•Sets out evolution of international water policy over the past three decades.•Reviews key debates on scale, participation, markets and water governance goals.•Discusses “scarcity” narratives that ...inform “universal” models of water governance.•Context-specific water governance experience challenges normative universal models.
Since the UN water conference at Mar del Plata in 1977, there have been international debates about how water governance could and should respond to the challenges of sustainable development. New global institutions were established to promote universal norms of governance based on the 1992 “Dublin Principles” and its version of “Integrated Water Resource Management” (IWRM). Many of these prescriptions were contested, not least because of their advocacy of market-based approaches to address what were posed as challenges of scarcity and environmental sustainability.
The paper examines the drivers that have informed different conceptualisations of water governance. It shows how “scarcity” has become central to narratives that sought to focus governance at the river basin scale, to restrict water use in favour of the protection and restoration of water resource ecosystems and to prioritize economic efficiency through market mechanisms. It then reviews the experience of a diverse set of countries, some of which have implemented systemic governance reforms and others whose trajectories have been more evolutionary, driven by domestic contexts.
These practical experiences, supported by a growing understanding of polycentric approaches and how networks cross and link a range of geographic and administrative scales, have given rise to alternatives to the normative IWRM, river basin-focused approaches to water governance. Despite continuing concerns about “planetary environmental boundaries” and transboundary security, these are proving to be weak motivations for adoption of formal global systems of water governance. Instead, new narratives emphasise locally-diverse approaches that see water governed within “problem-sheds” rather than “water-sheds”.
Water governance remains a scene of contestation between local and “global” criteria and developmental and environmental goals. But, in the face of challenges of complexity and diversity and the emerging understanding of network governance, emerging practitioner-oriented guidance is focusing on general principles and explicitly avoiding normative approaches.
•The South African government has been praised for its decisive and science-based response to the Covid-19 pandemic.•The paper examines the government response and whether such claims hold up to ...scrutiny.•Two frameworks are used: pandemic response as an intertemporal optimisation problem and the notion of scientism.•The sub-optimal response unnecessarily harmed development outcomes but was obscured by the state’s performance of scientism.•Illustrates the importance of policymaking processes that incorporate epistemic humility and avoid incredible certitude.
At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic South Africa was praised for decisive political leadership based on scientific advice and the strictness of the measures it imposed to limit domestic spread of the virus. This paper critically examines the South African response through two conceptual frameworks. The first frames an optimal policy response as a solution to an intertemporal welfare-optimisation problem. The need for governments to balance epidemiological considerations and public health measures with the negative consequences of non-pharmaceutical interventions to limit transmission is particularly acute in developing countries. The second considers the use of scientific evidence and expertise through the lens of scientism – undue deference to science. The South African government erred towards drastic action in the face of predictions by some scientific advisors of a catastrophe, but initially without a clear, public long-term plan. Its lockdown has caused serious economic and societal harm across a range of measures. But these costs have not been matched by proportional benefits in health system preparedness or, based on evidence three months into the epidemic, a definitive improvement in expected long-term epidemic outcomes. This failure, and the questionably confident basis for the original lockdown decision, has been obscured by the government’s performative scientism – a public performance of deference to science – even in the absence of transparent decision-making. One consequence was a slower correction of strategy than merited by evidence of limited benefits and high costs of the lockdown. Another was an unwillingness to admit and explain errors after the fact. The latter, combined with the convincingness of the initial performance undermined the behavioural dimension of policy – leading to beliefs among citizens that confounded efforts by the state to adapt its policy stance through reopening schools, reducing the stringency of clinical guidelines and resuming various economic activities while nevertheless observing basic social distancing precautions.
Introduction Les plaies de pied diabétique représentent une complication majeure du diabète par leur retentissement clinique et économique. La prise en charge en centre spécialisé est recommandée ...mais la demande difficile à satisfaire. La surveillance des plaies par télémédecine (TM) est une perspective envisagée. Patients et Méthodes Essai randomisé contrôlé monocentrique ville-CHU. Le protocole prévoyait l'inclusion de 64 patients sans artériopathie avec une plaie inférieure à 3 cm2 et une cicatrisation attendue dans les 3 mois. Les infirmières libérales des patients randomisés en TM envoyaient par Wifi, via une application dédiée et un iPod fourni, des photos et commentaires sur l'évolution de la plaie tous les 15 jours. Les patients du groupe contrôle bénéficiaient de consultations itératives mensuelles. Résultats Seuls 14 patients sur 64 ont été inclus : 9 patients dans le groupe TM et 5 patients dans le groupe contrôle. L'artériopathie ou les plaies dont l'évolution était très incertaine ont été des freins majeurs à l'inclusion. L'ergonomie imparfaite de la plateforme TM était l'autre obstacle. Deux patients du groupe TM sont sortis d'étude : changement de cabinet infirmier ( n = 1), arrêt d'essai par les infirmières pour difficultés techniques ( n = 1) On relève un décès dans le groupe TM (survenu avant le début du suivi), 2 amputations (même patient) et 2 hospitalisations dans le groupe contrôle. Quatre patients ont cicatrisé complètement : 2 dans chaque groupe. Plus de 80 % des patients étaient globalement satisfaits de la prise en charge par TM. De même pour 2/3 des infirmiers mais 1/3 d'entre eux trouvaient le temps passé excessif par rapport au bénéfice attendu. Leurs commentaires pointaient les difficultés à faire des photos de qualité. Conclusions Cet essai suggère que la télémédecine chez des patients avec des plaies de pied diabétique consultant à l'hôpital ne peut pas encore être envisagée en routine. Les indications doivent être précisées, les modalités techniques améliorées, et la formation des infirmiers libéraux renforcée.
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are widely detected in raw milk products intended for human consumption. Although STEC are a worldwide public health problem, the pathogenicity of STEC ...in cheese remains unclear. In fact, bacterial association with compounds in raw milk cheeses could reduce their pathogenicity. A previous study showed the association of 2 STEC strains with raw milk cream in a natural creaming assay. Different concentrations of each strain were required to saturate the cream. In this study, we hypothesized that all STEC strains could be associated with milk fat globules (MFG) in raw milk and that the bacterial load required for saturation of the cream is serotype dependent. We evaluated the affinity of STEC strains belonging to the O157:H7, O26:H11, and O103:H2 serotypes for bovine raw milk cream and analyzed saturation of the cream layer by natural creaming assay. We used 12 STEC strains and 3 strains belonging to another pathotype to assess the effects of serotypes on this phenomenon. We performed sucrose density gradient centrifugation assays with 2 STEC model strains to confirm the results obtained by natural creaming. The localization of STEC within MFG-enriched creams was observed by confocal and electron microscopy. We recovered approximately 10 times more STEC from the cream layer after natural creaming than from raw bovine milk. The concentration of STEC required to saturate the cream layer (the saturation concentration) was estimated for each strain by nonlinear regression, highlighting a strain and serotype effect. Moreover, the concentration of STEC in the cream was milk fat level dependent. However, even in nonsaturating conditions, a high level of STEC was still present in the aqueous phase, after fat separation. Thus, natural creaming should not be used as the sole preventive measure to remove STEC from naturally contaminated raw milk. The results of our study suggest that cream saturation is a complex mechanism, most likely involving specific interactions between STEC and raw MFG.
Adverse effects of perinatal depression on the mother–child interaction are well documented; however, the influence of maternal–fetal bonding during pregnancy on postpartum bonding has not been ...clearly identified. The subject of this study was to investigate prospectively the influence of maternal–fetal bonding and perinatal symptoms of anxiety and depression on postpartum mother–infant bonding. Data from 80 women were analyzed for associations of symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as maternal bonding during pregnancy to maternal bonding in the postpartum period using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), the Pregnancy Related Anxiety Questionnaire (PRAQ-R), the Maternal–Fetal Attachment Scale (MFAS) and the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ-16). Maternal education, MFAS, PRAQ-R, EPDS and STAI-T significantly correlated with the PBQ-16. In the final regression model, MFAS and EPDS postpartum remained significant predictors of postpartum bonding and explained 20.8 % of the variance. The results support the hypothesized negative relationship between maternal–fetal bonding and postpartum maternal bonding impairment as well as the role of postpartum depressive symptoms. Early identification of bonding impairment during pregnancy and postpartum depression in mothers plays an important role for the prevention of potential bonding impairment in the early postpartum period.
Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is the quantification and interpretation of drug concentrations in blood to optimize pharmacotherapy. It considers the interindividual variability of ...pharmacokinetics and thus enables personalized pharmacotherapy. In psychiatry and neurology, patient populations that may particularly benefit from TDM are children and adolescents, pregnant women, elderly patients, individuals with intellectual disabilities, patients with substance abuse disorders, forensic psychiatric patients or patients with known or suspected pharmacokinetic abnormalities. Non-response at therapeutic doses, uncertain drug adherence, suboptimal tolerability, or pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions are typical indications for TDM. However, the potential benefits of TDM to optimize pharmacotherapy can only be obtained if the method is adequately integrated in the clinical treatment process. To supply treating physicians and laboratories with valid information on TDM, the TDM task force of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Neuropsychopharmakologie und Pharmakopsychiatrie (AGNP) issued their first guidelines for TDM in psychiatry in 2004. After an update in 2011, it was time for the next update. Following the new guidelines holds the potential to improve neuropsychopharmacotherapy, accelerate the recovery of many patients, and reduce health care costs.
This handbook aims to provide a complete overview of modern floating-point arithmetic, including a detailed treatment of the newly revised (IEEE 754-2008) standard for floating-point arithmetic. ...Presented throughout are algorithms for implementing floating-point arithmetic as well as algorithms that use floating-point arithmetic. So that the techniques presented can be put directly into practice in actual coding or design, they are illustrated, whenever possible, by a corresponding program. Key topics and features include a presentation of the history and basic concepts of floating-point arithmetic, a development of smart and nontrivial algorithms, and algorithmic possibilities induced by the availability of a fused multiply-add (fma) instruction, implementation of floating-point arithmetic either in software-on an integer processor-or hardware, and a discussion of issues related to compilers and languages, coverage of several recent advances related to elementary functions, and extensions of floating-point arithmetic such as certification, verification, and precision. Handbook of Floating-Point Arithmetic is designed for programmers of numerical applications, compiler designers, programmers of floating-point algorithms, designers of arithmetic operators, and more generally, students and researchers in numerical analysis who wish to better understand a tool used in their daily work and research. TOC:List of Figures.- List of Tables.- Preface.- Part I. Introduction, Basic Definitions, and Standards. Introduction.- Definitions and Basic Notions.- Floating-Point Formats and Environment.- Part II. Cleverly Using Floating-Point Arithmetic. Basic Properties and Algorithms.- The Fused Multiply-Add Instructions.- Enhanced Floating-Point Sums, Dot Products, and Polynomial Values.- Languages and Compilers.- Part III. Implementing Floating-Point Operators. Algorithms for the Five Basic Operations.- Hardware Implementation of Floating-Point Arithmetic.- Software Implementation of Floating-Point Arithmetic.- Part IV. Elementary Functions. Evaluating Floating-Point Elementary Functions.- Solving the Table Maker`s Dilemma.- Part V. Extensions. Formalisms for Certifying Floating-Point Algorithms.- Extending the Precision.- Part VI. Perspectives and Appendix. Conclusion and Perspectives.- Appendix: Number Theory Tools for Floating-Point Arithmetic.- Bibliography.- Index.
•Barotropic-to-baroclinic tidal energy conversion from realistic ocean circulation model.•Study emphasizes the importance of tidal energy conversion in shallow waters.•The generation of internal ...tides poleward of the critical latitudes (sub inertial) is discussed.•Bi-decadal cycle in internal tide generation is found in the North West Pacific and Southern Ocean.
Barotropic to baroclinic tidal conversion rates and baroclinic tidal energy fluxes are derived from a high resolution ocean circulation and tide model (STORMTIDE) simulation. Two semi-diurnal (M2 and S2) and two diurnal (K1 and O1) tidal constituents are considered in the present study. The model resolves mesoscale eddies and internal tides and it is forced by a climatological forcing. It is estimated that 1.7TW of tidal energy is converted from barotropic tides into baroclinic motions. About 32% (50%) of this energy conversion occurs in shallow waters with ocean depths shallower than 1000m (2000m). The spatial patterns of tidal energy conversion and the global net conversion are consistent with previous analytical and numerical model studies and it shows that most of the energy is converted in the West Pacific. An important result from the present study is that about 30% (0.11TW) of diurnal tidal energy is converted poleward of the critical latitudes, and presumably transfered locally to turbulent mixing processes with a high efficiency. Further, a modulation function is derived from the full lunisolar tidal potential described by ephemerides, in order to allow the internal tide generation to be modulated on monthly to bi-decadal timescales. This function reproduces the modulation of the tidal constituents in real-time. The coupling of this function with the spatial conversion rates depicts the regional and temporal dependence of tidal energy conversion. In some regions the nodal cycles of semi-diurnal and diurnal tides interfere destructively (e.g. North Atlantic and South Pacific) and in others the strong diurnal nodal cycle is dominant and modulates the tidal energy conversion by 10–20% (North West Pacific and Southern Ocean). In sight of climate bi-decadal variability this approach shows that the consideration of tidal mixing parameterizations in climate models should acknowledge the spatial and temporal dependence of internal tide generation.
To better understand and quantify soiling rates on solar panels, we are investigating the adhesion mechanisms between dust particles and solar glass. In this work, we report on two of the fundamental ...adhesion mechanisms: van der Waals and capillary adhesion forces. The adhesion was determined using force versus distance (F-z) measurements performed with an atomic force microscope (AFM). To emulate dust interacting with the front surface of a solar panel, we measured how oxidized AFM tips, SiO2 glass spheres, and real dust particles adhered to actual solar glass. The van der Waals forces were evaluated by measurements performed with zero relative humidity in a glove box, and the capillary forces were measured in a stable environment created inside the AFM enclosure with relative humidity values ranging from 18% to 80%. To simulate topographic features of the solar panels caused by factors such as cleaning and abrasion, we induced different degrees of surface roughness in the solar glass. We were able to 1) identify and quantify both the van der Waals and capillary forces, 2) establish the effects of surface roughness, relative humidity, and particle size on the adhesion mechanisms, and 3) compare adhesion forces between well-controlled particles (AFM tips and glass spheres) and real dust particles.
•Determination of the initial soiling mechanisms on solar glass: van der Waals, capillary forces.•Measurements using simulated dust particles, AFM tips and glass spheres, and real dust particles.•Study of the influence of surface roughness, humidity, particle size on the soiling mechanisms.•Results explain report that hurricane-speed wind is not able to remove small particles from glass.•Theoretical model provides good agreement with the van der Waals interaction.
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