The effectiveness of schools-based National Arbor Week activities in greening of urban homesteads : a case study of Grahamstown, South Africa

Arbor Day, or Week, is a well-established greening initiative worldwide, focusing on tree planting and the benefits thereof. Frequently most effort is targeted at institutions such as schools and community groups. Yet there has been limited assessment of the success of Arbor Day, or Week, activities both at the schools, or the wider dissemination in neighbouring communities and suburbs. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of school-based Arbor Week activities on learners’ home-based practices regarding tree planting and urban forestry. Learners from three schools in Grahamstown, South Africa, with good Arbor Week participation, were assessed on their tree planting knowledge. The learners’ parents were also interviewed to determine whether the information obtained by the learners at school was taken home. A control group consisting of people with no children or very young children was also assessed. This study found that Arbor Week activities were, for the most part, successfully taught in the case study schools, and most of the learners stated that their knowledge of trees and their benefits came from their school activities. However, many learners could not remember the activities in which their schools partook the previous year. Whilst most learners were aware of the importance of trees, few had encouraged tree planting at home. However, over one-fifth of adults claimed that their knowledge of the benefits of trees was as a consequence of Arbor Day activities when they were young. Numerous constraints to tree planting were provided by learners and both the adult groups, the two most frequent being limited space and falling leaves making their yards untidy. External organisations should become more actively involved and provide much needed support systems if greening initiatives are to reach the wider community

Quantitative risk assessment of FMDV introduction in a FMD free country through bone-in beef and offal importation from a FMD free with vaccination country/zone

Quantitative risk assessment was used to estimate the risk of introducing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) through bone-in beef from Argentina (FMD-free with vaccination status) into other FMD-free countries. A stochastic model was built to characterize all the steps from primary production to bone-in beef export and introduction into an FMD-free country. The probability that bone-in beef from at least one animal infected with the FMD virus (FMDV) was exported during a year was 5.27 × 10−3 (95% CI <10−10 – 5.19 x 10–2) or in other words one case in 190 years. The risk of FMDV introduction was sensitive to the probability of an outbreak occurring in Argentina (r [Spearman´s rank correlation] = 0.99) and the number of herds affected during an outbreak (r = 0.10). Additionally, the probability that susceptible animals in the importing country came into contact with infective material (bones) and generated an outbreak was 6.16 × 10−4 (95% CI <10−10 – 6.20 ×10−3) or one FMD outbreak every 1623 years on average. Based on the quantitative risk assessment results, the probability of FMDV introduction into a FMD-free country where vaccination is not practiced from a FMD-free country where vaccination is practiced associated with bone-in beef trade from Argentina was negligible. The risk of an FMD outbreak caused by the potential introduction of the FMDV was associated with the existing conditions in the country. Thus, maintaining the FMD-free status with or without vaccination would not be relevant.Fil: Brusa, Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Durrieu, M.. No especifíca;Fil: Van Gelderen, C. J.. No especifíca;Fil: Signorini Porchietto, Marcelo Lisandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Investigacion de la Cadena Lactea. - Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Santa Fe. Estacion Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela. Instituto de Investigacion de la Cadena Lactea.; ArgentinaFil: Schudel, A.. No especifíca

M & L Jaargang 7/2

GeneriekAn Malliet De restauratie van de Egyptische tempel. [The restoration of the Egyptian temple in the Antwerp Zoo.]Sinds de bouw in 1856, reeds kort na het nog prille ontstaan van de Antwerpse Zoologie, zou het grootse giraffen- en olifantenpaviljoen schier ononderbroken intense aandacht blijven opeisen.Toch blijkt de jongste, verreikende restauratie-ingreep, in velerlei opzichten opzienbarend.Voor dit evenement vraagt An Malliet nu even extra aandacht.Eugène Warmenbol en Petra Maclot Tempel en stal in één: de Egyptische tempel in de Antwerpse zoo in kunsthistorisch en historisch perspectief. [Temple and stable united: the Egyptian temple in the Antwerp Zoo from a arthistorical an historical viewpoint.]De onverstoorbare speurderstalenten van Eugène Warmenbol en Petra Maclot naar Egyptiserende archetypen zijn reeds langer bekend.Bij deze tempelzoektocht naar Charles Servais en Lodewijk Delgeur, gaat ruim wat aandacht bevooroordeeld ook naar de mindere goden. Een document... dat wordt vervolgd.Guido Jan Bral Van vooronderzoek tot uitvoeringsontwerp. [The restoration of the Egyptian temple in the Antwerp zoo: from preliminary inquiry to final design.]Naast het toch reeds bijzondere bestek vroegen de intrigerende beschilderingen van het tempelvoorportaal om een uitzonderlijke aanpak. Ter inleiding blikt Guido J. Bral terug op de totstandkoming van een uniek ontwerp.Lode De Clercq De restauratie van de strucwerken van het peristilium en het portaal van de Egyptische tempel. [The Egyptian temple in the Antwerp zoo: restoration of the stucco of the peristyle and the porch.]Wat stuc is helen vormt de eerste uitdaging. Tussen graffito en moulages vat Lode De Clercq de koe meteen weloverwogen bij de horens.M. Dupas en Eddy De Witte Antwerpen-Zoo. Egyptische tempel. Controle van de zoutextracties. [The restoraton of the Egyptian temple in the Antwerp Zoo: monitoring the salt extractions.]Wateroplosbare zouten vormen ook in Egyptiserende tempelmuren nochtans oplosbare problemen. Voor M. Dupas en Eddy De Witte is de behandeling van deze capillaire kwaal bondig geformuleerd: extractie, zonder meer.Walter Schudel De restauratie van de taferelen 20 en 21. [The restoration of the scenes 20 and 21 of the Egyptian temple in the Antwerp Zoo.]Gewapend met scalpels en engelengeduld zal Walter Schudel zich spreekwoordelijk fixeren op de vrijlegging van Antwerpen.Guido Jan Bral, Bernard Delmotte, Jan Verbeke De reconstructie van de monumentale polychromie van het voorportaal van de Egyptische tempel. [Reconstruction of the monumental polychromy in the porch of the Egyptian temple of the Antwerp Zoo.]Guido Jan Bral, Bernard Delmotte en Jan Verbeke bespreken verder samen hoe 1250 steekproeven via 300 meter polyesterkalk, 3 kleurenschemas en 2 kleurenkaarten tot de reconstructie zouden leiden van een 54 polychrome taferelen.Eugène Warmenbol en Luc Delvaux Oud-Egyptische teksten uit de tijd van farao Leopold I van Opper- en Neder-België. [Ancient Egyptian texts from the time of pharaoh Leopold I of Upper- and Lower-Belgium.]Marchand de latin, allicht - maar niettemin is Lodewijk Delgeur vooreerst spitsvondig, onderlegd en schalks.Zo moge althans blijken uit de sobere vertaling door Eugène Warmenbol en Luc Delvaux van de nu weer genietbare hiërogliefen van het voorportaal.SummaryM&L Binnenkran