Low bandwidth eye tracker for scanning laser ophthalmoscopy

Use of adaptive optics with scanning laser ophthalmoscopes (AOSLOs) has allowed for in vivo, noninvasive imaging of the human rod and cone pho- toreceptor mosaic. This modality could prove to be a valuable tool for clin- icians in early diagnosis of retinal disease as well as provide invaluable incite for researchers. In order for these instruments to become practical in a clinical environment, many challenges must be overcome. Involuntary eye motion makes the use of AOSLOs particularly difficult as it increases imaging time, post-processing time, data storage requirements, and, most importantly, subject\u27s chances of retinal damage due to light exposure. The goal of this thesis is to develop a real time eye tracking and com- pensation system capable of overcoming slow eye drift. Data acquisition and synchronization software and electronics were developed for use with an AOSLO. A motion estimation technique based on normalized cross cor- relation NCC accelerated by CUDA enabled graphics cards was used as a basis for the tracking system. Motion prediction methods were developed and evaluated in order to increase the system bandwidth. Specifically, lin- ear and quadratic extrapolation, discrete cosine transform extrapolation, and Kalman filtering techniques were used. These tracking methods were evaluated using simulated motion and real subjects

Neutron flux and energy characterization of a plutonium-beryllium isotopic neutron source by Monte Carlo simulation with verification by neutron activation analysis

The purpose of this research was to characterize the neutron energy distribution and flux emitted from the UNLV plutonium-beryllium source, serial number MRC-N-W PuBe 453. This was accomplished through the use of the MCNPX/5 Monte-Carlo particle transport code to simulate radiation interactions within the physical environment of the source and its surroundings. The moderating drum currently containing the source as well as all of the sampling ports were accurately modeled in MCNPX/5. This geometry was then used to simulate the neutron interactions taking place in these geometries. The results of the simulations were then verified by the use of specifically chosen activation detectors and threshold foils designed to accurately convey information on the energy distribution and flux of the neutrons present at multiple sampling locations

Approximating Hit Rate Curves using Streaming Algorithms

A hit rate curve is a function that maps cache size to the proportion of requests that can be served from the cache. (The caching policy and sequence of requests are assumed to be fixed.) Hit rate curves have been studied for decades in the operating system, database and computer architecture communities. They are useful tools for designing appropriate cache sizes, dynamically allocating memory between competing caches, and for summarizing locality properties of the request sequence. In this paper we focus on the widely-used LRU caching policy. Computing hit rate curves is very efficient from a runtime standpoint, but existing algorithms are not efficient in their space usage. For a stream of m requests for n cacheable objects, all existing algorithms that provably compute the hit rate curve use space linear in n. In the context of modern storage systems, n can easily be in the billions or trillions, so the space usage of these algorithms makes them impractical. We present the first algorithm for provably approximating hit rate curves for the LRU policy with sublinear space. Our algorithm uses O( p^2 * log(n) * log^2(m) / epsilon^2 ) bits of space and approximates the hit rate curve at p uniformly-spaced points to within additive error epsilon. This is not far from optimal. Any single-pass algorithm with the same guarantees must use Omega(p^2 + epsilon^{-2} + log(n)) bits of space. Furthermore, our use of additive error is necessary. Any single-pass algorithm achieving multiplicative error requires Omega(n) bits of space

Global Futures

Describes experience of: IFPRIGlobal Futures aims to improve the capacity of the CGIAR centres to evaluate and prioritise research investments, and to support the decision-making of international development partners and national policymakers by giving those who work in agricultural development the kinds of information they need to make the best decisions to support small farmers so they can boost their yields, increase their income, and develop a better understanding of how to adapt to climate change. Lead institution: IFPRI IFPRI’s mission focuses on identifying and analysing alternative international, national, and local policies in support of improved food security and nutrition, emphasizing low-income countries, poor people and the sound management of the natural resource base. Key areas of priority that support agriculture are; contributing to capacity strengthening of people and institutions in developing countries that conduct research on food, agriculture, and nutrition policies; and actively engaging in policy communications, making research results available to all those in a position to apply or use them, and carrying out dialogues with those users to link research and policy action. Climate communication aims: The communication aims of this project are to help policy makers better understand climate impacts through visual modelling and scenarios. Feedback from policy makers is shared with the modellers for new iterations. IFRI have a specific focus on modelling climate change impacts on agricultural crops and shape their scenarios around this. Different variables are introduced to the model like trade and openness. Communications/social learning characteristics: Global Futures is an amalgamation of a number of different tools and projects that has ambitions to reach out beyond researchers to policy makers and eventually to farmers. The initiative takes a number of climate modelling tools that have been developed by IFPRI and others and is experimenting how these tools can be combined to better engage with policy and practice. Tool 1 – IMPACT (International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade) a software based economic model that projects the future production, consumption, and trade of key agricultural commodities, and can assess the effects of climate change, water availability and other major trends. Started in the 1990’s looking at a few commodities across a few regions, it evolved to the current version which has 40 commodities across 115 national areas and 281 food production units. It is also being ported to a lighter web-based version. Tool 2 – D-SAT A tool developed by the University of Florida that models crop yields with respect to changed environmental conditions. This has been integrated/combined with the IMPACT tool to produce a wider set of available variables for modelling. Tool 3 – Food security CASE maps are interactive web based Climate, Agriculture, and Socio-Economic Maps that present IFPRI’s latest research on the future of food security, farming, and climate change to 2050. The principle idea behind Global Futures is to provide all the rights kinds of information to support small farmers so that they can boost their yields, increase incomes and build better lives. This is essentially a top down, information supply mechanism on a global scale which can be tailored (using the ICT tools) to regional areas. It is an example of a “push” project which has elements of “pull” by holding workshops and dialogues with policy makers, where data is presented and discussed in a regional context using visually appealing formats. While there have been good attempts at bringing findings and dialogue to farmer communities it is not clear that the datasets or research agenda has been built through an assessment of farmer’s needs and their adaptation to difficult environments. Although this project is engaging at national policy level and has aspirations to reach community level, it does not demonstrate what we are calling “triple loop learning”. Audience: Global Futures states that that it aims to benefit small farmers, providing them with information so that they can make better decisions to boost yields and improve livelihoods (the assumption here is that increased yields automatically assume improved livelihoods). There is also a research and policy audience as part of the chain of support for farmers and it appears that policy makers, rather than farmers, are currently the main target. The theory of change assumes there will be spill-down from the national level to farmers. IFPRI have aspirations to target farmers more directly but it is not clear how the farmers will receive this information as much of it is presented through an online platform and would need some interpretation for context and use of local language. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): Global Futures represents a good example of one of the key challenges faced by CGIAR centres and CCAFS. It is a challenge faced by similarly large, sophisticated, and well- resourced scientific/technical institutions. Researching, gathering and collating sophisticated & comparative datasets that can stand up to rigorous comparison the world over can end up by providing “lowest common denominator” information at the local level because it lacks context, and no easily accessible means of interpreting the data. The scenarios workshops however are an encouraging way to bring this information, more visually, in to a dialogue setting. The challenge is how to bring this to the local level (at scale) and create learning loops that impact the model itself by building in local learning and context. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): IFPRI has evolved these tools from focusing more on climate change researchers (IMPACT) to also engage more with policy makers (CASE maps). The Global Futures initiative has held a number of workshops in East Africa testing out a participatory “scenarios building” exercise which maps out different futures scenarios based on different start conditions e.g. good transport/bad transport, open markets/protected markets to allow more nuanced discussion based on numbers that can be made visual for easier interpretation e.g. what would a 10% increase in trade barriers due to farmer costs and hence consumer prices? What would be resultant impacts on demand taking in to account modelled climate change impacts

Communicating Carbon

Describes experiences of: ICRAF, CCAFSCommunicating Carbon is a workshop approach which brought together carbon project practitioners who are already working closely with farmers to discuss how to better communicate the concept, risks, and benefits of carbon initiatives aimed at smallholders – based around the principle of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). These practitioners act as “brokers” between carbon buyers and farmers who may have the means to plant more trees or sequester more carbon in the soil to help offset emissions. Developing better communication tools and approaches is a way to ensure FPIC in carbon projects. Institution: World Agroforestry Centre, CCAFS (led) The World Agroforestry Centre works towards more productive, diversified, integrated and intensified trees and agroforestry systems that provide livelihood and environmental benefits. Climate communication aims: The communication aims of workshop were to pool knowledge of practitioners on communication approaches to carbon sequestration and to promote social learning between practitioners so as they can improve their communication and learning approaches with farmers. Communications/social learning characteristics: The workshop was an interactive discussion of best approaches to improving communication on the concept and issues around carbon initiatives aimed at smallholders. The process focused on the principle of FPIC of the smallholders and exchanged ideas, tools, and approaches on how to raise awareness of smallholders on sequestration and carbon credit schemes. The workshop approach demonstrates an element of social learning by refining tools and approaches collectively and developing a toolkit as a shared output. The resulting policy brief/toolkit, although widely shared through the CCAFS website, has not yet provided the basis for repeat discussion and feedback that would lead to a more truly representative looped learning model i.e. have practitioners continued to learn together on the effectiveness of what is laid out in the workshop toolkit after the workshop testing out with communities what has worked best in a particular context. In a repeat exercise could communities be involved in agenda setting for these higher level processes? At this stage it looks like the workshop is a one off rather than a systematic approach to improving communication on this topic but there is interesting potential for this to change if there is further interest within CGIAR and elsewhere. Audience: The direct audience at the workshop was mainly practitioners interested in better communicating issues of carbon sequestration and carbon offset initiatives more effectively with smallholders. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): This is more about getting communication tools and approaches discussed and their effectiveness analysed. The second logical stage would be to take this toolkit and work with communities to better understand if it is the right approach. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): All participants have been working in East Africa, and are good contacts of CCAFS. There are lots of projects coming up that focus on carbon markets (particularly in Kenya) and not much has been done on communicating carbon markets at grass roots level – hence CCAFS saw an opportunity for a workshop to foster learning on communicating carbon markets. Developing a successful looped learning model using more of this methodology could be something that CCAFS can facilitate

Africa Adapt

Describes experience of: ENDA, FARA, ICPAC, IDSAfrica Adapt is an online/offline knowledge sharing platform that was designed to share local African knowledge and experience on climate change. It was set up after a scoping of partners, through a number of regional forums in Africa, to discuss the idea of a knowledge hub and to identify what was needed and who best could develop and run it. Phase 1 was launched in 2008 by IDS with partners ENDA, FARA and ICPAC. In 2011 there was an evaluation of what has worked and not worked and re-launch with IDS stepping back to a capacity support role and the partnership being devolved to lead partner ENDA to ensure implementation. Lead institution: ENDA, FARA, ICPAC and IDS Climate communications aims The communication aims of the project are fourfold: • To increase inclusion and raise visibility of African knowledge on climate change • To facilitate flows of information on climate change in Africa • To broker relationships between different communities of practice • To add value to the culture of how we share knowledge Communications/social learning characteristics: Africa Adapt is managing to achieve, in part what other web-based initiatives often fail to achieve, a good balance in terms of engagement and the potential for social learning. Right from the beginning during the initial scoping phase the project team was careful to assess needs and to identify what kind of knowledge sharing and engagement would be possible and relevant. It has made deliberate attempts to build up and strengthen the online presence and the offline presence. Online it provides a wealth of information presented in a number of different formats – for example film, web photo albums, online discussion groups, as well as thematic browsing of projects. Although its presentation of information requires the user to spend some time looking through the collection rather than sourcing information immediately, the counter balance is that this has been done to ensure that a full range of voices, types of knowledge and information are representative of a wide group of stakeholders. Offline the project has worked hard to resource knowledge sharing officers in country partner officers who have developed the offline engagement work. This includes activities, like “Meet and Greet” where staff set up fairly impromptu meetings to discuss particular issues or visit a particular village to share experiences. These events are then shared on the website by film It is felt that one of the reasons for this growing success is that there is a strong culture of reflection and learning within the project team itself and regular meetings and discussions on what Africa Adapt’s USP is and how it fits with the range of other climate change information and networking projects take place. This has helped to keep the focus and really look where engagement works and where it does not. This kind of project is expensive but knowing where you add value helps to justify the support. Audience: It was originally intended to speak to policy makers and others working in climate change adaptation in Africa and elsewhere. It considers that the audience that has responded the most to this format has been practitioners or those working one step away from communities. It is not so much of a recognised tool for policy makers. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): Africa Adapt is an attempt at getting local and global climate change knowledge discussed more widely and that knowledge put in to practice. As part of the monitoring and evaluation of the approaches Africa Adapt has taken in getting research in to practice, they carried out interviews to assess where people in the network had seen real world behaviour change: “stories of change”. The stories of change help to act as supporting evidence and demonstrate a number of uses of material from the Africa Adapt website that communities have used as teaching aids or opportunities for learning. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): The project has put in mechanisms to help learn what is working well – for example the stories of change process mentioned above. The phase one project evaluation also encouraged a re-think on how to integrate the online and offline activities. One outcome was a decision to take more time to have online discussions using DGroups to bring the physical network and communities of practice together virtually. This emphasis on trying to build up further engagement and learning is well on its ways to providing a good platform for increased social learning

Climate Airwaves

Describes experiences of: IDS, Ghana Community Radio, Africa AdaptClimate Airwaves is a project for building capacity among community radio broadcasters to investigate the local impact of climate change. The vision behind the project was to build the confidence of broadcasters to do stories by developing their skills in doing action research with communities on how climate change is changing their lives and to identify areas where they felt they could have an impact. The result of the process and the programming was also designed to engage with the research and policy communities highlighting to highlight these impacts and push for change. Lead institution: IDS, Ghana Community Radio, Africa Adapt Climate communication aims: The communication aims are to improve the ability for radio broadcasters, who are able to reach to a much wider audiences, to communicate with and engage with their audiences on climate change issues. It is also designed in a way that encourages the broadcaster and audience to learn together and feed this learning into wider research and policy communities to influence new thinking. Communications/social learning characteristics: Good community radio already has good strong ties to local knowledge and a lot of experience of investigating and advocating for different local issues. However, it was discovered that lots of local broadcasters felt they did not have the legitimacy or confidence to investigate an issue like climate change. Comments like “I am not a scientist so I cannot investigate climate change” were a familiar refrain. This lack of confidence was exacerbated by not having enough understanding of the global context in which to situate the local implications. This lack of understanding of the drivers of global climate change meant Broadcasters were actually blaming communities for the environmental degradation etc. Climate Airwaves was a pilot that tried to encourage a more participative environment for learning about climate change by turning some of their thinking towards a more rights based, social justice angle which is a familiar angle for community radio. The action research dimension encouraged broadcasters to play more of an intermediary role between the community who they were researching and the policy makers or other local stakeholders that they needed to talk to. The 18 month pilot was implemented in three phases, all of which have a relevant dimension for social learning. The First phase was about building the basic understanding of climate change through training workshops - multiple training sessions – first one from a local partner and then from IDS. As much different and varied information as was felt relevant was provided on a pen drive. The content was aimed at Climate Justice – but with good information on the global context, the impacts of this for Ghana as well as an understanding of the relevance for development – a total of 5.5 days of training time. Baseline assessments carried out by Ghana Radio of the broadcaster’s knowledge and that of the local stakeholders helped IDS know who they were working with in order to give them the right support. The second phase – piloted with one station - was an action research workshop where the team went together to trial an action research methodology framework using real issues. This included mapping as well as investigation. The broadcasters then came together for a production workshop to choose their themes. The themes were then shared in a “durba” or regional forum and refined with their audience resulting in a next iteration. This process managed to attract people to come and share their ideas and get involved from the district assemblies who had hereto refused to connect over the issue. This event was followed by a national forum with stakeholders and donors – 130 people - participating in a big meeting in Accra where the findings and methodology of the project were presented. A lot of documentation on project methodology is now in the process of being shared through AMARC – World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters to try and persuade other radio broadcasters to get involved. This project demonstrates more about developing an environment for social learning than simply a linear process of sharing information. It demonstrates a number of successful criteria for a social learning project – embedding communications in local processes and structures, responding to communities needs and empowering people to develop their thinking around the issues relevant to them and feeding these back for further reflection and development together. Audience: The audience for the broadcasts were the local listeners – the community itself and their local policy makers. The stakeholders involved in contributing to the process of building the stories and sharing the knowledge are a critical part of those engaged in the process. In this context they are the audience also. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): This project demonstrates a good example of developing an action research project relevant to a very local context, investigating the key issues with the right local stakeholders and then sharing their knowledge in the most appropriate ways. The increased dialogue and discussion refined the knowledge further. Three local radio stations closely situated in a region came up with three different story lines that were very locally context specific demonstrates the importance of relevance for getting ideas adopted. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): Climate airwaves started with three radio stations chosen on their proximity to one another. This was a factor of cost - if there had been more money more stations could have been included. Each of the stations identified different issues but ended up talking about different things – sea level rise, low crop yields, droughts and flood. Three different languages were used for the three different stations

HEDON, the Household Energy Network

Describes experiences of: Practical Action, Engineers Without Borders UK, GVEP International, Shell Foundation, IIED, ECO Ltd.A website that informs and empowers practices on household energy, by addressing knowledge gaps, facilitating partnerships and fostering information sharing. The website tries to be a place where practitioners, policy-makers, funders, and business-owners actively pursue a cleaner, affordable and more efficient household energy sector. They share their experiences, learn from one another, and create new knowledge. The HEDON web-portal has discussion forums, wiki-pages on household related energy services (focused on renewable energy), as well as a single repository for blogs, resources, data on renewable projects, and a collection of contact members. Climate communication aims: This projects aims to bring together interest groups on household energy solutions for the poor. It combines an online membership directory with a regular discussion forums, newsletters, and articles. Some offline-online bridging has been fostered with HEDON encouraging local interest group discussions followed by online report back and follow-up. Lead organisation: Practical Action; Engineers Without Borders UK; GVEP International; Shell Foundation; IIED; ECO Ltd. HEDON evolved out of an identified gap by a number of organisations (see evolution below). Communications/social learning characteristics: Discussion topics that appear on the website and in issues of Boiling Point, the networks’ publication, are generally selected by one or more of the core support organisations. However other members of the network are encouraged to submit general articles also for publication in Boiling Point and to create their own interest group networks. The construction of the project is largely linear with elements of single-looped learning between core participants of the network in their discussions on what should be presented in forthcoming material. Core network members also work to encourage the wider network to generate new interest topics. HEDON also encourages online discussion on particular topics as well as hosting local physical meetings. These meetings assist social learning by encouraging debate on particular interest topics – for example learning from indoor air-pollution and stove use. Audience: HEDON attracts a mixture of larger development organisations (including donors) and local practitioners. Many of the local members do not have online access and their contact point with HEDON is through print copies of Boiling Point and feedback letters. There is no clear strategy on audience mix or in attracting or keeping audiences. Boiling Point has developed an audience over many years and HEDON has provided a vehicle to create more of a community of practice building on that history. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): Boiling Point (and HEDON) is aimed at practitioners. Authors are encouraged to use language and illustrations that are friendly to these audiences. The online discussion forums also facilitate learning within these audiences but are clearly restricted to those who have online access, and a good understanding of English. Articles are also formulated around interviews with “experts” on how to solve real world problems. While there is informal anecdotal feedback little been done to really monitor or evaluate how much of the “practical “content has been used in practice as a result of HEDON. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): This is the first website of its kind to focus on household energy issues for the poorest. HEDON was born out a gap identified by Practical Action and others who saw the need for comprehensive access to information on household energy. Practical Action also saw this as a natural home for their publication Boiling Point ensuring that it became the heart of a network rather than just a pdf publication

Index Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI)

Describes experience of: ILRIIndex-based livestock insurance (IBLI) products represent a promising and exciting innovation that could allow the benefits of insurance to protect the climate-related risks that vulnerable rural smallholder farmers and livestock keepers face. An interactive "game" workshop to explain index based livestock insurance to pastoralists was used to raise awareness of insurance and to allow for feedback in to the design of product itself. New iterations of the game have also evolved from this feedback. Lead institution: ILRI The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works with partners to help poor people keep their farm animals alive and productive, increase and sustain their livestock and farm productivity and find profitable markets for their animal products. Climate communication aims: The communication aims of this project are specifically to get pastoralists to better understand how carbon markets work. This has been attempted by developing a game, which the project hopes will make the learning process easier and help with group engagement and learning. Communications/social learning characteristics: ILRI is trying to set up a new market for livestock insurance that can be used by pastoralists. The concepts and the way the insurance works are quite complex. To bring this to the community level required something interactive and ILRI used a game – the rules of which are quite complex, but the idea being to build capacity to understand and discuss not only insurance but give some level of input as to how such an insurance product would better work for them. The game was originally designed in a linear manner but there has been (likely single loop) learning on what works better – and the game has been adapted. Interest and discussion among pastoralists appears high. To meet the challenge of labour intensive workshops, scale and demand, ILRI are looking to use a computerised version of the game. It is unclear whether this will require initial capacity building in workshops, and remains to be seen how popular a computerised version will be or how widely it can be shared. Audience: The principle audience are pastoralists in northern Kenya but there is some degree of interaction with finance institutions. It is hoped this approach can be used more broadly if deemed successful in Kenya. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): This is a good example of linking a mainly formal private sector product – insurance – to informal sector pastoralists by acting as a knowledge broker. On one side the reputation of ILRI and their engagement with pastoralists holds some weight with finance institutions who also need educating on the needs of pastoralists, their willingness to pay and levels of demand to create a viable market. On the other side the pastoralists who have very little knowledge of insurance and what it can do for them but very high tacit knowledge of risk and possible livestock shock scenarios. By providing a catalyst to this exchange both sides have gained considerable knowledge and developed a fruitful relationship. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): The project started in 2008, partly as a way to explain IBLI’s role but it has also provided a vehicle to generate insights into how people may respond to the presence of livestock insurance. The next phase of the project is looking at computerising the game

Maarifa Knowledge Centres

Describes experiences of: Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), ILRIInitiated in 2007, the Maarifa Centres (Maarifa is the Swahili word for knowledge) are a project that aims through multimedia tools, to facilitate the exchange of ideas, experiences, and knowledge among communities to enhance learning for improved socio-economic empowerment. The project involves the establishment of community knowledge centres (CKC) in the rural areas of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda which, in partnership with other agencies, seek to bring information and communication technologies (ICTs) to rural communities to enable the documentation and sharing of local knowledge - in particular, knowledge relating to farming and natural resource management. Lead institution: Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), ILRI ALIN is an International NGO that facilitates information and knowledge exchange to and between extension workers or other infomediaries and arid lands communities in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The information exchange activities focus on small-scale sustainable agriculture, climate change adaptation, natural resources management and other livelihood issues. Climate communication aims: The communication aims of this initiative are to foster local knowledge generation and sharing on climate adaptation and other topics across a network of arid lands communities. The method of operating at scale includes careful combination of strengthening the capacity of local people to use ICTs for the benefit of their community and their livelihoods. This promotes inclusion and engagement within the network. Communications/social learning characteristics: At the Maarifa Centres, community members can access and share information on how to improve their livelihoods through new technologies for farming, livestock keeping, coping with environment and climate change, and current marketing information. The centres also offer information related to health, gender, and HIV and AIDS. Much of the communication and social learning opportunities are built into the processes for gathering and dissemination the information A typical Maarifa Centre is managed by an advisory committee of about 5-8 local community stakeholders. The selection process ensures that the membership is diverse, gender-balanced, and represents interests of special groups. ALIN's volunteer programme supports the running of the centres. The volunteers work at the centre for one year and are supervised by local host partner organisations. They are generally young graduates in mass communication, agriculture, environmental studies, or community development. The volunteers manage the centre's activities, coordinating the collection of development-oriented local knowledge and experiences and training local communities on the use of ICT tools. The information collected and submitted by community development workers, community members, or volunteers is shared through the OKN platform which links all the CKCs and is accessible across the ALIN network. To ensure continuity and effective knowledge transfer, the volunteers work with a local person who acts as a Community Knowledge Facilitator (CKF) representing local interests. It is claimed that this information and knowledge flows across the ALIN network as well as being tailored for local dissemination to marginalised groups in a way that fosters inclusion, local interest and good understanding of local issues. This is an example of a looped/looped learning environment where practical local knowledge is shared, discussed and adapted for differing contexts. Audience: The centres offer basic ICT training to community members, often young people who have graduated from secondary schools as well as primary school pupils, many of whom have formed information clubs. The centres also act as information access points for community development workers who provide agricultural and related extension services in the region. They use the centres to acquire free (online) development information and to send weekly reports to their ministries or organisations, but also benefit from basic office services such as typing, photocopying, and free internet access. The Maarifa Centres also support the active involvement of women. In order to enhance the capacity of women to play an active role in development initiatives and to reverse the trend of their insufficient inclusion, especially in the dry land areas, ALIN promotes the integration of women in development and information support. Getting research into use (how this case study does or does not contribute to that): This example demonstrates evidence of local practical examples of climate change adaptation being discovered, discussed and understood, and in some cases used elsewhere (local->local transfer). It is not so clear where the climate science meets traditional local knowledge and how this works together. Also, to what extent are traditional climate science centres learning from these more autonomous innovations (and the ALIN model itself) to change their approaches to monitoring, predicting, adapting to and communicating climate change. Evolution of the project (how has the project evolved or developed if known): The Maarifa centres started in 2007 and have expanded to 10 centres. Use of ICTs and people networks have evolved over this period to extend the outreach beyond the centres themselves to surrounding villages and communities