The influence of differing protected area status and environmental factors on the macroinvertebrate fauna of temperate austral wetlands

AbstractOne means of conserving wetlands is to designate the area around them as ‘protected’. Although many different types of protected areas exist, ranging from international (Ramsar-listed) to local importance, there is little information on how the type of protection influences biodiversity conservation. Studies of the effectiveness of protected area systems are a priority, if we are to understand their importance and design systems effectively. Many Tasmanian wetlands are regarded as having high to very high conservation values with more than 60% located within protected areas. This study tested macroinvertebrate richness and assemblage responses to a range of environmental attributes and differing types of protected area status at 66 protected Tasmanian (Australian) wetlands. Two hundred and eighteen taxa were identified with an average of 33 species (or morphospecies) and 18 families recorded per wetland. The wetland assemblages were idiosyncratic, four families contributed 21% of the total recorded and only two families contributed greater than 10%. Wetlands were not significantly nested on the basis of the composition of their macroinvertebrate assemblages. No single environmental attribute had a strong relationship with macroinvertebrate richness or assemblage composition and neither species richness nor assemblage composition varied significantly between different types of protected areas. Although the majority of protected area types were designed to support terrestrial conservation objectives rather than wetland values, our results suggest that the latter were also afforded protection. The state of the proximal zone (the terrestrial zone within 50m of the wetland edge) and the type of aquatic habitat present (macrophyte or sediment-dominated substrates) were the most important determinants of macroinvertebrate richness and assemblage composition across all types of protected wetlands. These results suggest that for temperate austral wetlands located within protected areas, the macroinvertebrate fauna will be best conserved by minimal disturbance of proximal lands

Cost-effectiveness of voluntary HIV-1 counseling and testing in reducing sexual transmission of HIV-1 in Kenya and Tanzania.

Background Access to HIV-1 voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) is severely limited in less-developed countries. We undertook a multisite trial of HIV-1 VCT to assess its impact, cost, and cost-effectiveness in less-developed country settings.\ud Methods\ud The cost-effectiveness of HIV-1 VCT was estimated for a hypothetical cohort of 10 000 people seeking VCT in urban east Africa. Outcomes were modelled based on results from a randomised controlled trial of HIV-1 VCT in Tanzania and Kenya. Our main outcome measures included programme cost, number of HIV-1 infections averted, cost per HIV-1 infection averted, and cost per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) saved. We also modelled the impact of targeting VCT by HIV-1 prevalence of the client population, and the proportion of clients who receive VCT as a couple compared with as individuals. Sensitivity analysis was done on all model parameters.\ud Findings\ud HIV-1 VCT was estimated to avert 1104 HIV-1 infections in Kenya and 895 in Tanzania during the subsequent year. The cost per HIV-1 infection averted was US$249 and$346, respectively, and the cost per DALY saved was $12·77 and$17·78. The intervention was most cost-effective for HIV-1-infected people and those who received VCT as a couple. The cost-effectiveness of VCT was robust, with a range for the average cost per DALY saved of $5·16-27·36 in Kenya, and$6·58-45·03 in Tanzania. Analysis of targeting showed that increasing the proportion of couples to 70% reduces the cost per DALY saved to $10·71 in Kenya and$13·39 in Tanzania, and that targeting a population with HIV-1 prevalence of 45% decreased the cost per DALY saved to $8·36 in Kenya and$11·74 in Tanzania.\ud Interpretation\ud HIV-1 VCT is highly cost-effective in urban east African settings, but slightly less so than interventions such as improvement of sexually transmitted disease services and universal provision of nevirapine to pregnant women in high-prevalence settings. With the targeting of VCT to populations with high HIV-1 prevalence and couples the cost-effectiveness of VCT is improved significantly

Heterogeneous Batch Distillation Processes: Real System Optimisation

In this paper, optimisation of batch distillation processes is considered. It deals with real systems with rigorous simulation of the processes through the resolution full MESH differential algebraic equations. Specific software architecture is developed, based on the BatchColumn® simulator and on both SQP and GA numerical algorithms, and is able to optimise sequential batch columns as long as the column transitions are set. The efficiency of the proposed optimisation tool is illustrated by two case studies. The first one concerns heterogeneous batch solvent recovery in a single distillation column and shows that significant economical gains are obtained along with improved process conditions. Case two concerns the optimisation of two sequential homogeneous batch distillation columns and demonstrates the capacity to optimize several sequential dynamic different processes. For such multiobjective complex problems, GA is preferred to SQP that is able to improve specific GA solutions

Culturally-adapted and audio-technology assisted HIV/AIDS awareness and education program in rural Nigeria: a cohort study

Background: HIV-awareness programs tailored toward the needs of rural communities are needed. We sought to quantify change in HIV knowledge in three rural Nigerian villages following an integrated culturally adapted and technology assisted educational intervention. Methods: A prospective 14-week cohort study was designed to compare short-term changes in HIV knowledge between seminar-based education program and a novel program, which capitalized on the rural culture of small-group oral learning and was delivered by portable digital-audio technology. Results: Participants were mostly Moslem (99%), male (53.5%), with no formal education (55%). Baseline HIV knowledge was low (\u3c 80% correct answers for 9 of the 10 questions). Knowledge gain was higher (p \u3c 0.0001 for 8 of 10 questions) in the integrated culturally adapted and technology-facilitated (n = 511) compared with the seminar-based (n = 474) program. Conclusions: Baseline HIV-awareness was low. Culturally adapted, technology-assisted HIV education program is a feasible cost-effective method of raising HIV awareness among low-literacy rural communities

Optimal operation of unconventional batch distillation columns.

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On the lower frequencies: Listening and African American expressive culture

In the most influential and foundational texts in contemporary African American and Black Feminist literary studies, music and vernacular forms function as the locus of an authentic black cultural identity. Despite the audible culture that permeates this field, very little attention has been given to the role of listening in interpretive work. Seeking at once to argue and to account for an emphasis on audition in African American and Black Feminist literary and cultural studies, this dissertation examines the possibilities and difficulties of listening as a cultural, intellectual, and political practice. It argues most fundamentally that listening is a process---a critical and artistic practice that changes given the pressures various historical, cultural, social, political, or technological moments can bring to bear. This study foregrounds an act of listening that is self-aware and intentional, thereby allowing for an exploration of how aural practices have generated particularly useful and sometimes limiting notions of black racial identity over time. This dissertation argues that it is listening\u27s ability to make audible otherwise inaudible aspects of black culture and to test and critique prevailing assumptions in cultural theory that make it at once important and political. Methodologically, this study draws on African American, Black Feminist, and Feminist critical approaches, reader-response and Reception Studies, as well as Complexity Theory and the emerging field of Sound Studies as a way to explain how sound and listening culturally and materially mediate notions of difference. It combines analysis of literary texts with discussions of sound recordings, historical testimony, and photographs. This material in turn provides a foundation for examining how and why listening matters so profoundly in select African American literary texts. Ultimately, in isolating listening and listening culture, this dissertation aims towards a more precise understanding of the connections and conflicts between perceptions of sound and ideas about racialized, gendered and classed bodies

On the lower frequencies: Listening and African American expressive culture

In the most influential and foundational texts in contemporary African American and Black Feminist literary studies, music and vernacular forms function as the locus of an authentic black cultural identity. Despite the audible culture that permeates this field, very little attention has been given to the role of listening in interpretive work. Seeking at once to argue and to account for an emphasis on audition in African American and Black Feminist literary and cultural studies, this dissertation examines the possibilities and difficulties of listening as a cultural, intellectual, and political practice. It argues most fundamentally that listening is a process---a critical and artistic practice that changes given the pressures various historical, cultural, social, political, or technological moments can bring to bear. This study foregrounds an act of listening that is self-aware and intentional, thereby allowing for an exploration of how aural practices have generated particularly useful and sometimes limiting notions of black racial identity over time. This dissertation argues that it is listening\u27s ability to make audible otherwise inaudible aspects of black culture and to test and critique prevailing assumptions in cultural theory that make it at once important and political. Methodologically, this study draws on African American, Black Feminist, and Feminist critical approaches, reader-response and Reception Studies, as well as Complexity Theory and the emerging field of Sound Studies as a way to explain how sound and listening culturally and materially mediate notions of difference. It combines analysis of literary texts with discussions of sound recordings, historical testimony, and photographs. This material in turn provides a foundation for examining how and why listening matters so profoundly in select African American literary texts. Ultimately, in isolating listening and listening culture, this dissertation aims towards a more precise understanding of the connections and conflicts between perceptions of sound and ideas about racialized, gendered and classed bodies