Why is Pan-Africanism, an intellectual idea which carried much political weight in the twentieth century, no longer of consequential interest to most Africans and Blacks in the world? Why is it that the ideas and individuals that tend to be popular about the African world do not often grapple with the complexity of said world? Even with the brilliance of Bessie Head’s revelations in Lesotho in the shadow of apartheid, the willfully imaginative poetic acts of Martinican Aimé Césaire, the astonishing military genius of revolutionary leader Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau, and the self-flagellating howling sounds of Fẹla Anikulapo-Kuti’s music on the streets of Nigeria and beyond, why do rich experiences of global Blackness still struggle for active engagement in the plain light of routine reckoning? The essays in Mandela in Havana, Maria in the Favela: Black Hosts are an attempt to reflect on these questions, and many others like them. Anchored in two catalytic moments in the period following the Second World War—the Pan-African Congress in Manchester in 1945 and the founding in 1947 of the journal Présence Africaine—as well as the impact on contemporary Black selfhoods of the events they set in motion, the essays frame the subsequent events as opportunities for Black people, intellectuals especially, to become hosts to the world, in a manner that was impossible for them to do in the previous decades. The chapters look closely at trends that animated that history and, through selected profiles, offer exemplary analyses of the attendant changes.
Coastal squeeze, the loss of intertidal habitat caused by sea level rise and constrained landward migration, occurs when human development restricts tidal marsh persistence in coastal environments. The resulting coastal squeeze pressure reflects the intensity of these coupled natural and human constraints across space and over time. However, few studies have examined this phenomenon using high-resolution temporal data and fine-scale spatial analyses at the municipal scale. To address this gap, we developed a new spatiotemporal analytical framework, the Municipality Coastal Squeeze Index (MCSI), and applied it to 17 watersheds in coastal Virginia, US. Annual MCSI values were calculated from 2020 to 2100 across 1-km2 hexagons by integrating built-environment constraints, marsh migration potential, and elevation thresholds. Time-series clustering identified four groups with distinct trajectories of increasing coastal squeeze pressure, characterized by similar growth patterns but differing onset times. These clusters range from areas with persistent high pressure to locations where exposure remains limited until mid- or late-century before rising rapidly. Spatial analysis shows that the earliest and most persistent high-pressure clusters are concentrated in low-lying and flood-vulnerable areas, while later-emerging pressures are more dispersed inland. Hot Spot Analysis further identifies statistically significant clusters where coastal squeeze pressures are expected to intensify first. By linking spatial concentration patterns with temporal trajectories, the MCSI framework provides a scalable tool for municipal-scale coastal management, helping planners identify where and when coastal squeeze will escalate and supporting phased adaptation strategies that incorporate intertidal marsh conservation as a nature-based approach to flood risk reduction.
Rising extreme climate events threaten agricultural production and food security. Climate adaptation strategies that enhance soil health are key to strengthening the stability and resilience of agricultural systems. This study reveals how crop diversification influences soil health functions and yield stability, by combining soil, yield, and climate data from thirteen farmer-led experiments in southern Brazil, a region highly exposed to climate variability. Twelve soil health indicators were integrated into four latent functions via factor analysis (79% of total variance explained) and linked to crop diversification, soil texture, and crop yield through structural equation modeling (~76% of variance explained in crop yield). Crop diversification, particularly combined crop rotation and cover crop mixtures, were positively associated with soil water storage independently of soil texture (β = 0.41). Among the four soil health functions, biochemical regulation of soil processes was the most significantly linked to crop yield (R²m = 0.31). Yield instability was the strongest direct predictor of crop yield (β = −0.61). On average, systems integrating crop rotation with multispecies cover crops achieved yields 1.76 times higher than the state average, and with markedly lower instability (24%) than conventional or single-practice systems (1.08 times the average; 33–39% instability, respectively). These findings identify yield stability as a key component of climate adaptation, and support integrated crop diversification as a promising strategy for regenerative agriculture and climate policy in Brazil.
Background Symptoms of many gastrointestinal infections are similar, making it difficult to differentiate the causative agents. Automated PCR-based diagnostic systems can rapidly detect and identify pathogens responsible for these infections. Methods BD Enteric Bacterial Panel plus (EBP plus Assay) for BD COR System was assessed versus a single comparator (BioFire™ FilmArray™ GI Panel) or a composite reference (≥2 of 3 assays: BioFire FilmArray GI Panel, BioCode™ GPP, and BD MAX™ EBP/xEBP) for detecting enteric pathogens using patient stool specimens. Positive and negative percent agreement (PPA and NPA) between EBP plus Assay and comparator method(s) were calculated with 95% two-sided confidence intervals (CIs). Agreement ≥90% with CI lower bounds ≥80% was considered acceptable performance. Contrived specimens were included for low prevalence targets. Results There were 1737 specimens analyzed. NPA met performance thresholds (≥98.4%) for all targets. PPA met performance thresholds for Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., and Shiga toxin. Due to low prevalence in the study population, the PPA lower bound of the 95% CI was below the threshold for Shigella spp./enteroinvasive Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp., and Yersinia enterocolitica, while PPA point estimates were not met for Plesiomonas shigelloides and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). PPA and NPA thresholds were met in contrived specimen testing for Shiga toxin, Vibrio spp., Plesiomonas shigelloides, Yersinia enterocolitica, and ETEC. Conclusions The EBP plus Assay implemented on the BD COR System demonstrated good concordance with the comparator method(s) for detecting enteric bacterial pathogens in stool and is suited for high-throughput laboratories seeking to enhance task automation without impacting accuracy.
Recently, Yang, Yuan and Zhang (2024) [12] characterized when a self-similar measure satisfying the open set condition is doubling. In this paper, we study when a self-similar measure with overlaps is doubling. Let m >= 2 and let beta > 1 be the Pisot number satisfying beta(m) = Sigma(m-1)(j=0) beta(j). Let p = (p(1), p(2)) be a probability weight and let mu(p) be the self-similar measure associated to the IFS {S-1(x) = x/beta, S-2(x) = x/beta+(1 - 1/beta)}. Yung (2007) [13] proved that when m = 2, mu(p) is doubling if and only if p = (1/2, 1/2). We show that for m >= 3, mu(p) is always non-doubling. (c) 2026 Published by Elsevier Inc.
