When Tradition Meets Modernity in Land Registration: Evidence from Dagbon, Ghana

Development practice over recent years in much of Africa prioritized formalization of land policies deemed to enhance better handling and use of land as an asset for social development. Following this trend, land reform policy in Ghana was based on a pluralistic legal system in which both the customary land tenure system and the statutory system of land ownership and control co-exist by law. The primary research question for this study was the following: What implications emerge when customary land tenure system and the statutory system of land ownership and control co-exist in law? The study discussed the prospects and challenges of land title registration and the meaning of the new organizing concept in land ownership and administration among the people of Dagbon in the northern region of Ghana. The principal aim of the study was to assess the challenges of the implementation of a modern land registration system over a deeply traditional one. A qualitative research methodology was used and included qualitative descriptive analysis. This descriptive-analytical study was carried out to investigate opinions on the implications of the merger and preferred options for redress of any systemic challenges. It employed Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) to supplement in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted among 40 key participants within formal and informal institutions including officials from both the Land Commission and Town and Country Planning Departments. Purposeful sampling was employed, and an interview guide was developed and used for collecting the data. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach. The results showed that in this structural reform, the ‘allodial title’ holder was much more trusted for tenure security because of the traditional legitimacy of the King as the sole owner and controller of land. The title registration system therefore principally served the secondary purpose as additional security. The findings indicate that in the circumstance where the law was seen as pliable, the policy engendered blurred and confusing effects that deepened the sense of ambiguity and outcomes were sometimes contradictory. We argued that the crossroads presented challenges that were novel and engendered innovative thinking for more appropriate solutions. The study revealed that policy reforms must be tailor-made to the physical, social, cultural and economic settings

When Tradition Meets Modernity in Land Registration: Evidence from Dagbon, Ghana

Development practice over recent years in much of Africa prioritized formalization of land policies deemed to enhance better handling and use of land as an asset for social development. Following this trend, land reform policy in Ghana was based on a pluralistic legal system in which both the customary land tenure system and the statutory system of land ownership and control co-exist by law. The primary research question for this study was the following: What implications emerge when customary land tenure system and the statutory system of land ownership and control co-exist in law? The study discussed the prospects and challenges of land title registration and the meaning of the new organizing concept in land ownership and administration among the people of Dagbon in the northern region of Ghana. The principal aim of the study was to assess the challenges of the implementation of a modern land registration system over a deeply traditional one. A qualitative research methodology was used and included qualitative descriptive analysis. This descriptive-analytical study was carried out to investigate opinions on the implications of the merger and preferred options for redress of any systemic challenges. It employed Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) to supplement in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted among 40 key participants within formal and informal institutions including officials from both the Land Commission and Town and Country Planning Departments. Purposeful sampling was employed, and an interview guide was developed and used for collecting the data. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach. The results showed that in this structural reform, the ‘allodial title’ holder was much more trusted for tenure security because of the traditional legitimacy of the King as the sole owner and controller of land. The title registration system therefore principally served the secondary purpose as additional security. The findings indicate that in the circumstance where the law was seen as pliable, the policy engendered blurred and confusing effects that deepened the sense of ambiguity and outcomes were sometimes contradictory. We argued that the crossroads presented challenges that were novel and engendered innovative thinking for more appropriate solutions. The study revealed that policy reforms must be tailor-made to the physical, social, cultural and economic settings

The Drosophila phosphatidylinositol transfer protein encoded by vibrator is essential to maintain cleavage-furrow ingression in cytokinesis

Cytokinesis requires the coordination of cytoskeletal and plasma membrane dynamics. A role for phosphatidylinositol lipids has been proposed for the successful completion of cytokinesis but this is still poorly characterised. Here, we show mutants of the gene vibrator, previously found to encode the Drosophila phosphatidylinositol transfer protein, produce multinucleate cells indicative of cytokinesis failure in male meiosis. Examination of fixed preparations of mutant spermatocytes showed contractile rings of anillin and actin that were of normal appearance at early stages but were larger and less well organised at later stages of cytokinesis than in wild-type cells. Time-lapse imaging revealed sequential defects in cytokinesis of vibrator spermatocytes. In cells that fail cytokinesis, central spindle formation occurred correctly, but furrow ingression was delayed and the central spindle did not become compressed to the extent seen in wild-type cells. Cells then stalled at this point before the apparent connection between the constricted cytoskeleton and the plasma membrane was lost; the furrow then underwent elastic regression. We discuss these defects in relation to multiple functions of phosphoinositol lipids in regulating actin dynamics and membrane synthesis

Data management for JGOFS: Theory and design

The Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), currently being organized under the auspices of the Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR), is intended to be a decade long internationally coordinated program. The main goal of JGOFS is to determine and understand on a global scale the processes controlling the time-varying fluxes of carbon and associated biogenic elements in the ocean and to evaluate the related exchanges with the atmosphere, sea floor and continental boundaries. 'A long-term goal of JGOFS will be to establish strategies for observing, on long time scales, changes in ocean biogeochemical cycles in relation to climate change'. Participation from a large number of U.S. and foreign institutions is expected. JGOFS investigators have begun a set of time-series measurements and global surveys of a wide variety of biological, chemical and physical quantities, detailed process-oriented studies, satellite observations of ocean color and wind stress and modeling of the bio-geochemical processes. These experiments will generate data in amounts unprecedented in the biological and chemical communities; rapid and effortless exchange of these data will be important to the success of JGOFS

Geostatistical analysis of mesoscale spatial variability and error in SeaWiFS and MODIS/Aqua global ocean color data

© The Author(s), 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 123 (2018): 22–39, doi:10.1002/2017JC013023.Mesoscale (10–300 km, weeks to months) physical variability strongly modulates the structure and dynamics of planktonic marine ecosystems via both turbulent advection and environmental impacts upon biological rates. Using structure function analysis (geostatistics), we quantify the mesoscale biological signals within global 13 year SeaWiFS (1998–2010) and 8 year MODIS/Aqua (2003–2010) chlorophyll a ocean color data (Level-3, 9 km resolution). We present geographical distributions, seasonality, and interannual variability of key geostatistical parameters: unresolved variability or noise, resolved variability, and spatial range. Resolved variability is nearly identical for both instruments, indicating that geostatistical techniques isolate a robust measure of biophysical mesoscale variability largely independent of measurement platform. In contrast, unresolved variability in MODIS/Aqua is substantially lower than in SeaWiFS, especially in oligotrophic waters where previous analysis identified a problem for the SeaWiFS instrument likely due to sensor noise characteristics. Both records exhibit a statistically significant relationship between resolved mesoscale variability and the low-pass filtered chlorophyll field horizontal gradient magnitude, consistent with physical stirring acting on large-scale gradient as an important factor supporting observed mesoscale variability. Comparable horizontal length scales for variability are found from tracer-based scaling arguments and geostatistical decorrelation. Regional variations between these length scales may reflect scale dependence of biological mechanisms that also create variability directly at the mesoscale, for example, enhanced net phytoplankton growth in coastal and frontal upwelling and convective mixing regions. Global estimates of mesoscale biophysical variability provide an improved basis for evaluating higher resolution, coupled ecosystem-ocean general circulation models, and data assimilation.NASA's Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Grant Numbers: NNG05GG30G, NNG05GR34G, NNX14AM36G, NNX14AL86G, NNX15AE65G; Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Cente

Drosophila Klp67A is required for proper chromosome congression and segregation during meiosis I

Drosophila Klp67A belongs to the Kip3 subfamily of Kinesin-type microtubule catastrophe factors. In primary spermatocytes, loss of klp67A leads to defects in karyokinesis and cytokinesis. We show that these cells formed disorganised, bipolar spindles that contained increased numbers of microtubules. The kinetochore fibres were wavy and bent, whereas astral microtubules appeared abnormally robust and formed cortical bundles. Time-lapse studies revealed that during biorientation, the chromosomes in klp67A mutant cells continued to reorient for about twice as long as those in control cells. Metaphase plates were poorly defined in the mutants and often formed at non-equatorial positions. Consistent with the above abnormalities in chromosome congression, we found that in wild-type cells Klp67A associated with prometaphase/metaphase kinetochores before redistributing to the central spindle at anaphase onset. Although the timing of this redistribution of kinetochores argues against a role in anaphase chromosome segregation, dyads in the mutants disjoined but exhibited greatly diminished poleward velocities. They travelled on average at approximately 34% of the velocity of their wild-type counterparts and often decondensed at non-polar locations. Hypomorphic mutations of klp67A may lead to segregation defects

Austenite Formation and Manganese Partitioning during Double Soaking of an Ultralow Carbon Medium-Manganese Steel

Double soaking (DS) is a thermal processing route intended to produce austenite–martensite microstructures in steels containing austenite-stabilizing additions and consists of intercritical annealing (primary soaking), followed by heating and brief isothermal holding at an increased temperature (secondary soaking), and quenching. Herein, experimental dilatometry during DS of a medium-manganese (Mn) steel with nominally 7 wt% Mn and an ultralow residual carbon concentration, in combination with phase-field simulations of austenite formation during secondary soaking, is presented. The feasibility of maintaining heterogeneous Mn distributions during DS is demonstrated and insight is provided on the effects of the secondary soaking temperature and prior Mn distribution on the ferrite-to-austenite phase transformation during the secondary soaking portion of the DS treatment

Jet Investigations Using the Radial Moment

We define the radial moment, , for jets produced in hadron-hadron collisions. It can be used as a tool for studying, as a function of the jet transverse energy and pseudorapidity, radiation within the jet and the quality of a perturbative description of the jet shape. We also discuss how non-perturbative corrections to the jet transverse energy affect .Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 6 figure

Pulmonary embolism following complex trauma: UK MTC observational study.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in a critically ill UK major trauma centre (MTC) patient cohort. METHODS: A retrospective, multidataset descriptive study of all trauma patients requiring admission to level 2 or 3 care in the East of England MTC from 1 November 2014 to 1 May 2017. Data describing demographics, the nature and extent of injuries, process of care, timing of PE prophylaxis, tranexamic acid (TXA) administration and CT scanner type were extracted from the Trauma Audit and Research Network database and hospital electronic records. PE presentation was categorised as immediate (diagnosed on initial trauma scan), early (within 72 hours of admission but not present initially) and late (diagnosed after 72 hours). RESULTS: Of the 2746 trauma patients, 1039 were identified as being admitted to level 2 or 3 care. Forty-eight patients (4.6%) were diagnosed with PE during admission with 14 immediate PEs (1.3%). Of 32.1% patients given TXA, 6.3% developed PE compared with 3.8% without TXA (p=0.08). CONCLUSION: This is the largest study of the incidence of PE in UK MTC patients and describes the greatest number of immediate PEs in a civilian complex trauma population to date. Immediate PEs are a rare phenomenon whose clinical importance remains unclear. Tranexamic acid was not significantly associated with an increase in PE in this population following its introduction into the UK trauma care system