Reaching more farmers: Innovative approaches to scaling up climate-smart agriculture

The purpose of this working paper is to provide insight into how we can use novel approaches to scale up research findings on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) to meaningfully address the challenges of poverty and climate change. The approaches described include those based on value chains and private sector involvement, policy engagement, and information and communication technologies and agro-advisory services. The paper draws on 11 case studies to exemplify these new approaches to scaling up. These are synthesised using a simple conceptual framework that draws on a review of the most important challenges to scaling up. This provides the material for a discussion around how particular scaling up approaches can help to address some of the challenges of scaling up. The analysis offers insights into scaling approaches, challenges and some opportunities for scaling CSA practices and technologies. We conclude that multi-stakeholder platforms and policy making networks are key to effective upscaling, especially if paired with capacity enhancement, learning, and innovative approaches to support decision making of farmers. Projects that aim to intervene upstream at higher leverage points can be highly efficient and probably offer cost-effective dissemination strategies that reach across scales and include new and more diverse partnerships. However, these novel approaches still face challenges of promoting uptake, which remain contextualized and thus require a certain level of local engagement, while continuously paying attention to farmer’s needs and their own situations

Permafrost - physical aspects and carbon cycling, databases and uncertainties

Permafrost is defined as ground that remains below 0°C for at least 2 consecutive years. About 24% of the northern hemisphere land area is underlain by permafrost. The thawing of permafrost has the potential to influence the climate system through the release of carbon (C) from northern high latitude terrestrial ecosystems, but there is substantial uncertainty about the sensitivity of the C cycle to thawing permafrost. Soil C can be mobilized from permafrost in response to changes in air temperature, directional changes in water balance, fire, thermokarst, and flooding. Observation networks need to be implemented to understand responses of permafrost and C at a range of temporal and spatial scales. The understanding gained from these observation networks needs to be integrated into modeling frameworks capable of representing how the responses of permafrost C will influence the trajectory of climate in the future

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha regulates the expression of inducible costimulator receptor ligand on CD34+ progenitor cells during differentiation into antigen presenting cells

The inducible costimulator receptor (ICOS) is a third member of the CD28 receptor family that regulates T cell activation and function. ICOS binds to a newly identified ligand on antigen presenting cells different from the CD152 ligands CD80 and CD86. We used soluble ICOSIg and a newly developed murine anti-human ICOS ligand (ICOSL) monoclonal antibody to further characterize the ICOSL during ontogeny of antigen presenting cells. In a previous study, we found that ICOSL is expressed on monocytes, dendritic cells, and B cells. To define when ICOSL is first expressed on myeloid antigen presenting cells, we examined ICOSL expression on CD34 cells in bone marrow. We found that CD34bright cells regardless of their myeloid commitment were ICOSL , whereas ICOSL was first expressed when CD34 expression diminished and the myeloid marker CD33 appeared

Rubber friction: role of the flash temperature

When a rubber block is sliding on a hard rough substrate, the substrate asperities will exert time-dependent deformations of the rubber surface resulting in viscoelastic energy dissipation in the rubber, which gives a contribution to the sliding friction. Most surfaces of solids have roughness on many different length scales, and when calculating the friction force it is necessary to include the viscoelastic deformations on all length scales. The energy dissipation will result in local heating of the rubber. Since the viscoelastic properties of rubber-like materials are extremely strongly temperature dependent, it is necessary to include the local temperature increase in the analysis. At very low sliding velocity the temperature increase is negligible because of heat diffusion, but already for velocities of order 0.01 m/s the local heating may be very important. Here I study the influence of the local heating on the rubber friction, and I show that in a typical case the temperature increase results in a decrease in rubber friction with increasing sliding velocity for v > 0.01 m/s. This may result in stick-slip instabilities, and is of crucial importance in many practical applications, e.g., for the tire-road friction, and in particular for ABS-breaking systems.Comment: 22 pages, 27 figure

Gene Deletion of the Kinin Receptor B1 Attenuates Cardiac Inflammation and Fibrosis During the Development of Experimental Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Objective: Diabetic cardiomyopathy is associated with increased mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus. The underlying pathology of this disease is still under discussion. We studied the role of the kinin B1 receptor on the development of experimental diabetic cardiomyopathy. Research Design and Methods: We utilized B1 receptor knockout mice and investiged cardiac inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress after induction of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, the left ventricular function was measured by pressure-volume loops after 8 weeks of diabetes mellitus. Results: B1 receptor knockout mice showed an attenuation of diabetic cardiomyopathy with improved systolic and diastolic function in comparison with diabetic control mice. This was associated with a decreased activation state of the MAP kinase p38, less oxidative stress as well as normalized cardiac inflammation, shown by fewer invading cells and, no increase in matrix metalloproteinase-9 as well as the chemokine CXCL-5. Furthermore, the pro-fibrotic connective tissue growth factor was normalized, leading to a reduction in cardiac fibrosis despite severe hyperglycemia in mice lacking the B1 receptor. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the B1 receptor is detrimental in diabetic cardiomyopathy in that it mediates inflammatory and fibrotic processes. These insights might have useful implications on future studies utilizing B1 receptor antagonists for treatment of human diabetic cardiomyopathy

The Geoff Egan Memorial Lecture 2011. Artefacts, art and artifice: reconsidering iconographic sources for archaeological objects in early modern Europe

A first systematic analysis of historic domestic material culture depicted in contemporaneous Western painting and prints, c.1400-1800. Drawing on an extensive data set, the paper proposes to methodologies and hermeneutics for historical analysis and archaeological correspondence

Investigating the association between children’s screen media exposure and vocabulary size in the UK

Children are growing up in a digital age with increasing exposure to television and touchscreen devices. We tested whether exposure to screen media is associated with children’s early language development. One hundred and thirty-one highly educated caregivers of UK children aged 6–36 months completed a media exposure questionnaire and vocabulary measure. 99% of children were read to daily, 82% watched television, and 49% used mobile touchscreen devices daily. Regression analyses revealed that time spent reading positively predicted vocabulary comprehension and production scores at 6–18 months, but time spent engaging with television or mobile touchscreen devices was not associated with vocabulary scores. Critically, correlations revealed that time spent reading or engaging with other non-screen activities was not offset by time spent engaging with television or mobile touchscreen devices. Thus, there was no evidence to suggest that screen media exposure adversely influenced vocabulary size in our sample of highly educated families with moderate media use