Scoping study brief – State of climate information services in East Africa

This brief presents the findings of a scoping study on climate information services in East Africa, conducted as a requirement for the Climate Resilient Agribusiness for Tomorrow (CRAFT) Project, under Work Stream 4 on Enabling Environment for Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). The purpose was to ascertain the status of climate information services under the ambit of CSA in each of the three East African countries

Scoping study brief - Potential for adaptation and mitigation

This brief presents the findings of a scoping study on potential for adaptation and mitigation in East Africa, conducted as a requirement for the Climate Resilient Agribusiness for Tomorrow (CRAFT) Project, under Work Stream 3 on Enabling Environment for Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). The purpose was to ascertain the potential for adaptation and mitigation under CRAFT

Scoping study brief - State of index-based crop insurance services in East Africa

This brief presents the findings of a scoping study on index-based crop insurance in East Africa, conducted as a requirement for the Climate Resilient Agribusiness for Tomorrow (CRAFT) Project, under Work Stream 3 on Enabling Environment for Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA). The broad objective was to identify potential for index-based crop insurance, and gaps and barriers to roll-out in the current enabling environment for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, in order to inform the development of CRAFT’s policy influencing and advocacy strategy. It was also meant to identify options to support the creation of an enabling policy environment that is more conducive to engagements and investments in index-based crop insurance

Control and generation of magnetic pulsations on the ground and in interplanetary space by parameters of the solar wind

SIGLELD:D45271/83 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Fiscal Federalism and Agitations for Resource Control in Nigeria: A South-South Perspective

Nigeria is facing multiple and staggering problems, some of which are so fundamental as to be capable of leading to the disintegration of the country if not properly and tactfully resolved. There is a general feeling by the southern minorities who inhabit the core Niger Delta States that Nigeria is today a Federation in name. In practice, it is structurally unbalanced with a strong central government that has abandoned derivation as the basis of sharing rents and royalties that accrue to states in the oil producing areas notwithstanding the fact that these states continue to bear the environmental and socio-economic hazards associated with oil production. Hence, the agitation for fiscal federalism and resource control. Although the two concepts are frequently used interchangeably in the ensuing debate, this paper contends that resource control unlike fiscal federalism is the control of both a fiscal and a mode of governance framework by states directly affected by the exploration of the various resources. For this paper, resource control built on an appropriate mode of governance framework is important for the resolution of the various agitations prevalent in the South-south region and many other parts of the country. Keywords: Agitation, Fiscal Federalism, Governance framework, Resource Control, South-Sout

A Simpler Quantitative Method for the Determination of Potassium in Tissues

For some time past this writer has been interested in the potassium content of muscle. When this interest was first aroused he became aware of the need for a satisfactory method for determining quantitatively the amounts of potassium in a given muscle. So there ensued a search of the literature. This yielded three fundamental methods, each of which had its advantages and disadvantages. The Perchlorate and the Chloroplatinate methods were not used because of the technical difficulties presented by them. Jacobs and Hoffman (1931) had used the Cobaltinitrite methods with muscle and had obtained good results. So their method was used for the problem at hand. This method required that the material to be analysed was ashed for several hours in a muffle furnace at extremely high temperatures to destroy the organic material. The ash that was left was then dissolved in distilled water. To this solution of ash then was added an excess of the sodium cobaltinitrite reagent. The resulting solution was allowed to stand five minutes and then centrifuged for 15 minutes. The supernatant fluid was then discarded and the precipitate was washed with a few c.c.\u27s of 70% alcohol. Then the ash was redissolved in 2 ml. of boiling water and allowed to cool. To it was added the 2 c.c.\u27s of 1% chlorine chloride solution and 2 c.c.\u27s of 2% sodium ferrocyanide solution. This solution was then diluted to 6 c.c.\u27s with distilled water. If there was potassium present the solution turned green immediately and the depth of this green color is proportional to the concentration of the potassium. The color of the solution was then compared with a standard potassium solution in a colorimeter

The Effect of Various Metabolic Inhibitors on the Resting Potential of Frog Muscle

It is generally known that when the surface of a cell is injured, one is able to measure a potential difference between the site of injury and the intact surface of that cell. The P.D. observed in such instances are of the order of 50-90 mv. The injury is believed to serve as the point of electrical connection between the inside and the outside of the cell, and that the potential exists across the plasma membrance or boundary of the cell

Three essays on resources, institutions, and development across U.S. states

This dissertation is a collection of papers examining the relationship between resource intensity, institutional quality, and economic development across the United States. The first chapter introduces the empirical connection between high levels of resource abundance and low levels of economic development known as the resource curse. It then proceeds to briefly introduce the three papers that make up the next three chapters of the dissertation. Chapter two examines the formation of low-quality institutions in areas with a large amount of natural resources. It begins by providing a theoretical model to show that governments will execute more expropriative tax policies in areas with a high level of immobile natural resources. The chapter then examines the state constitution of Wyoming, an incredibly resource intense state with prior knowledge of these resources before the formation of their state government, to find that this constitution is consistent with that of a low quality institution that could hinder economic development. This chapter also provides a simple econometric model to show that governments will form more quickly in high-resource areas where there is a greater level of wealth to expropriate. Chapter 3 examines the link between natural resource abundance and the size of governments. Large governments tend to be consistent with high levels of rent-seeking and unproductive entrepreneurship that can hurt economic development. This chapter finds that resource intense states have larger and more economically intrusive governments across several specifications and measures for government size. Chapter four looks at the interaction between low quality institutions, resource abundance, and economic development. This study finds that natural resource endowment only hurts growth in those states with poor institutions, while it can actually enhance growth in those states with productive institutions. Chapter five concludes and discusses areas of future research

Nigeria’s Contemporary Security Challenges: Herders – Farmers Conflict and Banditry

Banditry and the violent conflicts between herders and farmers in Nigeria have become potentially dangerous in recent time resulting in humanitarian emergencies as thousands have been killed and many more uprooted from their homes while both the Federal and State government appears clueless on how best to contain the conflicts. The spread of the conflict to southern states of the country is aggravating the fragile relations among ethnic nationalities and religious groups. President Buhari, a Muslim and Fulani, has been accused of allowing the attacks to continue, and his Vice President, Professor Osibanjo, a Christian, has been faulted for failing to speak out. At the heart of the conflicts are dispute over grazing on farmlands and cattle rustlings; expansion of agriculturist population and cultivated land at the expense, deteriorating environmental condition such as desertification; breakdown in traditional conflict resolution mechanisms of land and water disputes, drug abuse, proliferation of small arms and outright criminality, all of which points to a national security failure. The loss of faith in the national security architecture which assumes the form of creation of Special Security Forces, resort to self-help by state governments and citizens’ groups, anti-grazing laws against ECOWAS protocol that allows unrestricted movement of animals for grazing across the countries in the sub-region and the culture of impunity. This paper examines the fundamental issues surrounding banditry and the Herders – Farmers conflict in Nigeria with a view to highlight its implications for national security in contemporary times. It is argued here that considering the seeming intractability of these conflicts and violence, it appears that the security architecture of the country has been hijacked and the Nigerian state has ceased to be in full control and command of the national security situation especially as the safety of life and property can no longer be guaranteed. The security regime has been hijacked, undermined, and compromised by non-state actors who operate confidently with reckless abandon and little decency and respect for human life. Keywords: Herders-Farmers conflict, Banditry, Ethic nationalities, Small arms, Security challenges, and Criminality. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-17-04 Publication date:October 31st 202