Care, disability and HIV in Africa: diverging or interconnected concepts and practices?

Recent research and policy have recognised the central role of unpaid care-givers (often women and girls) in the global South. Disability rights perspectives, however, challenge the language of ‘care’ and ‘dependence’. Drawing on qualitative research with women living with HIV and children caring for them in Tanzania, and on learning from the National Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS in Uganda (NACWOLA), this paper explores the divergences and interconnections between the concepts and practices of care, disability and HIV in the context of East Africa. Despite the development of interdependent caring relations, both care-givers and people living with HIV in Tanzania experience ‘diminished autonomy’. The participation of people living with HIV, including disabled people, in home-based care and in peer support groups, however, can enhance ‘relational autonomy’ for both care-givers and care-recipients. We reflect on opportunities and challenges for mutual learning and cross-movement advocacy by disabled people, people living with HIV and care-givers.

Varieties of semantic ‘access’ deficit in Wernicke’s aphasia and semantic aphasia

Comprehension deficits are common in stroke aphasia, including in cases with (i) semantic aphasia (SA), characterised by poor executive control of semantic processing across verbal and nonverbal modalities, and (ii) Wernicke’s aphasia (WA), associated with poor auditory-verbal comprehension and repetition, plus fluent speech with jargon. However, the varieties of these comprehension problems, and their underlying causes, are not well-understood. Both patient groups exhibit some type of semantic ‘access’ deficit, as opposed to the ‘storage’ deficits observed in semantic dementia. Nevertheless, existing descriptions suggest these patients might have different varieties of ‘access’ impairment – related to difficulty resolving competition (in SA) vs. initial activation of concepts from sensory inputs (in WA). We used a case-series design to compare WA and SA patients on Warrington’s paradigmatic assessment of semantic ‘access’ deficits. In these verbal and non-verbal matching tasks, a small set of semantically-related items are repeatedly presented over several cycles so that the target on one trial becomes a distractor on another (building up interference and eliciting semantic ‘blocking’ effects). WA and SA patients were distinguished according to lesion location in the temporal cortex, but in each group, some individuals had additional prefrontal damage. Both of these aspects of lesion variability – one that mapped onto classical ‘syndromes’ and one that did not – predicted aspects of the semantic ‘access’ deficit. Both SA and WA cases showed multimodal semantic impairment, although as expected the WA group showed greater deficits on auditory-verbal than picture judgements. Distribution of damage in the temporal lobe was crucial for predicting the initially beneficial effects of stimulus repetition: WA cases showed initial improvement with repetition of words and pictures, while in SA, semantic access was initially good but declined in the face of competition from previous targets. Prefrontal damage predicted the harmful effects of repetition: the ability to re-select both word and picture targets in the face of mounting competition was linked to left prefrontal damage in both groups. Therefore, SA and WA patients have partially distinct impairment of semantic ‘access’ but, across these syndromes, prefrontal lesions produce declining comprehension with repetition in both verbal and non-verbal tasks.

Allocating community-level payments for ecosystem services initial experiences from a REDD pilot in Tanzania

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) typically reward landowners for managing their land to provide ecosystem services that would not otherwise be provided. REDD—Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation—is a form of PES aimed at decreasing carbon emissions from forest conversion and extraction in lower-income countries. A key challenge for REDD occurs when it is implemented at the community rather than the individual landowner level. Whilst achieving this community-level reduction relies on individuals changing their interaction with the forest, incentives are not aligned explicitly at the individual level. Rather, payments are made to the community as a single entity in exchange for verified reduced forest loss, as per a PES scheme. In this paper, we explore how community level REDD has been implemented in one multiple-village pilot in Tanzania. Our findings suggest that considerable attention has been paid to monitoring, reporting, verification, and equity. Though no explicit mechanism ensures individual compliance with the group PES, the development of village level institutions, “social fencing,” and a shared future through equal REDD payments factor into community decisions that influence the level of community compliance that the program will eventually achieve. However, few villages allocate funds for explicit enforcement efforts to protect the forest from illegal activities undertaken by outsiders.

The impact of westerly wind bursts and ocean initial state on the development, and diversity of El Niño events

Westerly wind bursts (WWBs) that occur in the western tropical Pacific are believed to play an important role in the development of El Niño events. Here, following the study of Lengaigne et al. (Clim Dyn 23(6):601–620, 2004), we conduct numerical simulations in which we reexamine the response of the climate system to an observed wind burst added to a coupled general circulation model. Two sets of twin ensemble experiments are conducted (each set has control and perturbed experiments). In the first set, the initial ocean heat content of the system is higher than the model climatology (recharged), while in the second set it is nearly normal (neutral). For the recharged state, in the absence of WWBs, a moderate El Niño with a maximum warming in the central Pacific (CP) develops in about a year. In contrast, for the neutral state, there develops a weak La Niña. However, when the WWB is imposed, the situation dramatically changes: the recharged state slides into an El Niño with a maximum warming in the eastern Pacific, while the neutral set produces a weak CP El Niño instead of previous La Niña conditions. The different response of the system to the exact same perturbations is controlled by the initial state of the ocean and the subsequent ocean–atmosphere interactions involving the interplay between the eastward shift of the warm pool and the warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific. Consequently, the observed diversity of El Niño, including the occurrence of extreme events, may depend on stochastic atmospheric processes, modulating El Niño properties within a broad continuum.

Concepts for a geostationary-like polar missions

An evidence-led scientific case for development of a space-based polar remote sensing platform at geostationary-like (GEO-like) altitudes is developed through methods including a data user survey. Whilst a GEO platform provides a nearstatic perspective, multiple platforms are required to provide circumferential coverage. Systems for achieving GEO-like polar observation likewise require multiple platforms however the perspective is non-stationery. A key choice is between designs that provide complete polar view from a single platform at any given instant, and designs where this is obtained by compositing partial views from multiple sensors. Users foresee an increased challenge in extracting geophysical information from composite images and consider the use of non-composited images advantageous. Users also find the placement of apogee over the pole to be preferable to the alternative scenarios. Thus, a clear majority of data users find the “Taranis” orbit concept to be better than a critical inclination orbit, due to the improved perspective offered. The geophysical products that would benefit from a GEO-like polar platform are mainly estimated from radiances in the visible/near infrared and thermal parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is consistent with currently proven technologies from GEO. Based on the survey results, needs analysis, and current technology proven from GEO, scientific and observation requirements are developed along with two instrument concepts with eight and four channels, based on Flexible Combined Imager heritage. It is found that an operational system could, mostly likely, be deployed from an Ariane 5 ES to a 16-hour orbit, while a proof-of-concept system could be deployed from a Soyuz launch to the same orbit.

Coming of age in L3 initial stages transfer models: deriving developmental predictions and looking towards the future

Aims: Over the past decade in particular, formal linguistic work within L3 acquisition has concentrated on hypothesizing and empirically determining the source of transfer from previous languages—L1, L2 or both—in L3 grammatical representations. In view of the progressive concern with more advanced stages, we aim to show that focusing on L3 initial stages should be one continued priority of the field, even—or especially—if the field is ready to shift towards modeling L3 development and ultimate attainment. Approach: We argue that L3 learnability is significantly impacted by initial stages transfer, as such forms the basis of the initial L3 interlanguage. To illustrate our point, the insights from studies using initial and intermediary stages L3 data are discussed in light of developmental predictions that derive from the initial stages models. Conclusions: Despite a shared desire to understand the process of L3 acquisition in whole, inclusive of offering developmental L3 theories, we argue that the field does not yet have—although is ever closer to—the data basis needed to effectively do so. Originality: This article seeks to convince the readership for the need of conservatism in L3 acquisition theory building, whereby offering a framework on how and why we can most effectively build on the accumulated knowledge of the L3 initial stages in order to make significant, steady progress. Significance: The arguments exposed here are meant to provide an epistemological base for a tenable framework of formal approaches to L3 interlanguage development and, eventually, ultimate attainment.