Subthreshold K+ production in deuteron and alpha induced nuclear reactions

Double differential cross sections have been measured for pi+ and K+ emitted around midraidity in d+A and He+A collisions at a beam kinetic energy of 1.15 GeV/nucleon. The total pi+ yield increases by a factor of about 2 when using an alpha projectile instead of a deuteron whereas the K+ yield increases by a factor of about 4. According to transport calculations, the K+ enhancement depends both on the number of hadron-hadron collisions and on the energy available in those collisions: their center-of-mass energy increases with increasing number of projectile nucleons

Comparison of eta and eta' production in the pp -> pp eta(eta') reactions near threshold

The total cross section of the pp -> pp eta' reaction has been measured at two energies near threshold by detecting the final protons in a magnetic spectrometer. The values obtained are about a factor of 70 less than for the corresponding eta production, in good agreement with the predictions of a one-pion-exchange model.Comment: 10 pages, Latex with 3 eps figure

Characterization of a series of electrophoretic and enzyme activity variants of human glucose-phosphate isomerase

A total of 3438 cord blood samples were screened for variants of erythrocyte glucose-phosphate isomerase. The five different electrophoretic, three activity/deficiency, and one thermostability variants distributed among 27 unrelated Caucasian families of that population, plus two electrophoretic variants previously described from three Amerindian tribes were subsequently examined for cryptic variation using activity and thermostability criteria. Although thermostability differences were observed between electrophoretic variants, no microheterogeneity within any one class of variant was detected.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47616/1/439_2004_Article_BF00273834.pd

Polarisation of the omega meson in the pd-->3He+omega reaction at 1360 and 1450 MeV

The tensor polarisation of omega mesons produced in the pd-->3He+omega reaction has been studied at two energies near threshold. The 3He nuclei were detected in coincidence with the pi0pi+pi- or pi0gamma decay products of the omega. In contrast to the case of phi meson production, the omega mesons are found to be unpolarised. This brings into question the applicability of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule when comparing the production of vector mesons in low energy hadronic reactions.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Eta-Helium Quasi-Bound States

The cross section and tensor analysing power t_20 of the d\vec{d}->eta 4He reaction have been measured at six c.m. momenta, 10 < p(eta) < 90 MeV/c. The threshold value of t_20 is consistent with 1/\sqrt{2}, which follows from parity conservation and Bose symmetry. The much slower momentum variation observed for the reaction amplitude, as compared to that for the analogous pd->eta 3He case, suggests strongly the existence of a quasi-bound state in the eta-4He system and optical model fits indicate that this probably also the case for eta-3He.Comment: LaTeX, uses elsart.sty, 10 pages, 3 Postscript figures, Submitted to Physics Letters

The pd --> ^3He eta pi0 reaction at T_p = 1450 MeV

The cross section for the pd --> ^3He eta pi0 reaction has been measured at a beam energy of 1450 MeV using the WASA detector at the CELSIUS storage ring and detecting one ^3He and four photons from the decays of the two photons. The data indicate that the production mechanism involves the formation of the Delta(1232) isobar. Although the beam energy does not allow the full peak of this resonance to be seen, the invariant masses of all three pairs of final state particles are well reproduced by a phase space Monte Carlo simulation weighted with the p-wave factor of the square of the pi^0 momentum in the ^3Hepi^0 system.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Integrating gender analysis in understanding dual-purpose cattle breeding practices in Nicaragua

Dual purpose cattle production in mixed farming systems of Nicaragua is predominantly based on permanent grazing of naturalized grasslands, introduced pastures and crop residues. Milk production and animal offtake rates are low. Information to guide gender responsive interventions to improve livestock production is being generated through a collaborative project by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the National Agrarian University of Nicaragua (UNA), and the University of Natural Resources and life Sciences in Austria (BOKU). Gender disaggregated data on milk production of 447 animals on 59 farms from Camoapa in central Nicaragua have been collected over 8 months. The data shows that more than 40% of the households keep Brown Swiss crosses, however, male headed households keep significantly more Brahman and Holstein crosses than female headed households. The average daily milk production per animal is also significantly lower in female headed households (3.54±1.55kg) than in male headed households (4.14 ±1.87kg). Farmers are conversant with Artificial Insemination (AI), however the technology is not widely adopted. Reasons mentioned for low adoption include: high costs of service, need for repeat services, and unavailability of semen from desired breed-types (e.g. Brahman × Brown Swiss). Gender analysis revealed that the need for repeated services, which increased the costs of AI, is caused by a time mismatch between the animals' heat and the AI provision. These delays are in turn determined by the gender division of labour in livestock management: women are in charge of identifying when animals come into heat but have to wait for the men to call the AI service providers. Women head of households have difficulty accessing AI services and information altogether as they are less involved in cooperative groups and training on technologies related to cattle production. This reduces the effectiveness of AI in both male and female headed households. Practical training programs are required on reproductive management and the use of AI designed with gender responsive approaches

Scaling up community-based goat breeding programmes via multi-stakeholder collaboration

Community-based livestock breeding programmes (CBBPs) have emerged as a potential approach to implement sustainable livestock breeding in smallholder systems. In Malawi and Uganda, goat CBBPs were introduced to improve production and productivity of indigenous goats through selective breeding. Scaling up CBBPs have recently received support due to evidence-based results from current implementation and results of CBBPs implemented in other regions of the world. This paper explores strategies for scaling up goat CBBPs in Malawi and Uganda, and documents experiences and lessons learned during implementation of the programme. A number of stakeholders supporting goat-based interventions for improving smallholders’ livelihoods exists. This offers an opportunity for different actors to work together by pooling financial resources and technical expertise for establishment and sustainability of goat CBBPs. Scaling up strategies should be an integral part of the pilot design hence dissemination partners need to be engaged during the design and inception stages of the pilot CBBPs. Creation of self-sustaining CBBPs requires early collaborative programme planning, meaningful investment and long-term concerted and coordinated efforts by collaborating partners. Permanently established actors, like government agencies and research and training institutions, are better placed to coordinate such efforts. The overall goal of the scaling up programme should be creation of a financially sustainable system, in which smallholders are able, on their own, to transact and sustain operations of their local breeding institutions using locally generated revenue/ resources. Since CBBP scaling up is a ‘learning by doing process’, an effective monitoring and evaluation system should be an integral part of the process