1,721,333 research outputs found
The changing face of the Channel Islands occupation
No full textMuch has been written about the Channel Islands’ Occupation. The official history was published in 1975, and a relatively honourable wartime record then seemed to be assured. However, the climate soon changed dramatically as the progressive release of previously classified files by the Public Record Office in the 1990s, acted as a catalyst for various wide-ranging criticisms – not only of the conduct of the Islands’ wartime officials, but also of the civil population. Uncomfortable questions were raised about levels of collaboration and scornful remarks made about the perceived lack of any recognisable resistance movement. The accusations were further encouraged by Madeline Bunting’s publication in 1995, and in spite of the resultant, spirited defence of their honour by various survivor-witnesses and Island Officials, associated arguments continue. This study identifies and tracks for the first time what seem to be several distinctly different periods in the evolution of the public face of the Islands’ collective memories of their ordeal. The study also seeks to remedy the claim of many survivor-witnesses: that the true story of the Occupation has never been told. New evidence from the Moscow Archives provides startling information concerning records of deaths and burials amongst the Islands’ forced workers. Previously untapped sources are also used to establish the sequence of events which culminated in the murder of three Jewish women in Auschwitz, and directly challenges accusations of the willing complicity of Island officials in precipitating their deaths. Other contentious areas discussed include: levels of privation experienced within the Islands; numbers of illegitimate children born of German fathers; and the degree of general co-operation between the Island Authorities and their foreign masters. The present study often either disputes, or refutes the wilder claims of writers who have sought to hi-jack the historiography of the period with a main eye for controversy and scandal.</p
Improving the sustainability of water use in baby leaf salad cropping systems
No full textFuture food security is under threat from both climate change and human population growth. Water scarcity is a major limitation to crop production worldwide and the effects of climate change are likely to exacerbate this. Furthermore, an ever increasing human population is driving our demand for food, fuel and fibre. In combination, climate change and population growth, and their interaction, creates a complex problem with regards to improving plant productivity with which to maintain food security. If crop production can be made more efficient, agricultural intensification can be achieved without the need to expand the world’s cropped area, which is unfeasible. Leafy salad crops are of significant nutritional value and are eaten globally, thus making them an exciting target for improving resource use efficiency in agriculture. This research focuses on water as a resource and takes two complementary approaches. Firstly, to improve the crop genetically so it produces more ‘crop per drop’ without a detrimental impact on yield. Secondly, the aim was to improve irrigation management in a commercial setting in order to use water more efficiently while attaining optimal crop yield and quality. Candidate SNPs within the lettuce genome have been elucidated which control both fresh weight and water use efficiency and these can now be used to inform a marker assisted selection breeding program. This breeding will produce a more water use efficient lettuce crop, which is not compromised in its ability to produce biomass, while also retaining the favoured traits of currently used commercial crops. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated using thermal imagery that water savings of almost 20% can be made in a commercial setting without any impact on crop yield or quality. The water savings which we have provided, if extended commercially, will confer significant savings in terms of water, waste and money
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