Friday, November 15, 2024

Israel trying to make Gaza uninhabited by targeting health facilities, says Palestine Minister of Health at WISH

Ministers and world health leaders set bold policy recommendations to protect healthcare in war at Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) 2024

WISH/QF

image:
*Maged Abu Ramadan, the Minister of Health for Palestine, speaking at WISH 2024*
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Credit: World Innovation Summit for Health

14 November 2024. Doha, Qatar — Speaking at a World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) panel discussion in Doha today on protecting healthcare systems, Maged Abu Ramadan , the Minister of Health for Palestine said that numbers of people dead or hospitals destroyed don’t tell the story: “What is important is human life, human beings, human dignity. In Gaza, the most important things to us are our country, our dignity and our children. What is very important is that they want to make Gaza uninhabited. That's why they are targeting health facilities.”

Protecting healthcare in conflict is a theme being discussed throughout the two-day Summit. At the morning’s plenary session, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, discussed the increase in attacks on health, especially in the past two years. “Healthcare facilities should not be a target, especially given the increased need for healthcare during war,” said Dr. Tedros. He emphasized that two-thirds of the people dying are women and children and that stopping the war in Gaza and bringing the parties to a negotiating table is crucial.

“The key to a solution lies with Israel,” Dr Tedros said. “Israel should understand that it's in its best interest to resolve this.”

Dr. Tedros recalled the scenes of “horror” he has witnessed in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere. “We are sleepwalking into a nuclear war,” said Dr. Tedros.

Discussions on these topics were based around the newly published WHO/WISH report ‘In the Line of Fire: Protecting Health in Armed Conflict’, that emphasizes the need for a bold, unified response to protect health in times of conflict.

Among other actions, the report calls for a global alliance and a UN Special Rapporteur for the protection of healthcare in conflict.

Speakers at the panel session included Dr. Rick Brennan Regional Emergency Director for WHO, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean; Ms. Sigrid Kaag, UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza; Prof. Leonard Rubenstein, Distinguished Professor of the Practice, Center for Public Health and Human Rights; Dr Mads Gilbert, Professor of Emergency Medicine, The Arctic University of Norway; H.E. Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development and the Minister of Health and Population; and H.E. Mr. Yousef Bin Ali Alkhater, Qatar Red Crescent President.

Since 2000, violence against healthcare and health workers during times of conflict has risen, according to the WHO/WISH report, despite the International Humanitarian Law protecting medical care in conflict. Vital health services have been attacked and severely disputed, leaving civilians and vulnerable populations without essential care.

Since 2018, WHO has documented more than 7,000 incidents of attacks on health care in which more than 2,200 health workers and patients lost their lives and more than 4,600 people were injured across 21 reporting countries and territories with complex humanitarian emergencies.

This year, WISH was opened in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation and founder of WISH. The opening ceremony, held at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, included speeches from Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatar’s former Minister of Public Health; Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH; and Christos Christou, President of Médecins Sans Frontières.

The theme of WISH 2024 is ‘Humanizing Health: Conflict, Equity and Resilience’. It aims to highlight the need for innovation in health to support everyone, leaving nobody behind and building resilience, especially among vulnerable societies and in areas of armed conflict.

Ahead of the summit, WISH entered into a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), collaborating on the development of a series of evidence-based reports and policy papers, as well as working with the United Nations’ health agency to develop a post-summit implementation strategy. 

The summit features more than 200 experts in health speaking about evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges.

Qatar Foundation’s WISH 2024 Summit begins with focus on global health challenges in times of conflict

International leaders in health discuss some of the world’s most pressing health issues at the World Innovation Summit for Health’s seventh biennial global conference in Qatar.

WISH/QF

WISH7 Opening Ceremony with Lord Darzi — image:
Lord Ara Darzi at the opening ceremony of the World Innovation Summit for Health in Doha
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Credit: World Innovation Summit for Health

Doha, Qatar, 14 November 2024: WISH 2024 – the seventh edition of a biennial global gathering of healthcare expertise hosted by Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) – opened with an emphasis on the importance of innovative solutions to ensure equitable health access for all.

Speakers at the opening ceremony, held at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, included Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatar’s former Minister of Public Health; Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH; and Dr. Christos Christou, President of Médecins Sans Frontières.

In her opening remarks, Her Excellency Dr. Al Kuwari said: “Under the visionary leadership of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, WISH continues to expand as a global community committed to making healthcare accessible and humane.

“At WISH, we strive to present the world’s most cutting-edge ideas and scientific advancements. But we also focus on confronting the urgent challenges before us.

“This year’s theme, ‘Humanizing Health: Conflict, Equity, and Resilience’, reflects our commitment to addressing the profound health challenges people face worldwide, especially those who have, and continue to endure unimaginable hardship…. The toll of war and displacement has tested humanity’s resilience and underscored the urgent need for peace, health and protection.”

Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH, spoke of challenges faced by those working to provide care during armed conflict: “War is a healthcare catastrophe. There can never be any justification for targeting healthcare personnel or infrastructure – it is purely and simply wrong. We must stand together to condemn such actions and honor those who courageously continue to provide care in the most appalling conditions.”

Reflecting on the summit theme of conflict, equity, and resilience, Dr. Christou said he was gravely concerned that attacks on healthcare facilities and workers have become the “new norm”.

“We need to know that there is a place that is respected, and that place is a hospital. We are scrambling without basic medicines, anesthetics or antibiotics. There are many doctors in Gaza who are amputating on children without anesthetic, for example,” Dr. Christou said.

When asked about the neutrality of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), he reiterated that the values of the organisation remain consistent, and they treat all in need, but doctors “have a mandate to bear witness, to be a voice of the voiceless.… Neutrality means many things, but it does not mean silence.”

A film shown during the opening ceremony told the story of 11-year-old Dareen Al Bayaa, a Palestinian girl who lost 47 members of her extended family on 22 October 2023 as a result of a devastating attack on her home in Gaza, with only Dareen and her five-year-old brother surviving and being taken to Doha for medical treatment. “Why is it ok for me to suffer? Is this fair?” asked Dareen in the film.

Day one of the summit hosted discussion forums based on reports published by WISH and the WHO, alongside roundtable discussions and open sessions.

The first main discussion of the day was based on the joint WISH and WHO 2024 report titled ‘In the line of fire: Protecting health in armed conflict’, chaired by Richard Brennan, the Regional Emergency Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the WHO. He was joined by expert speakers including His Excellency Yousuf Al Khater, President of Qatar Red Crescent Society; and Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations’ Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza.

This forum was followed by a discussion on antimicrobial resistance, based on the report ‘Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR): How to keep antibiotics working for the next century’, chaired by the report’s co-author Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK Special Envoy for AMR. She was joined by Her Excellency Dr. Karin Tegmark Wisell, Sweden’s Ambassador for Global Health; Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the Regional Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the WHO; Dr. Christos Christou; and Dr. Nour Shamas, a member of the AMR Narrative.

The final main discussion of the summit’s first day was based on the report ‘AI and Healthcare Ethics in the Gulf Region: An Islamic Perspective on Medical Accountability’, and discussed the ethics of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare. This session featured the report’s lead author Dr. Mohammed Ghaly, Professor of Islam and Bioethics at the Centre for Islamic Legislation and Ethics at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), and an expert panel including Dr. Barry Solaiman, Assistant Professor of Law at HBKU.

Alongside discussions based on WISH reports, additional sessions focused on topics such as women’s cancer, palliative care, and Sudan’s ‘forgotten’ war.

The summit has brought together more than 200 experts in health to discuss evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges. 

Doha, Qatar, 13 November 2024: WISH 2024 – the seventh edition of a biennial global gathering of healthcare expertise hosted by Qatar Foundation’s World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) – opened today, emphasizing the importance of innovative solutions to ensure equitable health access for all.

“At WISH, we strive to present the world’s most cutting-edge ideas and scientific advancements. But we also focus on confronting the urgent challenges before us.

Reflecting on the summit theme of conflict, equity, and resilience, Dr. Christou said he was gravely concerned that attacks on healthcare facilities and workers have become the “new norm”.

Day one of the summit hosted discussion forums based on reports published by WISH and the WHO, alongside roundtable discussions and open sessions.

Alongside discussions based on WISH reports, additional sessions focused on topics such as women’s cancer, palliative care, and Sudan’s ‘forgotten’ war.

The summit has brought together more than 200 experts in health to discuss evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges. 

Community protected by law on coast of Southeast Brazil is threatened by litter tourists leave on beach

Researchers partnering with the City of Guarujá (São Paulo state) conducted a study that found a high level of contamination on Perequê Beach, with plastics and cigarette butts predominating. The results will be useful for policymakers

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Community protected by law on coast of Southeast Brazil is threatened by litter tourists leave on beach — image:
Ribeiro (with hat) and a volunteer collecting cigarette butts on Perequê Beach. Each cigarette butt contains thousands of toxic substances
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Credit: Italo Braga Castro

A study conducted by researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) found high levels of contamination on Perequê Beach in Guarujá, a city on the coast of São Paulo state, Brazil, with plastic litter and cigarette butts predominating. The detailed survey, one of only a few of the kind conducted worldwide, will contribute to the implementation of public policies to mitigate the problem.

An article reporting the results is published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.

The project was a partnership between UNIFESP’s Marine Research Institute (IMAR) in Santos and the City of Guarujá’s Department of the Environment. It set out to understand the sources of contamination of the beach, which is part of an Environmental Protection Area (Área de Proteção Ambiental) called APA Marinha do Litoral Centro, is heavily used by tourists, and is home to one of the largest and oldest communities of fishers in the Baixada Santista metropolitan area, which comprises nine municipalities including Guarujá and Santos.

On the beach, the researchers collected all the litter and waste from ten sites of 100 square meters each, every day in summer and winter including Saturdays and Sundays. “The analysis showed that litter on this beach results mainly from tourism. It’s worst in summer, suggesting that visitors are the principal source, although residents may be responsible for some of it,” said Ítalo Braga de Castro, last author of the article and a professor at IMAR-UNIFESP.

Levels of contamination by plastics and cigarette butts were considered high according to an internationally recognized beach litter index. In 12 studies conducted worldwide using the same method, Perequê ranked as the dirtiest beach. “Cigarette butts are the type of waste most frequently found on beaches in studies conducted not just here but worldwide. This is alarming because they contain many toxic substances – over 7,000 in some cases. At least 150 are dangerous to human health and biota. They’re known as ‘chemical bombs’,” said Victor Vasques Ribeiro, first author of the article and a PhD candidate at IMAR-UNIFESP with a scholarship from FAPESP.

From plastic to concrete

To arrive at the results, the group picked ten sites on Perequê Beach – five each in the wet and dry parts, delimiting in each site an area of 100 square meters from which all waste with more than 3 centimeters was removed and stored. Some 20 volunteers collected the material with the scientists, in the winter and summer of 2022 and 2023, at weekends and on weekdays.

The waste was later sorted into plastic, metal, glass, paper, cardboard, clothes, textiles and processed wood (used in furniture and buildings). Owing to high incidence and potential impact, cigarette butts were given a separate category. Material that did not fit into any of the categories was considered “Other”.

The group collected 2,579 items in an area of 4,000 sq. m., ranking Perequê Beach as “dirty” on the Clean-Coast Index (CCI) scale. The CCI was published in 2007 and has been used in many comparable studies.

The volume of litter increased in summer compared with winter, when it was considered “moderate”. This difference was expected in view of the increase in numbers of visitors during the summer tourist season. The results were similar to those found in other studies for Brazilian and Latin American beaches generally.

In both seasons, the volume of waste was larger in the dry part of the beach than in the part that receives the impact of waves. This was also foreseeable since lighter material is normally blown to the dry part by the wind and people use the dry part for picnics and to smoke, throwing away packaging and cigarette butts there. On the other hand, heavier items such as ceramic and concrete shards were more frequently found in the wet part of the beach, given that they could not be moved by wind or tides.

A total of 603 cigarette butts were collected. According to a scientifically recognized estimate of the contaminants that can leak from cigarette butts, affecting humans and other living beings, this amounted to “severe pollution”, the highest level found in the 12 studies of beaches and urban areas conducted to date on the basis of this method.

Another beach with almost as high a level of pollution is also in a marine protected area (MPA) around Saint Martin Island in Bangladesh. Comparable, albeit lower, levels were found in Colombia and Iran as well as urban areas in the Brazilian cities of Santos (São Paulo state) and Niterói (Rio de Janeiro state).

“We didn’t find a significant difference between the amount of litter on weekdays and weekends, probably because the city sweeps the beach with a tractor on Fridays. But this operation misses the cigarette butts because they’re too small to be caught by the chain harrow,” Ribeiro said.

Another measure of the amount of waste, in this case comprising material that can injure bathers and fishers, such as ceramics, concrete and metal, as well as potentially infectious medical objects and personal hygiene items, was class 3, meaning “a considerable amount of hazardous litter is seen”.

The levels are similar to those found in coastal environments in Chile, Colombia, Morocco and Nigeria, but higher than in most countries surveyed on the same basis, such as Bangladesh, China, Italy and Qatar, among others.

“The results provide a very clear picture of the situation and the need for intervention. Education to raise awareness, installation of ash trays and litter bins, fines, even banning smoking on the beach, as has been done in Barcelona, Spain, are some of the options available to lawmakers and city managers to mitigate the problem,” Castro said.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.

Journal

Marine Pollution Bulletin

DOI

10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.117031

Article Title

Marine macrolitter and cigarette butts hazard multiple-use marine protected area and fishing community at Brazil

Survey gives snapshot of scientific thought on emotions in animals

Assessing evolving views of the interior lives of other species

Emory University

The journal Royal Society Open Science published a survey of 100 researchers of animal behavior, providing a unique view of current scientific thought on animal emotions and consciousness.

“As far as we know, this is the first assessment of how animal behavior researchers across a range of disciplines think about emotions and consciousness in non-human animals,” says Marcela Benítez, assistant professor of anthropology at Emory University and corresponding author of the paper. “It gives us a snapshot in time so that 20 years from now, we can revisit how scientific experts may have changed their views.”

A majority of the survey respondents ascribed emotions to “most” or “all or nearly all” non-human primates (98%), other mammals (89%), birds (78%), octopus, squids and cuttlefish (72%) and fish (53%). And most of the respondents ascribed emotions to at least some members of each taxonomic group of animals considered, including insects (67%) and other invertebrates (71%).

The survey also included questions about the risks in animal behavioral research of anthromorphism (inaccurately projecting human experience onto animals) and anthropodenial (willful blindness to any human characteristics of animals).

“It’s surprising that 89% of the respondents thought that anthropodenial was problematic in animal behavioral research, compared to only 49% who thought anthromorphism poses a risk,” Benítez says. “That seems like a big shift.”

Anthromorphism, she notes, has long been a leading argument against those who attributed feelings to animals.

First author of the current paper is Matthew Zipple, a neurobiologist at Cornell University’s Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition. Co-authors include Mackenzie Webster, an Emory postdoctoral fellow studying cognition in nonhuman primates, and Caleb Hazelwood, a philosopher at Duke University.

Since ancient times, philosophers have pondered the seemingly simple question of whether animals experience emotions. Aristotle believed that animals and humans share similar emotions while Descartes argued that animals were more like machines, lacking the capacity for emotions or consciousness.

In the mid-1800s, famed naturalist Charles Darwin wrote that “the lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery.” By the mid-20th-century, however, leading behavioral theorists denigrated the idea of studying animal emotions since, even if they existed, they were scientifically unmeasurable and unverifiable.

The late primatologist Frans de Waal, an Emory emeritus professor of psychology, helped change this dynamic through his groundbreaking studies of animal cognition. From de Waal’s 1982 book “Chimpanzee Politics” to 2019’s “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What they Tell Us about Ourselves,” attitudes about whether animals might have thoughts worthy of scientific exploration changed dramatically.

“Frans de Waal definitely helped kick open the door,” Benítez says. “He gave a new generation of scientists permission to ask questions about the inner lives of animals.”

Benítez’ work lies at the intersection of anthropology, psychology and evolutionary biology. She currently studies cooperation and other social behaviors in capuchin monkeys. “A key component of cooperation often involves forming emotional bonds with one another,” she says. “So, I can’t shy away from considering emotions in my research.”

She did a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Sarah Brosnan, an Emory PhD graduate and a student of de Waal when he served as director of the Living Links Center for the Advanced Study of Ape and Human Evolution at the Emory National Primate Research Center. Brosnan is now a professor of psychology at Georgia State University where she investigates the evolution of cooperation, decision-making and economic behavior among primates.

Benítez says that the legacy of de Waal was a main reason that drew her to join the faculty at Emory, where she feels that she is walking in his footsteps.

De Waal’s popular, bestselling books also shaped public perception of animal minds.

Several of the Emory graduate students now working in Benítez’ Social Cognition and Primate Behavior Lab read about de Waal’s work when they were younger. “That inspired them to want to study animal cognition,” she says. “His legacy is really widespread.”

As the field has grown, Benítez and colleagues wanted to quantify animal behavior researchers’ perceptions of the taxonomic distribution of animal emotionality. They developed a survey of multiple-choice questions, free-form text fields and rating scales and sent it to leading graduate school programs in animal behavior research across disciplines. They also posted solicitations for the survey on X, aimed at researchers in these fields.

The 100 survey respondents spanned a range of specialties, including behavioral ecologists, evolutionary biologists, neuroscientists, biological anthropologists, cognitive psychologists and biological psychologists. They comprised graduate students (45), faculty (28), postdoctoral fellows (20), retired faculty (2), other PhD researchers (3) and undergraduate students (2).

The most common taxa of animals studied among respondents were birds (43%), non-human primates (32%) and other mammals, though each of the taxa that the survey asked respondents to assess were studied by at least some members of the sample.

The survey defined displays of animal consciousness in its most basic form, meaning that they are aware of their own existence. A majority of respondents ascribed consciousness to a broad taxonomic breadth of animals, although at slightly lower majorities as compared to emotions.

Near the end of the survey, respondents were asked to define emotion.

A little more than half of their definitions referred to emotions as a response to either internal or external stimuli. A majority also referred to emotions being subjective experiences or related to consciousness or mindedness. And 40% of the responses identified emotions as functioning to motivate behaviors.

Only 81 out of the 100 survey respondents provided a definition, perhaps due to the challenge of verbalizing a working description.

“I don’t have a clear definition either,” Benítez says. “I see emotions as a sort of internal process in responding to external stimuli that has an impact on how a situation is perceived. I go to the most basic definition because that allows us to explore that capacity in non-human primates.”

Even in human studies, Benítez adds, it is challenging to determine which biological markers to measure and how to adequately describe and quantify something as complex and variable as emotions. They may include everything from instinctual reactions of disgust or fear to deep feelings of affection and empathy for others.

Animal studies are further complicated by the fact that researchers can’t ask an animal how it’s feeling.

And while experiments with animals in labs can be tightly controlled, the results may be skewed since the animal is not interacting within its natural environment. Animal behavior experiments in the wild provide valid social and ecological contexts but they are challenging to design and to control.

“I’m trying to bridge that gap,” Benítez says. Her work is unique in that she studies behavior in both a captive population of tufted capuchins and of wild white-faced capuchins as co-director of the Capuchins de Taboga Costa Rica project in Liberia, Costa Rica.

Benítez and her collaborators at La Universidad Technica Nacional are beginning to deploy AI techniques, facial recognition software and touch screen computers on presentation platforms in the wild. These tools may help them get at many questions surrounding capuchin monkey behavior, including how they decide whether to cooperate or compete with one another while they are interacting in their natural world.

“We’ve only scratched the surface of exploring what animals are capable of experiencing,” Benítez says. “It’s an exciting time as new methods are being developed that may help us better understand how an animal may be feeling and how that links to the decisions that they make.”

“As an anthropologist,” she adds, “a large part of my desire to understand the interior lives of animals is to better understand our own ancestry. In what ways are we a unique species? Understanding the evolution of emotions is integral to that question.”

Journal

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.241255

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Animal emotions and consciousness: a preliminary assessment of researchers' perceptions and biases and prospects for future progress

Article Publication Date

13-Nov-2024

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Colorado.eduspot.colorado.edu/~norcross/Wh1.pdf

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Nov 18, 2005 ... Beasts of Burden forces to rethink the whole "primitivist" debate. ... Gilles Dauvé- Letter on animal liberation.pdf (316.85 KB). primitivism ..

Colorado River basins could face tipping point, drought study warns

Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. – Water from Colorado’s West Slope basins plays a vital role in supporting the economy and natural environment across seven western U.S. states, but a new study finds that even under modest climate projections, the basins face a potential tipping point where traditional water delivery levels to Lake Powell and other critical areas may no longer be sustainable.

The study, published in the journal Earth’s Future, is the largest and most comprehensive exploratory modeling analysis of drought vulnerability in the Colorado West Slope basins – six watersheds along the Colorado River that feed the Lake Powell reservoir and support a $5 billion annual agriculture economy. The finding comes at a critical time as state and federal policymakers negotiate water-sharing agreements set to expire in the coming years.

Patrick Reed, senior author of the study and professor at Cornell’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said the research was designed to better understand the limits of current management policies and clarify where new strategies for sustainable management could be beneficial.

By pairing Colorado’s water planning model, StateMod, with a new hidden Markov modeling framework, the study created hundreds of thousands of streamflow scenarios under both historical and climate-change conditions. The results imply that drought vulnerability analyses relying only on the historical streamflow record may severely underestimate the magnitude of potential drought events and their impacts on water storage, agriculture and municipal water supply.

“Our work shows that even relatively middle-of-the-road climate change and streamflow declines in these basins flows can threaten to put the system at risk of breaching a tipping point where the basins are no longer able to maintain the levels of deliveries to Lake Powell that we’re accustomed to over recent history,” Reed said.

In 2021, drought led Lake Powell to unprecedented lows, prompting the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to declare the first-ever water shortage in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The study shows that such shortages can emerge from the basins’ internal variability even in the absence of climate change, and that drought doesn’t just affect each basin individually – their combined effects create an even greater strain on the entire region.

“This finding highlights the need for advanced drought analysis methods that can capture these widespread and interconnected impacts,” said the study’s lead author, David. F. Gold, an assistant professor of physical geography at Utrecht University who conducted the research as a postdoctoral associate at Cornell.

Gold added that the exploratory modeling methodology also provides a roadmap for other work exploring drought vulnerability in institutionally complex river basins across the globe.

The research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science as part of research in the Multisector Dynamics area within the Earth and Environmental System Modeling program.

For additional information, see this Cornell Chronicle story.

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Journal

Earth's Future

DOI

10.1029/2024EF004841

Article Title

Exploring the Spatially Compounding Multi-Sectoral Drought Vulnerabilities in Colorado's West Slope River Basins

Shelter model improves outcomes for people experiencing homelessness

New form of emergency housing connects residents to vital support services, fosters long-term success

Portland State University

In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oregon legislature funded 19 Project Turnkey sites to the tune of $74.7 million. This funding allowed communities to purchase local motels and convert them into shelters, known as Turnkey sites, that differ from the typical structure. At most sites, guests stay in private rooms and have access to food and hygiene supplies, case management and other on-site services and report a sense of community between the guests and staff. Guests are also allowed to stay in Turnkey sites for at least 3 months and aren’t required to vacate during the day.

Portland State researchers from the Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative — working with Oregon Housing and Community Services — studied the impacts of Turnkey shelters between October 2022 and August 2024 to better understand how successful this type of emergency shelter is in improving the lives of people experiencing homelessness. The report also highlights some of the challenges of providing these types of services.

Between spring 2021 and the end of 2023, these 19 Turnkey shelters provided at least 333,581 nights of shelter and served at least 2,793 different people.

Although many of the sites were initially tasked with serving survivors of the 2021 wildfires and providing shelter during the pandemic, by 2022 most of the sites had transitioned to serving people experiencing homelessness as well as those in need of medical respite or escaping domestic violence. Almost all of the sites prioritized serving the community’s most vulnerable members.

The Portland State report focused on the first round of Project Turnkey but the Oregon Legislature provided an additional $50 million in funding for Project Turnkey 2.0 in 2023, continuing the program and adding new sites.

“There is an emerging understanding that we need to do more than what is typically provided in a congregate emergency shelter setting,” said Anna Rockhill, lead researcher and author of the report. “The study points to a model that is missing in many communities and that is key to efforts to help people move from homelessness to more appropriate and stable housing and increase their well-being more generally.”

Traditional emergency shelters, in which guests share a large, common sleeping area, often require guests to vacate during the day and limit the duration of their stays to 30 days or less. These models provide an alternative to staying outside, but for many people experiencing homelessness, more support is needed to secure and sustain stable housing.

“We found that providing a chance to rest and regroup, and experience a period of stability allows guests to begin to imagine their future, make plans and engage in activities that will help them move forward,” Rockhill said. “Both staff and residents explained that for some people, it is overwhelming to go directly from being unsheltered into an apartment.”

In contrast, Project Turnkey sites make it possible for residents to “find their footing’ before moving on,” according to the report. A program director described Turnkey sites as “that nice middle ground where you are safe. You can build up those skills until you feel ready and independent to navigate those things yourself.”

In interviews with residents, many remarked on the positive impact to their lives, including the increased ability to meet their basic needs. Other benefits included the “space to work on things in silence” afforded by the private room. For many residents, the longer lengths of stay allowed them to complete applications and “get things in order.”

“It's extremely helpful. It gives you hope. And I'm seeing results so it makes me think that maybe something will happen this time,” another guest said of access to on-site case management.

Less tangible impacts were also found. For example, guests shared that they appreciated having a community and knowing they’re not alone in their struggles. One program director stressed the importance of a “human connection,” and said “80% of the lift is making people comfortable so they trust you with their problems or their goals,” according to the report.

“Placing services on-site, combined with person-centered, culturally responsive and trauma-informed approaches, facilitates relationships between shelter guests and staff that are often foundational to helping people with histories of homelessness and other types of trauma make progress on a range of goals,” Rockhill added. “As residents experience care and see their progress, they become more hopeful and optimistic about their future.”

In reflecting on the progress that she’d made since entering a Project Turnkey shelter, a guest said, “I couldn’t have done it anywhere else.”

Article Title

Project Turnkey Evaluation

Novel electro-biodiesel a more efficient, cleaner alternative to existing alternatives

Washington University in St. Louis

By Beth Miller

Vehicles fueled by diesel lead to substantial carbon emissions that are challenging to decarbonize. In 2022, diesel fuel use made up about one-fourth of total U.S. transportation carbon dioxide emissions and about one-tenth of total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Joshua Yuan, the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and Susie Dai, a MizzouForward Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Missouri, and their collaborators at Texas A&M University, have used electrocatalysis of carbon dioxide to create an electro-biodiesel that is 45 times more efficient and uses 45 times less land than soybean-based biodiesel production. Results of their work are published online in Joule Oct. 31.

“This novel idea can be applied to the circular economy to manufacture emission-negative fuels, chemicals, materials and food ingredients at a much higher efficiency than photosynthesis and with fewer carbon emissions than petrochemicals,” said Yuan, who began the work with Dai at Texas A&M University. “We have systemically addressed the challenges in electro-biomanufacturing by identifying the metabolic and biochemical limits of diatomic carbon use and have overcome these limits.”

The team used electrocatalysis, a type of chemical reaction initiated by electron transfers to and from reactants on surfaces of catalysts, to convert carbon dioxide into biocompatible intermediates, such as acetate and ethanol. The intermediates were then converted by microbes into lipids, or fatty acids, and ultimately became biodiesel feedstock, said Yuan, also director of the National Science Foundation-funded Carbon Utilization Redesign for Biomanufacturing-Empowered Decarbonization (CURB) Engineering Research Center (ERC).

The novel microbial and catalyst process developed by Yuan, Dai and their teams allowed their electro-biodiesel to reach 4.5% solar-to-molecule efficiency for converting carbon dioxide to lipid, which is considerably more efficient than biodiesel[BM1] . Nature photosynthesis in land plants is normally below 1%, where less than 1% of sunlight energy is converted to plant biomass by converting CO2 to diverse molecules for plant growth, Yuan explained.

“The amount of energy diverted to the biodiesel precursor, lipid, is even lower as lipid has high energy intensity,” he said. “On the contrary, the electro-biodiesel process can convert 4.5% of solar energy to lipids when a solar panel is used to produce electricity to drive electrocatalysis, which is much higher than the natural photosynthetic process.”

To prompt the electrocatalysis, the team designed a new zinc- and copper-based catalyst that produces diatomic carbon intermediates that could be converted into lipids with an engineered strain of the Rhodococcus jostiii (RHA1) bacterium, known to produce high lipid content. This strain also boosted the metabolic potential of ethanol, which could help to prompt conversion of acetate, an intermediate, to the fatty acid.

After developing the novel process, the team analyzed the impact of the process on climate change and found encouraging results. By using renewable resources for the electrocatalysis, the electro-biodiesel process could reduce 1.57 grams of carbon dioxide per gram of electro-biodiesel produced with the by-products of biomass, ethylene and others, giving it the potential for negative emissions. In contrast, conventional diesel production from petroleum produces 0.52 grams of carbon dioxide per gram, and biodiesel production methods produce 2.5 grams to 9.9 grams of carbon dioxide per gram of lipids produced.

“This research proves the concept for a broad platform for highly efficient conversion of renewable energy into chemicals, fuels and materials to address the fundamental limits of human civilization,” Yuan said. “This process could relieve the biodiesel feedstock shortage and transform broad, renewable fuel, chemical and material manufacturing by achieving independence from fossil fuel in the sectors that are fossil-fuel dependent, such as long-range heavy-duty vehicles and aircraft.”

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Chen K, Zhang P, Chen Y, Fei C, Yu J, Zhou J, Liang Y, Li W, Xiang S, Dai SY, Yuan JS. Electro-biodiesel Empowered by Co-Design of Microorganism and Electrocatalysis. Joule. Online Oct. 31, 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2024.10.001

The research is supported by National Science Foundation’s Future Manufacturing Program and Engineering Research Center Program, both awarded to Yuan, Dai and other collaborators.

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Joule

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