A water footprint approach to guide water resource management in data-scarce regions: a case study for the upperEwaso Ng’iro basin, Mount Kenya

Due to population growth and agricultural intensification, water scarcity is increasing in the Upper Ewaso Ng’iro Basin. Quantitative information is needed to improve the management of this resource, but is a challenge due to lack of hydrometeorological data. Using water footprint thinking, a pragmatic approach applying available information and simple assumptions was used to estimate blue and green water availability and consumption for different land uses and activities. Despite the attention it receives, flower production makes up a small component of the basin’s water footprint (1.4% of blue water consumed, roses used 0.73%), although the drastic impact of horticulture on low flows during dry periods is recognized. Surface water evaporation from irrigation dams containing captured floodwaters or pumped groundwater has a water footprint comparable to greenhouse horticultural production itself. Small-scale irrigation was estimated to use 71.4% of the blue water consumed, while total commercial horticultural production was estimated to use 8.2%. Direct human consumption was estimated at 3% and livestock and wildlife consumption at 4.2% of consumed blue water. Labour opportunities were almost 10 times higher for roses than for maize per hectare and per m3 of water consumed. Water productivity in terms of selling price was 128 times higher for 1 tonne of roses than for 1 tonne of maize. This approach can be used in data-poor regions to advance understanding between multiple stakeholders (such as between farmers, pastoralists and conservationists) for participatory management, and to better understand the basin’s water balance to estimate exploitable water resources.https://www.watersa.netPlant Production and Soil Scienc

Following in the footsteps of invasion: comparisons of founder and invasive genotypes of two independent invasions reveal site-specific demographic processes and no influence by landscape attributes on dispersal

To understand the success of invasive alien species, it is necessary to evaluate the site-specific eco-evolutionary challenges they face in their new environments. We explored whether the rearrangement of genetic diversity is linked to the invasiveness of Prosopis juliflora by (i) comparing different stages of invasion (founding vs invasive populations) in two invaded areas (Afar Region, Ethiopia and Baringo County, Kenya) to evaluate whether different stages are dominated by different genetic attributes (e.g., characteristic genotypes or levels of genetic diversity) and by (ii) evaluating if landscape features affected dispersal between invasive populations in the two invaded areas. We hypothesised that different invasion stages would have unique genetic characteristics due to either site-specific demographic and/or dispersal dynamics. We also compared the genetic characteristics at an ‘invasive–non-invasive congener’ level by studying the non-invasive P. pallida, introduced to Baringo County, and assessed whether it hybridises with P. juliflora. In the Afar Region, the establishment and spread of P. juliflora were characterised by extensive gene flow that homogenised genetic diversity across all populations. In contrast, in Baringo County, invasive populations had lower genetic diversity than founders, and genetic differentiation was lower between invasive populations than between invasive and founder populations. In both invaded areas, we found no evidence that dispersal was hampered by geographic distance, bioclimatic conditions, or distance to roads, rivers and villages, at least at the spatial scales of our study; indicating frequent long-distance dispersal. Allelic richness was higher in P. juliflora than P. pallida founders and hybrids were mainly planted trees probably resulting from the sympatric cultivation of the two species following their introduction. Thus, management actions on Prosopis invasion in eastern Africa should consider site-specific dynamics occurring during the invasion

White Paper: Designing the perfect New European Bauhaus neighbourhood

The concept of Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments (SHAFE) emphasises the comprehensive person-centred experience as essential to promoting living environments. SHAFE takes an interdisciplinary approach, conceptualising complete and multidisciplinary solutions for an inclusive society. From this approach, we promote participation, health, and well-being experiences by finding the best possible combinations of social, physical, and digital solutions in the community. This initiative emerged bottom-up in Europe from the dream and conviction that innovation can improve health equity, foster caring communities, and sustainable development. Smart, adaptable, and inclusive solutions can promote and support independence and autonomy throughout the lifespan, regardless of age, gender, disabilities, cultural differences, and personal choices, as well as promote happier and fairer living places. The New European Bauhaus initiative gathers "beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive projects and ideas" to inspire a positive transformation around us. The New European Bauhaus 2024 Festival took place between 9-13 April. "Designing the perfect New European Bauhaus neighbourhood: New European Bauhaus meets SHAFE" was a Satellite Event of the Festival, held as an online workshop, organised by the SHAFE Foundation on April 9th, 2024. At the event, a group of 50 participants with a multidisciplinary background discussed how to meet the challenges of the European Garcia family to enable them to live in a perfect neighbourhood. The White Paper presents the findings of the participants with the New European Bauhaus inspiring projects and ideas to house the European Garcia family in their neighbourhood. The White Paper recommends developers, designers, planners, and policymakers to include person-centred design of social and physical environments and technologies. Although awareness of person-centred design is growing, many initiatives still hamper the inclusion of citizens or end-users throughout the development of products and services

Archive of Darkness:William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire

Situating itself in histories of cinema and installation art, William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire (2005) raises questions about screens, exhibition space, site-specificity and spectatorship. Through his timely intervention in a debate on Germany’s colonial past, Kentridge’s postcolonial art has contributed to the recognition and remembrance of a forgotten, colonial genocide. This article argues that, by transposing his signature technique of drawings for projection onto a new set of media, Kentridge explores how and what we can know through cinematic projection in the white cube. In particular, his metaphor of the illuminated shadow enables him to animate archival fragments as shadows and silhouettes. By creating a multi-directional archive, Black Box enables an affective engagement with the spectres of colonialism and provides a forum for the calibration of moral questions around reparation, reconciliation and forgiveness

Chlamydia trachomatis Incidence and Re-Infection among Young Women – Behavioural and Microbiological Characteristics

This study aimed to estimate rates of chlamydia incidence and re-infection and to investigate the dynamics of chlamydia organism load in prevalent, incident and re-infections among young Australian women.1,116 women aged 16 to 25 years were recruited from primary care clinics in Australia. Vaginal swabs were collected at 3 to 6 month intervals for chlamydia testing. Chlamydia organism load was measured by quantitative PCR.There were 47 incident cases of chlamydia diagnosed and 1,056.34 person years of follow up with a rate of 4.4 per 100 person years (95% CI: 3.3, 5.9). Incident infection was associated with being aged 16 to 20 years [RR = 3.7 (95%CI: 1.9, 7.1)], being employed [RR = 2.4 (95%CI: 1.1, 4.9)] and having two or more new sex partners [RR = 5.5 (95%CI: 2.6, 11.7)]. Recent antibiotic use was associated with a reduced incidence [RR:0.1 (95%CI: 0.0, 0.5)]. There were 14 re-infections with a rate of 22.3 per 100 person years (95%CI: 13.2, 37.6). The median time to re-infection was 4.6 months. Organism load was higher for prevalent than incident infections (p<0.01) and for prevalent than re-infections (p<0.01).Chlamydia is common among young women and a high proportion of women are re-infected within a short period of time, highlighting the need for effective partner treatment and repeat testing. The difference in organism load between prevalent and incident infections suggests prevalent infection may be more important for ongoing transmission of chlamydia

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery