Geo-based technologies, tourists and bushfires in northern Australia

This paper analyses how the use of geo-based technologies can play a role in the safety of tourism operations and tourist travel — especially in the case of bushfires. The study uses data from 42 qualitative interviews with tourists, tourism operators and other stakeholders in the remote Kununurra area of Western Australia carried out in 2012 and 2013. We contend that the spatiotemporal nature of tourism has stimulated considerable development in a range of geo - based technologies. The paper argues that geo-based technologies are an integral part of fire suppression and mitigation practices, and that tourists’ familiarity with geo-based technologies makes these technologies an effective mode of fi re safety information for independent tourists, especially those travelling in remote an d regional areas of Australia. A key finding, from a thematic analysis of the data, is the importance and relevance of real - time fire warning information for tourist operators and independent tourists, along with an observation that tourists and tourism operators are particularly interested in using the new user - friendly MyFireWatch website. This finding draws a parallel with the high use of geospatial technologies in the tourism industry by both tourism operators and tourists themselves. Further, this paper also calls attention to outback tourism and the importance of a ‘loci of responsibility’ between emergency services, tourism operators and the independent tourist in times of bushfire and other emergencies in remote Australia

Impact of the Kinesiology Career Club: a TPSR-base possible futures program for youth in underserved communities

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a 10-week implementation of the Kinesiology Career Club (KCC), a TPSR-based physical activity program. The primary goal of KCC was to help youth envision and discover meaningful, positive possible futures. The program took place at a low performing inner city high school in a large metropolitan city. The participants were 14 freshmen, 14 to 15 years of age, recruited from a second period physical education class. A qualitative approach to program evaluation was used to examine the impact of KCC. Qualitative data sources included field observations, participant daily journal entries, and in-depth interviews with the participants. Results indicated that the program helped participants connect the TPSR goals of respect, effort, goal-setting, and leadership skills to their possible futures; envision and explore a career in kinesiology; and link kinesiology to their own positive possible futures. Results were mixed in demonstrating balanced hopes and fears as suggested by the theory of possible selves. This study extends the development, implementation, and research of Hellisons TPSR. While TPSR has been considered an exemplary youth development model, this study is only the second attempt with possible futures as the main emphasis (Walsh, 2008). Findings indicate that KCC is an effective TPSR program; however, it is still in its infancy and requires further research.El propósito de este trabajo es examinar la eficacia de un programa de actividad física basado en el modelo TPSR de 10 semanas de duración llevado a cabo por el Club Profesional de Kinesiologia (KCC). El objetivo prioritario del KCC es el de ayudar a los jóvenes a visualizar y descubrir futuros posibles positivos y con sentido. El programa se desarrolló en una escuela secundaria de bajo rendimiento académico del centro urbano de una gran ciudad. Los participantes fueron 14 alumnos de primer curso de secundaria (14-15 años), reclutados en la clase de EF. En la evaluación del programa, para valorar el impacto del KCC, se usó un enfoque cualitativo. Entre las fuentes de información cualitativa empleadas se encuentran las observaciones de campo, los comentarios de los participantes en sus diarios y las entrevistas en profundidad con los participantes. Los resultados indican que el programa ayudó a los participantes a conectar los objetivos del TPSR de respeto, esfuerzo, establecimiento de objetivos y cualidades de liderazgo con sus futuros posibles. Tambien muestran el desarrollo de un equilibrio entre la esperanza y el miedo, tal como sugiere la teoría de los yos posibles. Este estudio amplía el campo de implementación e investigación del modelo TPSR de Hellison. Aunque el TPSR es considerado un modelo ejemplar en el desarrollo juvenil, el presente trabajo es sólo el segundo en el que los futuros posibles (Walsh, 2008) constituyen su foco principal. Los resultados indican que el KCC es un programa eficaz de TPSR; sin embargo, está aún en sus inicios y se requiere más investigación

Notes for a Political Philosophy of Dreams: Subjectivity and Freedom of the Oniric Experience

Este artículo toma como disparador la lectura de El Tercer Reich de los sueños de Charlotte Beradt, a partir de la cual postularemos una doble hipótesis de trabajo. Por un lado, que los sueños pueden operar como “sismógrafo” captando los movimientos tectónicos de un contexto sociopolítico excepcional; por el otro, que tales sueños tienen la potencia de funcionar como una superficie en la cual se ponen en juego las posibilidades de acción del sujeto consigo mismo en relación con las prácticas de producción de subje-tividad para pensar y ejercer la libertad. Para ello, propondremos una analítica del poder en términos de un diagrama que se despliega punto por punto, aunque desigualmente, en una red de relaciones. Desde esta perspectiva, consideraremos a los sueños como hypomnemata, i.e. relatos verdaderos que contribuyen a la producción de subjetividad para pensar y ejercer la libertad. Nos ocuparemos de revisar cómo funciona esta propuesta tanto en el archivo beradtiano como en los sueños lazarianos (de prisión, concentracionarios y post-concentracionarios) que recupera Jean Cayrol en su archivo. Veremos que esta apuesta interpretativa nos permitirá pensar políticamente a los sueños incluso en los contextos más opresivos, así como también en la actual situación pandémica.This paper is triggered by the reading of Charlotte Beradt’s The Third Reich of Dreams, from which we will postulate two hypothesis. On the one hand, that dreams can operate as a “seismograph” capturing the tectonic movements of an exceptional socio-political context; on the other hand, that such dreams can function as a surface that put into play the subject’s possibilities of action to think and exercise freedom in relation to the practices of subjectivity production. To this end, we will propose an analytic of power in terms of a diagram that unfolds point by point, albeit unevenly, in a network of relations. From this perspective, we will consider dreams as hypomnemata, i.e. true narratives that contribute to the subjectivity production for thinking and exercising freedom. We will review how this proposal works both in the Beradtian archive and in the Lazarian dreams (prison, concentrationary and post-concentrationary dreams) recovered by Jean Cayrol in his archive. We will see that this interpretative approach will allow us to think dreams in political terms, even in the most oppressive contexts, as well as in the current pandemic situation.Fil: Mc Donnell, Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Sibio, David Antonio Paolo. Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentin

HIV Protective Efficacy and Correlates of Tenofovir Blood Concentrations in a Clinical Trial of PrEP for HIV Prevention

Background: Antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a novel HIV prevention strategy for which adherence is a known determinant of efficacy. Blood concentrations of PrEP medications are one objective marker of adherence. Methods: In a placebo-controlled PrEP efficacy trial of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and TDF with emtricitabine (FTC/TDF) among 4747 African women and men with an HIV-infected partner, we measured plasma tenofovir concentrations from participants in the active PrEP arms: 29 HIV seroconverters (cases) and 196 randomly selected controls who remained uninfected. Results: Among controls, 71% of visits had tenofovir concentrations >40 ng/mL, consistent with steady-state daily dosing, compared with 21% of cases at the visit HIV was first detected. Pill count data indicated that 96% of controls and 66% of cases had >80% adherence for these same visits. The estimated protective effect of PrEP against HIV, based on concentrations >40 ng/mL, was 88% (95% confidence interval: 60 to 96, P 40 ng/mL at month 1, 75% maintained this concentration at month 12. Only 5 of 29 seroconverters seemed to be consistently adherent to PrEP. Tenofovir concentrations >40 ng/mL were associated with older age and shorter time on study; concentrations ≤40 ng/mL occurred more commonly when participants reported no sex with their HIV-infected partner. Conclusions: Plasma concentrations of tenofovir consistent with daily dosing were highly predictive of protection from HIV acquisition. Most of those who took PrEP seemed to have high and consistent adherence

Adherence to Antiretroviral Prophylaxis for HIV Prevention: A Substudy Cohort within a Clinical Trial of Serodiscordant Couples in East Africa

Background: Randomized clinical trials of oral antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention have widely divergent efficacy estimates, ranging from 0% to 75%. These discrepancies are likely due to differences in adherence. To our knowledge, no studies to date have examined the impact of improving adherence through monitoring and/or intervention, which may increase PrEP efficacy, or reported on objective behavioral measures of adherence, which can inform PrEP effectiveness and implementation. Methods and Findings: Within the Partners PrEP Study (a randomized placebo-controlled trial of oral tenofovir and emtricitabine/tenofovir among HIV-uninfected members of serodiscordant couples in Kenya and Uganda), we collected objective measures of PrEP adherence using unannounced home-based pill counts and electronic pill bottle monitoring. Participants received individual and couples-based adherence counseling at PrEP initiation and throughout the study; counseling was intensified if unannounced pill count adherence fell to 80% adherence. Study limitations include potential shortcomings of the adherence measures and use of a convenience sample within the substudy cohort. Conclusions: The high PrEP adherence achieved in the setting of active adherence monitoring and counseling support was associated with a high degree of protection from HIV acquisition by the HIV-uninfected partner in heterosexual serodiscordant couples. Low PrEP adherence was associated with sexual behavior, alcohol use, younger age, and length of PrEP use. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summar

Sediment Cores from White Pond, South Carolina, contain a Platinum Anomaly, Pyrogenic Carbon Peak, and Coprophilous Spore Decline at 12.8 ka

A widespread platinum (Pt) anomaly was recently documented in Greenland ice and 11 North American sedimentary sequences at the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) event (~12,800 cal yr BP), consistent with the YD Impact Hypothesis. We report high-resolution analyses of a 1-meter section of a lake core from White Pond, South Carolina, USA. After developing a Bayesian age-depth model that brackets the late Pleistocene through early Holocene, we analyzed and quantified the following: (1) Pt and palladium (Pd) abundance, (2) geochemistry of 58 elements, (3) coprophilous spores, (4) sedimentary organic matter (OC and sedaDNA), (5) stable isotopes of C (δ13C) and N (δ15N), (6) soot, (7) aciniform carbon, (8) cryptotephra, (9) mercury (Hg), and (10) magnetic susceptibility. We identified large Pt and Pt/Pd anomalies within a 2-cm section dated to the YD onset (12,785 ± 58 cal yr BP). These anomalies precede a decline in coprophilous spores and correlate with an abrupt peak in soot and C/OC ratios, indicative of large-scale regional biomass burning. We also observed a relatively large excursion in δ15N values, indicating rapid climatic and environmental/hydrological changes at the YD onset. Our results are consistent with the YD Impact Hypothesis and impact-related environmental and ecological changes

HIV prevention trial design in an era of effective pre-exposure prophylaxis.

CAPRISA, 2017.Abstract available in pdf

Treatment as prevention: preparing the way

Potent antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces mortality and morbidity in people living with HIV by reducing viral load and allowing their immune systems to recover. The reduction in viral load soon after starting ART has led to the hypothesis that early and widespread ART could prevent onward transmission and therefore eliminate the HIV epidemic in the long term. While several authors have argued that it is feasible to use HIV treatment as prevention (TasP), provided treatment is started sufficiently early, others have reasonably drawn attention to the many operational difficulties that will need to be overcome if the strategy is to succeed in reducing HIV transmission. Furthermore, international public health policy must be based on more than theoretical studies, no matter how appealing. Community randomized controlled trials provide the gold standard for testing the extent to which early treatment reduces incidence, but much still needs to be understood and the immediate need is for operational studies to explore the practical feasibility of this approach. Here, we examine some of the issues to be addressed, the obstacles to be overcome, and strategies that may be necessary if TasP is to be effective. Studies of this kind will provide valuable information for the design of large-scale trials, as well as essential information that will be needed if early treatment is to be incorporated into public health policy

Missed Opportunities for HIV Testing and Late-Stage Diagnosis among HIV-Infected Patients in Uganda

BACKGROUND: Late diagnosis of HIV infection is a major challenge to the scale-up of HIV prevention and treatment. In 2005 Uganda adopted provider-initiated HIV testing in the health care setting to ensure earlier HIV diagnosis and linkage to care. We provided HIV testing to patients at Mulago hospital in Uganda, and performed CD4 tests to assess disease stage at diagnosis. METHODS: Patients who had never tested for HIV or tested negative over one year prior to recruitment were enrolled between May 2008 and March 2010. Participants who tested HIV positive had a blood draw for CD4. Late HIV diagnosis was defined as CD4≤250 cells/mm. Predictors of late HIV diagnosis were analyzed using multi-variable logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 1966 participants, 616 (31.3%) were HIV infected; 47.6% of these (291) had CD4 counts ≤250. Overall, 66.7% (408) of the HIV infected participants had never received care in a medical clinic. Receiving care in a non-medical setting (home, traditional healer and drug stores) had a threefold increase in the odds of late diagnosis (OR = 3.2; 95%CI: 2.1-4.9) compared to receiving no health care. CONCLUSIONS: Late HIV diagnosis remains prevalent five years after introducing provider-initiated HIV testing in Uganda. Many individuals diagnosed with advanced HIV did not have prior exposure to medical clinics and could not have benefitted from the expansion of provider initiated HIV testing within health facilities. In addition to provider-initiated testing, approaches that reach individuals using non-hospital based encounters should be expanded to ensure early HIV diagnosis