Genomic epidemiology of multidrug‐resistant Gram‐negative organisms

The emergence and spread of antibiotic‐resistant Gram‐negative bacteria (rGNB) across global healthcare networks presents a significant threat to public health. As the number of effective antibiotics available to treat these resistant organisms dwindles, it is essential that we devise more effective strategies for controlling their proliferation. Recently, whole‐genome sequencing has emerged as a disruptive technology that has transformed our understanding of the evolution and epidemiology of diverse rGNB species, and it has the potential to guide strategies for controlling the evolution and spread of resistance. Here, we review specific areas in which genomics has already made a significant impact, including outbreak investigations, regional epidemiology, clinical diagnostics, resistance evolution, and the study of epidemic lineages. While highlighting early successes, we also point to the next steps needed to translate this technology into strategies to improve public health and clinical medicine.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147016/1/nyas13672.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147016/2/nyas13672_am.pd

Changes in land use and land cover in cities of the global south - patterns and driving forces

EditorialThis special issue of Environment and Urbanization ASIA on ‘Changes in Land Use and Land Cover in Cities of the Global South—Patterns and Driving Forces’ comes at an important time in the transition of cities in the global south around the world. Within Asia, emerging urban centres have fundamentally changed the regional landscape and it is an appropriate time to both visualize this dramatic transformation and to take stock of the drivers and forces that have shaped it. This special issue departs from Environment and Urbanization ASIA’s usual focus on Asia to consider the potential for knowledge transfer between urbanizing cities in Asia and Africa. The UN’s World Urbanization Prospects (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs & Population Division, 2019, p. 1) projects that between 2018 and 2050 the global urban population will grow by 2.5 billion urban dwellers, with almost 90% of this increase located in Asia and Africa.Scott Hawke

Using Scenario Planning to Enhance Coastal Resilience to Climate Change: Community Futures in the Estuarine Landscapes of Brisbane Water, Central Coast, Australia

Local governments face daunting urban planning challenges in the face of rapid population growth, increasing demand for affordable housing and climate change and divergent community perceptions. There is currently insufficient action to meet these formidable and dynamic challenges. Greater know-how and capacity development need to be invested in local planning and political authorities to promote knowledge-based action. More than two thirds of Australians reside along the coastal cities with over 15 million addresses across 544 local government areas at risk from coastal hazards from 2020 onwards (XDI, 2019). This makes it an urgent priority for local government to fast track adaptation planning for its residents in the low-lying hazard prone areas as well as Council services and infrastructure. In 2019, UNSW students from the Master of Urban Development and Design and Master of Landscape Architecture programs addressed these challenges within a design studio environment. In the studio they developed strategies for urban resilience for a network of five communities surrounding the Brisbane Waters on the Central Coast. The studio adopted an urban scenario planning approach using open source data and on-the-ground evidence to develop diverse community resilience strategies. For each community three scenarios were developed to test alternative urban design strategies and provide insight on possible contrasting futures. This paper demonstrates the benefit of evidence-based scenario planning for local authorities. Such approaches contextualise complex abstract problems and provide new insights for local climate adaptation in accessible and transparent ways. This proactive approach emphasises the need to build the urban design and planning capabilities of local authorities to enhance coastal adaption and resilience to climate change.A. V. Mirti, and S. Hawke

A long-term archaeological reappraisal of low-density urbanism: Implications for contemporary cities

Dispersed, low-density urbanism has conventionally been considered as a unique consequence of industrialization and factors such as mechanized transport. Pre-industrial urbanism by contrast, has been perceived almost entirely in terms of compact densely inhabited cities with a strong differentiation between an urban and a rural populace. Evidence demonstrates, low-density settlements were a notable feature of the agrarian-urban world, especially in the tropics, and have been a characteristic of every known socio-economic system used by Homo sapiens. This paper situates past examples of large, low-density, dispersed urban settlements, with their long histories and their distinct patterns of growth and demise, in relation to contemporary low-density cities. This critical reappraisal of low-density, dispersed cities in the context of a long and culturally diverse urban past is signi­cant for addressing urban sustainability challenges.Scott Hawken and Roland Fletche

Climate-Related Sea Level Rise and Coastal Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure Futures: Landscape Planning Scenarios for Negotiating Risks and Opportunities in Australian Urban Areas

Around the world, human populations and their supporting infrastructures are concentrated in coastal areas. With rising sea levels, these settlements and urban infrastructures are at risk of service interruptions, lasting damage and frequent climate-related hazards. Wastewater systems are especially vulnerable due to their proximity to coastlines. Despite the seriousness of sea-levelrise-induced challenges, a clear understanding of the risks and potential adaptations of coastal wastewater treatment systems and their associated landscapes in Australia has been overlooked. Further, there is a lack of urgency and awareness concerning this issue. In this study, we consider how scenario-based landscape design approaches might enhance current debates and approaches related to coastal change with particular reference to wastewater treatment systems and associated environmental landscapes. Adelaide is used as a case study, and a range of landscape planning exploratory scenarios are developed and evaluated to assess the possible consequences of different courses of action in uncertain contexts. We find that whilst wastewater treatment plants are threatened by climate-related hazards, there is an opportunity for landscape-scale environmental planning to manage risks and opportunities and improve ecological and economic outcomes. We also find that for wicked multidimensional problems, such as sea level rise, landscape scenario design testing can assist in identifying a number of creative adaptation approaches that are not immediately apparent. We find that approaches such as retreat, defense and accommodation are not mutually exclusive but can each share elements and strategies. The strategic potential of a more creative, scenario-based approach can therefore form a productive part of the sea level rise adaptation of coastal infrastructure landscapes in Australia and elsewhere.Kaihang Zhou, and Scott Hawke

The SDGs, Ecosystem Services and Cities: a network analysis of current research innovation for implementing urban sustainability

Ecosystem services are essential for cities and are key factors in achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Such services are best delivered through green infrastructure, which works in resourceful, multifunctional, synergistic, and environmentally sensitive ways to deliver ecosystem services and provide alternative cleaner pathways for the delivery of multiple urban services. It is unclear if current research supports the necessary linkages between ecosystem services, cities, and green infrastructure in order to achieve the SDGs. To answer this question, we conducted a systematic review analysing 3392 studies on the SDGs from the WoS database. The contents of 66 of those with relevance to ecosystem services and urban research were reviewed in depth. We applied network-analytic methods to map the relationships of different knowledge clusters of SDGs research (1) across time, (2) across disciplines, and (3) in relation to ecosystem services and cities. The results of our analysis show that research on the SDGs have developed stronger networks from 2010–2018, but this research has not been sustained. Further, whilst research on cities now occupies a central place in the SDGs literature, research on ecosystem services only shows tentative links to both green-infrastructure research and SDGs research. Such literature on urban green infrastructure remains peripheral to the central challenge of sustainable urban transitions. We conclude that when it comes to the SDGs, research articles typically consider urban services independently of green infrastructure. Further, it suggests that green infrastructure is not generally considered as a sustainable alternative to conventional urban infrastructures. To address this serious shortcoming, we recommend transdisciplinary approaches to link urban ecosystem and urban green infrastructure research to the 2030 global sustainability agenda.Scott Hawken, Homa Rahmat, Samad M. E. Sepasgozar, and Kefeng Zhan

Dynamic Neuromuscular Control of the Lower Limbs in Response to Unexpected Single-Planar versus Multi-Planar Support Perturbations in Young, Active Adults.

PURPOSE: An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury involves a multi-planar injury mechanism. Nevertheless, unexpected multi-planar perturbations have not been used to screen athletes in the context of ACL injury prevention yet could reveal those more at risk. The objective of this study was to compare neuromuscular responses to multi-planar (MPP) and single-planar perturbations (SPP) during a stepping-down task. These results might serve as a basis for future implementation of external perturbations in ACL injury screening programs. METHODS: Thirteen young adults performed a single leg stepping-down task in eight conditions (four MPP and four SPP with a specified amplitude and velocity). The amplitudes of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), hamstrings lateralis (HL), hamstrings medialis (HM) EMG activity, medio-lateral and anterior-posterior centre of mass (COM) displacements, the peak knee flexion and abduction angles were compared between conditions using an one-way ANOVA. Number of stepping responses were monitored during all conditions. RESULTS: Significantly greater muscle activity levels were found in response to the more challenging MPP and SPP compared to the less challenging conditions (p < 0.05). No differences in neuromuscular activity were found between the MPP conditions and their equivalents in the SPP. Eighteen stepping responses were monitored in the SPP versus nine in the MPP indicating that the overall neuromuscular control was even more challenged during the SPP which was supported by greater COM displacements in the SPP. CONCLUSION: The more intense MPP and SPP evoked different neuromuscular responses resulting in greater muscle activity levels compared to small perturbations. Based on the results of COM displacements and based on the amount of stepping responses, dynamic neuromuscular control of the knee joint appeared less challenged during the MPP. Therefore, future work should investigate extensively if other neuromuscular differences (i.e. co-activation patterns and kinetics) exist between MPP and SPP. In addition, future work should examine the influence on the neuromuscular control of the magnitude of the perturbations and the magnitude of stepping height and stepping distance

Beyond the Backyard: GIS Analysis of Public Green Space Accessibility in Australian Metropolitan Areas

Published: 14 April 2022During times of stress and social pressure, urban green space provides social, cultural, and economic resources that help individuals and communities cope. Green space accessibility is, therefore, an important indicator related to people’s health and welfare. However, green space accessibility is not even throughout urban areas, with some areas better served with green space than others. Green space patterning is, therefore, a major environmental justice challenge. This research uses GIS approaches to analyze and understand urban green space access of urban communities in the Australian metropolitan areas of Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. We calculate indicators to describe green space access in relation to different green space patterns within different metropolitan zones, including the inner urban, suburban, and peri urban. We use the best available open data from the Australian census of 2017 to calculate green space accessibility. Our results describe the relationship between population density and green space distribution and patterning in the four metropolitan areas. We find that even cities which are generally thought of as liveable have considerable environmental justice challenges and inequity and must improve green space access to address environmental inequity. We also find that a range type of measures can be used to better understand green space accessibility. Accessibility varies greatly both within metropolitan areas and also from city to city. Through improving our understanding of the green space accessibility characteristics of Australian metropolitan areas, the result of this study supports the future planning of more just and equal green cities.Yi-Ya Hsu, Scott Hawken, Samad Sepasgozar and Zih-Hong Li

Scenario-Based Thinking to Negotiate Coastal Squeeze of Ecosystems: Green, blue, grey, and hybrid infrastructures for climate adaptation and resilience

Scott Hawken, Kaihang Zhou, Luke Mosley and Emily Leyde