Climate Science, Development Practice, and Policy Interactions in Dryland Agroecological Systems

The literature on drought, livelihoods, and poverty suggests that dryland residents are especially vulnerable to climate change. However, assessing this vulnerability and sharing lessons between dryland communities on how to reduce vulnerability has proven difficult because of multiple definitions of vulnerability, complexities in quantification, and the temporal and spatial variability inherent in dryland agroecological systems. In this closing editorial, we review how we have addressed these challenges through a series of structured, multiscale, and interdisciplinary vulnerability assessment case studies from drylands in West Africa, southern Africa, Mediterranean Europe, Asia, and Latin America. These case studies adopt a common vulnerability framework but employ different approaches to measuring and assessing vulnerability. By comparing methods and results across these cases, we draw out the following key lessons: (1) Our studies show the utility of using consistent conceptual frameworks for vulnerability assessments even when quite different methodological approaches are taken; (2) Utilizing narratives and scenarios to capture the dynamics of dryland agroecological systems shows that vulnerability to climate change may depend more on access to financial, political, and institutional assets than to exposure to environmental change; (3) Our analysis shows that although the results of quantitative models seem authoritative, they may be treated too literally as predictions of the future by policy makers looking for evidence to support different strategies. In conclusion, we acknowledge there is a healthy tension between bottom-up/ qualitative/place-based approaches and top-down/quantitative/generalizable approaches, and we encourage researchers from different disciplines with different disciplinary languages, to talk, collaborate, and engage effectively with each other and with stakeholders at all levels

Género y Agricultura en el Perú: Inclusión de intereses y necesidades de hombres y mujeres en la formulación de políticas públicas

Perú tiene una población de treinta millones de personas de las que el 22% vive en zonas rurales. Mujeres y hombres juegan roles esenciales en el ámbito rural del país pues ambos son productores, administradores de recursos, garantes de la seguridad alimentaria, tomadores de decisión y cuidadores de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, las mujeres rurales no tienen el mismo acceso a recursos productivos y a espacios de toma de decisiones que los hombres, lo que implica una brecha de género en la producción. Si las mujeres tuvieran el mismo acceso a los recursos, se reduciría entre un 12 y un 17% el número de personas que no logran satisfacer sus necesidades alimentarias básicas. El género se refiere a roles, responsabilidades, derechos, relaciones e identidades de hombres y mujeres que se definen o atribuyen dentro de una sociedad. En este documento en particular, se hará referencia a las relaciones de género en contextos rurales productivos, es decir, a cómo hombres y mujeres se relacionan en el hogar, en la producción agropecuaria, en el acceso y administración de los recursos y en los procesos de toma de decisión

Integración de género en políticas de agricultura, seguridad alimentaria y cambio climático: el caso de Guatemala

La integración de la perspectiva de género en las políticas es fundamental para alcanzar objetivos de desarrollo nacionales y abordar retos como el cambio climático (CC) y la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición (SAN). Dentro del proyecto CCAFS FP1 LAM, analizamos en qué medida el género está incluido en las políticas de CC y SAN de Guatemala. Utilizamos la metodología desarrollada en el informe "Gender integration in agriculture, food security and climate change policy: a framework proposal" (Integración de la perspectiva de género en laagricultura, la seguridad alimentaria y las políticas sobre el cambio climático: una propuesta marco); la cual incluye análisis de narrativas y de documentos. Resultados muestran que a pesar de que Guatemala ha firmado múltiples compromisos internacionales en temas de género, son poco mencionado en documentes de políticas. A nivel de gobierno, se han creado unidades sectoriales, así como una secretaria presidencial de género que tienen pocas capacidades. Existen políticas de género, pero poco se incluye del tema dentro de las políticas sectoriales. A nivel de ciclo de política (de la elaboración al monitoreo y evaluación), si las mujeres con reconocidas como una población más vulnerable, son poco incluida en políticas de SAN y CC. Existen múltiples barreras, ubicadas a diferentes niveles que explica a la falta de integración de género en el ciclo de políticas. Actores entrevistados identificaron más barreras que soluciones frente a esta situación. Las barreras que logran más consenso entre los actores entrevistados se relacionan con (1) racismo, machismo, conservatismo, (2) la falta de presupuesto público y (3) la falta de sensibilización. Contra narrativas permiten ver motivaciones de actores que no tienen interés en hacer avanzar el tema de género en el país.The integration of the gender perspective into policies is essential to achieve national development goals and address challenges such as climate change (CC) and food security and nutrition (SAN). Within the CCAFS FP1 LAM project, we analyze to what extent gender is included in the CC and SAN policies of Guatemala. We use the methodology developed in the report "Gender integration in agriculture, food security and climate change policy: a framework proposal"; which includes analysis of narratives and documents. Results show that although Guatemala has signed multiple international commitments on gender issues, they are little mentioned in policy documents. At the government level, sectoral units have been created, as well as a gender presidential secretary who has few capacities. There are gender policies, but little is included in the topic within sectoral policies. At the policy cycle level (from development to monitoring and evaluation), if women were recognized as a more vulnerable population, are little included in SAN and CC policies. There are multiple barriers, located at different levels that explain the lack of gender integration in the policy cycle. The actors interviewed identified more barriers than solutions to this situation. The barriers that achieve the most consensus among the interviewed actors are related to (1) racism, sexism, conservatism, (2) lack of public budget and (3) lack of awareness. Against narratives, they allow seeing motivations of actors who have no interest in advancing the gender issue in the country

Integración de género en políticas de agricultura, seguridad alimentaria y cambio climático: el caso de Guatemala

La integración de la perspectiva de género en las políticas es fundamental para alcanzar objetivos de desarrollo nacionales y abordar retos como el cambio climático (CC) y la seguridad alimentaria y la nutrición (SAN). Dentro del proyecto CCAFS FP1 LAM, analizamos en qué medida el género está incluido en las políticas de CC y SAN de Guatemala. Utilizamos la metodología desarrollada en el informe "Gender integration in agriculture, food security and climate change policy: a framework proposal" (Integración de la perspectiva de género en laagricultura, la seguridad alimentaria y las políticas sobre el cambio climático: una propuesta marco); la cual incluye análisis de narrativas y de documentos. Resultados muestran que a pesar de que Guatemala ha firmado múltiples compromisos internacionales en temas de género, son poco mencionado en documentes de políticas. A nivel de gobierno, se han creado unidades sectoriales, así como una secretaria presidencial de género que tienen pocas capacidades. Existen políticas de género, pero poco se incluye del tema dentro de las políticas sectoriales. A nivel de ciclo de política (de la elaboración al monitoreo y evaluación), si las mujeres con reconocidas como una población más vulnerable, son poco incluida en políticas de SAN y CC. Existen múltiples barreras, ubicadas a diferentes niveles que explica a la falta de integración de género en el ciclo de políticas. Actores entrevistados identificaron más barreras que soluciones frente a esta situación. Las barreras que logran más consenso entre los actores entrevistados se relacionan con (1) racismo, machismo, conservatismo, (2) la falta de presupuesto público y (3) la falta de sensibilización. Contra narrativas permiten ver motivaciones de actores que no tienen interés en hacer avanzar el tema de género en el país.The integration of the gender perspective into policies is essential to achieve national development goals and address challenges such as climate change (CC) and food security and nutrition (SAN). Within the CCAFS FP1 LAM project, we analyze to what extent gender is included in the CC and SAN policies of Guatemala. We use the methodology developed in the report "Gender integration in agriculture, food security and climate change policy: a framework proposal"; which includes analysis of narratives and documents. Results show that although Guatemala has signed multiple international commitments on gender issues, they are little mentioned in policy documents. At the government level, sectoral units have been created, as well as a gender presidential secretary who has few capacities. There are gender policies, but little is included in the topic within sectoral policies. At the policy cycle level (from development to monitoring and evaluation), if women were recognized as a more vulnerable population, are little included in SAN and CC policies. There are multiple barriers, located at different levels that explain the lack of gender integration in the policy cycle. The actors interviewed identified more barriers than solutions to this situation. The barriers that achieve the most consensus among the interviewed actors are related to (1) racism, sexism, conservatism, (2) lack of public budget and (3) lack of awareness. Against narratives, they allow seeing motivations of actors who have no interest in advancing the gender issue in the country

Conformal Radiotherapy Facilitates the Delivery of Concurrent Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy: A Case of Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour of the Chest Wall

We illustrate the principle of conformal radiotherapy by discussing the case of a patient with a primitive neuroectodermal tumour of the chest wall. Recent advances in radiotherapy planning enable precise localization of the planning target volume (PTV) and normal organs at risk of irradiation. Customized blocks are subsequently designed to produce a treatment field that ‘conforms’ to the PTV. The use of conformal radiotherapy (CRT) in this case facilitated the delivery of concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy by significantly reducing the volume of red marrow irradiated.The lack of acute and late toxicities was attributed to optimal exclusion of normal tissues from the treatment field, made possible by CRT

Post-Operative Radiotherapy for Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Anterior Compartment of the Thigh: Should the Sartorius Muscle be Included?

Purpose: The clinical target volume (CTV) of post-operative radiotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma of the limbs conventionally includes the whole of the transverse cross-section of the affected anatomical compartment. In the anterior thigh sartorius appears to lie within its own fascial compartment and can be safely excluded. We investigated the potential impact of omitting sartorius from the anterior muscle compartment on patients with soft tissue sarcoma of the thigh

Інформаційне законодавство. Основні нормативні акти

Наведено основні нормативні акти з регулювання інформаційних відносин, зокрема, у сфері інформації, інформаційних агентств, телекомунікації, радіочастотного ресурсу України, інформатизації, телебачення тощо. Розраховано на студентів, які здобувають вищу освіту в галузях знань "Право", "Інформаційна безпека", "Комп'ютерні науки", "Телекомунікації"

Black Lives Matter in Wikipedia: Collaboration and Collective Memory around Online Social Movements

Social movements use social computing systems to complement offline mobilizations, but prior literature has focused almost exclusively on movement actors’ use of social media. In this paper, we analyze participation and attention to topics connected with the Black Lives Matter movement in the English language version of Wikipedia between 2014 and 2016. Our results point to the use of Wikipedia to (1) intensively document and connect historical and contemporary events, (2) collaboratively migrate activity to support coverage of new events, and (3) dynamically re-appraise preexisting knowledge in the aftermath of new events. These findings reveal patterns of behavior that complement theories of collective memory and collective action and help explain how social computing systems can encode and retrieve knowledge about social movements as they unfold

Implementation of hand hygiene in health-care facilities: results from the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework global survey 2019

Background Hand hygiene is at the core of effective infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes. 10 years after the development of the WHO Multimodal Hand Hygiene Improvement Strategy, we aimed to ascertain the level of hand hygiene implementation and its drivers in health-care facilities through a global WHO survey. Methods From Jan 16 to Dec 31, 2019, IPC professionals were invited through email and campaigns to complete the online Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HHSAF). A geospatial clustering algorithm selected unique health-care facilities responses and post-stratification weighting was applied to improve representativeness. Weighted median HHSAF scores and IQR were reported. Drivers of the HHSAF score were determined through a generalised estimation equation. Findings 3206 unique responses from 90 countries (46% WHO Member States) were included. The HHSAF score indicated an intermediate hand hygiene implementation level (350 points, IQR 248–430), which was positively associated with country income level and health-care facility funding structure. System Change had the highest score (85 points, IQR 55–100), whereby alcohol-based hand rub at the point of care has become standard practice in many health-care facilities, especially in high-income countries. Institutional Safety Climate had the lowest score (55 points, IQR 35–75). From 2015 to 2019, the median HHSAF score in health-care facilities participating in both HHSAF surveys (n=190) stagnated. Interpretation Most health-care facilities had an intermediate level of hand hygiene implementation or higher, for which health-care facility funding and country income level were important drivers. Availability of resources, leadership, and organisational support are key elements to further improve quality of care and provide access to safe care for all.Peer Reviewe

Incorporating the gender dimension on the use of rice technologies in Latin America

A presentation on the role of men and women in rice in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. In collaboration with the CGIAR Research Program on Rice