COVID-19 and the View from Africa

In Africa, refusal of COVID-19 and other vaccines is widespread for different reasons, including disbelief in the existence of the virus itself and faith in traditional remedies. In sub-Saharan countries, refusal is often made worse by opposition to vaccines by the religious establishments. This is a pressing problem, as Africa has the highest vaccine-avoidable mortality rate for children under the age of five in the world. Dialogue between those wishing to promote vaccines and those who resist them is essential if the situation is to be improved. This article argues that Western and other aid agencies seeking to promote vaccination programs need to develop a dialogue with resisters, and in this process to embrace and commend the ancient African philosophical tradition of Ubuntu, incorporating it into these programs as a way to overcome such entrenched resistance. The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for how to accomplish this goal.

Barriers and facilitators to accommodations in the workplace for adults who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC): a systematic review.

Workplace accommodations can reduce barriers to employment for people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), however, the lack of accommodations continues to challenge participation in employment. This systematic review identified and analyzed barriers and facilitators to implementing workplace accommodations for adults (19 years and over) who use AAC. A systematic search of nine databases was conducted to identify relevant studies using the search terms "AAC" and "workplace accommodations" and variations of each term. Results were imported into Covidence. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. Results were presented using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework. The Oxford levels of evidence and Confidence in Evidence from Review of Qualitative Research (GRADE-CERQual) were used to assess the quality of the studies and confidence in findings, respectively. Environmental barriers related mainly to attitudes and technology, and personal barriers related to job qualifications, education, and work-related skills. A combination of facilitators such as personal strengths, access to technology, and supportive relationships contributed to successful implementation of accommodations. The findings of this review suggest that implementing workplace accommodations for adults who use AAC strategies is complex and further research is needed to advance practices and policies that support the implementation of workplace accommodations.

A multimodal discourse study of selected COVID-19 online public health campaign texts in Nigeria

This paper discusses web-based public health discursive practices during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Nigeria. It utilises a multimodal discourse approach to explore how a combination of textual and visual resources was deployed to communicate informative and educative public health safety campaigns during the period. Essentially, this study discusses multimodal resources as a rhetorical technique for creating a public discursive engagement space designed to educate the public and mitigate the effect of the pandemic. The dataset was collected during and after the lockdown in 2020 (March-September) through media monitoring and manual downloading of relevant online COVID-19 posts, messages and public health advisories largely from WhatsApp platforms and the portals of some Nigerian national newspapers. Using insights from relevant approaches in discourse analysis (e.g. Multimodal Discourse and Critical Discourse Analysis), we adopted a qualitative content analysis approach to analyse on how online posts as multimodal resources amplify the role of social media affordances in producing and promoting public safety messages helped to control the spread and mitigate the effects of the pandemic. The study also shows that discursive and multimodal resources were deliberately deployed to increase the effectiveness of the technology-driven public health campaign. To a large extent, multimodal resources were found to complement lexico-semantic properties of online communication, where social media messages are created, crafted and reconstructed within a uniquely Nigerian public discourse context. The study further illustrates the increasing importance of web-based platforms as discursive sites for enacting and negotiating meanings during event-driven social activities and public engagement in the Global South.

Lateral Relations in World Politics: Rethinking Interactions and Change among Fields, Systems, and Sectors

Scholarship drawing from a wide array of perspectives including field theoretical and functional differentiation approaches has shed increasing light on the sectoral dimensions of world politics. In contrast to dominant approaches emphasizing hierarchy and power in relations between global fields, this article offers a novel interpretive framework for understanding how diverse fields, systems, or sectors may interact and facilitate change in world politics beyond the operation of established hierarchies and power dynamics. Taking forward the previously underutilized concept of symbolically generalized media of communication, this article elucidates two processes of international political change by which different fields, systems, or sectors may transform world politics. The first process, lateral retreat, is illustrated with reference to the case study of the Protestant Reformation, in which internal changes in the religious field facilitated the development of an increasingly autonomous political domain. The second process, lateral penetration, is illustrated with reference to the international political response to the climate change and Covid-19 crises, in which the scientific sector contributed toward transformed political priorities and associated hierarchies, at least in the short term. These diverse cases are used to indicate the broad potential scope of application of the concept of symbolically generalized media of communication to enrich relational theorizing in the study of international relations, and to improve understanding of diverse dynamics of international political change missed in traditional power- (and anarchy-) centric accounts.

The River and The Highway: How an Interceptor Failure Produced Solutions

The objective of emergency repairs for TRA is to put critical infrastructure that has failed back in to service immediately to prevent or reduce environmental impacts and to restore wastewater collection and transmission service for our customers. After significant rainfall event in March 2020, the Collection Systems Group for the Trinity River Authority of Texas inspected the external conditions of all of the major interceptor lines in the Central Regional Wastewater System for possible line breaks. On March 26, CSG staff identified a major pipeline failure on the 102-inch pipeline for the West Fork interceptor. The pipeline failed in a section immediately adjacent to the West Fork of the Trinity River while the river was in flood stage from the latest significant rain event. The interceptor was passing over 150 MGD of wastewater meant for the CRWS treatment facility, but a portion of the wastewater flow was escaping from the collapsed pipeline in to the river. Once CSG notified the Construction Services group, of the on-call construction contractor, Flow Line Construction, was contacted and immediately mobilized to stop wastewater leakage and to begin pipeline repairs on the collapsed portion of the pipeline. The solution for the emergency repair was multi-faceted: 1)Construction a massive sandbag wall between the failed pipe and the Trinity River to stop wastewater leaking in to the river and to keep the river from washing out the pipeline work are;2) Build a working surface for excavators to access the pipeline site and to setup of bypass pumps;3) Remove the failed section of pipe from the flow path of the wastewater;4) Install bypass piping and pumping equipment and divert flow from the failed pipeline section;5) Install new segments of pipe to restore the pipeline to serviceable conditions;6) Restore bypass flow back to the interceptor and remove bypass pumps and piping;and 7) Perform all of the work listed above while adhering to rapidly changing conditions due to COVID-19 pandemic without having losing one member of the work force to COVID-19. The Roles and Responsibilities of the project team were: 1) Inspection Supervisor – The owner representative that provides direction to the contractor and coordinates construction plans with in-house engineers;2) Engineer – Provided flow ranges for bypass pumping design, collaborated with the contractor to size and layout the bypass pumps, and oversaw the re-installation of the collapsed pipeline;3) Contractor – The contractor staff includes a professional engineer who collaborated with TRA staff to rapidly develop and implement a plan for demolition and reconstruction. In conclusion, while the work took place in a difficult to access area during a period of greater than normal rain and a pandemic, the pipeline was put back in to service in less than 3 weeks. This was through communication, cooperation, and coordination from the contractor, engineers, and inspection staff. Additionally, the river bank was stabilized and armored to prevent future erosion of the pipeline alignment. Copyright © 2021 Water Environment Federation

Keeping Construction Going during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Trinity River Authority (TRA) Construction Services group oversees $550 million in active construction projects. These projects are needed for a variety of critical reasons that include increase treatment capacity, improve energy efficiency, replace aging infrastructure, and increase pipeline capacity. None of these projects can be delayed by any significant length of time, as they are all needed to be in service to prevent future failures and minimize down time to TRA customers. Failure of service is not an option, 100% service and 100% of the time is essential. TRA, like the rest of the world, had to learn of the threats that the COVID-19 pandemic presented to TRA staff and the potential impacts the threats posed to completing construction projects. TRA had to react to the threats based on information that was available early on in March 2020 and prepare plans for staff and construction contractors based on the best available information. Plans are only as good as the people who execute them, and fortunately TRA staff along with the support of the engineering consulting and construction contractor communities worked together to adhere to the plans that TRA developed for our projects. The response plans were put in place early in the pandemic and updated frequently as more information was made available. Key takeaways from this experience are TRA continued to move forward with all construction projects using a modified routine for additional safety requirements;communicate frequently, with everyone on the project team both internal to the organization and with external contractors and consultants;be prepared to evolve work plans with changing national and local guidelines;and above all, do not panic, do not shutdown, do not hide in the office or at home;instead, get out in front of the unknowns and create a safe environment with a clear set of guidelines for staff to follow. Getting through a major event whether it is extreme flooding or a global pandemic requires leading from the front and relying on input from the team. Dealing with adversity is in every way possible, a team effort, and it takes constant feedback from the team in the field as well independent research of the latest recommendations for safety for the leader to make the best decision in the moment. © 2021 ASCE.

Essential Infrastructure Emergency Repair of the West Fork Interceptor

After significant rainfall and subsequent surcharge event of March 15-19, 2020, the Collection Systems Group (CSG) for the Trinity River Authority of Texas inspected the external conditions of all of the major interceptor lines in the Central Regional Wastewater System for possible catastrophic line failures. On March 26, CSG staff identified a major pipeline failure on the 104-in. (2,650 mm) diameter pipeline for the West Fork interceptor. The pipeline failed in a section immediately adjacent to and between Interstate Highway 30 (IH-30) and the West Fork of the Trinity River, while the river was in flood stage from the latest significant rain event. The interceptor was conveying over 150 MGD (570,000 cubic meters per second) of wastewater meant for the Central Regional Wastewater System (CRWS) treatment facility, but a portion of the wastewater flow was escaping from the collapsed pipeline in to the river. Once CSG notified the Planning, Design, and Construction Administration (PDCA) team, our on-call emergency construction contractor was contacted and immediately mobilized to begin the process of stopping wastewater leakage and to begin pipeline repairs on the collapsed portion of the pipeline. The solution for the emergency repair was multifaceted beginning with the contractor constructing a massive sandbag wall between the failed pipe and the Trinity River at flood stage to stop wastewater leaking into the river and to keep the river from washing out the pipeline work area. Next, the contractor built a dry, elevated, working surface for excavators to access the pipeline site and to setup of bypass pumps. This work area was cut into the constructed slope of the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) Right-of-Way (ROW). Several attempts were made to quickly repair the pipeline using oversized pipe (110in.) to replace the collapsed and broken pieces of existing pipe. With the still high flows from the recent rain event, this was not possible and that effort was abandoned. It was now obvious that we had to take the next step in elevating the effort, bypass pumping. Immediately bypass pumping operations were initiated. After 20 days of setup and stringing 20-in. HDPE bypass pipe along the Access Road for IH-30, we began pumping. The work concluded with the conclusion of bypass pumping, restoration of normal pipe flow, and streambank restoration along the river. All of the emergency work was performed while adhering to rapidly evolving conditions due to the pandemic without losing one member of the work-force to COVID-19. While the work took place in a difficult to access area during a period of greater than normal rain and a pandemic, the pipeline was put back in to service in less than 3 weeks. This was through communication, cooperation, and coordination from the contractor, engineers, and inspection staff. © 2021 ASCE.