Perceived Risks of Infection, Hospitalization, and Death From COVID-19 at the Equator: Ecuador and Kenya.

Objectives: This study's goal was to determine the perceived risks of infection as well as the perceived risks of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 in Ecuador and Kenya. It also assessed the factors associated with the risk-related perceptions.

Methods: Cross-sectional studies with samples from the adult populations in both countries were conducted to assess the perceived risks of contracting COVID-19.

The demand for a COVID-19 vaccine in Kenya.

The goal of achieving herd immunity to the coronavirus requires high vaccination acceptance levels on the part of the population. The objectives of this study were to: 1) Measure individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for a COVID-19 vaccine in Kenya; 2) evaluate the effect of vaccine characteristics (duration of protection and efficacy) and individuals' socioeconomic variables on WTP, and 3) estimate the aggregate demand and economic value of a COVID-19 vaccine. The contingent valuation (CV) method was used as the basis for the analyses.

Stable isotope ecology of black rhinos (Diceros bicornis) in Kenya.

Stable isotope and elemental ratios in hair are influenced by the environment, including both climate and geology. Stable carbon isotopes can be used to give estimates of the C/CAM fraction of diets of herbivorous mammals; stable nitrogen isotopes are related to the local water deficit; strontium isotopes are determined by the local geology. We studied hair from rhinos in Kenya to determine spatial patterns in δC, δN, and Sr/Sr ratios.

Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years.

The role of African savannahs in the evolution of early hominins has been debated for nearly a century. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by difficulty in quantifying the fraction of woody cover in the fossil record. Here we show that the fraction of woody cover in tropical ecosystems can be quantified using stable carbon isotopes in soils.