How an improved knowledge and information system can support productivity and livelihoods in the smallholder dairy sector.

The Smallholder Dairy Project (SDP) carried out a short study into the knowledge and information systems of Kenya’s smallholder dairy sector. The rationale was that by understanding and catalyzing reform of this system, SDP would not only enhance the impact of its own research outputs, but would lead to a long-lasting improvement in the impacts of research and other information relevant to the sub-sector. The RAAKS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) approach was used, involving a range of participatory approaches through workshops and semi-structured interviews, at national and local level. Key findings included poor co-ordination between the many public, private and NGO actors in the knowledge system, and problems in the regulation of privately provided information that limited farmers’ ability to access information to improve productivity. Options to improve the system and the linkages were explored through key informant workshops

The bicycle wheel analogy for linear closures of small suborbital cheek defects

Primary closure of suborbital skin defects can cause tension along the closure resulting in ectropion. The bicycle wheel analogy is a simple yet effective guide to aid in reducing tension vectors resulting in ectropion

Influence pathways and economic impacts of policy change in the Kenyan dairy sector

This study is an ex post assessment of the impact of the revised Kenya dairy policy. It outlines the policy change process, investigates induced behavioral changes at the levels of field regulators and SSMVs (small-scale milk vendors), and estimates economic impacts on producers, SSMVs and consumers. It also provides a strategic assessment of the research and coordinating roles played by ILRI, recognizing that ILRI was only one partner in a complex project with many people and organizations involved, and estimates how much of the overall gains can be attributed to this research/coordination component. It was designed to evaluate the impact of a revised Kenyan dairy policy that encouraged relevant government agencies to engage with SSMVs and, in particular, to explore and analyse the role that research/coordination played in contributing to the policy change and the net benefits to the investment in the policy research component. The study describes the policy, institutional (in the broad sense of ‘rules of the game’) and behavioral changes that have occurred in Kenya’s dairy sector and how they occurred and what role the research and coordination component of SDP (Smallholder Dairy Project) played. It quantifies transaction costs and evaluates how reduced transaction costs have impacted the prices paid by consumers and those received by producers. It measures the overall economic benefits of the policy change to consumers, producers and SSMVs, and presents a counterfactual situation, depicting what might have happened if SDP had not been implemented and the dairy policy had not changed

Championing urban farmers in Kampala. Influences on local policy change in Uganda. Process and partnership for pro-poor policy change

This working paper presents an analysis of actors, events and influences affecting a policy change on urban agriculture in Kampala. It reviews the policy and institutional changes related to urban agriculture that occurred in Kampala from 1990 to 2006, and examines how and why they came about. The approach used here combined elements of three established methodologies, viz, episode studies; case study analysis; and outcome mapping. For this case study, the episode study component was central, with the case study and outcome mapping components used to cross-check and deepen the analysis. This information was assembled into three overlapping narratives: 1. A timeline of activities that played a role in changing attitudes and behaviour towards urban agriculture. 2. An analysis of the development of policies affecting urban agriculture in Kampala including the new ordinances. 3. A description of behaviour change of key actors related to the policy change These were summarised in a visual representation of the process and influences and analysed using a framework emphasising political context and the roles of evidence, linkages and external environment

The stable climate of KELT-9b

Even among the most irradiated gas giants, so-called ultra-hot Jupiters, KELT-9b stands out as the hottest planet thus far discovered with a dayside temperature of over 4500 K. At these extreme irradiation levels, we expect an increase in heat redistribution efficiency and a low Bond albedo owed to an extended atmosphere with molecular hydrogen dissociation occurring on the planetary dayside. We present new photometric observations of the KELT-9 system throughout 4 full orbits and 9 separate occultations obtained by the 30 cm space telescope CHEOPS. The CHEOPS bandpass, located at optical wavelengths, captures the peak of the thermal emission spectrum of KELT-9b. In this work we simultaneously analyse CHEOPS phase curves along with public phase curves from TESS and Spitzer to infer joint constraints on the phase curve variation, gravity-darkened transits, and occultation depth in three bandpasses, as well as derive 2D temperature maps of the atmosphere at three different depths. We find a day-night heat redistribution efficiency of ~0.3 which confirms expectations of enhanced energy transfer to the planetary nightside due to dissociation and recombination of molecular hydrogen. We also calculate a Bond albedo consistent with zero. We find no evidence of variability of the brightness temperature of the planet, excluding variability greater than 1

Use of sonic tomography to detect and quantify wood decay in living trees.

Premise of the studyField methodology and image analysis protocols using acoustic tomography were developed and evaluated as a tool to estimate the amount of internal decay and damage of living trees, with special attention to tropical rainforest trees with irregular trunk shapes.Methods and resultsLiving trunks of a diversity of tree species in tropical rainforests in the Republic of Panama were scanned using an Argus Electronic PiCUS 3 Sonic Tomograph and evaluated for the amount and patterns of internal decay. A protocol using ImageJ analysis software was used to quantify the proportions of intact and compromised wood. The protocols provide replicable estimates of internal decay and cavities for trees of varying shapes, wood density, and bark thickness.ConclusionsSonic tomography, coupled with image analysis, provides an efficient, noninvasive approach to evaluate decay patterns and structural integrity of even irregularly shaped living trees

The structure of the PapD-PapGII pilin complex reveals an open and flexible P5 pocket

P pili are hairlike polymeric structures that mediate binding of uropathogenic Escherichia coli to the surface of the kidney via the PapG adhesin at their tips. PapG is composed of two domains: a lectin domain at the tip of the pilus followed by a pilin domain that comprises the initial polymerizing subunit of the 1,000-plus-subunit heteropolymeric pilus fiber. Prior to assembly, periplasmic pilin domains bind to a chaperone, PapD. PapD mediates donor strand complementation, in which a beta strand of PapD temporarily completes the pilin domain's fold, preventing premature, nonproductive interactions with other pilin subunits and facilitating subunit folding. Chaperone-subunit complexes are delivered to the outer membrane usher where donor strand exchange (DSE) replaces PapD's donated beta strand with an amino-terminal extension on the next incoming pilin subunit. This occurs via a zip-in-zip-out mechanism that initiates at a relatively accessible hydrophobic space termed the P5 pocket on the terminally incorporated pilus subunit. Here, we solve the structure of PapD in complex with the pilin domain of isoform II of PapG (PapGIIp). Our data revealed that PapGIIp adopts an immunoglobulin fold with a missing seventh strand, complemented in parallel by the G1 PapD strand, typical of pilin subunits. Comparisons with other chaperone-pilin complexes indicated that the interactive surfaces are highly conserved. Interestingly, the PapGIIp P5 pocket was in an open conformation, which, as molecular dynamics simulations revealed, switches between an open and a closed conformation due to the flexibility of the surrounding loops. Our study reveals the structural details of the DSE mechanism