Is the water footprint an appropriate tool for forestry and forest products: The Fennoscandian case

The water footprint by the Water Footprint Network (WF) is an ambitious tool for measuring human appropriation and promoting sustainable use of fresh water. Using recent case studies and examples from water-abundant Fennoscandia, we consider whether it is an appropriate tool for evaluating the water use of forestry and forest-based products. We show that aggregating catchment level water consumption over a product life cycle does not consider fresh water as a renewable resource and is inconsistent with the principles of the hydrologic cycle. Currently, the WF assumes that all evapotranspiration (ET) from forests is a human appropriation of water although ET from managed forests in Fennoscandia is indistinguishable from that of unmanaged forests. We suggest that ET should not be included in the water footprint of rain-fed forestry and forest-based products. Tools for sustainable water management should always contextualize water use and water impacts with local water availability and environmental sensitivity

Guiding community discussions on human–water challenges by serious gaming in the upper Ewaso Ngiro River basin, Kenya

Water-related conflicts in river catchments occur due to both internal and external pressures that affect catchment water availability. Lack of common understanding of human–water perspectives by catchment stakeholders increases the complexity of human–water issues at the river catchment scale. Among a range of participatory approaches, the development and use of serious games gained prominence as a tool to stimulate discussion and reflection among stakeholders about sustainable resource use and collective action. This study designed and implemented the ENGAGE (Exploring New Gaming Approach to Guide and Enlighten) game that mimics the dynamics observed during the dry season in the upper Ewaso Ngiro catchment, northwest of Mount Kenya. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential role of serious gaming in subsequent steps of strengthening stakeholder engagement (agenda setting, shared understanding, commitment to collective action, and means of implementation) toward addressing complex human–water challenges at the catchment scale. We assessed the type of decisions made during gameplay, the communication dynamics, the active participation, and the implication of decisions made on water availability. The results of three game sessions show that the ENGAGE game raised awareness and provided a recognizable hydrologic background to conflicts while guiding community discussions toward implementable decisions. The results revealed increasing active participation, knowledge gain, and use of plural pronouns and decreasing individual interests and conflicts among game participants. This study presents important implications for creating a collective basis for water management and can inform human–water policies and modification of the process behind water allocation rules in a river catchment.</p

Problems in Evaluating Grammatical Error Detection Systems

ABSTRACT Many evaluation issues for grammatical error detection have previously been overlooked, making it hard to draw meaningful comparisons between different approaches, even when they are evaluated on the same corpus. To begin with, the three-way contingency between a writer&apos;s sentence, the annotator&apos;s correction, and the system&apos;s output makes evaluation more complex than in some other NLP tasks, which we address by presenting an intuitive evaluation scheme. Of particular importance to error detection is the skew of the data -the low frequency of errors as compared to non-errors -which distorts some traditional measures of performance and limits their usefulness, leading us to recommend the reporting of raw measurements (true positives, false negatives, false positives, true negatives). Other issues that are particularly vexing for error detection focus on defining these raw measurements: specifying the size or scope of an error, properly treating errors as graded rather than discrete phenomena, and counting non-errors. We discuss recommendations for best practices with regard to reporting the results of system evaluation for these cases, recommendations which depend upon making clear one&apos;s assumptions and applications for error detection. By highlighting the problems with current error detection evaluation, the field will be better able to move forward

From insufficient rainfall to livelihoods: understanding the cascade of drought impacts and policy implications

A cascade of drought impacts refers to a series of interconnected events that trigger a chain reaction of effects, extending beyond water scarcity to influence agricultural production, socioeconomic conditions, and the environment. This paper explores the role of society in mitigating drought impacts, particularly through policy responses. Conducting a case study in Ceará State, Northeast Brazil, we used a globally rare dataset of continuous drought monitoring encompassing 3.5 years (February 2019 to October 2022), complemented by interviews with smallholder farmers and agricultural extension technicians. Additionally, we analyzed policy documents related to public policies implemented at the local level. Using a classification of drought impacts as our analytical framework, our findings indicate that social, environmental, and economic impacts of drought are less frequently reported, suggesting that development policies are mitigating cascading effects on livelihoods. Most reported impacts are associated with hydrological drought, revealing the unintended consequences of investments aimed at increasing water supply. We emphasize the significant contribution of public policies in mitigating the cascading effects of drought, which go beyond increasing water availability and focus on strengthening the local economy.</p

A lamprey neural cell type atlas illuminates the origins of the vertebrate brain

The vertebrate brain emerged more than ~500 million years ago in common evolutionary ancestors. To systematically trace its cellular and molecular origins, we established a spatially resolved cell type atlas of the entire brain of the sea lamprey—a jawless species whose phylogenetic position affords the reconstruction of ancestral vertebrate traits—based on extensive single-cell RNA-seq and in situ sequencing data. Comparisons of this atlas to neural data from the mouse and other jawed vertebrates unveiled various shared features that enabled the reconstruction of cell types, tissue structures and gene expression programs of the ancestral vertebrate brain. However, our analyses also revealed key tissues and cell types that arose later in evolution. For example, the ancestral brain was probably devoid of cerebellar cell types and oligodendrocytes (myelinating cells); our data suggest that the latter emerged from astrocyte-like evolutionary precursors in the jawed vertebrate lineage. Altogether, our work illuminates the cellular and molecular architecture of the ancestral vertebrate brain and provides a foundation for exploring its diversification during evolution

Reporting guidelines for the early-phase clinical evaluation of applications using extended reality: RATE-XR qualitative study guideline

Background: Extended reality (XR), encompassing technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, has rapidly gained prominence in health care. However, existing XR research often lacks rigor, proper controls, and standardization.Objective: To address this and to enhance the transparency and quality of reporting in early-phase clinical evaluations of XR applications, we present the "Reporting for the early-phase clinical evaluation of applications using extended reality" (RATE-XR) guideline.Methods: We conducted a 2-round modified Delphi process involving experts from diverse stakeholder categories, and the RATE-XR is therefore the result of a consensus-based, multistakeholder effort.Results: The guideline comprises 17 XR-specific (composed of 18 subitems) and 14 generic reporting items, each with a complementary Explanation & Elaboration section.Conclusions: The items encompass critical aspects of XR research, from clinical utility and safety to human factors and ethics. By offering a comprehensive checklist for reporting, the RATE-XR guideline facilitates robust assessment and replication of early-stage clinical XR studies. It underscores the need for transparency, patient-centeredness, and balanced evaluation of the applications of XR in health care. By providing an actionable checklist of minimal reporting items, this guideline will facilitate the responsible development and integration of XR technologies into health care and related fields

Effect of Surface Chemistry on the diffusion of Copper in nanoporous dielectrics

AbstractThis work is aimed at understanding the nature of the interactions between metal interconnects and nanoporous dielectrics in integrated circuits. Electrical testing of MIS capacitors is used to assess Cu diffusion and charge injection in the dielectric in the presence of an electric field. We have found that surface modification of nanoporous silica reveals the importance of chemically bound or adsorbed water species in the dielectric and how they trigger metal diffusion. We propose that a combination of moisture-related species in the dielectric and interfacial oxygen oxidize Cu. The copper oxide acts as a source for Cu ions available for diffusion. A quantitative analysis of Cu drift in nanoporous dielectrics that shows the importance of surface chemistry is presented and the mechanism of metal diffusion and charge injection in nanoporous dielectrics is discussed.</jats:p

Serious gaming as an experiential learning tool:exploring the human–water perspectives in the case of Mt. Kenya water tower

Diverse stakeholders in rural landscapes commonly have distinct and often conflicting needs and interests for the available water resources resulting in complex human-water interactions, especially in water-scarce regions. In such landscapes, resolving conflicting interests among individual viewpoints and moving toward collective human–water perspectives is paramount to achieving sustainable management of decreasing water resources. Serious games have been proposed as participatory tools for (social) learning in contested landscapes, however the impact of such approaches on learning is understudied. This study addresses this knowledge gap by evaluating the ENGAGE (Exploring New Gaming Approach to Guide and Enlighten) game as a tool for fostering collective human–water perspectives. The Upper Ewaso Ng’iro basin in Kenya was selected as the study area for its complex social-ecological dynamics, characterized by the interplay of climatic variability, competing water demands, and governance challenges that shape water resource management. Through five game sessions, participants’ perspectives were assessed at three points in time: pre-game, post-game, and post-post-game, using the Q-method. Findings indicate that serious gaming enhanced awareness of catchment-scale water challenges, particularly the influence of geographic location, economic drivers, and illegal water abstractions on water availability. While immediate post-game assessments showed shifts in perspectives, long-term follow-ups revealed partial reversion to pre-game opinions, emphasizing the need for sustained engagement. This study contributes to the literature on complex human–water interactions by demonstrating the potential of serious gaming in promoting experiential learning and stakeholder engagement in water governance. The findings are relevant for socio-hydrological scientists, water resource managers, and policymakers seeking innovative approaches to conflict resolution and sustainable water management.</p

Suitability indices for assessing functional quality of urban surface water

Urban surface waters are used in many different ways. With increasing demand for human use functions, improved insight is required into the functional quality of these waters. A method to assess this functional quality in a systematic way and for a wide variety of use functions is not available. We propose to use suitability indices (SIs) for assessing the suitability of urban water bodies for a variety of specific human uses. This study provides a new protocol for this, building on the water quality index and ecosystem services approaches in literature, by extending traditional water quality parameters with other characteristics of water bodies that determine suitability for a specific use function. By assessing suitability instead of traditional water quality, the functional quality of a water body for all kinds of uses can be determined in a consistent way. The protocol was demonstrated to be effective in developing SIs for three specific urban water use functions, namely: thermal energy extraction, transportation of goods and primary contact recreation. Application of the suitability indices in a case study in the city of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, resulted in spatially explicit information about suitability of surface waters for the three selected use functions. Sub-scores per parameter showed which characteristics of the urban water bodies should be changed to improve the suitability for these three functions. In this way, the SI approach for assessment of the functional quality of urban surface waters can be used to support function-oriented planning, design and maintenance of urban surface water systems.</p