Recent occurrence of Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii, in Waikato lakes of New Zealand.

Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii is a toxin-producing species of cyanobacteria that in autumn 2003 was recorded for the first time in three shallow (max. depth ≤5 m) Waikato lakes and a hydro-electric dam on the Waikato River, New Zealand. It formed water blooms at densities >100 000 cells/ml in Lakes Waahi and Whangape. Net rates of population growth >0.2 day-1 were recorded for C. raciborskii in Lakes Ngaroto, Waahi, and Karapiro, based on comparisons of low numbers (detection of cells/ml) from initial samples and its presence at bloom densities (>15 000 cells/ml) in the subsequent sample "x"-"y" days later. C. raciborskii may be well adapted to rapid proliferation in the Waikato lakes, which are eutrophic to hypertrophic, with high light attenuation, and where nitrogen (N) fixation may provide it with a competitive advantage over non-nitrogen fixing algae under N-limited conditions

Measuring Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards in the Dutch Province of Zeeland

The Netherlands is a kingdom known for resisting the perils of natural disaster and keeping records of how these great feats were accomplished. The Dutch have measured physical risk through methods such as the intricate VNK models to predict flood scenarios, but little research has been conducted to examine how the people living in affected areas could be impacted from a natural disaster event. This study employs fine-scale data to construct a social vulnerability index for the 164 districts of the low-lying delta province of Zeeland. The methodology used to measure social vulnerability is built on recent social vulnerability and resilience research that has been conducted in North America, Asia, and Europe. Specific attention is paid to methods used previously and how they can be improved from a statistical standpoint. Factor Analysis of 35 variables selected from the resilience and social vulnerability literature results in nine factors explaining about 72% of the total variance. The factors of vulnerability in Zeeland include Density of the Built Environment and Public Support, Reduced Wealth and Single Households, Infrastructure Accessibility and Career Qualifications, Recovery Capacity and Female Gender, Personal Wealth, Occupation, Residential Quality, Access to Healthcare, and Evacuation Potential. The index is constructed using data for all 35 variables with weight decided by the variance explained by each factor. Relative index scores range from a low social vulnerability score of 0.248 in the district Kattendijk, Goes, to the highest social vulnerability score of 0.458 found in Oudelandse Hoeve, Ternuezen. The highest-scoring districts are located towards the South of Zeeland. Eight of the ten most vulnerable districts located in Terneuzen. The Municipality of Goes contains more low-scoring districts than any other municipality. The majority of low scoring, less vulnerable districts are located on the Central lobe of Zeeland. The results of the social vulnerability analysis provide new insights for policy makers, researchers, and community stakeholders that could be combined with Dutch flood-scenario models to guide planning efforts in the Netherlands to mitigate the damaging impacts of future floods. The study provides an example for adaptation of a social vulnerability index for a fine level of analysis

The Use of Social Media in Emergency Management by Public Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations: Lessons Learned From Areas Affected by Hurricanes Isaac, Sandy, and Harvey

Natural disasters are increasingly costly for the United States. The literature suggests emergency managers may improve disaster outcomes and enhance disaster resilience by supplementing their official public-communications methods with more bi-directional communication tactics using social media. This study aims to understand how social media is used within the “whole community” of emergency management in areas affected by recent hurricanes. The first research objective examines how social media is used by governmental and non-governmental organizations across the four phases of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation). The second objective is to identify challenges governmental and non-governmental groups have encountered and strategies they recommend addressing these problems. The third objective is to examine how social media was used by disaster responders specifically during the response phase of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We conducted a survey of 269 organizations in areas affected by Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy in 2012 to address research objectives one and two, and for the third objective, surveyed 64 organizations who contributed to the rescue and response efforts during Hurricane Harvey. The first survey found respondents representing government-related organizations use social media more during the response and the preparedness phases, while non-governmental groups report more social media activity during the recovery phase. This finding suggests that organizations performing primary and secondary roles in emergency management play complementary roles in risk and crisis communication with the public. The results also suggest that the emergency management community primarily uses social media to “push” information to the public through established communication networks and could benefit from additional efforts to “pull” information from their networks. Survey respondents report greatest concern about challenges external to their organizations, with the accuracy of information found on social media to be most concerning. The third research objective finds generally high levels of social media use among Hurricane Harvey responders, but also evidence of technical challenges including an inability to convert web-based communications to dispatchable missions due to limited functionality of their 911 systems. The results of the study provide insights regarding uses, challenges, and strategies to improve social media for the whole community of emergency management

Forgotten Migrations from the United States to Hispaniola

At the first Hamilton family reunion, held in Samaná, Dominican Republic, in 2002, I took the opportunity to question my aunts and uncles about our family’s history and to share the story of our migration to the town with the mass of youngsters gathered for the event. Most of my cousins were amazed by the intricate details of movement, displacement, and transformation because they had never heard these stories before. The reaction that stood out came from a younger cousin brought up in Brooklyn. With a disconcerted look, he asked innocently, “So we’re black?” It had never dawned upon him, even when staring at his own reflection, that we had come from blackness. He had absorbed the ideological myth of Taino and Spanish inheritance that was espoused by elite segments of Dominican society as a way to elevate themselves above Haitians, the blacks on the island. In the context of the United States, my cousin, unaware of the difference between race and ethnicity, had always envisioned himself as Dominican and hence different from the African Americans he lived among. As a descendant of the African American community who resettled in Samaná, I was motivated by my own historical ignorance of their migration and the various moments of uncertainty they had faced. My research started as a struggle to produce a response to the constant questioning around race and name that I was subjected to growing up in Puerto Rico. Because I had included my mother and her family’s origins in Samaná in my research, my responses seemed inadequate. The last name Hamilton did not fit into the Puerto Rican or the Dominican national self-identity dominated by surnames of Iberian origin. Yet the intricacies of my family histories were never passed on to my generation, the details lost in the minds of my aunts, uncles, and mother, who defined themselves as Dominican and nothing else. As I discovered these details, I began to see myself within the larger context of the Diaspora, no longer bound by national imaginings. Our family history was like many of the African Diaspora, except that our migration was back to the colony instead of to the metropolis. With the ascertainment of our history came the burden of dissemination

Forage crop irrigation systems and economics

"This material is based upon work supported by the USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2012-49200-20032."--Page 6."Irrigation presents an opportunity for Missouri forage producers to mitigate production risk from drought and improve forage yield. This guide explores three considerations before choosing a forage irrigation system: expected forage response, irrigation system options, and the economics of irrigating forage."--First page.Revised by Ryan Milhollin (Assistant Extension Professor, Agricultural Business and Policy), Drew Kientzy (Research Project Analyst, Agriculture Business and Policy), Stacey Hamilton (State Dairy Specialist, Division of Animal Sciences), Ryan Lock (State Forage Specialist, Division of Plant Sciences and Technology). Original authors: Ryan Milhollin, Ray Massey, Joe Horner, Joseph Zulovich and Rob Kallenbach, University of Missouri Extension.Includes bibliographical reference

Heroin Adulterated with the Novel Synthetic Cannabinoid, 5F-MDMB-PINACA: A Case Series

Introduction: Heroin can be adulterated with various substances that may or may not have pharmacological effects. Here we report a case series of 8 patients who presented to the emergency department after overdose with intravenous heroin preparation adulterated with the synthetic cannabinoid methyl 2-(1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxamido)-3,3-dimethylbutanoate (5F-MDMB-PINACA).Case Series: Except for one patient, all of them presented with a typical initial opioid toxidrome consisting of central nervous system and respiratory depression along with pinpoint pupils. Naloxone was given to them, triggering severe agitation and combative behavior along with overlapping features of anticholinergic and sympathomimetic toxidrome. All patients required multiple doses of benzodiazepines. Three were successfully treated with physostigmine.Discussion: 5F-MDMB-PINACA is a synthetic cannabinoid that was added to heroin in samples obtained from patients reported in this case series. Patients demonstrated significant agitation after receiving naloxone for opioid toxidrome, presumably because of the removal of the depressant effect of opioids, which unmasked the excitatory effects of the synthetic cannabinoids. Three patients required physostigmine along with the benzodiazepines for control of their agitation, urine retention and abnormal vitals, suggesting the possibility of an anticholinergic toxidrome to have developed in these patients.Conclusion: Heroin contaminated with 5F-MDMB-PINACA exhibits variable severities of anticholinergic effects, some on presentation and others only after opiate antagonism