Reflection on All Africa Conference on Assuring Food and Nutrition Security in Africa by 2020

The momentum generated by the Kampala 2020 All Africa Conference output together with the follow up activities have had positive impact on many African governments, regional institutions and internationally. Among its many positive outcomes, the Conference has served to put the issues of food and nutrition security squarely on the African development Agenda by underscoring its critical role in healthy lives, in particular the management of HIV/AIDS. It also recognized that food and nutrition security is inextricably linked not just to traditional agriculture but also development in education, natural resources management, infrastructures, market information systems, micro and macro-economic conditions and trade. Of significant importance is the accelerated integration of food and nutrition security into broader agricultural development programs by regional institutions (COMESA, IGAD, SADC, ECOWAS, EAC, North Africa Regional body and continental body, (NEPAD in its CAADP and AU Commission) as well as into national agricultural modernization programs. The identification of commodity successes and community bright spots for replication across the continent should help avoid duplication and can speed up the rate of achieving food and nutrition security in Africa. Food safety and quality issues are essential component of access to markets and trade at international, regional and national levels. It is therefore, imperative to develop the 3Cs competitiveness of supply capacities, conformity with market requirements and connectivity to markets to accelerate regional and international trade in food and foodstuff. However, there are challenges that need to be overcome in order to tackle the tasks of achieving food and nutrition security. These challenges include budget allocation to agriculture nutrition; developing partnership with clear roles, capacity building of stakeholders and institutions; empowering of organized communities for contract farming and trade; change in attitude; scaling up research and technology development and transformation of Africas home grown private entrepreneurs into true responsible private sector. All the above challenges call for enlightened and committed political leadership and responsible law makers working in partnership with all stakeholders to propel the processes of achieving food and nutrition security in Africa by 2020 under stable, peaceful and conducive policy environment.Food Security and Poverty,

An empirical model of Onecut binding activity at the sea urchin SM50 C-element gene regulatory region

Studying the formation of endoskeleton in many species is complex and difficult. The sea urchin embryo offers an unparalleled platform for understanding this process because of the ease with which its skeletogenic mesenchyme cells can be manipulated. In this study, preliminary evidence from biochemical studies towards understanding the role of the Onecut transcription factor during sea urchin skeletogenic mesenchyme cell specification is presented. Based on the evidence, an empirical model is proposed showing how Onecut, together with associated co-factors, may be using the C-element of the SM50 gene regulatory region in advance of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus spicule development. In the model, Onecut recognizes and binds the DNA sequence CATCGATCTC in the C-element without temporal restriction. Onecut then utilizes different sets of co-factors to switch from its unknown function early in development (four cell stage to the mesenchyme blastula stage), to its known role in the oral-aboral boundary thereafter. At the writing of this report, definitive evidence as to whether the “early” factors are expressed in all cells except the micromere lineages, or whether the “late” factors are expressed in micromere descendants or ectodermal precursors only are lacking. The former would suggest a possible Onecut repression function for the early co-factors outside the micromere lineages; the latter scenario would suggest a Onecut activation function for the late co-factors in the presumptive ciliary band

The Determinants and implications of customer satisfaction and loyalty in web-based commerce: An Empirical analysis

The study was undertaken to categorize and assess the relative importance of various factors in determining customers\u27 evaluation of the overall online shopping experience (customer satisfaction) and their intention to provide continued patronage (remain loyal) to the pertinent online stores. Furthermore, the study also investigated the effects of customer loyalty and satisfaction on revenue. Various hypotheses were formulated and tested using empirical methods. The results from the study imply that web site design factors may lead to discretionary customer loyalty but have no significant effect in fostering customer satisfaction. Discretionary customer loyalty is a product of shopping convenience; thus, web site designers ought to focus efforts on design mechanisms that generate shopping convenience. Even though web site design factors have no significant effects on customer satisfaction, there is a strong positive relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. In particular, the results of the study imply that factors pertaining to the acquisition of the product needed by the customer and support during product use are very important in determining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, web-based stores need to shift focus from aesthetic concerns of web site design to product offering and to providing outstanding customer service and support after the purchase of the product. This is what will keep customers satisfied and willing to continue the relationship with a company over the long term. The results of the study indicate that an increase in customer loyalty has a positive impact on sales revenue. The underlying implication is that loyal customers have a strong impact on company profits because they buy more and cost less to serve. In order for web-based stores to achieve long-lasting customer value, they need to nurture customer relationships through electronic customer relationship management (ECRM). This will enable a company to determine the most valuable customers and to follow the important customer-centered concept of achieving increased share of customer instead of increasing share of market. This is desirable because increasing share of customer is much more profitable than price manipulation and discounting associated with attempts to increase market share

Performance Evaluation of GPRS and Fiber as Transmission Medium for Social Care Systems

There is an extensive expansion of fiber infrastructure for high-speed broadband networks in Sweden, and Landskrona municipality is one of the leading examples. Owing to the superior capabilities of a fiber based network, a number of digital welfare services can be provided directly to residents and companies of the municipality. Social care is an example of a welfare service that can utilize the superior capabilities of a fiber based network. Currently, the social care system in Landskrona Municipality experiences extremely long delays. Deploying GPRS as the primary transmission medium for the social care system is one of the causes for the extremely long delays. This report provides a thorough description of how the current social care system in Landskrona municipality can instead deploy fiber, to reduce the long delays experienced by the users of the service. Interestingly, performance evaluation of the results from this project show that there would be a significant reduction in the transmission network delay should GPRS be replaced with fiber.Most European Countries have developed and deployed social care systems, but these systems are under severe stress and under-performing. Part of the problem has been that, this field has not benefited from the technological advancements and innovations. Majority of the societies to-date deploy GPRS as the transmission medium to route alarms from the alarm units to the alarm receivers. Because GPRS has always been characterized by variable throughput and delays for packet transmissions, social care systems that use GPRS as the transmission medium always experience long transmission network delays. In a bid to solve this challenge, this project aimed to replace GPRS with fiber. This project developed a prototype that utilized the robust Internet connection of fiber, and a performance evaluation of the usage of GPRS and fiber networks for the social care service was established

Financial Distress and Non-Executive Director Compensation: Evidence from China

本论文研究公司财务困境如何影响中国上市公司外部非执行董事（NED）的薪酬政策。同等薪酬水平下，处于财务困境中的公司常常会因为风险高而面临非执行董事缺位的问题。因此，处理财务困境中的公司会通过提高薪酬水平以吸引有能力的外部非执行董事，以帮助解决公司的财务困难。本文的研究结果支持上述理论假设。本文还研究了NED年龄如何影响NED的薪酬水平。结果显示，相对于非财务困境公司，处于财务困境中的公司提供更高的薪酬以吸引年轻的非执行董事，而年长的非执行董事拿到的增量薪酬相对较少。这些结果表明，解决财务困难，年轻NED的能力或许比年长NED的经验更重要。最后本文分析了公司性质的影响。研究发现，面对可能的财务危...This study examines how financial distress of a firm will impact the non-executive director (NED) compensation within Chinese listed firms. Firms facing financial distress will find it challenging to attract NED to their board of directors. Therefore, this study finds evidence that such firms facing financial distress will increase NED remuneration so as to attract NED. This study also investigate...学位：管理学硕士院系专业：财务管理与会计研究院_会计学学号：2782014115447

One- and two-atom states in a rotating ring lattice

We study the states of one and two atoms in a rotating ring lattice in a Hubbard type tight-binding model. The model is developed carefully from basic principles in order to properly identify the physical observables. The one-particle ground state may be degenerate and represent a finite flow velocity depending on the parity of the number of lattice sites, the sign of the tunneling matrix element, and the rotation speed of the lattice. Variation of the rotation speed may be used to control one-atom states, and leads to peculiar behaviors such as wildly different phase and group velocities for an atom. Adiabatic variation of the rotation speed of the lattice may also be used to control the state of a two-atom lattice dimer. For instance, at a suitably chosen rotation speed both atoms are confined to the same lattice site.Comment: Very close to the submitted versio

Short Communications: Transforming rural livelihoods through cassava value addition, a case study of Cassava Adding Value for Africa Project (C:AVA)

With the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Cassava Adding Value for Africa (C:AVA) project is transforming the lives of cassava small holder farmers in the five countries of Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. The C:AVA project has encouraged good agronomic practices and provided farmers with higher yielding and disease tolerant cassava varieties. These have resulted in higher yields (ranging from about 16 percent in Ghana to over 100 percent in Uganda), which have contributed to an increase in the incomes of the small holder farmers and community processors through their participation in profitable and sustainable value-added cassava chains. Rather than rely solely on income from processing fresh roots into traditional products, community groups and large industries have shifted focus to adding value to the roots through processing into new chains being promoted by the Project. These new value chains include high quality cassava flour and grits for bakery, confectionery and brewery industries as well as chips and grits as feed mix into the livestock industry including poultry. Other chains being promoted include starch and ethanol. Mobilisation into new value chains ranged from just over 2 percent in Tanzania to a 100 percent in Malawi in the first year of project operations. By the third year, mobilisation into the new chains has significantly increased to about 70 percent and above in all countries; 69 percent in Nigeria and 100 percent in Uganda. Collectively, the five countries have mobilised close to a million tons of fresh cassava roots that have been processed into both traditional and new value chains. Over 70 percent of these volumes have gone into the new chains. These value chains have generated an income of over USD 57 million into these rural communities assisting to raise the living standards of the resource poor households and providing employment opportunities in the participating countries.Keywords: smallholder farmer, transformation, value chains, cassava value additio