Scientific understanding of East African climate change from the HyCRISTAL project

Integrating Hydro-Climate Science into Policy Decisions for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Livelihoods in East Africa (HyCRISTAL) is a Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) project funded to deliver new understanding of East African climate change and its impacts, and to demonstrate use of climate change information in long-term decision-making in the region. Here, we briefly summarise key findings from HyCRISTAL so far on climate change, as well as key findings from the pan-African FCFA project “IMPALA” relevant to East Africa, both in the context of previous literature on the topic

Scientific understanding of East African climate change from the HyCRISTAL project

Integrating Hydro-Climate Science into Policy Decisions for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Livelihoods in East Africa (HyCRISTAL) is a Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) project funded to deliver new understanding of East African climate change and its impacts, and to demonstrate use of climate change information in long-term decision-making in the region. Here, we briefly summarise key findings from HyCRISTAL so far on climate change, as well as key findings from the pan-African FCFA project “IMPALA” relevant to East Africa, both in the context of previous literature on the topic

New media idiocy

The article explores the concept of new media idiocy – both a new kind of idiocy and an idiocy performed in new media networks. The paper argues that instead of being neglected, idiocy needs to be appreciated if we are to enquire into the current forms of techno-human subjectification. Idiocy, following Deleuze, is interpreted as distinct from stupidity (a base mode of thinking); it is a mode of living that explores the true through the false. In new media, idiocy acquires a performative character; it is crafted, practiced and re-enacted collectively. Many forms of aesthetic expression, and especially those produced and circulated through social networks, such as memes and viral videos, have such performance of idiocy at their core. Moreover, it is through such expressive creation and performance of the idiot that the new forms of subjectification take place. Network culture’s allowance for participatory creativity enables new media idiocy to establish new forms of visibility and availability in relation to digital networks. The process of becoming an individual or the formulation of political discontent are dynamically expressed and documented online as they happen. Such order of visibility problematizes the processes of subjectification and the emergence of the cultural as well as the political on the Internet. The article uses YouTube videos and subcultures of webpage production as its case studies

Kinematic and temporal interactions of the lumbar spine and hip during trunk extension in healthy male subjects

Kinematic properties of trunk extension are considered sensitive differentiators of movement between asymptomatic and low back pain subjects. The aim of this study was to quantify the continuous interaction of the hip and lumbar spine kinematics and temporal characteristics as a function of direction during the task of trunk bending backwards and returning to the upright position in healthy young subjects. The sagittal hip and lumbar spine kinematics during the extension task were examined in 18 healthy male subjects. Five trials of trunk extension were recorded for each subject and paired t-tests were then used to determine significant differences (P < 0.05) between the mean lumbar and the hip time-normalized kinematic and temporal variables. The data from the full cycle of trunk extension was analyzed with respect to movement initiation, time to reach peak velocity and peak angular displacement during the full cycle of trunk extension. Three distinct phases of movements were identified based on the continuous movement trajectories of velocity and angular displacement in the lumbar spine and hip; that of extension, return and, a terminal overcorrection phase. There were significant differences identified in the respective mean peak angular velocities of the lumbar spine (21.7 ± 8.6, 37.0 ± 14.7, 8.3 ± 5.0 deg/s) when compared with those of hip (14.6 ± 6.1, 21.7 ± 8.5, 5.4 ± 3.5 deg/s) in each of these three phases. The lumbar spine initiated the movement of trunk extension when bending backwards and returning to the upright position significantly early than that of the hip. These results highlight that in normal healthy adults there is the tendency for the lumbar spine to dominate over the hip during the task of backward trunk bending in terms of the amount and velocity of movement. At the end of extension the kinematics of the lumbar spine and hip kinematic are characterized by a terminal overcorrection phase marking the completion of the movement