Rationalization and Harmonization of Seed Policies and Regulations in Eastern and Central Africa: Effecting Policy Change through Private Public Partnerships

Cereal grains are important staple foods in Africa but yields are still too low at 1.5 tons per ha for maize while compared with a global average of 4.5 tons per ha. This can be partly attributed to limited development of commercial seed markets, low use of improved seeds, small and highly fragmented seed markets. Many released varieties are not widely disseminated due to closed national markets dominated by a few international companies and parastatals, and restrictive laws, regulations and policies. Transactions costs within and across national boundaries are high because of differing arrangements across countries. Establishment of common regulatory structures is expected to reduce transactions costs and promote increased trade and hence use of improved seeds. This paper describes the process, results, experiences and lessons learned in developing and operationalizing a seed trade harmonization system in eastern and central Africa. It is clear that the public-private partnerships can play a pivotal role in catalyzing, facilitating and supporting the establishment, development and strengthening of national and regional seed trade. By building partnerships and wide participation, the project was able to apply lessons learned from older to newer countries. The technical, political and legislative processes in the policy-change-cycle are equally important and optimal outcomes must be based on trade-offs between technical issues and interests of the stakeholders.Seeds, harmonization, public-private partnerships, eastern Africa, Crop Production/Industries, Q18, Q19,

Striving for Higher Impacts in Agricultural Research and Development

Over the years, substantial investments in agricultural research have been made in sub-Saharan Africa. The few studies on research investments show impressive returns that are comparable to those achieved in developed countries. However, problems such as recurrent hunger, poverty, food insecurity and natural resource degradation continue to plague the region. Agricultural development arena is changing rapidly toward non-linear innovation systems of complex actor networks and multiple sources of innovations characterized by dynamic and iterative learning processes that constantly inform, renew and advance the state of the systems. Most actors and institutions are not linked effectively often from imaginary boundaries created by prescribed mandates and parochial interests. While more investments in research and development are required for the region, it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify them in the wake of competing needs in the face of shrinking national budgets. The few impact assessments that have been carried out in the region have been incidental and not linked to the research planning cycle implying that lessons from previous research efforts are not used when planning for subsequent research and development efforts. We are proposing impact orientation to track impact to the attainment of institutional and overall development goals. This calls in part for impact assessment to be made an integral part of planning, monitoring and evaluation along with appreciation of the impact chain and actors involved in the innovation process to demonstrate relevance to development goals and thus justify funding.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Not Considering Esports “Real Sports” is a Failure of Logic

Due to the rapid growth in the popularity of esports, the public has begun to question whether they should be considered real sports. By comparing the two categories, this article argues that esports are real sports

Encoding of Ultrasonic Communication Signals in Rat Auditory Cortex

All social animals require a means of communication, and for many species that need is filled by the use of vocalizations. While far less intricate than human speech, many animals employ systems of vocalizations in order to attract mates, convey information about the environment, or to express an emotional state. One such animal is the rat, which communicates via a set of ultra-sonic vocalizations (USVs) in the 50kHz frequency range. These USVs have a conveniently simple structure, making them easy to synthesize and modify. The rat thus provides an excellent model system with which to probe the processing and encoding of such communication signals in the mammalian brain. In the studies contained within this work we take several novel steps in the investigation of rat vocalizations, and in the study of auditory objects in general. We develop a novel system for parameterizing, purifying, and modifying rat USVs. We model neural responses to USVs, and show that a simple model based on frequency modulation outperforms a more traditional, spectral-based model. We study how neurons in the auditory cortex react to shifts in the statistical structure of USVs, and find evidence that the primary auditory cortex is specialized for the temporal structure of natural vocalizations. We go on to examine the degree to which neural representations of USVs are invariant to small transformations of the USVs, and find evidence that this invariance is greater in the higher brain area SRAF, than in the lower brain area A1. Finally, we develop and implement an experimental system that allows us to probe a rat\u27s perception of a stimulus by examining the rat\u27s behavioral reactions

Functionalized Polymers and Surfaces via Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization

The research presented in this thesis focuses on the preparation of functionalized polymers using olefin metathesis polymerization methods. A portion of this research is also devoted to the development of applications for metathesis-derived polymers. Three distinct types of olefin metathesis polymerizations can be recognized within this work. Ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) is the most prevalent type, followed by acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization and a hybrid of the ROMP and ADMET mechanisms known as ring-opening-insertion metathesis polymerization (ROIMP). Many of the concepts that appear throughout this thesis are introduced in Chapter 1. Olefin metathesis occupies a central role in each of the subsequent chapters; detailed descriptions of the mechanism and important olefin metathesis catalysts are provided. The chapter also includes background information regarding polymers, polymer properties and the application of ROMP in the construction of electronic devices. Although the utility of ADMET does not yet seem to match that of ROMP, valuable information can be obtained from ADMET polymerizations. In an effort to elucidate catalytic activity, Chapter 2 details a comparison of the ADMET polymerizations of terminal and non-terminal dienes. Experimental investigations involving ROIMP, a novel method for the production of A,B-alternating copolymers, is presented in Appendix A. The mechanism of ROIMP is conceptually very different from the mechanisms of either step growth or chain growth polymerizations. Efforts toward understanding the mechanism of ROIMP using a mathematical model are discussed in Chapter 3. Polymeric chain transfer agents (PCTAs) suitable for ROMP reactions are polymers that contain a single, metathesis-active olefin. These polymers are the focus of Chapter 4 and can be used in the preparation of novel block copolymers. As an example, Appendix B presents the preparation of block copolymers consisting of polyacetylene and various commodity polymers. Finally, the development of applications for surface-initiated ROMP (SI-ROMP) is discussed in Chapter 5 and Appendix C. Polymer films prepared using SI-ROMP are shown to be viable dielectric layers in thin-film transistors, and research is presented involving microcontact printing and dip pen nanolithography as methods for forming patterned SI-ROMP polymer films.</p

Utilizing optical light filters and biofilm based cultivating to enhance microalgal growth

The main objective in this research is to explore two separate approaches for improving the growth of microalgae that can be potentially used for producing fuels and chemicals. One approach was to use optical light filters, which selectivity filter natural light allowing certain wavelengths into the culture systems. The other study is to use an algal growth system with different bio-renewable materials being used as attachment materials. Both studies demonstrated increased biomass productivity and the ability to scale-up. In the first part of the study, the research involving the use of optical light filters for microalgal growth in different cultivation systems included flask culture systems, flat panel photobioreactors, and rotating algal biofilm (RAB) systems. The optical light filters allow a specific range of wavelengths to pass through, while reflecting harmful wavelengths such as UV and IR. Two thin film light filters were fabricated for this research. One light filter allows both red and blue wavelengths to penetrate through (termed as blue filter) while the other allows the penetration of wavelengths in the red spectrum (termed as red-filter). Both filters resulted in increased biomass productivities when microalgae were grown in the flat panel photobioreactors and the RAB systems. When the blue filter was used for the culture, the biomass productivity increased 31.9% in flat panel photobioreactors and 99.8% in RAB systems; while the red filter resulted in an increase of 34.1% in the continuous operation of the flat panel photobioreactor. These results provide evidence that the use of these filters have the ability to enhance algal yield. The second part of this study used different bio-renewable materials as an attachment substrate for algal growth. An initial test was performed to screen the material that can result in the highest amount of attached biomass. It was found that the soy protein based sheet showed the greatest amount of algal attachment. Compared to the suspended cell growth of the control, the biomass productivity from the soy protein based sheets increased by 294%. However, significant deterioration was observed from the soy protein based sheet after 20 days. To alleviate the dissolving of materials and enhance the integrity, poly-lactic acid was integrated into the soy protein based sheet. After this integration the attachment material displayed a significant amount of rigidity allowing for a longer duration of experimentation. However, the productivity from the PLA integrated soy protein based sheet displayed a certain degree of decreasing biomass yield compared to the 100% soy protein based sheet. Collectively, the PLA integrated sheet still demonstrated adequate performance in terms of cell growth improvement and material longevity. In summary, this study shows that the use of the optical light filters and bio-renewable based sheets for attached algal growth are two viable approaches for enhancing algal growth performance. However, these two approaches need to be further optimized in order to be implemented at a large scale

Current trends in glioblastoma multiforme treatment: radiation therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary brain cancer. Even with aggressive combination therapy, the median life expectancy for patients with GBM remains approximately 14 months. In order to improve the outcomes of patients with GBM, the development of newer treatments is critical. The concept of using the immune system as a therapeutic option has been suggested for several decades; by harnessing the body's adaptive immune mechanisms, immunotherapy could provide a durable and targeted treatment against cancer. However, many cancers, including GBM, have developed mechanisms that protect tumor cells from being recognized and eliminated by the immune system. For new immunotherapeutic regimens to be successful, overcoming immunosuppression via immune checkpoint signaling should be taken into consideration