. Expression of pure repeats in Drosophila caused adult-onset neurodegeneration attributable to poly-(glycine-arginine) proteins. Thus, expanded repeats promoted neurodegeneration through neurotoxic proteins. Expression of individual dipeptide repeat proteins with a non-GGGGCC RNA sequence showed both poly-(glycine-arginine) and poly-(proline-arginine) proteins caused neurodegeneration. These findings are consistent with a dual toxicity mechanism, whereby both arginine-rich proteins and repeat RNA contribute to C9orf72-mediated neurodegeneration

Governance barriers to sustainable energy transitions – Assessing Ireland's capacity towards marine energy futures

Marine energies (ME), including offshore hydcrocarbons along with marine renewable energies (MRE), such as offshore wind, wave and tidal energy, are increasingly important in the future energy mix of many nations. We observe that ME governance is complex, as development offshore involves engagement and may often result in conflict. This paper examines the Irish case, where offshore gas and oil remain relatively undeveloped, and yet have provoked extensive controversy. Moreover, Ireland exhibits very ambitious plans for MRE developments. Against a background, where ME development seems to have stalled, the objective of the paper is to analyse the Irish governance setup and its capacity to deliver ME and whether the current system is equipped to enable transition to MREs. Current governance systems lack efficacy in terms of policy integration and enforcement, government oversight, and public trust due to past failures. Although, management approaches have been developed to address some of the barriers, domains such as policy/regulation, industry development and public engagement are disconnected. Results: presented may not simply be generalised, as each country context is different. An analysis of examples with similar issues must focus on studying the context of the governance setup and balances of power across domains

Selfhood, Love and Responsibility: Film Stories of the Everyday and Crisis within the Couple and Family Unit.

Selfhood, Love and Responsibility: Film Stories of the Everyday and Crisis within the Couple and Family Unit. This is a film practice PhD investigating how selfhood, love and responsibility within couple and family units are conveyed, imagined or problematized in contemporary cinema and how the properties of screen fiction can be used to explore contemporary parental experience. The research project incorporates an original feature screenplay (Nuclear) and short film (Inhabit) which were developed in parallel to, and informed by, the theoretical research in the accompanying critical thesis. Chapter One explores how parenthood, with an emphasis on motherhood, might be imagined by non or aspiring parents, and what anxieties or desires are expressed through these imaginings. Miranda July’s The Future (2010) and Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated (2006) are placed in dialogue with Inhabit (2014) in an examination of the slippage of generational identity experienced by the characters as they struggle with the prospect of impending or denied parenthood. Chapter Two concentrates of evocations of the everyday as it intersects with stories of family life. Drawing from cultural theorists of the everyday including Giard, de Certeau and Highmore, I examine why and how we might attend to the everyday on screen. Taking Henri Lefebvre’s notion of ‘rhythmanalysis’ as a tool with which to analyse Michael Winterbottom’s Everyday (2012), Joanna Hogg’s Archipelago (2010) and Nuclear, I explore how rhythm and patterns of repetition and difference can embody and communicate experiences of domestic relationships and the everyday. In Chapter Three, I analyse spectator engagement via character, and look at how Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation (2011), Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale (2005) and Nuclear utilise a multi-protagonist structure to create a democracy within the narrative. Through a symbiotic approach to theory and practice and a focus on British middle-class subjects, I have sought to investigate parallel drives within couple and family units and to accomplish a balance between the demands of drama and a desire to describe the everyday.University of Exeter London Film Schoo

Viewpoint: Giving Back to the Veterans

California is home to nearly two million veterans, more than any other state in the country. While California veterans live primarily in rural areas of the state, where cost of living is lower than it is in the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 26,000 veterans call the Bay Area home. Even those living in surrounding communities rely on services, and in particular legal services, available in the Bay Area. At the ABA\u27s August meeting, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Bar Association and the Legal Services Corp. announced a new partnership and pilot program aimed at reducing the veterans\u27 claims backlog and making it easier for unrepresented veterans to receive assistance developing claims for disability pay. The program provides free assistance from ABA and LSC attorneys to a targeted group of unrepresented veterans who request their help in filing disability claims. These are important initiatives. The significant backlog requires that more lawyers do more to begin to ensure those who have served our country receive the assistance and support they deserve

The Trouble with Protecting the Vulnerable: Proposals to Prevent Developmentally Disabled Individuals from Giving Involuntary Waivers and False Confessions

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Viewpoint: Giving Back to the Veterans

California is home to nearly two million veterans, more than any other state in the country. While California veterans live primarily in rural areas of the state, where cost of living is lower than it is in the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 26,000 veterans call the Bay Area home. Even those living in surrounding communities rely on services, and in particular legal services, available in the Bay Area. At the ABA\u27s August meeting, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Bar Association and the Legal Services Corp. announced a new partnership and pilot program aimed at reducing the veterans\u27 claims backlog and making it easier for unrepresented veterans to receive assistance developing claims for disability pay. The program provides free assistance from ABA and LSC attorneys to a targeted group of unrepresented veterans who request their help in filing disability claims. These are important initiatives. The significant backlog requires that more lawyers do more to begin to ensure those who have served our country receive the assistance and support they deserve

Acquisition Planning: A Process for Contract Support and Timely Budget Execution

The purpose of this action research project is to develop acquisition policy and procedures for the New Hampshire Army National Guard to decrease acquisition risk and increase budget execution. Contracting data collected reveals that 47% of acquisitions occurred during the last four months of the fiscal year 2017. Internal and external factors will be analyzed to determine an appropriate course of action and implementation plan. The project will enlist subject matter experts from across the National Guard. The end state is to ensure customers are supported through timely execution of contracts and efficient use of resources

Lamartine, as Historian of the French Revolution

Any discussion of Lamartine as an historian necessitates a study of his political career. His Histoire des Girondins was the culmination of\u27 his political career, it was the embodiment of the theories and principles which he had advocated all thru his speeches in Parliament. To understand these principles it is necessary to trace their growth from the time Lamartine entered politics. After tracing his political growth a discussion of the Histoire des Girondins\u27\u27 will show that its value lies not in its historical value but in the influence it had on the people of France