A Discriminant Analysis of Factors Associated with The Adoption Of Certified Organic Farming By Smallholder Farmers in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Discriminant analysis was used to identify the characteristics that distinguish between fully-certified organic, partially-certified organic and non-organic farmers in Umbumbulu district, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa (SA) during October- November 2004. 200 farmers interviewed were drawn by purposively selecting the 151 members of the Ezemvelo Farmers’ Organisation (EFO), and by random sampling 49 non-organic farmers in wards neighbouring EFO. Results from the two estimated discriminant functions suggested that farmers with higher household sizes, incomes, input costs per hectare and number of chickens owned, locations further from innovators and less risk aversion were more likely to be certified as organic. Household location should be considered in delineating target domains for introducing new technologies especially where resources are limited. There is a need for key stakeholders to increase smallholder’s capacity to bear risk by decreasing the perceived risk of adoption of certified organic farming.Adoption, organic, Discriminant Analysis, South Africa, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Labor and Human Capital, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Effects of Micro-credit, Micro-savings and Training on the Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises in MachakosCounty in Kenya

The objective of every micro-entrepreneur is to grow their businesses into large enterprises. To achieve this, most of the micro-entrepreneurs make use of microfinance services and training to improve their productivity and profitability. Many studies have been done in Kenya on SMEs and how they are influenced by microfinance services but none had focused on the effects of microfinance services on the growth of the SMEs. The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of micro-credit, micro-savings and training on the growth of SMEs in Machakos County. A survey research design was applied to study 8 types of business categories in Machakos County. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 100 businesses. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationships between micro-credit, micro-savings, training and growth of SMEs. The results show that micro-credit, micro-savings and training jointly contribute positively to SMEs growth. However, the effect of training is not statistically significant. This could be attributed to training that is not based on the real needs of SMEs

Influence of Corporate Control and Ownership Structure on the Value of Firms Listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange

This study aimed at establishing the influence of corporate control and ownership structure on corporate values of companies listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The paper tested the hypothesis that there is no significant moderating impact of ownership structure on the relationship between corporate control and corporate value growth based on Tobin Q and ROA measurements. The theory applied were agency theory, stewardship theory and stakeholder theory with the main anchoring theory being the agency theory. The study applied census survey for sixty four firms listed at the NSE. The time frame of analysis is five years between 2013 and 2017. Out of the 64 listed companies targeted, 58 were analyzed forming 90% of the population. The study applied census survey given that the population of the listed companies at the NSE were not many. Out of the 64 listed companies targeted, 59 were analyzed forming 92% of the population. Corporate control index was developed as a proxy for corporate control and ownership structure index was developed as a proxy for ownership structure. While ROA and Tobin Q were used to measure corporate value. The hypotheses were tested using both correlation and regression analysis. The key study variables of the listed companies were subjected to descriptive statistics and the results revealed a significant positive relationship between the variables. The study findings revealed significant moderating effect on the relationship between the value of the firm and its ownership structure

Influence of Corporate Control and Capital Structure on the Performance of Firms Listed at the Nairobi Security Exchange

This study aimed at establishing the influence of corporate control and capital structure on performance of firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The focus was on how the link concerning corporate control and corporate’s returns is influenced by debt-equity structure for these listed firms. The paper tested the hypothesis that there is no significant intervening effect of capital structure on the nexus between corporate control and firm performance as measured by ROA and Tobin Q. The theory applied were agency theory and trade off theory. The study applied census survey for sixty four firms listed at the NSE. Leverage was used as a measure of capital structure while ROA and Tobin Q were used to measure corporate value. Regression analysis and correlation analysis were used to test the hypotheses. The key study variables of the listed companies were subjected to descriptive statistics and the results revealed a significant positive relationship between the variables. The intervening effect of debt-equity ratio was found to be significant in the relationship between in corporate control and corporate value. The study findings were in line with previous research findings also provided further insight on the contribution of independent variable, corporate control on the dependent variable, corporate value. Analyst and investors can utilize the findings to identify the key corporate control mechanism in financial markets. Keywords: Corporate control, capital structure, agency theory, trade off theory, firm performance

The potential for the double risk of rabies and antimicrobial resistance in a high rabies endemic setting:Detection of antibiotic resistance in bacterial isolates from infected dog bite wounds in Uganda

BACKGROUND: Post-exposure treatment for dog bites in humans aims at alleviating the risk of rabies and promoting wound healing. Wound healing may be complicated by bacteria. This study identified the different bacteria and their antibiotic susceptibilities in infected dog bite wounds (DBWs) in Uganda. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 376 dog bite patients. Wound swabs from patients with infected DBWs were collected and inoculated into recommended media. They were cultured for both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. All isolated bacteria were identified based on colony characteristics, gram stain, and standard biochemical tests. Molecular identification was performed for strains that were resistant to three or more antibiotics. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was conducted using the disc diffusion method following the modified Kirby-Bauer method. The data were analysed using Stata version 15 software. RESULTS: Approximately half of the patients (52.9%, 199/376) presented with infected wounds. Majority of the swabs (84.4%, 168/199) were culture positive, and yielded a total of 768 isolates where about half (52.9%, 406/768) were gram positive bacteria, and about two-thirds (64.6%, 496/768) were recovered from category II wounds. Among the gram positive bacteria, 339 (83.5%) were aerobes where Staphylococcus aureus (103, 30.4%), Coagulase-negative staphylococci (68, 20.1%), and Corynebacterium spp (33, 9.7%) had the highest prevalence. For the 362 Gram negative isolates, 217 (59.9%) were aerobes and the commonest isolates were P. maltocida (64, 29.5%), Capnocytophaga canimorsus (36, 16.6%) and P. canis (26, 12.0%). Gram-positive isolates were resistant to metronidazole (93.6%), oxacillin (68.5%), ceftriaxone (14.6%) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (14.0%). Gram negative isolates were resistant to metronidazole (100%), ampicillin (30.7%), oxacillin (29.3%), and doxycycline (22.9%). Multidrug resistance was in 105 (29.0%) and 121/406 (29.8%) of the gram-negative and gram-positive isolates, respectively. All gram-positive isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSIONS: Infection rates of DBWs in Uganda are high and the dominant bacterial isolates are Staphylococcus aureus, Pasteurella spps, and Capnocytophaga canimorsus. Multidrug resistance to commonly used antibiotics is high. The recommendation in the Uganda Clinical Guidelines to use metronidazole in the management of DBWs should be reviewed. DBWs should be enlisted for routine antimicrobial resistance surveillance and rational use of antimicrobial agents should be promoted. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13756-022-01181-0

The effect of adenosine monophosphate deaminase overexpression on the accumulation of umami-related metabolites in tomatoes

Taste is perceived as one of a combination of five sensations, sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. The umami taste is best known as a savoury sensation and plays a central role in food flavour, palatability, and eating satisfaction. Umami flavour can be imparted by the presence of glutamate and is greatly enhanced by the addition of ribonucleotides, such as inosine monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine monophosphate (GMP). The production of IMP is regulated by the enzyme adenosine monophosphate (AMP) deaminase which functions to convert AMP into IMP. We have generated transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) lines over expressing AMP deaminase under the control of a fruit-specific promoter. The transgenic lines showed substantially enhanced levels of AMP deaminase expression in comparison to the wild-type control. Elevated AMP deaminase levels resulted in the reduced accumulation of glutamate and increased levels of the umami nucleotide GMP. AMP concentrations were unchanged. The effects on the levels of glutamate and GMP were unexpected and are discussed in relation to the metabolite flux within this pathway

Some examples of Baker domains

We construct entire functions with hyperbolic and simply parabolic Baker domains on which the functions are not univalent. The Riemann maps from the unit disk to these Baker domains extend continuously to certain arcs on the unit circle. The results answer questions posed by Fagella and Henriksen, Baker and Dominguez, and others.Comment: 13 page

Towards an understanding of the evolution of the scaling relations for supermassive black holes

The growth of the supermassive black holes (BHs) that reside at the centres of most galaxies is intertwined with the physical processes that drive the formation of the galaxies themselves. The evolution of the relations between the mass of the BH, m_BH, and the properties of its host therefore represent crucial aspects of the galaxy formation process. We use a cosmological simulation, as well as an analytical model, to investigate how and why the scaling relations for BHs evolve with cosmic time. We find that a simulation that reproduces the observed redshift zero relations between m_BH and the properties of its host galaxy, as well as the thermodynamic profiles of the intragroup medium, also reproduces the observed evolution in the ratio m_BH/m_s for massive galaxies, although the evolution of the m_BH/sigma relation is in apparent conflict with observations. The simulation predicts that the relations between m_BH and the binding energies of both the galaxy and its dark matter halo do not evolve, while the ratio m_BH/m_halo increases with redshift. The simple, analytic model of Booth & Schaye (2010), in which the mass of the BH is controlled by the gravitational binding energy of its host halo, quantitatively reproduces the latter two results. Finally, we can explain the evolution in the relations between m_BH and the mass and binding energy of the stellar component of its host galaxy for massive galaxies (m_s~10^11 M_sun) at low redshift (z<1) if these galaxies grow primarily through dry mergers.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; MNRAS accepte

Milk Hygiene in Rural Southwestern Uganda: Prevalence of Mastitis and Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Bacterial Contaminants of Milk and Milk Products

Mastitis and antimicrobial resistance are a big challenge to the dairy industry in sub-Saharan Africa. A study was conducted in Kashongi and Keshunga subcounties of Kiruhura District (in Uganda) where the government and private sector have deliberate programs to improve production efficiency, quality, and safety of milk and its products. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of mastitis, its common causative agents, antimicrobial sensitivity of mastitis causing organisms, and contaminants of processed milk products: yoghurt and ghee. Seventy-one milk, fourteen yoghurt, and three ghee samples were collected from nine farms. Of the 71 cows tested, 54 (76.1%) had mastitis. The mastitis cases from Keshunga were 32 (59.3%) and Kashongi contributed 22 (40.7%) of the cases. The common mastitis causative agents were Staphylococcus spp. (30.8%), Streptococcus spp. (12.3%), Corynebacterium spp.(15.4%), and E. coli (7.7%). Some of the isolates were resistant to tetracycline and penicillin. Prevalent contaminants of yoghurt were Staphylococcus spp. (8.3%), Streptococcus spp. (8.3%), Corynebacterium spp. (8.3%), and E. coli (8.3%), whereas all ghee contained Streptococcus spp. (100%). Prevalence of mastitis, antimicrobial resistance, and contamination of milk products are high in the study area. Targeted programs to prevent and control mastitis as well as antibiotic resistance are recommended