Constraints and Opportunities for Development of Grasslands in Urban Areas of the Niayes Zone in Senegal

A survey was carried out in urban areas of the Niayes zone in Senegal to explore grasslands development in agropastoral systems around towns. Rapid rural appraisal and farms multiple visits were done to describe the forage cropping system, identify constraints and opportunities of developing grasslands in urban areas. In Niayes urban areas, forage production system is being developed based on the cropping of several grass and tree species. Only a minority of farmers is involved in that activity. Level of grass production is rather low. Weak development of grasslands is observed. Main reasons are: farmer poor willingness to crop for livestock feeding, lack of water and production factors including seeds and fertiliser, land tenure system and lack of integration between livestock and horticulture, security and economical environment. There are opportunities that need to be developed for improvement of grassland production in the Niayes as water reserves could tolerate more forage cropping. Research and development programs should focus on programs that could generate recommendations on grasslands development in association with horticulture witch is a major activity in Niayes areas

Scanning electron microscopy of Conidia of Trichoderma Stromaticum, a biocontrol agent of witches broom disease of cocoa.

Estudos morfológicos de conídios de Trichoderma harzianun, um agente de biocontrole da vassoura-de-bruxa do cacaueiro, foram feitos sob microscopia eletrônica de varredura com emissão de campo. Características da superfície de conídios do fungo mostraram ser rugosas quando observadas em alta maginificação; fato esse impossível de ser visualizado por microscopia ótica. Também foram observados, com freqüência, massas de conídios completamente envolvidos por material mucilaginoso e detalhes de células ramificadas dicotomicamente que formam as pústulas

Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal inoculation on growth, and nutrient uptake of the two grass species, Leptochloa fusca (L.) Stapf and Sporobolus robustus Kunth, under greenhouse conditions

The aim of our work was to assess the effect of inoculation with three arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (Rhizoglomus aggregatum (N.C. Schenck and G.S. Sm.) Sieverd., G.A. Silva and Oeh., Funneliformis mosseae (T.H. Nicolson and Gerd.) C. Walker and A. Schüssler. and Rhizoglomus intraradices (N.C. Schenck and G.S. Sm.) Sieverd., G.A. Silva and Oehl.), and a mixed inoculum of these AMF on root colonization, biomass production, mycorrhizal dependency (MD) and shoot mineral contents of two salt tolerant grasses Leptochloa fusca L. Stapf and Sporobolus robusts Kunth. After four months of growth in a sterilized soil and greenhouse conditions, grasses inoculated with AMF showed significantly higher total biomass production than non-inoculated seedlings. MD and shoot mineral contents (especially P) varied with AMF host plants. Maximum values of MD (13%) were observed in L. fusca and S. robustus seedlings when inoculated with R. intraradices and F. mosseae, respectively. Only P contents were higher in the S. robustus/mixed-AMF combinations than the other treatments. These results demonstrate the potential benefits in our experimental conditions of AM inoculation for improving growth and P acquisition particularly in the L. fusca/ F. mosseae and S. robustus/mixed-AMF combinations.Key words: Grass species, symbiosis, mycorrhizal dependency, mineral nutrition

Toward Equations of Galactic Structure

We find that all classes of galaxies, ranging from disks to spheroids and from dwarf spheroidals to brightest cluster galaxies, lie on a two dimensional surface within the space defined by the logarithms of the half-light radius, r_e, mean surface brightness within r_e, I_e, and internal velocity, V^2 = (1/2)v_c^2 + sigma^2, where v_c is the rotational velocity and sigma is the velocity dispersion. If these quantities are expressed in terms of kpc, L_solar/pc^2, and km/s, then log r_e - log V^2 + log I_e + log Upsilon_e + 0.8 = 0, where we provide a fitting function for Upsilon_e, the mass-to-light ratio within r_e in units of M_solar/L_solar, that depends only on V and I_e. The scatter about this surface for our heterogeneous sample of 1925 galaxies is small (< 0.1 dex) and could be as low as ~ 0.05 dex, or 10%. This small scatter has three possible implications for how gross galactic structure is affected by internal factors, such as stellar orbital structure, and by external factors, such as environment. These factors either 1) play no role beyond generating some of the observed scatter, 2) move galaxies along the surface, or 3) balance each other to maintain this surface as the locus of galactic structure equilibria. We cast the behavior of Upsilon_e in terms of the fraction of baryons converted to stars, eta, and the concentration of those stars within the dark matter halo, xi = R_{200}/r_e. We derive eta = 1.9 x 10^{-5} (L/L^*) Upsilon_* V^{-3} and xi = 1.4 V/r_e. Finally, we present and discuss the distributions of eta and xi for the full range of galaxies. For systems with internal velocities comparable to that of the Milky Way (149 < V < 163 km/s), eta = 0.14 +- 0.05, and xi is, on average, ~ 5 times greater for spheroids than for disks. (Abridged)Comment: submitted to Ap

Airborne Particles in Museums

Presents one in a series of research activities aimed at a better understanding of the origin and fate of air pollution within the built environment

Feed the Future Mali Livestock Technology Scaling Program (FtF-MLTSP) - Participatory assessment of animal health service delivery systems in Mali: Constraints and opportunities

United States Agency for International Developmen

Oscillations in the expression of a self-repressed gene induced by a slow transcriptional dynamics

We revisit the dynamics of a gene repressed by its own protein in the case where the transcription rate does not adapt instantaneously to protein concentration but is a dynamical variable. We derive analytical criteria for the appearance of sustained oscillations and find that they require degradation mechanisms much less nonlinear than for infinitely fast regulation. Deterministic predictions are also compared with stochastic simulations of this minimal genetic oscillator

Expected Number and Flux Distribution of Gamma-Ray-Burst Afterglows with High Redshifts

If Gamma-Ray-Bursts (GRBs) occur at high redshifts, then their bright afterglow emission can be used to probe the ionization and metal enrichment histories of the intervening intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization. In contrast to other sources, such as galaxies or quasars, which fade rapidly with increasing redshift, the observed infrared flux from a GRB afterglow at a fixed observed age is only a weak function of its redshift. This results from a combination of the spectral slope of GRB afterglows and the time-stretching of their evolution in the observer's frame. Assuming that the GRB rate is proportional to the star formation rate and that the characteristic energy output of GRBs is ~10^{52} ergs, we predict that there are always ~15 GRBs from redshifts z>5 across the sky which are brighter than ~100 nJy at an observed wavelength of ~2 \mu m. The infrared spectrum of these sources could be taken with the future Next Generation Space Telescope, as a follow-up on their early X-ray localization with the Swift satellite.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures; submitted to Ap

Oscillations in the expression of a self-repressed gene induced by a slow transcriptional dynamics

We revisit the dynamics of a gene repressed by its own protein in the case where the transcription rate does not adapt instantaneously to protein concentration but is a dynamical variable. We derive analytical criteria for the appearance of sustained oscillations and find that they require degradation mechanisms much less nonlinear than for infinitely fast regulation. Deterministic predictions are also compared with stochastic simulations of this minimal genetic oscillator