Maternal mortality rates in low-income countries remain high and almost two thirds of global maternal deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO, 2019). Communications interventions such as media and entertainment education initiatives could help improve maternal health outcomes. The aim of this research is to explore this area further; focusing on the case study of ‘Di Kombra Di Krai (Cry of a Mother)’, a maternal health drama produced in Sierra Leone in 2020. The research utilises interviews with key stakeholders in the production, and content analysis, to understand why film is an appropriate medium of communication for maternal health, the processes involved, and the benefits to the participants. This research aims to provide further information that will be beneficial for communication for development professionals and organisations on the role of film in maternal health communication in low-income countries.

This volume is the first instalment of the Sierra Leone journals and diary of Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838), who arrived in Sierra Leone in December 1792 as one of two members of council appointed to assist the governor of the Sierra Leone Company's new colony for free blacks.

Peacekeeping operations have since their inception become a widely-used tool used to address the acute crises emerging in international relations. For a long time, their success or failure were not object of scientific scrutiny. This has changed in recent years. This thesis describes evaluation frameworks developed by three authors and then applies them to three cases of peacekeeping operations (Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Rwanda) and it tries to assess the extent to which the assumption about the too optimistic evaluation criteria proposed by Virginia Page Fortna and too pessimistic evaluation criteria suggested by Diehl and Druckman are substantiated by empirical reality of peacekeeping operations. These approaches are supplemented by the evaluation criteria proposed by Daryia Pushkina which serve as an evaluation mainstream.

The thesis based on analysis of international community peacebuilding policy and consequent reaction by local actors assesses the influence of this interaction onto the liberal peace and changes in missions' operation. In accordance with O. Richmond the conclusion of post-liberal peace coming to the fore is accepted if only in contextually based forms. The extent of local ownership and the real agency of local actors is then dependent on the time of mission occurrence, power related interests of international community and the force and accessibility of structures that the international community tries to influence. Key words: peacebuilding, hybridization, local ownership, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone

The diploma thesis deals with the phenomenon of child soldiers and their reintegration into the post-war society. The subject of the theoretical part is the general characterization of the problem of child combatants in relation to selected sources of international law, economic and social factors of recruiting girls and boys, together with the consequences and theoretical approaches to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs. The analytical part focuses on former child soldiers in post-conflict reconstruction in selected countries of West Africa, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a focus on their reintegration into society after the de-escalation of civil wars in 2002 and 2003. In the final part of the thesis measures for solving the problem of children in armed groups and forces, together with proposals for completing the process of reintegration of former child soldiers into civil society are proposed.

abstract: Geochronology and thermochronology are valuable tools for investigating the synergy between the deformational and erosional processes that shape mountainous terrains. Though numerous techniques have been developed to probe the rate and timing of events within these settings, the research presented here explores how scientists can use fewer samples to produce richer data products with broader contextual importance. The beginning of this compilation focuses on establishing laboratory techniques to facilitate this goal. I developed a novel laser ablation ‘double dating’ (LADD) technique that rapidly yields paired U/Pb and (U-Th)/He dates for the accessory minerals zircon, titanite, and apatite. The technique obviates the need for geometric corrections typically applied during (U-Th)/He data reduction, enables the analysis of a broader spectrum of detrital crystals, and provides the opportunity for additional mapping and isotopic analyses that are traditionally challenging to procure and/or fraught with assumptions. Despite the technique’s promise, I also found it essential to weigh several considerations of relevance when attempting to date young (≤ Miocene) accessory minerals with low concentrations of U + Th. Consequently, I discuss the impact that such variables have on the magnitude of analytical imprecision and the data’s flexibility for geologic interpretation. Beyond the lab, I collected a suite of bedrock and detrital samples from small catchments draining the southeastern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Using the techniques described above as well as conventional methods for (U-Th)/He zircon dating, I compared the utility of both bedrock and detrital approaches for extrapolating local exhumation histories. I additionally tested the ability to employ detrital datasets to extrapolate cooling histories that span from mineral crystallization to rock exhumation through the upper crust. Employing principal mode dates from a combination of zircon and apatite LADD dates and detrital hornblende 40Ar/39Ar dates, I was able to derive thermal models that demonstrate the existence of significant variability in the cooling histories of various intrusive units along the eastern Sierra Nevada. While these results only scratch the surface of what’s possible within the realm of detrital-based research, this contribution demonstrates the utility of expanding the temporal and spatial scope of traditional detrital methodologies. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Geological Sciences 2019

No description available.

Even if child mortality has decreased significantly since 1990, it is still a substantial issue that is prevalent all over the world. Regional differences are significant, and Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected area. Traditionally, researchers have turned to the medical field for health-related issues. However, social, and structural factors, among them gender inequality, are also crucial in determining health and life conditions. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how intrahousehold gender inequality affects child mortality in Sierra Leone. The study was made through a cross-sectional study using data from the Sierra Leone Demographic Health Survey. A quantitative method was used, and analysis was conducted using OLS regression. In contrast to previous research, the results do not show a significant covariation between maternal education and child mortality. Likewise, paternal education and the difference in education between men and women showed no significant covariation with child mortality. However, polygyny, the number of wives and the first event of intimate partner violence were positively associated with child mortality. More studies about gender inequality in relation to child mortality should be conducted to strengthen the results and increase the knowledge and understanding of this subject.

No description available.

This thesis is composed of two chapters. Chapter one reviews what is known about adaptive plasticity in response to predators, describes the physiological systems involved in such plasticity, and outlines the evolutionary consequences of adaptive plasticity. Chapter two describes a scientific experiment that investigates how malathion may impact adaptive plasticity in the Sierran Treefrog, Pseudacris sierra. Anuran tadpoles suffer high mortality rates due to predation. In response to strong selective forces relating to these high predation rates, tadpoles evolved the ability to adaptively respond to predators through morphological and behavioral plasticity. The morphological and behavioral responses are varied and depend on the hunting strategy of the predator, and the adaptive responses may be influenced by other biotic and abiotic factors. Tadpoles detect alarm cues released from tadpoles being eaten and kairomones that are released by predators. Tadpoles respond to these signals by changing tail and body shape along with a reduction of activity level, which enables tadpoles to escape predators more effectively. These changes in morphology can occur within a week, and behavioral changes can occur within 15 minutes. The adaptive responses are critical for increasing survival rates of tadpoles to metamorphosis and may have important evolutionary consequences for anurans. Amphibians are in decline worldwide, and pollutants are considered to be a major contributor to these declines. Every year 5.2 billion pounds of active ingredients of pesticides are applied worldwide, and these application rates have led to ubiquitous low-level contamination of aquatic ecosystems. How low-level contamination of pesticides directly and indirectly affect how tadpoles respond to their predators is poorly understood. One potential indirect effect of pesticides is the inhibition of adaptive plasticity. Pesticides have been shown to modulate corticosterone levels in tadpoles. Corticosterone is the most likely mediator of the physiological response that results in adaptive morphological change. If the physiological system of tadpoles relies on corticosterone as the mediator of adaptive response, and pesticides can modulate corticosteone levels, then pesticides may inhibit or negatively impact adaptive responses to important biotic factors, like predators. Pesticides have been shown to weaken immune systems, affect developmental and physiological pathways that lead to malformations, and cause direct mortality in anurans. Little research has investigated the effect of pesticides on adaptive morphological and behavioral plasticity in response to predators. Adaptive phenotypic responses to predators increase survival rates to metamorphosis and are important in stabilizing amphibian populations through time. If pesticides influence the ecological interactions of tadpoles and their predators, this could play a part in amphibian declines. In the experiment explained in Chapter two, I tested the hypothesis that malathion at a concentration of 0.1 mg/L inhibits anti-predator morphological and behavioral responses of Pseudacris sierra to the predatory dragonfly larvae Anax junius. The results of this experiment show that malathion alone caused the tail muscle depth to increase to the same magnitude as tadpoles that only experienced a predator’s presence. Malathion also caused a significant increase in tail depth, demonstrating that malathion directly causes morphological change. The experiment did not support the hypothesis that malathion inhibits adaptive plasticity, and malathion had no impact on behavioral plasticity. The results from this experiment give evidence that an ecologically relevant concentration of malathion can influence morphological components that are critical in escaping depredation events, which could affect predator-prey interactions.