Five strategies to get your academic writing “unstuck”

To help fight off the January blues and to further inspire a productive year ahead, we have coordinated a series of posts on academic writing. To kick-start the series, here are some general tips from Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega on what to do when the words just aren’t flowing. From conceptual maps to short walks, here are some practical ways to tackle the blank page. Have another strategy you’d like to share? Tweet your tips at #AcWri2016

Homelessness and water insecurity in the Global North: Trapped in the dwelling paradox

In this article, we introduce the “dwelling paradox” to explore how the state actively produces water insecurity for people experiencing homelessness in the Global North. We explain that the dwelling paradox is (1) produced by a modernist ideology of public service delivery that privileges water provision through private infrastructural connections in the home; (2) is reproduced by the welfare-warfare state, which has increasingly weaponized public water facilities and criminalized body functions in public space; and (3) is actively contested by some houseless communities, who challenge hegemonic ideals of the “home”—and its water infrastructure—as a private, atomized space. In advancing a relational and spatial understanding of water insecurity, we use the dwelling paradox to illustrate how unhoused people are caught in a space of institutional entrapment that is forged by state power and amplified by anti-homeless legislation. Such spaces of entrapment make it extremely difficult for unhoused people to achieve a safe, healthy, and thriving life—the basis of the human rights to water and sanitation. This article is categorized under: Human Water \u3e Water Governance

Políticas públicas metropolitanas: lecciones del ensayo hecho en el área metropolitana de Guadalajara

¿Cómo pueden las áreas metropolitanas en México atender asuntos públicos de manera colaborativa y coordinada? Este trabajo, elaborado por académicos del Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas en colaboración con el Programa de Naciones Unidas para los Asentamientos Humanos, ofrece una respuesta tentativa. Explicamos cómo varios municipios podrían atender un asunto público de interés para todos tomando en consideración las ventajas y los obstáculos del entramado institucional que rodea a los municipios en México. El documento utiliza el caso del Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara y el tema de residuos sólidos urbanos para ejemplificar el reto metropolitano. El trabajo de investigación implicó la realización de un mapeo de actores involucrados que señala, en el caso de Guadalajara, como el IMEPLAN se posiciona como actor clave en la coordinación intergubernamental pero sin reducir la importancia de la participación de los gobiernos municipales y estatales, de la sociedad civil organiza y del sector empresarial. Todos ellos, junto con la ciudadanía en general, ganan si consiguen modificar la gobernanza que actualmente rige en el tema. El documento realiza un análisis de las instituciones legales y de los acuerdos informales que actualmente dictan la gobernanza en torno al tema. Identifica los problemas que habría que sortear para provocar un cambio más colaborativo y sostenible. Con base en el trípode de la gobernanza de ONU-Habitat presenta alternativas para la conformación de una agencia metropolitana con atribuciones acotadas a diferentes niveles. Estas propuestas se acompañan de marcos explícitos para el gobierno corporativo de la agencia, su financiamiento, y el monitoreo y seguimiento de su desempeño e impacto. Ante el llamado a realizar políticas con base en evidencia, esta investigación pretende ejemplificar qué formas alternativas podrían tomar este tipo de agencias no solo para Guadalajara sino para otros temas que son apremiantes en el resto de las áreas metropolitanas de México

Imposition, resistance, and alternatives in the face of an interregional water crisis in Mexico: El Zapotillo project

En este dossier se analizan los complejos aspectos socio-políticos, económicos, hidrológicos, legales, entre otros, relacionados con la construcción del proyecto El Zapotillo, que incluye un trasvase del Río Verde entre los estados mexicanos de Jalisco y Guanajuato con consecuencias significativas paras las comunidades humanas y los ecosistemas. El Cuaderno de Trabajo presenta doce artículos escritos por especialistas en las diferentes dimensiones del proceso, e incluye el trabajo de estudiantes de doctorado, activistas, y miembros de las comunidades locales afecadas directamente por el proyecto. It is a dossier focused on the complex socio-political, economic, hydrological, legal and other aspects involving the construction of El Zapotillo project, which includes an inter-basin transfer of the Verde River between the Mexican states of Jalisco and Guanajuato with significant consequences for human communities and ecosystems. The Working Paper features twelve articles written by specialists in the different dimensions of the process, and includes the work of doctoral students, activists, and members of the local communities directly affected by the project.ITESO, A.C.Universidad de BernaEl Colegio de JaliscoUNAMUniversidad de GuanajuatoUniversidad de GuadalajaraCartocríticaIMDECCIDEComité Salvemos Temacapulín, Acasico y PalmarejoColectivo de Abogad@

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Gobernanza del agua residual en Aguascalientes: captura regulatoria y arreglos institucionales complejos

El manejo de agua en Aguascalientes se ha estudiado desde la perspectiva del suministro, pero no se ha analizado la gobernanza del agua residual. En este artículo se examina el manejo de efluentes del municipio de Aguascalientes utilizando las teorías del neoinstitucionalismo histórico, de la gobernanza y de la captura regulatoria. Se explica los factores que han influido en la operación reciente (2010-2013) del tratamiento y reuso de agua municipal. El análisis está fundamentado en los debates contemporáneos sobre priva - tización del recurso hídrico, y enfocado en el periodo de la administración priista de Lorena Martínez, y sus proyectos emblemáticos: Línea Verde y Líneas Moradas

(Re)theorizing the Politics of Bottled Water: Water Insecurity in the Context of Weak Regulatory Regimes

Water insecurity in developing country contexts has frequently led individuals and entire communities to shift their consumptive patterns towards bottled water. Bottled water is sometimes touted as a mechanism to enact the human right to water through distribution across drought-stricken or infrastructure-compromised communities. However, the global bottled water industry is a multi-billion dollar major business. How did we reach a point where the commodification of a human right became not only commonly accepted but even promoted? In this paper, I argue that a discussion of the politics of bottled water necessitates a re-theorization of what constitutes “the political„ and how politics affects policy decisions regarding the governance of bottled water. In this article I examine bottled water as a political phenomenon that occurs not in a vacuum but in a poorly regulated context. I explore the role of weakened regulatory regimes and regulatory capture in the emergence, consolidation and, ultimately, supremacy of bottled water over network-distributed, delivered-by-a-public utility tap water. My argument uses a combined framework that interweaves notions of “the political„, ideas on regulatory capture, the concept of “the public„, branding, and regulation theory to retheorize how we conceptualize the politics of bottled water