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Introduction: Refugee settings may increase the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and death, yet data on the response to the pandemic in these populations is scarce. Methods: We describe interventions to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Dadaab Refugee Camp Complex, Kenya and performed descriptive analyses using March 2020 to December 2022 data from Kenya's national SARS-CoV-2 repository and line list of positive cases maintained by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We calculated case fatality rates (CFR) and attack rates per 100,000 (AR) using the 2019 national census and population statistics from UNHCR and compared them to national figures. Results: SARS-CoV-2 infection was first reported in April and May 2020, among host community members and refugees respectively. Of 964 laboratory-confirmed cases, 700 (72.6 %) were refugees. The AR was 82.7 (95 % CI 72.6–92.8) for host community members, 228.3 (95 % CI 211.3–245.4) for refugees and 721.1 (95 % CI 718.7–723.5) nationally. The CFR was 1.5 % (95 % CI 0.15–3.18) for host community members, 1.76 % (95 % CI 1.71–1.80) nationally and 7.4 % (95 % CI 5.4–9.4) for refugees.Mitigation measures implemented by the Government of Kenya, UNHCR and partners during the pandemic included multisectoral coordination, movement restrictions, mass gathering bans, and health promotion. Social distancing, symptom screening and mandatory mask usage were enforced during mass gatherings. Testing capacity was bolstered, quarantine and isolation facilities established, and vaccination initiated. Conclusions: Despite a low AR and UNHCR's swift and comprehensive response, refugees' CFR was high, underscoring their vulnerability and need for targeted interventions during epidemic responses.

This study examines the effectiveness of five deep learning models—ViTb-19, SwinV2-t, VGG-16, ResNet-50, and DenseNet-121—in distinguishing different vegetation types in the protected grasslands of Castilla y León region, Spain, following the guidelines of the Natura 92/43/CEE directive. Among the models, ResNet-50 achieved the highest weighted overall accuracy (OA) of 0.95, closely followed by SwinV2-t with an OA of 0.94, demonstrating their strong ability to detect complex patterns in satellite imagery. DenseNet-121 also performed competitively with a weighted OA of 0.93, while ViTb-19 and VGG-16 showed slightly lower performance. SwinV2-t, a transformer-based model, outperformed traditional CNN architectures in data-rich classes but faced challenges in classifying habitats with limited representation. Consequently, this study identifies these challenges that conventional transformer architectures pose in classifying certain habitats with limited representation and intricate features. Highlighting the advantages of deep learning technologies for environmental monitoring and conservation, the study provides important insights for adjusting neural network architectures for effective habitat classification. This suggests the necessity of selecting appropriate architectures such as SwinV2-t and ResNet50 to to effectively address the intricate requirements of satellite imagery analysis.

Understanding SARS-CoV-2 infection in populations at increased risk for poor health is critical to reducing disease. We describe the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Kakuma Refugee Camp Complex, Kenya. We performed descriptive analyses of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the camp and surrounding community during March 16, 2020‒December 31, 2021. We identified cases in accordance with national guidelines.We estimated fatality ratios and attack rates over time using locally weighted scatterplot smoothing for refugees, host community members, and national population. Of the 18,864 SARS-CoV-2 tests performed, 1,024 were positive, collected from 664 refugees and 360 host community members. Attack rates were 325.0/100,000 population (CFR 2.9%) for refugees,150.2/100,000 population (CFR 1.11%) for community, and 628.8/100,000 population (CFR 1.83%) nationwide. During 2020–2021, refugees experienced a lower attack rate but higher CFR than the national population, underscoring the need to prioritize SARS-CoV-2 mitigation measures, including vaccination.

Priscilla Meyer, How the Russians Read the French: Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008, xiv + 277 pp. Lyudmila Parts, The Chekhovian Intertext: Dialogue with a Classic [...]

Early in our careers, I suspect, many comparatists have had to ask, 'What are we supposed to teach?' For me this issue first surfaced during a job interview with a [...]

Franco Moretti, ed., The Novel, Volume I: History, Geography, and Culture; Volume II: Forms and Themes Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006, x + 916 and x + 950 pp. Weighing [...]

Alfred J. Lopez, ed., Postcolonial Whiteness: A Critical Reader on Race and Empire Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005, x + 261 pp. Michael K. Brown, Martin Carnoy, [...]

Christopher Prendergast, ed., Debating World Literature London and New York: Verso, 2004, xiii + 353 pp. Comparatists interested in issues involving world literature will recognize Christopher Prendergast as Mary Ann [...]

Back in the early days of postcolonial studies, critics of Eurocentrism would sometimes deplore the West's devaluation of 'alternative epistemologies' elsewhere in the world. Anyone aware of the polemics among [...]

Gene H. Bell-Villada, On Nabokov, Ayn Rand and the Libertarian Mind: What the Russian-American Odd Pair Can Tell Us about Some Values, Myths and Manias Widely Held Most Dear, with [...]

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the impact of the introduction of the Universal Anaesthesia Machine (UAM), a device designed for use in clinical environments with limited clinical perioperative resources, on the choice of general anesthesia technique and safe anesthesia practice in a tertiary-care hospital in Sierra Leone.MethodsWe introduced an anesthesia machine (UAM) into Connaught Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone. We conducted a prospective observational study of anesthesia practice and an examination of perioperative clinical parameters among surgical patients at the hospital to determine the usability of the device, its impact on anesthesia capacity, and changes in general anesthesia technique.FindingsWe observed a shift from the use of ketamine total intravenous anesthesia to inhalational anesthesia. This shift was most demonstrable in anesthesia care for appendectomies and surgical wound management. In 10 of 17 power outages that occurred during inhalational general anesthesia, anesthesia delivery was uninterrupted because inhalational anesthesia was being delivered with the UAM.ConclusionAnesthesia technologies tailored to overcome austere environmental conditions can support the delivery of safe anesthesia care while maintaining fidelity to recommended international anesthesia practice standards.

The works of exiled Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov may not be fundamentally affiliated to a single national literature but incorporate international trends, such as postmodernism and modernism. Critic and Marxist theorist Fredric Jameson believes it is more important to demonstrate links between economic and cultural history than to separate postmodernist pastiche from modernist parody. However, Nabokov's position on the border of modernism and postmodernism is not clarified by Jameson's intertextual test for differentiating the two movements.

The contents of the two modern autobiographies, Saul Friedlander's 'When Memory Comes' and Isak Dinesen's 'Out of Africa' puts to picture the experiences of people who have had contacts with people of different cultures and traditions. Cultural multiplicity refers to the emotions of conflict, the sense of tension, the disclosure of attractions, or the feelings of glory which results from living among several cultural traditions and to some degree imbibing the diversity. Freidlander's work is set against the Jewish Holocaust, while Dinesen's recounts the sad aspects of African colonialism.