Proponent: Zimbabwe Minins Development Corporation

IMR Open report.The Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) was mandated by Government to conduct exploration and subsequent exploitation of the diamond resource in Marange District. In compliance with the Environmental Management Act, ZMDC commissioned the Institute of Mining Research, University of Zimbabwe to carry out an environmental impact assessment of the envisaged project. The mining and processing activities of the diamond bearing rock does not involve the use of sophisticated equipment nor chemicals. The impacts associated with the project were assessed and the only significant one is that related to evacuation of people that currently live within the demarcated security zone. Exploration work is currently ongoing and the security zone is likely to expand. The ZMDC authorities have committed themselves to ensure that all evacuations will be communicated to the people concerned including the local government and traditional leadership in time and compensation will be commensurate with current standards. An environmental management plan for the project has been formulated as a result of the assessment of the impacts of the project in terms of social, economic and ecological setting of the project site and also from the aspirations of the affected stakeholders through the public consultation exercise conducted by the eia team

Challenges For Environmental Management In The Mining Sector

An IMR Open Report.Revenue from mineral resources has contributed to the improvement of the quality of life in several countries globally. The importance of mining in the SADC region is demonstrated by the amount of minerals produced; 40% of vanadium, 72% of the platinum group of metals, 40% of chromite, and 55% of diamonds of the global output. Mining contributes about 60% of the foreign currency receipts of the SADC region (www.sadc.int). Some of the major settlements providing much needed services have developed due to mining, e.g. Johannesburg, Francistown, Copperbelt towns of Zambia. Mining contributes significantly to government revenue in Southern Africa, e.g. 45% in -Botswana in 2004. The importance of the mining sector has been recognized at the SADC level through various initiatives aimed at the development of this sector, e.g. SADC Protocol on Mining, and attempts at harmonizing policies relevant to the development of the sector (UNECA, 2004). However, in the international arena, continued exploitation of mineral resources is increasingly depended upon the demonstrated capacity of the industry to effectively deal with the vast amount of waste generated from mining through to beneficiation

Ned-19 inhibition of parasite growth and multiplication suggests a role for NAADP mediated signalling in the asexual development of plasmodium falciparum

BACKGROUND: Although malaria is a preventable and curable human disease, millions of people risk to be infected by the Plasmodium parasites and to develop this illness. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new anti-malarial drugs. Ca2+ signalling regulates different processes in the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, representing a suitable target for the development of new drugs. RESULTS: This study investigated for the first time the effect of a highly specific inhibitor of nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP)-induced Ca2+ release (Ned-19) on P. falciparum, revealing the inhibitory effect of this compound on the blood stage development of this parasite. Ned-19 inhibits both the transition of the parasite from the early to the late trophozoite stage and the ability of the late trophozoite to develop to the multinucleated schizont stage. In addition, Ned-19 affects spontaneous intracellular Ca2+ oscillations in ring and trophozoite stage parasites, suggesting that the observed inhibitory effects may be associated to regulation of intracellular Ca2+ levels. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the inhibitory effect of Ned-19 on progression of the asexual life cycle of P. falciparum. The observation that Ned-19 inhibits spontaneous Ca2+ oscillations suggests a potential role of NAADP in regulating Ca2+ signalling of P. falciparum

Machine learning methods for American-style path-dependent contracts

In the present work, we introduce and compare state-of-the-art algorithms, that are now classified under the name of machine learning, to price Asian and look-back products with early-termination features. These include randomized feed-forward neural networks, randomized recurrent neural networks, and a novel method based on signatures of the underlying price process. Additionally, we explore potential applications on callable certificates. Furthermore, we present an innovative approach for calculating sensitivities, specifically Delta and Gamma, leveraging Chebyshev interpolation techniques

Farmers' Taxonomies as a Participatory Diagnostic Tool: Soil Fertility Management in Chihota, Zimbabwe

Soil infertility is a major constraint to food production in the communal areas of Zimbabwe. Smallholders in the region recognize the problems of low soil fertility and have devised ways of coping with them. This study describes the use of farmers� taxonomies of themselves and their soils to identify and understand the options they have, and the constraints they face in managing poor soil fertility in Chihota, a sub-humid communal area of north central Zimbabwe. It is part of an effort by a group of agricultural researchers and extensionists working on improved soil fertility technologies, to better integrate their work with farmers in order to expose the latter to promising technologies, get feedback on the technologies merits and feasibility, and help farmers experiment with them. The results show that these farmers have relatively sophisticated taxonomies, which provide a good picture of the resources, constraints, and concerns they have about soil infertility and ways to manage it. The taxonomies are an important framework for integration of technical interventions with farmers� requirements, systems, and circumstances.participatory methods, soil fertility, local taxonomies, smallholders, Zimbabwe, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

Gene expression profiling in slow-Type calf soleus muscle of 30 days space-flown mice

Microgravity exposure as well as chronic disuse are two main causes of skeletal muscle atrophy in animals and humans. The antigravity calf soleus is a reference postural muscle to investigate the mechanism of disuse-induced maladaptation and plasticity of human and rodent (rats or mice) skeletal musculature. Here, we report microgravity-induced global gene expression changes in space-flown mouse skeletal muscle and the identification of yet unknown disuse susceptible transcripts found in soleus (a mainly slow phenotype) but not in extensor digitorum longus (a mainly fast phenotype dorsiflexor as functional counterpart to soleus). Adult C57Bl/N6 male mice (n = 5) flew aboard a biosatellite for 30 days on orbit (BION-M1 mission, 2013), a sex and age-matched cohort were housed in standard vivarium cages (n = 5), or in a replicate flight habitat as ground control (n = 5). Next to disuse atrophy signs (reduced size and myofiber phenotype I to II type shift) as much as 680 differentially expressed genes were found in the space-flown soleus, and only 72 in extensor digitorum longus (only 24 genes in common) compared to ground controls. Altered expression of gene transcripts matched key biological processes (contractile machinery, calcium homeostasis, muscle development, cell metabolism, inflammatory and oxidative stress response). Some transcripts (Fzd9, Casq2, Kcnma1, Ppara, Myf6) were further validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Besides previous reports on other leg muscle types we put forth for the first time a complete set of microgravity susceptible gene transcripts in soleus of mice as promising new biomarkers or targets for optimization of physical countermeasures and rehabilitation protocols to overcome disuse atrophy conditions in different clinical settings, rehabilitation and spaceflight

in Vitro and in Vivo Models to Decipher Intra-tumor Heterogeneity

Recent advances in next-generation sequencing and other omics technologies capable to map cell fate provide increasing evidence on the crucial role of intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) for cancer progression. The different facets of ITH, from genomic to microenvironmental heterogeneity and the hierarchical cellular architecture originating from the cancer stem cell compartment, contribute to the range of tumor phenotypes. Decoding these complex data resulting from the analysis of tumor tissue complexity poses a challenge for developing novel therapeutic strategies that can counteract tumor evolution and cellular plasticity. To achieve this aim, the development of in vitro and in vivo cancer models that resemble the complexity of ITH is crucial in understanding the interplay of cells and their (micro)environment and, consequently, in testing the efficacy of new targeted treatments and novel strategies of tailoring combinations of treatments to the individual composition of the tumor. This challenging approach may be an important cornerstone in overcoming the development of pharmaco-resistances during multiple lines of treatment. In this paper, we report the latest advances in patient-derived 3D (PD3D) cell cultures and patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDX) as in vitro and in vivo models that can retain the genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity of the tumor tissue