Water harvesting for crop production :exploring adoption and use in Burkina Faso from a livelihoods perspectives

PhD ThesisResearch conducted over the past decade has highlighted the potential for improvements to rainfed agriculture and water productivity through the use of water harvesting, particularly for small-scale farmers in developing countries. However, empirical evidence indicates that projected adoption rates and hence crop yield and livelihood improvements have not been realised. This research argues that low adoption levels can be explained by the lack of emphasis on the context within which the technologies are placed by researchers and developmental organisations that promote them. This research uses an extended sustainable rural livelihoods approach to investigate the factors that support or constrain households’ abilities to benefit from the potential productivity increases offered by water harvesting. A livelihoods perspective is adopted to explore the similarities and differences in opportunities and constraints between different types of farmers both across and within households. Data presented here were collected during two extended periods of fieldwork in Burkina Faso, West Africa, during 2012 and 2013. An in-depth household level study was conducted across three case study villages, complemented by focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Insights demonstrate that livelihood choices, behaviours and priorities, asset access and control, risk context and utilisation of agricultural production are vital considerations in the assessment of the ability of water harvesting to increase agricultural productivity and/or improve livelihoods for any particular individual, household or community. The influence of these factors on benefits of adoption varies with wealth, gender and age at household level, with female farmers likely to experience the greatest constraints to production and livelihood improvements within households. This research argues that there is great potential to increase the crop and livelihood impact of water harvesting, particularly in poorer households and for women across all households, if a more holistic innovation systems approach is taken to their design and implementation.European Community's Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013], under the Water Harvesting Technologies Revisited project (WHaTeR

Representations of Time Coordinates in FITS

In a series of three previous papers, formulation and specifics of the representation of World Coordinate Transformations in FITS data have been presented. This fourth paper deals with encoding time. Time on all scales and precisions known in astronomical datasets is to be described in an unambiguous, complete, and self-consistent manner. Employing the well--established World Coordinate System (WCS) framework, and maintaining compatibility with the FITS conventions that are currently in use to specify time, the standard is extended to describe rigorously the time coordinate. World coordinate functions are defined for temporal axes sampled linearly and as specified by a lookup table. The resulting standard is consistent with the existing FITS WCS standards and specifies a metadata set that achieves the aims enunciated above.Comment: FITS WCS Paper IV: Time. 27 pages, 11 table

An investigation of a supercluster of galaxies in Piscis Austrinis

An examination of a IIIaJ plate taken on the United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope of Survey field 405 revealed a possible supercluster of clusters of galaxies. Three rich clusters could be seen grouped within one degree, and which appeared to be of similar distance. The project described in this thesis has investigated the supercluster hypothesis by determining relative (and less precisely, absolute) distances to the three component clusters. It is described how the photographic material was painstakingly reduced to relative magnitudes and colours, and how these values were calibrated using a stellar sequence photo-electrically observed using the 1m telescope at South African Astronomical Observatory. Radial velocities were determined by a process which maximises the amount of information derived from intrinsically low-precision objective prism material. It is found that the Supercluster has, within the errors, a line-of-sight dimension of twice its projected dimension; this suggests that in fact the clusters of galaxies are in as close proximity spatially as they are apparently. The distance derived to the supercluster is 550 Mpc, giving a projected diameter of 10Mpc, with a recession velocity of 47700 kms⁻¹ which Leads to a determination of Hubble's constant: H₀ = 87 ±20kms⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹

Dealing with messy problems: lessons from water harvesting systems for crop production in Burkina Faso

Despite the identification of areas exhibiting successful adoption and use of water harvesting technologies (WHTs) by small-scale farmers in SSA, on the whole WHT use remains low and hence impacts on crop production and livelihoods marginal. Past research has determined the importance of social factors in the adoption and use of WHTs, but little attempt has been made to fully understand their role. This paper presents qualitative, micro level research conducted in Botswana and Burkina Faso that has increased understanding of the effect of social factors. The main lesson learnt is that WHTs sit within a highly complex and dynamic system and the problem of low adoption and use cannot be solved using approaches that attempt to over-simplify it. Ensuring the sustainability of WHTs into the future requires that the complexity and messiness of the system is fully embraced by researchers and practitioners seeking solutions

Comparative analysis of hybridized solutions to water resources management in Burkina Faso, India and Peru

Hybridization of ‘green’ and engineered infrastructure, informed by protecting or restoring catchment processes, can resolve interconnected demands on catchment ecosystems, potentially also reversing historic degradation of socio-ecological systems. Pressures are acute in water-scarce, developing regions with episodic rainfall, exacerbated by historic presumptions favouring engineered management. Comparing conditions, histories and emerging approaches in contrasting regions – the Central Plateau of Burkina Faso, Rajasthan State (India) and Ayacucho Region (Peru) – reveals similar yet distinct approaches reflecting different starting regimes. Transferrable learning about hybridising localised, nature-based solutions and engineered technology informs the necessary transition towards a sustainable approach these and other regions

K Corrections For Type Ia Supernovae and a Test for Spatial Variation of the Hubble Constant

Cross-filter K corrections for a sample of "normal" Type Ia supernovae (SNe) have been calculated for a range of epochs. With appropriate filter choices, the combined statistical and systematic K correction dispersion of the full sample lies within 0.05 mag for redshifts z<0.7. This narrow dispersion of the calculated K correction allows the Type Ia to be used as a cosmological probe. We use the K corrections with observations of seven SNe at redshifts 0.3 < z <0.5 to bound the possible difference between the locally measured Hubble constant (H_L) and the true cosmological Hubble constant (H_0).Comment: 6 pages, 3 Postscript figures, uuencoded uses crckapb.sty and psfig.sty. To appear in Thermonuclear Supernovae (NATO ASI), eds. R. Canal, P. Ruiz-LaPuente, and J. Isern. Postscript version is also available at http://www-supernova.lbl.gov

Distant field BHB stars and the mass of the Galaxy II: Photometry and spectroscopy of UKST candidates 16<B<19.5, 11<R<52 kpc

This is the second in a series of papers presenting a new calculation of the mass of the Galaxy based on radial velocities and distances for a sample of faint 16 < B < 21.3 field blue horizontal-branch (BHB) stars. We present accurate BV CCD photometry and spectra for 142 candidate A-type stars selected from ub_jr photometry of UK Schmidt telescope plates in six high-Galactic-latitude fields. Classification of these candidates produces a sample of 60 BHB stars at distances of 11-52 kpc from the Sun (mean 28 kpc), with heliocentric line-of-sight velocities accurate to 15 km/s, and distance errors < 10%. We provide a summary table listing coordinates and velocities of these stars. The measured dispersion of the radial component of the Galactocentric velocity for this sample is 108+-10 km/s, in agreement with a recent study of the distant halo by Sirko and coworkers. Measurements of the Ca II K line indicate that nearly all the stars are metal-poor with a mean [Fe/H] = -1.8 with dispersion 0.5. Subsequent papers will describe a second survey of BHBs to heliocentric distances 70 < R < 125 kpc and present a new estimate of the mass of the Galaxy.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Clinical trial protocol for TRANSFORM-UK: A therapeutic open-label study of tocilizumab in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Our aim is to assess the safety and potential efficacy of a novel treatment paradigm in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), immunomodulation by blocking interleukin-6 (IL6) signaling with the IL6 receptor antagonist, tocilizumab. Inflammation and autoimmunity are established as important in PAH pathophysiology. One of the most robust observations across multiple cohorts in PAH has been an increase in IL6, both in the lung and systemically. Tocilizumab is an IL-6 receptor antagonist established as safe and effective, primarily in rheumatoid arthritis, and has shown promise in scleroderma. In case reports where the underlying cause of PAH is an inflammatory process such as systemic lupus erythematosus, mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), and Castleman's disease, there have been case reports of regression of PAH with tocilizumab. TRANSFORM-UK is an open-label study of intravenous (IV) tocilizumab in patients with group 1 PAH. The co-primary outcome measures will be safety and the change in resting pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Clinically relevant secondary outcome measurements include 6-minute walk distance, WHO functional class, quality of life score, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). If the data support a potentially useful therapeutic effect with an acceptable risk profile, the study will be used to power a Phase III study to properly address efficacy