The beginning of time? Evidence for catastrophic drought in Baringo in the early nineteenth century

New developments in the collection of palaeo-data over the past two decades have transformed our understanding of climate and environmental history in eastern Africa. This article utilises instrumental and proxy evidence of historical lake-level fluctuations from Baringo and Bogoria, along with other Rift Valley lakes, to document the timing and magnitude of hydroclimate variability at decadal to century time scales since 1750. These data allow us to construct a record of past climate variation not only for the Baringo basin proper, but also across a sizable portion of central and northern Kenya. This record is then set alongside historical evidence, from oral histories gathered amongst the peoples of northern Kenya and the Rift Valley and from contemporary observations recorded by travellers through the region, to offer a reinterpretation of human activity and its relationship to environmental history in the nineteenth century. The results reveal strong evidence of a catastrophic drought in the early nineteenth century, the effects of which radically alters our historical understanding of the character of settlement, mobility and identity within the Baringo–Bogoria basin

When American Sneezes does Nebraska Catch Cold?

The latest economic forecast for Nebraska by the Nebraska Business Forecast Council appeared in the January 2001 issue of Business in Nebraska, and reported a 0.9 percent growth in nonfarm employment this year and a 6.1 percent growth in nonfarm personal income. The 0.9 percent employment growth rate is well below the average annual growth rate of 2.1 percent during the 1990s. This forecast largely reflects the state\u27s extremely tight labor market, not the current national economic slowdown

Monoubiquitylation of Histone H2B in Giardia Lamblia

Covalent modifications of core histone proteins are essential to gene transcription. One such modification is the monoubiquitylation of H2B, a process which has been shown to occur in all tested eukaryotes. However, this process has not been studied in Giardia lamblia, which is thought to be the earliest-diverging eukaryote. To create gene constructs to test for the monoubiquitylation of histone H2B, histone H2B was amplified from Giardial genomic DNA. Antibody tags were attached to the gene through PCR primer design. After cloning the gene it was ligated into pNMyb, a plasmid containing a Giardial promoter and origin of replication. Subsequently the plasmid was introduced into G. lambalia through electroporation. Western blotting, RT-PCR, and Immunoflourescence assays have indicated low levels of HA-tagged H2B. The expression vector is being remade, and G. lambila will be transfected with the new expression vector

Supporting pastoralist livelihoods in Eastern Africa through peace building

Conflict reduction and peace building initiatives have become the latest development fashion to support insecure pastoralist livelihoods in eastern Africa. Jeremy Lind argues that common approaches in this area are weakened by the predominant understanding of conflicts involving pastoralists as competition over scarce resources as well as the relative inattention to the situation and particular needs of the destitute population