Insecticidal effect of kaolin powder flavoured with essential oils of Lantana camara L. (Verbenaceae) and Annona senegalensis Pers. (Annonaceae) on Caryedon serratus Olivier (Coleoptera-Bruchidae), a groundnut stock pest

The groundnut weevil, Caryedon serratus, causes significant losses of groundnut stocks in Senegal by developing larvae in the seeds. Essential oils extracted from leaves of two plants that grow naturally in Senegal, i.e. the sugar apple (Annona senegalensis Pers.) and lantana (Lantana camara), were tested on adults of Caryedon serratus. Purified and pulverized kaolin was flavoured with essential oils of A. Senegalensis Pers. and L. camara (Lam) obtained through vapour distillation. Adults C. serratus aged 24 hrs at most were treated with 0.1 g of powder flavoured with increasing doses (12.5 to 50 ìl/g. of powder) of essential oil. Withincreasing doses (12.5 to 50 ìl/g of powder) of essential oil. The powder Aromatized with essential oil of A. senegalensis at concentration 25 ìl/g. induced 50% mortality after 36 hrs of contact at concentration 25 ìl/gand 100% after 48 hrs at 50 ìl/g. The powder mixed with the essential oil of L. camara induced after 12 hours of contact 22% mortality at the dose of 12.5 ìl/g, the mortality increased with dose duration of exposure andreached 97.22% after 36 hrs with 50ìl/g

Exposure to family planning messages and modern contraceptive use among men in urban Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Family planning (FP) researchers and policy makers have often overlooked the importance of involving men in couples’ fertility choices and contraception, despite the fact that male involvement is a vital factor in sexual and reproductive health programming. This study aimed to assess whether men’s exposure to FP demand-generation activities is associated with their reported use of modern contraceptive methods. Methods We used evaluation data from the Measurement, Learning & Evaluation project for the Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (URHI) in select cities of three African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal) collected in 2012/2013. A two-stage cluster sampling design was used to select a representative sample of men in the study sites. The sample for this study includes men aged 15–59 years who had no missing data on any of the key variables: 696 men in Kenya, 2311 in Nigeria, and 1613 in Senegal. We conducted descriptive analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the associations of interest. All analyses were weighted to account for the study design and non-response rates using Stata version 13. Results The proportion of men who reported use of modern contraceptive methods was 58 % in Kenya, 43 % in Nigeria, and 27 % in Senegal. About 80 % were exposed to at least one URHI demand-generation activity in each country. Certain URHI demand-generation activities were significantly associated with men’s reported use of modern contraception. In Kenya, those who participated in URHI-led community events had four times higher odds of reporting use of modern methods (aOR: 3.70; p < 0.05) while in Senegal, exposure to URHI-television programs (aOR: 1.40; p < 0.05) and having heard a religious leader speak favorably about FP (aOR: 1.72; p < 0.05) were associated with modern contraceptive method use. No such associations were observed in Nigeria. Conclusion Study findings are important for informing future FP program activities that seek to engage men. Program activities should be tailored by geographic context as results from this study indicate city and country-level variations. These types of gender-comprehensive and context-specific programs are likely to be the most successful at reducing unmet need for FP

Bending strain-tunable magnetic anisotropy in Co2FeAl Heusler thin film on Kapton

Bending effect on the magnetic anisotropy in 20 nm Co$_{2}$FeAl Heusler thin film grown on Kapton\textregistered{} has been studied by ferromagnetic resonance and glued on curved sample carrier with various radii. The results reported in this letter show that the magnetic anisotropy is drastically changed in this system by bending the thin films. This effect is attributed to the interfacial strain transmission from the substrate to the film and to the magnetoelastic behavior of the Co$_{2}$FeAl film. Moreover two approaches to determine the in-plane magnetostriction coefficient of the film, leading to a value that is close to $\lambda^{CFA}=14\times10^{-6}$, have been proposed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

The commodity systems of four indigenous leafy vegetables in Senegal

Increasing the production of traditional leafy vegetables that are well adapted to the agro-ecology of Senegal, easy to grow and requiring low inputs, could greatly help to solve the poverty and malnutrition problems in Senegal. However, leafy vegetables are often overlooked by the scientific community. The species of leafy vegetables dealt with in this paper are roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp), amaranths (Amaranthus L. spp.) and Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam). To increase production of traditional leafy vegetables, access to good quality seeds is necessary. Two plantcollecting missions were undertaken throughout Senegal by a multidisciplinary research team. Experimentation on Hibiscus regeneration and characterisation was conducted at ISRA-CDH research station. Sixty-four accessions were collected among the four species. Forty-eight accessions of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) were characterised. The level of dissimilarity (63%) within the accessions of roselle confirmed the high degree of intra-species variability. The Richness Index determined for the Diaobe and Matam markets indicated a high degree of genetic diversity of roselle. These are used to select three new lines according to farmers’ preference criteria.In addition, socio-economic surveys were conducted in two pilot villages. It was found that planting dates for leafy vegetables varied greatly, depending on species, locality and season. Sowing was mainly done broadcast. Organic fertilisers were commonly applied. Eighty per cent (80%) of the farmers applied an NPK formulation and small quantities of urea. Traditional irrigation methods are often used in the growing of traditional leafy vegetables. The seeds used by farmers were a mixture of varieties. Farmers identified four types of each of roselle, amaranth and cowpea, but could not differentiate any variety for Moringa. Local markets constitute the main roselle seed supply source. Few farmers have developed traditional methods of seed conservation. Selling of seed is not a common activity in rural areas. Generally, farmers exchange gratuitously theirs seeds. Leaves are commonly sold at the field, in the village, in the nearest city and weekly at local markets called ’Louma‘. Average annual income generated by leaves varies from 41 to 500 USD. Leafy vegetables are used as food and for medicinal purposes. Leafy vegetable consumption in Senegal is around 23 g/person·d.Keywords: leafy vegetables, production, species, seed and genetic diversit

The Geant4-DNA project

The Geant4-DNA project proposes to develop an open-source simulation software based and fully included in the general-purpose Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit. The main objective of this software is to simulate biological damages induced by ionising radiation at the cellular and sub-cellular scale. This project was originally initiated by the European Space Agency for the prediction of deleterious effects of radiation that may affect astronauts during future long duration space exploration missions. In this paper, the Geant4-DNA collaboration presents an overview of the whole ongoing project, including its most recent developments already available in the last Geant4 public release (9.3 BETA), as well as an illustration example simulating the direct irradiation of a chromatin fibre. Expected extensions involving several research domains, such as particle physics, chemistry and cellular and molecular biology, within a fully interdiciplinary activity of the Geant4 collaboration are also discussed.Comment: presented by S. Incerti at the ASIA SIMULATION CONFERENCE 2009, October 7-9, 2009, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japa

Dibenzyl­aza­nium (oxalato-κ2 O,O′)triphenyl­stannate(IV)

The title compound, (C14H16N)[Sn(C6H5)3(C2O2)], was synthesised by allowing C2O4(Bz2NH2)2 (Bz = benzyl) to react with SnPh3Cl. The asymmetric unit is built up by four SnPh3C2O4 anions and four Bz2NH2 cations which are related by a pseudo-inversion centre. Each SnIV cation is five-coordinated by the three phenyl groups and two O atoms belonging to the chelating oxalate ligand; the coordination geometry is that of a distorted trigonal bipyramid. Anions and cations are linked through N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into a layer structure parallel to (001). Moreover, the anion–cation pairs are associated by two bifurcated N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, generating pseudo-dimers. One of the phenyl groups of one anion is disordered over two sets of sites in a 0.69:0.31 ratio. The Flack parameter value of 0.44 (1) indicates racemic twinning

CARIAA Working Paper no. 2

Includes abstract in FrenchAn optimal institutional framework for climate change adaptation is sometimes impeded by the nature of research, which focuses on a small number of contexts. This report synthesizes findings from a number of participatory action research (PAR) projects conducted as part of the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) program, for example: local informal institutions play a key role in enabling and/or constraining adaptation; coordination among and between institutions is essential; a well-coordinated institutional framework should take into account the three main chains of connection (horizontal coordination at the national level; horizontal coordination at the local level; and vertical coordination between national and local institutions)