Comment on: Abou-Ali, H., El-Azony, H., El-Laithy, H., Haughton, J. and Khandker, S., 2010. Evaluating the impact of Egyptian Social Fund for Development Programmes. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 2 (4), 521–555

PRIFPRI3; ISIDG

Landau Theory of Domain Wall Magnetoelectricity

We calculate the exact analytical solution to the domain wall properties in a multiferroic system with two order parameters that are coupled bi-quadratically. This is then adapted to the case of a magnetoelectric multiferroic material such as BiFeO3, with a view to examine critically whether the domain walls can account for the enhancement of magnetization reported for thin films fo this material, in view of the correlation between increasing magnetization and increasing volume fraction of domain walls as films become thinner. The present analysis can be generalized to describe a class of magnetoelectric devices based upon domain walls rather than bulk properties.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Climatic trends, risk perceptions and coping strategies of smallholder farmers in rural Uganda

Smallholder farmers in Uganda face a wide range of agricultural production risks, with climate change and variability presenting new risks and vulnerabilities. Climate related risks such as prolonged dry seasons have become more frequent and intense with negative impacts on agricultural livelihoods and food security. This paper assesses farmers’ perceptions of climate change and variability and analyses historical trends in temperature and rainfall in two rural districts of Uganda in order to determine the major climate-related risks affecting crop and livestock production and to identify existing innovative strategies for coping with and adapting to climate-related risks, with potential for up-scaling in rural districts. The traditional coping strategies that have been developed by these communities overtime provide a foundation for designing effective adaptation strategies. Drought, disease and pest epidemics, decreasing water sources, lack of pasture, bush fires, hailstorms, changes in crop flowering and fruiting times were the major climate-related risks reported across the two districts. Farmers use a wide range of agricultural technologies and strategies to cope with climate change and climate variability. Mulching, intercropping and planting of food security crops were among the most common practices used. Other strategies included water harvesting for domestic consumption, other soil and water conservation technologies and on-farm diversification. Farmers often use a combination of these technologies and practices to enhance agricultural productivity. The average maximum temperatures increased across the two districts. Trends in average annual rainfall showed mixed results with a general decline in one district and a relatively stable trend in the other district. Perceived changes in climate included erratic rainfall onset and cessation, which were either early or late, poor seasonal distribution of rainfall and little rainfall. Farmers also reported variations in temperatures. Farmers’ perception of changing rainfall characteristics and increasing temperatures were consistent with the observed historical climatic trends from meteorological data

Tunneling electron induced rotation of a copper phthalocyanine molecule on Cu(111)

The rates of a hindered molecular rotation induced by tunneling electrons are evaluated using scattering theory within the sudden approximation. Our approach explains the excitation of copper phthalocyanine molecules (CuPc) on Cu(111) as revealed in a recent measurement of telegraph noise in a scanning tunneling microscopy experiment. A complete explanation of the experimental data is performed by computing the geometry of the adsorbed system, its electronic structure, and the energy transfer between tunneling electrons and the molecule's rotational degree of freedom. The results unambiguously show that tunneling electrons induce a frustrated rotation of the molecule. In addition, the theory determines the spatial distribution of the frustrated rotation excitation, confirming the striking dominance of two out of four molecular lobes in the observed excitation process. This lobe selectivity is attributed to the different hybridizations with the underlying substrate. © 2013 American Physical Society.J.S., A.S., C.A.B., and R.M. gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the SFB616 ‘Energy Dissipation at Surfaces.’ N.L. is supported by the ICT-FET Integrated Project AtMol (http://www.atmol.eu). M.C.C. thanks the Studienstiftung desdeutschen Volkes.Peer Reviewe

Detecting Bias in Large-Scale Comparative Analyses: Methods for Expanding the Scope of Hypothesis-Testing with HormoneBase

To address large-scale questions in evolutionary biology, the compilation of data from a variety of sources is often required. This is a major challenge in the development of databases in organismal biology. Here, we describe the procedure we used to reconstruct the phylogeny of the 474 species represented in HormoneBase, including fish, amphibians, mammals, birds, and reptiles. We also provide the methodology used to compile vertebrate environmental, life history, and metabolic rate data for use in conjunction with the HormoneBase database to test hypotheses of the evolution of steroid hormone traits. We then report a series of analyses using these data to determine the extent to which field measures of circulating hormones and associated life history data exhibit taxonomic and geographic bias. By providing a detailed description of the approaches used to compile and evaluate these data and identifying potential biases in the collection of these data, we hope to make the HormoneBase database a more broadly useful resource for the scientific community to address a diversity of comparative questions

Milky Way demographics with the VVV survey. IV. PSF photometry from almost one billion stars in the Galactic bulge and adjacent southern disk

Accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics. Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics. © 2018 ESO.Context. The inner regions of the Galaxy are severely affected by extinction, which limits our capability to study the stellar populations present there. The Vista Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) ESO Public Survey has observed this zone at near-infrared wavelengths where reddening is highly diminished. Aims. By exploiting the high resolution and wide field-of-view of the VVV images we aim to produce a deep, homogeneous, and highly complete database of sources that cover the innermost regions of our Galaxy. Methods. To better deal with the high crowding in the surveyed areas, we have used point spread function (PSF)-fitting techniques to obtain a new photometry of the VVV images, in the ZY JHK s near-infrared filters available. Results. Our final catalogs contain close to one billion sources, with precise photometry in up to five near-infrared filters, and they are already being used to provide an unprecedented view of the inner Galactic stellar populations. We make these catalogs publicly available to the community. Our catalogs allow us to build the VVV giga-CMD, a series of color-magnitude diagrams of the inner regions of the Milky Way presented as supplementary videos. We provide a qualitative analysis of some representative CMDs of the inner regions of the Galaxy, and briefly mention some of the studies we have developed with this new dataset so far.Peer reviewe

Increasing Physical Activity Among African-American Women and Girls

WHITT-GLOVER, M. C., D. J. BRAND, M. E. TURNER, S. A. WARD, and E. M. JACKSON. Increasing physical activity among African-American women and girls. Curr. Sports Med. Rep., Vol. 8, No. 6, pp. 318-324, 2009. The benefits of physical activity on diseases and risk factors are well known. Despite the known benefits, many segments of the population, particularly African-American women and girls, do not obtain adequate levels of physical activity. Strategies are needed to identify successful and sustainable interventions to increase physical activity among this population. We reviewed literature published between 2007 and 2009 that focused on increasing physical activity or fitness among this population. We identified 37 studies, 11 of which focused on increasing physical activity. This article summarizes the findings from those 11 studies and provides recommendations for improving strategies to increase physical activity in African-American women and girls