Monitoring the evolution of drought conditions over Africa

Droughts have been found to have serious repercussions on humans, animals, and plants’ lives and they are likely to intensify under increasing global mean temperature. Monitoring drought conditions help in designing appropriate adaptations and mitigation strategies. This paper monitors the evolution of drought conditions in Africa over the past 30 years and the potential repercussions posed by this disaster event. We analyze and compare trends in surface temperatures, precipitation, soil moisture, Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). We use the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis, the University of Delaware, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), and the DAI PDSI gridded data for the period 1984-2014. Results from the NCEP/NCAR, University of Delaware, CPC, and the DAI PDSI gridded data show an increasingly warmer, drier, and less cloudy Sub-Saharan climate but with an intensification of the West African monsoon rainfall. Moreover, more than 80% of the continent shows strong evidence of droughts with an average increase in drought severity index. These conditions will likely have a negative effect on the agricultural sector which accounts for more than 70% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this region thereby posing a serious threat to regional food security. We recommend the research into and the development of new crop varieties that can tolerate higher temperatures and need less water. Additionally, our findings can also be used in Sub-Saharan Africa’s water management systems.

Joseph T. Freeman and Excellence in Rehabilitation Award Lecture

The Joseph T. Freeman Award lecture will feature an address by the 2021 Freeman Award recipient Pamela Cacchione, PhD, CRNP, BC, FGSA, FAAN, of the University of Pennsylvania. The Joseph T. Freeman Award is a lectureship in geriatrics awarded to a prominent physician in the field of aging, both in research and practice. The award was established in 1977 through a bequest from a patient's estate as a tribute to Dr. Joseph T. Freeman. The Excellence in Rehabilitation of Aging Persons Award lecture will feature an address by the 2021 Excellence in Rehabilitation Award recipient Gregory Hicks, MPT, PhD of the University of Delaware. The Excellence in Rehabilitation of Aging Persons Award is designed to acknowledge outstanding contributions in the field of the rehabilitation of aging individuals.

The pursuit of a dream, Francisco Javier Sayas and the HDG methods

Franciso Javier Sayas, man of grit and determination, left his hometown of Zaragoza in 2007 in pursuit of a dream, to become a scholar in the USA. I hosted him in Minneapolis, where he spent three long years of an arduous transition before obtaining a permanent position at the University of Delaware. There, he enthusiastically worked on the unfolding of his dream until his life was tragically cut short by cancer, at only 50. In this paper, I try to bring to light the part of his academic life he shared with me. As we both worked on hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin methods, and he wrote a book on the subject, I will tell Javier’s life as it developed around this topic. First, I will show how the ideas of static condensation and hybridization, proposed back in the mid 60s, lead to the introduction of those methods. This background material will allow me to tell the story of the evolution of the hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin methods and describe Javier’s participation in it. Javier faced death with open eyes and poised dignity. I will end with a poem he liked.

Similarity assessment and adjustment of integrated temperature databases. Cuyo region, Argentina

Given the frequent spatial-temporal limitations and deficiencies of instrumental meteorological records, the use of alternative information sources, such as integrated databases, are important for analyses and studies of diverse nature. The research aim was to evaluate the accuracy of integrated databases of monthly temperature, belonging to Climate Research Unit, University of Delaware and Global Historical Climatology Network, gridded with a pixel size of 3,098.01 km2 (0.5º x 0.5º), surface area of 151,802.5 km2 and temporary length of 22 years (1993-2014), through the modified structural similarity index (mSSIM). The study area is located in central-western Argentina (between 30º and 35º S, and 71º and 66º W). The University of Delaware grid showed the best fit of the data series from 10 weather stations located in the study area. Therefore, a proposal was presented to increase similarity indices, especially for those cells without instrumental reference information. The study determined that by applying this modification, the gridded datasets increases the similarity of the measured data, especially in mountainous areas, where originally there were differences of more than 7.5 ºC between the gridded data and observed one. The proposal decreases these differences to average values below 1 ºC. The use and subsequent adjustment of these integrated databases, allows access to information in areas without meteorological records.

Eliza Fenwick: Early Modern Feminist, Lissa Paul (2019)

Review of: Eliza Fenwick: Early Modern Feminist, Lissa Paul (2019) Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 318 pp., ISBN 978-1-64453-010-8, p/bk, $39.50