FINANCING STRATEGIES, MACROECONOMIC FACTORS, INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS: A CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

Purpose of the Study - The world through United Nations leadership has defined the post-2015 development agenda comprising of 17 goals, 169 targets and 230 global indicators, cutting across social, economic and environmental pillars, which when attained by all nations by the year 2030, will create the future the world needs. The purpose of this study is to critically review the existing literature on the effects of financing strategies, macroeconomic factors and institutional quality on the achievement of the development goals. Findings - Africa has embraced the Sustainable Development Goals framework and relies on domestic finances, foreign direct investment, external debt, trade, official development assistance, financial and technical cooperation to fund various development programs. The implementation of the post-2015 sustainable development goals has shifted from global to national and local perspective. Most of the existing studies focused on the eight millennium development goals with a global perspective. As a consequence, the significance and effectiveness of the diverse and conflicting policy recommendations founded on Millennium Development Goals studies and their contribution to the achievement of the post-2015 SDGs remains doubtful. This paper concludes that Africa in particular, will require more than identification of appropriate financing strategies in order to achieve the target development goals. The success of the financing strategies on the achievement of development goals will depend on how African nations address macroeconomic factors and institutional quality factors in its quest to achieve the sustainable development goals by year 2030. Implications – Africa will need policy intervention to address institutional quality factors such as political stability, corruption levels, financial market developments and human capital development. These factors affect the direction and or strength of the relationship between the financing strategies and development goals. In additional Africa nations need to address the macroeconomic factors such as the employment levels, income levels, inflation rates and economic growth. The microeconomic factors emerge to explain the impact of the financing strategies on the achievement of the development goals. Value of the study - the study identifies and document existing knowledge gaps and proposes study approaches to address the gap thereby enriching existing body of knowledge. In addition, this study provide in-depth analysis that will inform the understanding of the direction and impact of the various financing strategies on the achievement of development goals, which can form the basis for the policy review.

Contribution of citizen science towards international biodiversity monitoring

To meet collective obligations towards biodiversity conservation and monitoring, it is essential that the world's governments and non-governmental organisations as well as the research community tap all possible sources of data and information, including new, fast-growing sources such as citizen science (CS), in which volunteers participate in some or all aspects of environmental assessments. Through compilation of a database on CS and community-based monitoring (CBM, a subset of CS) programs, we assess where contributions from CS and CBM are significant and where opportunities for growth exist. We use the Essential Biodiversity Variable framework to describe the range of biodiversity data needed to track progress towards global biodiversity targets, and we assess strengths and gaps in geographical and taxonomic coverage. Our results show that existing CS and CBM data particularly provide large-scale data on species distribution and population abundance, species traits such as phenology, and ecosystem function variables such as primary and secondary productivity. Only birds, Lepidoptera and plants are monitored at scale. Most CS schemes are found in Europe, North America, South Africa, India, and Australia. We then explore what can be learned from successful CS/CBM programs that would facilitate the scaling up of current efforts, how existing strengths in data coverage can be better exploited, and the strategies that could maximise the synergies between CS/CBM and other approaches for monitoring biodiversity, in particular from remote sensing. More and better targeted funding will be needed, if CS/CBM programs are to contribute further to international biodiversity monitoring

Adaptability and phenotypic stability of resistance to two viral diseases and yields traits in Cassava

Cassava productivity is hampered by pests and diseases including cassava mosaic disease (CMD) and cassava brown streak disease (CBSD). The main objective of this study was to identify stable superior genotypes that combine disease re-sistance and high yield. Sixteen cassava genotypes were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications for six planting seasons (years) at five sites in Tanzania. The genotypes were assessed using the additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis, and highly significant

Enhanced Functional Recovery in MRL/MpJ Mice after Spinal Cord Dorsal Hemisection

Adult MRL/MpJ mice have been shown to possess unique regeneration capabilities. They are able to heal an ear-punched hole or an injured heart with normal tissue architecture and without scar formation. Here we present functional and histological evidence for enhanced recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI) in MRL/MpJ mice. A control group (C57BL/6 mice) and MRL/MpJ mice underwent a dorsal hemisection at T9 (thoracic vertebra 9). Our data show that MRL/MpJ mice recovered motor function significantly faster and more completely. We observed enhanced regeneration of the corticospinal tract (CST). Furthermore, we observed a reduced astrocytic response and fewer micro-cavities at the injury site, which appear to create a more growth-permissive environment for the injured axons. Our data suggest that the reduced astrocytic response is in part due to a lower lesion-induced increase of cell proliferation post-SCI, and a reduced astrocytic differentiation of the proliferating cells. Interestingly, we also found an increased number of proliferating microglia, which could be involved in the MRL/MpJ spinal cord repair mechanisms. Finally, to evaluate the molecular basis of faster spinal cord repair, we examined the difference in gene expression changes in MRL/MpJ and C57BL/6 mice after SCI. Our microarray data support our histological findings and reveal a transcriptional profile associated with a more efficient spinal cord repair in MRL/MpJ mice

Genomic surveillance reveals multiple introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Northern California

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally, with >365,000 cases in California as of 17 July 2020. We investigated the genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Northern California from late January to mid-March 2020, using samples from 36 patients spanning nine counties and the Grand Princess cruise ship. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the cryptic introduction of at least seven different SARS-CoV-2 lineages into California, including epidemic WA1 strains associated with Washington state, with lack of a predominant lineage and limited transmission among communities. Lineages associated with outbreak clusters in two counties were defined by a single base substitution in the viral genome. These findings support contact tracing, social distancing, and travel restrictions to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in California and other states

Intelligent System For Predicting Agricultural Drought For Maize Crop

ABSTRACT: There has been little information in regard to agricultural drought prediction. This paper aimed at coming up with an efficient and intelligent agricultural drought prediction system. By using a case study approach and knowledge discovery data mining process this study was preceded by drought literature review, followed by analysis of daily 1978-2008 meteorological and annual 1976-2006 maize produce data both from Voi Taita-Taveta (Coast Province in Kenya). The design and implementation of an agricultural drought prediction system, was made possible by computer science programming for meteorological data preprocessing, classification algorithms for training and testing as well as prediction and post processing of predictions to various agricultural drought aspects. The study was evaluated by comparison of predicted with actual 2009 data as well as the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) 2009 records. The evaluation of this study results indicated consistency with the KMD 2009 outlook. The results showed that the application of classification algorithms on past meteorological data can lead to accurate predictions of future agricultural drought. The recommendation is that future work can be based on designing a solution for multiple regions with multiple crops