From national to regional plans – the Integrated Drought Management Programme of the Global Water Partnership for Central and Eastern Europe

AbstractIn the past few decades it has become evident that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are affected by droughts which are becoming more and more lasting and severe. The region׳s vulnerability to this natural hazard alerted the public, governments, and operational agencies to the many socio-economic problems accompanying water shortage and to the need for drought mitigation measures. In addition, climate change amplifies the frequency and severity of droughts in the region. In this context, the CEE region of the Global Water Partnership (GWP) recently launched the regional Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) as part of the global joint World Meteorological Organization (WMO)/GWP IDMP. The purpose of this paper is to present the work plan of the GWP CEE IDM Programme which is being implemented in the years 2013–2015. The planning process for this Programme carried out in 2012 included national and regional reviews of existing drought risks, policies and strategies. The programme inception phase was summarized in October 2012 by a regional workshop organized jointly by GWP and WMO, with the participation of representatives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat, the Drought Management Centre for Southeastern Europe (DMCSEE), the EU Joint Research Centre, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the European Drought Centre. The Programme was launched in February 2013 and involves more than 40 organizations from 9 CEE countries. The basic four elements of the Programme include policy advice, demonstration projects, capacity building knowledge management and regional cooperation (from national to regional plans). The major output, building upon national initiatives, shall be a coordinated regional framework for drought monitoring, early warning, prediction and management, accompanied by a set of guidelines and tools for the development of regional, national and local drought policies and plans. The proposed integrated approach will place emphasis on working with a range of stakeholders from various sectors, such as government officials, municipal and local officers, farmers, water supply operators, and others. Work will fully observe the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles which are the cornerstone of all GWP activities

Attitudes towards the implementation of universal umbilical artery lactate analysis in a South African district hospital

BACKGROUND : Of the 5.54 million stillbirths and neonatal deaths occurring globally each year, a significant amount of these occur in the setting of inadequate intrapartum care. The introduction of universal umbilical artery lactate (UA) measurements in this setting may improve outcomes by providing an objective measurement of quality of care and stimulating case reflection, audit, and practice change. It is important that consideration is given to the barriers and facilitators to implementing this tool outside of a research setting. METHODS : During the period 16/11/2014 -13/01/2015, we conducted a training course in cardiotocograph (CTG) interpretation, fetal physiology, and the sampling and analysing of UA lactate, with a pre and post questionnaire aimed at assessing the barriers and facilitators to the introduction of universal UA lactate in a district hospital in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. RESULTS : Thirty-five pre-training questionnaires available (overall response rate 95 %) and 22 post training questionnaires (response rate 63 %) were available for analysis. Prior to training, the majority gave positive responses (strongly agree or agree) that measuring UA lactate assists neonatal care, is protective for staff medicolegally, and improves opportunities for audit and teaching of maternity practice (n = 33, 30, 32; 94.4 %, 85.7 %, 91.4 % respectively). Respondents remained positive about the benefits post training. An increased workload on medical or midwifery staff was less likely to be seen as barrier following training (71 vs. 38.9 % positive response, p = 0.038). A higher rate of respondents felt that expense and lack of equipment were likely to be barriers after completing training, although this wasn’t significant. There was a trend towards lack of time and expertise being less likely to be seen as barriers post training. CONCLUSION : The majority of participants providing intrapartum care in this setting are positive about the role of universal UA lactate analysis and the potential benefits it provides. Training aids in overcoming some of the perceived barriers to implementation of universal UA lactate analysis.Emma Allanson is a PhD candidate funded by the University of Western Australia with an Australian post-graduate award, and an Athelstan and Amy Saw Medical top-up scholarship, and by the Women and Infants Research Foundation with a Gordon King doctor of philosophy scholarship.http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpregnancychildbirtham2016Obstetrics and Gynaecolog

Microbial and operational response of an anaerobic fixed bed digester to oleic acid overloads

The effect of oleic acid overloads on biomass accumulation and activity in an anaerobic filter was investigated. An anaerobic fixed-bed reactor specially designed to allow the regular withdrawal of accumulated biomass was used for that purpose. Organic and hydraulic shocks were performed during four days, by stepwise increasing the substrate concentration from 4000 to 20 000 mg COD/l or by reducing the hydraulic retention time from 16 to 3.2 h. During the organic shock, operational performance was more affected than in the hydraulic one, which was the result of the higher degree of inhibition detected in the acetoclastic, hydrogenophilic and syntrophic activities. The ratio adhered/total biomass remained between 17 and 32% during the hydraulic shock, and between 13 and 60% during the organic shock, suggesting a more stable biofilm during the hydraulic shock. A long time (900 h) after the hydraulic shock, hydrogenophilic and syntrophic activities recovered to higher values than before the shock, but after the organic shock only acetoclastic activity recovered pre-shock values. Hydraulic shock induced an increase in tolerance to oleic acid toxicity, evidenced by an increase in the toxicity limit (IC50) from 140+/-30 to 215+/-25 mg/l.Fundação de Ciência e Tecnologia

Getting it right when budgets are tight: Using optimal expansion pathways to prioritize responses to concentrated and mixed HIV epidemics.

BACKGROUND: Prioritizing investments across health interventions is complicated by the nonlinear relationship between intervention coverage and epidemiological outcomes. It can be difficult for countries to know which interventions to prioritize for greatest epidemiological impact, particularly when budgets are uncertain. METHODS: We examined four case studies of HIV epidemics in diverse settings, each with different characteristics. These case studies were based on public data available for Belarus, Peru, Togo, and Myanmar. The Optima HIV model and software package was used to estimate the optimal distribution of resources across interventions associated with a range of budget envelopes. We constructed "investment staircases", a useful tool for understanding investment priorities. These were used to estimate the best attainable cost-effectiveness of the response at each investment level. FINDINGS: We find that when budgets are very limited, the optimal HIV response consists of a smaller number of 'core' interventions. As budgets increase, those core interventions should first be scaled up, and then new interventions introduced. We estimate that the cost-effectiveness of HIV programming decreases as investment levels increase, but that the overall cost-effectiveness remains below GDP per capita. SIGNIFICANCE: It is important for HIV programming to respond effectively to the overall level of funding availability. The analytic tools presented here can help to guide program planners understand the most cost-effective HIV responses and plan for an uncertain future

Wind-Induced Vibration Energy Harvesting Using Piezoelectric Transducers Coupled with Dynamic Magnification

Flexible cylindrical structures subjected to wind loading experience vibrations from periodic shedding of vortices in their wake. Vibrations become excessive when the natural frequencies of the cylinder coincide with the vortex shedding frequency. In this study, cylinder vibrations are transmitted to a beam inside the structure via dynamic magnifier system. This system amplifies the strain experienced by piezoelectric patches bonded to the beam to maximize the conversion from vibrational energy into electrical energy. Realworld applicability is tested using a wind tunnel to create vortex shedding and comparing the results to finite element modeling that shows the structural vibrational modes. A crucial part of this study is conditioning and storing the harvested energy, focusing on theoretical modeling, design parameter optimization, and experimental validation. The developed system is helpful in designing wind-induced energy harvesters to meet the necessity for novel energy resources