Assessment of Characteristics and Conditions before the End of Lockdown

After months of blockades and restriction, the decision of the best time to end the lockdown after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is the big question for health rectors. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics and conditions for ending the blockade after the first wave of COVID-19. Data on the variables of interest were subjected to linear and non-linear regression studies to determine the curve that best explains the data. The coefficient of determination, the standard deviation of y in x, and the observed curve of the confidence interval were estimated. Regression which was estimated subsequently revealed the trend curve. The study found that all dependent variables tend to decrease over time in a quadratic fashion, except for the variable for new cases. In general, the R2 and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) estimates were satisfactory: gradual and cautious steps should be taken before ending the lockdown. The results suggested that a surveillance of crucial indicators (e.g., incidence, prevalence, and PCR test positivity) should be maintained before lockdown is terminated. Moreover, the findings indicated that long-term preparations should be made to contain future waves of new cases

Higher cost of finance exacerbates a climate investment trap in developing economies

Finance is vital for the green energy transition, but access to low cost finance is uneven as the cost of capital differs substantially between regions. This study shows how modelled decarbonisation pathways for developing economies are disproportionately impacted by different weighted average cost of capital (WACC) assumptions. For example, representing regionally-specific WACC values indicates 35% lower green electricity production in Africa for a cost-optimal 2 °C pathway than when regional considerations are ignored. Moreover, policy interventions lowering WACC values for low-carbon and high-carbon technologies by 2050 would allow Africa to reach net-zero emissions approximately 10 years earlier than when the cost of capital reduction is not considered. A climate investment trap arises for developing economies when climate-related investments remain chronically insufficient. Current finance frameworks present barriers to these finance flows and radical changes are needed so that capital is more equitably distributed

The opportunity for smart city projects at municipal scale: Implementing a positive energy district in Zorrozaurre

The urgency of climate change is demanding new urban energy transition processes that will be accelerated by the implementation of innovative urban solutions. This paper proposes a three-step methodology to encompass the energy transition in cities. Firstly, the design of urban spaces in accordance to Positive Energy District (PED) concept is defining a very ambitious objective that will lead the development and implementation of innovative urban approaches. Secondly, the implementation of Urban City Labs is proposed for testing and demonstrating urban innovations at real scale as reasonable approach for consolidated urban landscapes. Thirdly, energy transition is demanding new governance mechanisms where top-down and bottom-up perspectives are continually combined and harmonized. ATELIER H2020 is accelerating the demonstration of this methodology at the recently defined PED in Zorrozaurre (Bilbao, Basque Country)

Declínio de empatia e formação de estudantes de enfermagem

Indexación: Scopus.Objective: The objective of this article is to examine whether the levels of empathy fit the concept of empathic decline. Method: This was a non-experimental and cross-sectional study. Two populations of nursing students in two nursing programs were studied: Universidad San Sebastián (Santiago, Chile) and Universidad Mayor (Temuco, Chile). The original data on empathy, assessed by the Jeferson Scale of Empathy, were combined into a single data base. They were then analyzed by means of normality tests and homoscedasticity, Cronbach’s alpha, analysis of variance; the standard deviation of the dependent outcome measure (Sy.x) and the coefficient of determination (R2) were estimated. Results: The sample sizes from the two programs were 479 and 277, respectively. It was found that the distributions of the averages over the course of study for empathy (and its components) were constant, and in some cases increased. Conclusion: It was found that the distribution of the means of empathy in the nursing students analyzed did not conform to the classical empathic decline observed in other studies. Therefore, it is inferred that the traditional factors identified as causes of empathic erosion were not operating in the same way in the studied context.https://www.scielo.br/j/reeusp/a/YPfy3YRCCXwv7z8VPNZXjns/?lang=e

Multi-scale feedback and feeding in the closest radio galaxy Centaurus A

Supermassive black holes and supernova explosions at the centres of active galaxies power cycles of outflowing and inflowing gas that affect galactic evolution and the overall structure of the Universe(1,2). While simulations and observations show that this must be the case, the range of physical scales (over ten orders of magnitude) and paucity of available tracers make both the simulation and observation of these effects difficult(3,4). By serendipity, there lies an active galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128)(5,6), at such a close proximity as to allow its observation over this entire range of scales and across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. In the radio band, however, details on scales of 10-100 kpc from the supermassive black hole have so far been obscured by instrumental limitations(7,8). Here we report low-frequency radio observations that overcome these limitations and show evidence for a broad, bipolar outflow with velocity of 1,100 km s(-1) and mass-outflow rate of 2.9 M-circle dot yr(-1) on these scales. We combine our data with the plethora of multiscale, multi-wavelength, historical observations of Centaurus A to probe a unified view of feeding and feedback, which we show to be consistent with the chaotic cold accretion self-regulation scenario(9,10)

Climate and southern Africa's water-energy-food nexus

In southern Africa, the connections between climate and the water-energy-food nexus are strong. Physical and socioeconomic exposure to climate is high in many areas and in crucial economic sectors. Spatial interdependence is also high, driven for example, by the regional extent of many climate anomalies and river basins and aquifers that span national boundaries. There is now strong evidence of the effects of individual climate anomalies, but associations between national rainfall and Gross Domestic Product and crop production remain relatively weak. The majority of climate models project decreases in annual precipitation for southern Africa, typically by as much as 20% by the 2080s. Impact models suggest these changes would propagate into reduced water availability and crop yields. Recognition of spatial and sectoral interdependencies should inform policies, institutions and investments for enhancing water, energy and food security. Three key political and economic instruments could be strengthened for this purpose; the Southern African Development Community, the Southern African Power Pool, and trade of agricultural products amounting to significant transfers of embedded water

The Deepest Chandra View of RBS 797: Evidence for Two Pairs of Equidistant X-ray Cavities

We present the first results of a deep Chandra observation of the galaxy cluster RBS 797 whose previous X-ray studies revealed two pronounced X-ray cavities in the east-west (E-W) direction. Follow-up VLA radio observations of the central active galactic nucleus (AGN) uncovered different jet and lobe orientations, with radio lobes filling the E-W cavities and perpendicular jets showing emission in the north-south (N-S) direction over the same scale (≍30 kpc). With the new ~427 ks total exposure, we report the detection of two additional, symmetric X-ray cavities in the N-S direction at nearly the same radial distance as the E-W ones. The newly discovered N-S cavities are associated with the radio emission detected at 1.4 and 4.8 GHz in archival VLA data, making RBS 797 the first galaxy cluster found to have four equidistant, centrally symmetric, radio-filled cavities. We derive the dynamical and radiative ages of the four cavities from X-ray and radio data, respectively, finding that the two outbursts are approximately coeval, with an age difference of ⪅10 Myr between the E-W and N-S cavities. We discuss two scenarios for the origin of the two perpendicular, equidistant cavity systems: either the presence of a binary AGN that is excavating coeval pairs of cavities in perpendicular directions or a fast (<10 Myr) jet reorientation event that produced subsequent, misaligned outbursts