Design by Radical Indigenism: Equitable Underwater & Intertidal Technologies of the Global South

This article considers the traditional water systems of indigenous cultures and explores their innovations as unique responses to the impacts of climate change in the global south. Local communities have been living with and developing water-responsive infrastructures for generations that engage and support the complex ecosystems they inhabit. Many of these innovations improve coastal resiliency, yet remain undocumented and unexplored in the evolution of contemporary solutions. Rooted in traditional ecological knowledge, or TEK, these technologies work symbiotically with, rather than against nature, and offer examples of a more comprehensive approach to underwater and intertidal design. These innovations are Lo—TEK, a term coined by designer and author Julia Watson, that is defined as resilient infrastructures developed by indigenous people through Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) (Watson 2019). The movement to bring these innovations to the forefront of the design field counters the idea that Lo—TEK indigenous innovation is low-tech, a term often incorrectly applied to indigenous innovation that means unsophisticated, uncomplicated, and primitive. In actuality, Lo—TEK aligns to today’s sustainable values of low-energy, low-impact and low-cost, while producing complex nature-based innovations that are inherently sustainable. Lo-TEK expands the definition of contemporary technology by rebuilding our understanding of climate resilient design using indigenous knowledge and practices that are sustainable, adaptable, and borne out of necessity. Indigenous people have learned to live symbiotically with their environments, especially water. This essay will explore the Kuttanad Kayalnilam Farming System by the Malayalis in India, the Sangjiyutang Mulberry Dyke and Fish Ponds in China, and the Ramli Lagoon farms in Ghar El Melh, Tunisia. These innovations are inherently resilient to the stresses of the climate and are multi-functional, symbiotic structures themselves. While not directly intended for protection from the new challenge of sea level rise, they can inform how we can build circular water systems that work with the environment, rather than disrupting it

Preliminary selection and evaluation of fungicides and natural compounds to control grey mold disease of rose caused by Botrytis cinerea

Botrytis cinerea es un hongo patógeno de las plantas que causa la enfermedad del moho gris del rosal (Rosa indica L.). La búsqueda de estrategias de control nuevas y alternativas respetuosas con el medio ambiente, en lugar de los productos químicos peligrosos, para diferentes enfermedades de los cultivos es un paso crucial y saludable para hacer frente a los retos actuales del cambio climático. Por lo tanto, este estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar la eficacia de diferentes extractos botánicos y agentes de biocontrol (biopesticidas) junto con diferentes fungicidas contra B. cinerea en condiciones in vitro. Se utilizaron tres concentraciones diferentes, a saber, 100, 200 y 300 ppm de cinco fungicidas, a saber, Acrobate, Melody, Cabrio top, Antracol y oxicloruro de cobre, extractos botánicos de ocho plantas Dhatura, Jengibre, Aak, Neem y Cebolla, en tres dosis diferentes de 5, 10 y 15%, El estudio de la incidencia de la enfermedad% de moho gris en el cultivo de rosas en la región muestra que la región de Hyderabad tiene un máximo (60%) de incidencia de la enfermedad en comparación con la región de Tandojam (40%). Entre los fungicidas, el Cabrio top redujo significativamente el crecimiento lineal de colonias (31 mm) de B. cinerea a una concentración de 300 ppm. Entre los productos botánicos, el extracto de la planta de neem mostró significativamente el menor crecimiento de colonias (23,33 mm), seguido de la planta de jengibre (25 mm) y la planta de dhatura (26 mm). La mayor concentración de fungicidas y las dosis más altas (15%) de extractos botánicos resultaron significativamente eficaces para controlar el patógeno B. cinerea. Among biopesticides, Fusarium solani appeared prominent in reducing colony growth (25.16 mm) of the pathogen but the difference was not significant 300 with most of the tested biocontrol agents. La recomendación en este estudio es la alta capacidad de los extractos botánicos y agentes de biocontrol en la reducción del crecimiento de moho gris, considerando potencialmente su uso en lugar de fungicidas sintéticos y mayor seguridad para el ecosistema.Campus Ic

Causes and differentials of childhood mortality in Iraq

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Limited information is available in Iraq regarding the causes of under-five mortality. The vital registration system is deficient in its coverage, particularly from rural areas where access to health services is limited and most deaths occur at home, i.e. outside the health system, and hence the cause of death goes unreported. Knowledge of patterns and trends in causes of under-five mortality is essential for decision-makers in assessing programmatic needs, prioritizing interventions, and monitoring progress. The aim of this study was to identify causes of under-five children deaths using a simplified verbal autopsy questionnaire.</p> <p>The objective was to define the leading symptoms and cause of death among Iraqi children from all regions of Iraq during 1994–1999.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To determine the cause structure of child deaths, a simplified verbal autopsy questionnaire was used in interviews conducted in the Iraqi Child & Maternal Mortality Survey (ICMMS) 1999 national sample. All the mothers/caregivers of the deceased children were asked open-ended questions about the symptoms within the two weeks preceding death; they could mention more than one symptom.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The leading cause of death among under-five children was found to be childhood illnesses in 81.2%, followed by sudden death in 8.9% and accidents in 3.3%. Among under-five children dying of illnesses, cough and difficulty in breathing were the main symptoms preceding death in 34.0%, followed by diarrhea in 24.4%. Among neonates the leading cause was cough/and or difficulty in breathing in 42.3%, followed by sudden death in 11.9%, congenital abnormalities in 10.3% and prematurity in 10.2%. Diarrhea was the leading cause of death among infants in 49.8%, followed by cough and/or difficulty in breathing in 26.6%. Among children 12–59 months diarrhea was the leading cause of death in 43.4%, followed by accidents, injuries, and poisoning in 19.3%, then cough/difficulty in breathing in 14.8%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Iraq Under-five child mortality is one of the highest in the Middle East region; deaths during the neonatal period accounted for more than half of under-five children deaths highlighting an urgent need to introduce health interventions to improve essential neonatal care. Priority needs to be given to the prevention, early and effective treatment of neonatal conditions, diarrheal diseases, acute respiratory infections, and accidents. This study points to the need for further standardized assessments of under-5 mortality in Iraq.</p

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Land can sometimes be water: Bridging the dichotomy between land and water through amphibious landscapes

In an excerpt from the fictional work “Waterland” (Swift, 1992), the narrator labels water as “Nothing,” implying land and humans as “Something.” This was more of a philosophical expression that can alternatively be inferred from the real-world processes like land reclamation. Land was always associated with value, stability, certainty and utility in contrast to water. Subsequently, early civilizations and modern-day habitations fundamentally removed or controlled water. However, the traditional water systems did this in a more sustainable fashion. Here, water management was a unit of cultural expression of the site-specific challenges faced by people, be it in terms of topography, climate or social hierarchy. One such traditional water system, where land and water assumed identities of being something and nothing respectively is the “Kuttanad Kayalnilam Farming System”: a long-established land-water utilization system that practices paddy farming below sea level for more than a century now in Kerala, India. Positioned at the mouth of a delta, this agrarian landscape deals with the threat of periodically fluctuating water levels resulting in seasonal flooding which adversely influences the livelihood of the inhabitants. Taking the case of the Kuttanad deltaic landscape, this thesis brings to the foreground, a radical departure from the tenets of classical terrestrial centric approaches in geography and landscape architecture for creating a flexible landscape by redefining the relationship between land and water in order to improve the quality of life and space in the delta. The new fluid geographical approach was based on a systematic understanding of the amphibious qualities embedded in the site context through a four-lens approach. The lenses being volatility, hydro-sociality, rhythm and wetness, and reflect respectively: radical emergence of lives and landscapes, the mutual implications of social life and water flows, the pulsating temporality in hydro-social relations and the materialization of water in everyday life (Krause, 2017). Together these lenses led to a site-specific spatial framework for enhancing the amphibious value of landscapes. In the specific case of Kuttanad, this called for a revival of the indigenous relationship between land and water which can be accomplished by moderately restoring the cyclical movement of salt and water. This radical change is envisioned over a large time frame by means of a slow landscape architectural process where nature and humans evolve and adapt to the cycle of salt and water. Furthermore, an adaptive design calendar or water calendar was formulated to guide this slow landscape transformation. The water calendar is a very site-specific tool that can be used for both visual communication and decision making regarding the function, quality and diversity of space and life in a flexible landscape operating within the spatio-temporal context of any deltaic region. Ultimately, it will guide to gradually build a complex narrative of how humans and nature exchange roles between being makers and takers of the landscape over time. On the other hand, the role of the landscape architect is to facilitate this narrative by envisioning a slow landscape architectonic transformation. On the whole, this is a generic approach that can be applied to any other delta facing similar challenges and can be a model for the future direction of flexible and resilient landscapes.Flowscapes Landscape ArchitectureArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Landscape Architectur