Challenges and opportunities on the use of bio fertilizers: examples from Senegal and Kenya

Not only phosphorus (P) bio available in soil is very low but phosphate fertilizing efficiency is also low. Consequently, annual world P demand increases predicting phosphorus stock end in the coming 125 years. In addition to that, the high cost of chemical fertilizers obliges most Sub Sahara African smallholder farmers to do not use fertilizers which ultimately results in poor yields. In this paper, we present opportunities and challenges of using bio fertilizers as sustainable way of alleviating soil P deficiency effects in Kenya and Senegal. In Kenya where soil P deficiency has been identified as the biggest challenge of crop productivity increases, we share results on the use of commercialized arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculants to replenish soil P. While in Senegal known having huge quantities of P rock deposit and important quantities of feed stock material that can be charred (biochar), we present results on the capacities of biochar to improve P availability for plant cultivated in sandy soil. Results from both countries show that current expectations on the use of bio fertilizers are numerous and justified. However challenges on sustainable agriculture through the use of the called bio fertilizers especially mycorrhizal inoculants and biochar are still ahead. (Texte intégral

Crystal structure of methyl N-ferrocenylcarbamate

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, [Fe(C5H5)(C7H8NO2)], contains two independent molecules consisting of a ferrocenyl moiety and a nitrogen-bound methyl carbamate. These units are almost perpendicular to each other, making dihedral angles of 87.74 (9) and 87.32 (8)°. In each independent molecule, the cyclopentadienyl rings deviate slightly from an eclipsed conformation and lie virtually parallel [dihedral angles = 1.42 (15) and 0.49 (13)°]. In the crystal, molecules are linked by N—H...O hydrogen bonds into chains along the a-axis direction

Candidate genes that may be responsible for the unusual resistances exhibited by Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 spores

The spores of several Bacillus species, including Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032 and B. safensis FO-36b, which were isolated from the spacecraft assembly facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, are unusually resistant to UV radiation and hydrogen peroxide. In order to identify candidate genes that might be associated with these resistances, the whole genome of B. pumilus SAFR-032, and the draft genome of B. safensis FO-36b were compared in detail with the very closely related type strain B. pumilus ATCC7061(T). 170 genes are considered characteristic of SAFR-032, because they are absent from both FO-36b and ATCC7061(T). Forty of these SAFR-032 characteristic genes are entirely unique open reading frames. In addition, four genes are unique to the genomes of the resistant SAFR-032 and FO-36b. Fifty three genes involved in spore coat formation, regulation and germination, DNA repair, and peroxide resistance, are missing from all three genomes. The vast majority of these are cleanly deleted from their usual genomic context without any obvious replacement. Several DNA repair and peroxide resistance genes earlier reported to be unique to SAFR-032 are in fact shared with ATCC7061(T) and no longer considered to be promising candidates for association with the elevated resistances. Instead, several SAFR-032 characteristic genes were identified, which along with one or more of the unique SAFR-032 genes may be responsible for the elevated resistances. These new candidates include five genes associated with DNA repair, namely, BPUM_0608 a helicase, BPUM_0652 an ATP binding protein, BPUM_0653 an endonuclease, BPUM_0656 a DNA cytosine-5- methyltransferase, and BPUM_3674 a DNA helicase. Three of these candidate genes are in immediate proximity of two conserved hypothetical proteins, BPUM_0654 and BPUM_0655 that are also absent from both FO-36b and ATCC7061(T). This cluster of five genes is considered to be an especially promising target for future experimental work

Ins and outs of the cultural polis: informality, culture and governance in the global South

This paper provides an epistemological critique of informality by focusing on cultural governance in two cities of the global South, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Dakar, Senegal. Aiming to enrich debates about urban creativity and urban cultural policy, which are still mainly focused on and articulated from the global North, we consider the broad field of ‘informality’ research as an entry point for such a discussion. Using case studies from African and Latin American contexts, we focus on the interstices of cultural policy and the borderlands of (in)formality, examining how governmental institutions are entangled in informal processes, and how grassroots cultural interventions become part of mainstream cultural circuits. The analysis sheds light on how these creative spaces of cultural production, located in Southern contexts of urban extremes, contribute to the vitality of informal urbanisms and unsettle predominant views that see them merely as sites ofinfrastructural poverty and social exclusion. The paper suggests that a creative remapping of informality, through an inquiry of the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the cultural polis, could improve our translating capacity of academic discourse into institutional/policy-related operations

Déterminisme de la feuillaison de Acacia tortilis (Forsk.) dans la réserve sylvopastorale de Sogobé, Ferlo, Nord-Sénégal

Ce travail présente l’étude de la phénologie foliaire de Acacia tortilis dans la réserve sylvopastorale de Sogobé (16° 20’N et 15° 25’ W) au  Nord-Sénégal. Le suivi a porté sur les paramètres climatiques et les différents stades de la feuillaison. Les données du suivi phénologique ont été soumises à une analyse en composantes principales. Les  précipitations de la pleine saison des pluies (août, septembre) sont supérieures à l’évapotranspiration potentielle (ETP) de 35% alors que le déficit de saturation de l’air plus élevé en période sèche est consécutif à une ETP plus importante en 2000. En outre, les réserves hydriques du sol ont été plus importantes en 1999 qu’en 2000 à l’exception du mois de septembre. Trois grands événements caractérisent le cycle de la feuille de Acacia tortilis. Le débourrement foliaire, qui dure 2 à 4 mois, présente deux vagues de bourgeons dont le maintien de la première vague dépend de la précocité des précipitations alors que la vitesse d’épanouissement de la seconde vague est fonction de l’abondance et de la régularité des   pluies. La croissance et maturité s’étalent sur 7 mois. La sénescence  foliaire qui s’installe lorsque la réserve hydrique du sol est inférieure à 20%, est soit précoce (janvier, février) soit tardive (mars, avril). A fin de mieux caractériser la disponibilité du fourrage vert de cette espèce dans cette sylvopastorale, il s’avère opportun d’évaluer la variabilité de la production de biomasse foliaire.© 2013 International Formulae Group. All rights reserved.Mots clés : Déterminisme, phénologie foliaire, Acacia tortilis, Ferlo,  Nord-Sénégal

Effect of secular trends on age-related trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors: the Whitehall II longitudinal study 1985-2009

BACKGROUND:: Secular trends in cardiovascular risk factors have been described, but few studies have examined simultaneously the effects of both ageing and secular trends within the same cohort. METHODS:: Development of cardiovascular risk factors over the past three decades was analysed using serial measurements from 10 308 participants aged from 35 to 80 years over 25 years of follow-up from five clinical examination phases of the Whitehall II study. Changes of body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure and total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol distribution characteristics were analysed with quantile regression models in the 57-61 age group. Age-related trajectories of risk factors were assessed by fitting mixed-effects models with adjustment for year of birth to reveal secular trends. RESULTS:: Average body mass index and waist circumference increased faster with age in women than in men, but the unfavourable secular trend was more marked in men. Distributions showed a fattening of the right tail in each consecutive phase, meaning a stronger increase in higher percentiles. Despite the higher obesity levels in younger birth cohorts, total cholesterol decreased markedly in the 57-61 age group along the entire distribution rather than in higher extremes only. CONCLUSION:: The past three decades brought strong and heterogeneous changes in cardiovascular risk factor distributions. Secular trends appear to modify age-related trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors, which may be a source of bias in longitudinal analyses

Lamb dip of a Quadrupole Transition in H2_2

The saturated absorption spectrum of the hyperfine-less S(0) quadrupole line in the (2-0) band of H$_2$ is measured at $\lambda=1189$ nm, using the NICE-OHMS technique under cryogenic conditions (72~K). It is for the first time that a Lamb dip of a molecular quadrupole transition is recorded. At low (150-200 W) saturation powers a single narrow Lamb dip is observed, ruling out an underlying recoil doublet of 140 kHz. Studies of Doppler-detuned resonances show that the red-shifted recoil component can be made visible for low pressures and powers, and prove that the narrow Lamb dip must be interpreted as the blue recoil component. A transition frequency of 252\,016\,361\,164\,(8) kHz is extracted, which is off by -2.6 (1.6) MHz from molecular quantum electrodynamical calculations therewith providing a challenge to theory.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Variations topographiques de la fructification d’une espèce ligneuse fourragère, Acacia tortilis (Forsk.) au Ferlo, Nord-Sénégal

La production annuelle de gousses de Acacia tortilis, a été suivie sur une toposéquence de 1,8% de dénivellation dans la réserve sylvo-pastorale de Sogobé au Nord-Sénégal. Les observations sont effectuées tous les quinze jours en saison des pluies et une fois par mois en saison sèche. Les suivis simultanés de la fructification de cette espèce en rapport avec l’évolution de l’eau du sol et des variables climatiques vise à caractériser l’effet de la topographie sur la production de gousses par unité de croissance. Les données sont soumises à une analyse multidimensionnelle et à une analyse de variance. La fructification de l’espèce intervient de novembre à juin. L’ACP effectuée à partir des relevés mensuels et des stades de fructification a permis d’identifier trois variables de la fructification : la nouaison des gousses, leur croissance et leur maturité et enfin leur dissémination. Cette dissémination peut être partielle (février et avril) ou totale (avril et juin). La nouaison des gousses concerne les mois de novembre et décembre (saison post-pluvieuse) alors que leur croissance et leur maturité se font de novembre à février (saison sèche fraîche). La dissémination des gousses de cette espèce et leur exploitation pour l’alimentation du bétail seraient à l’origine de la réduction de la densitédes fruits entre janvier et mai qui coïncide avec l’absence du tapis herbacée. Cependant, la biomasse des gousses par unité de croissance est significativement plus élevée chez les arbres de bas-fond qui bénéficient d’une alimentation hydrique plus favorable.Mots clés: Variabilité topographique, production de gousses, fourrage, Acacia tortilis, sahel, Zone sylvopastorale, Nord-Sénégal