Innovation Platform : Methods to engage crop-livestock stakeholders in West Africa

With an objective of engaging stakeholders in mixed farming systems in the semiarid tropics of West Africa. Innovation Platforms (IP) meetings were initiated by the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) together with National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (NARES) in Nigeria and Niger. The transboundry transect between Nigeria and Niger called Katsina Kano and Maradi (KKM) was selected as action site. Results indicated that the IP meetings at KKM transect allowed platform members (farmers, processors, marketers, political and traditional institutes and researchers) to obtain feedback on performance of introduced agricultural technologies, link farmers to seed, agrochemical companies and commodity brokers, and provided opportunity to the registered farmer groups to source inputs through governmental agencies. The IP meetings also facilitated decision making among members through scenario visioning. As a result of such visioning, the researchers were encouraged to explore the replacement of maize with sorghum in poultry feed consequently trials were initiated in Kano and earadi. The IP was also used in identifying relevant capacity building needs of stakeholders. A crop-livestock integration training was identified for the stakeholder in the transect. The training was therefore conducted for 41 participants from 5 countries (Benin, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria). The stakeholders used the platform to enhance knowledge, expand network along with technology oriented practical demonstrations on food-feed crops, innovation of green and dry fodder chopping using machines, use of grinders for feed block making, animal traction and manure management

One Health epidemic preparedness: Biosafety quality improvement training in Nigeria

Background and Aim: One of the key components of the O ne Health approach to epidemic preparedness is raising awareness and increasing the knowledge of emerging infectious diseases, prevention, and risk reduction. However, related research can involve significant risks to biosafety and biosecurity. For this purpose, we organized a multidisciplinary biosafety hands-on workshop to inform and increase the knowledge of infectious diseases and risk mitigation. This study aimed to describe the process and outcome of a hands-on biosafety training program using a One Health a pproach across a multidisciplinary and multi-specialty group in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A face-to-face hands-on training for 48 participants was organized by the West African Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (WAC-EID) at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, serving as a lead institution for the Nigeria project site. Topics covered included (1) an overview of the WAC-EID research; (2) overview of infection prevention and control; (3) safety in animal handling and restraint, sample collection, and processing; (4) safety in field studies including rodent, bird and bat handling; (5) safety practices in the collection of mosquito and other arthropod vectors; (6) personal protective equipment training (disinfection, donning and doffing); and (7) safety in sample collection, labeling, and transportation. The program was executed using a mixed method of slide presentations, practical hands-on sessions, and video demonstrations. Pre- and post-course evaluation assessments and evaluation measures were used to assess training. Results: A total of 48 trainees participated in this training, with 12 (25%), 16 (33.3%), 14 (29.2%), 6 (12.5%) categorized as ornithology, entomology, mammalogy, and clinical interest groups, respectively. The pass rate for the pre-test was 29.4%, while for the post-test, it was 57.1%, or a 28% improvement. 88.6% of the trainees rated the training as relevant to them. Conclusion: Didactic and hands-on biosafety training is relevant in this era of zoonotic epidemics and pandemic preparedness. During this training program, there was a clear demonstration of knowledge transfer that can change the current practices of participants and improve the safety of infectious diseases research

Low spin spectroscopy of neutron-rich 43,44,45Cl via {\beta} and (\beta}n decay

{\beta} decay of neutron-rich isotopes 43,45 S,studied at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory is reported here. {\beta} delayed {\gamma} transitions were detected by an array of 16 clover detectors surrounding the Beta Counting Station which consists of a 40x40 Double Sided Silicon Strip Detector followed by a Single Sided Silicon Strip Detector. {\beta} decay half-lives have been extracted for 43,45 S by correlating implants and decays in the pixelated implant detector with further coincidence with {\gamma} transitions in the daughter nucleus. The level structure of 43,45 Cl is expanded by the addition of 20 new {\gamma} transitions in 43Cl and 8 in 45 Cl with the observation of core excited negative-parity states for the first time. For 45 S decay, a large fraction of the {\beta} decay strength goes to delayed neutron emission populating states in 44 Cl which are also presented. Comparison of experimental observations is made to detailed shell-model calculations using the SDPFSDG-MU interaction to highlight the role of the diminished N = 28 neutron shell gap and the near degeneracy of the proton s 1/2 and d 3/2 orbitals on the structure of the neutron-rich Cl isotopes. The current work also provides further support to a ground state spin-parity assignment of 3/2 + in 45 Cl

Probing the Flexibility of Large Conformational Changes in Protein Structures through Local Perturbations

Protein conformational changes and dynamic behavior are fundamental for such processes as catalysis, regulation, and substrate recognition. Although protein dynamics have been successfully explored in computer simulation, there is an intermediate-scale of motions that has proven difficult to simulate—the motion of individual segments or domains that move independently of the body the protein. Here, we introduce a molecular-dynamics perturbation method, the Rotamerically Induced Perturbation (RIP), which can generate large, coherent motions of structural elements in picoseconds by applying large torsional perturbations to individual sidechains. Despite the large-scale motions, secondary structure elements remain intact without the need for applying backbone positional restraints. Owing to its computational efficiency, RIP can be applied to every residue in a protein, producing a global map of deformability. This map is remarkably sparse, with the dominant sites of deformation generally found on the protein surface. The global map can be used to identify loops and helices that are less tightly bound to the protein and thus are likely sites of dynamic modulation that may have important functional consequences. Additionally, they identify individual residues that have the potential to drive large-scale coherent conformational change. Applying RIP to two well-studied proteins, Dihdydrofolate Reductase and Triosephosphate Isomerase, which possess functionally-relevant mobile loops that fluctuate on the microsecond/millisecond timescale, the RIP deformation map identifies and recapitulates the flexibility of these elements. In contrast, the RIP deformation map of α-lytic protease, a kinetically stable protein, results in a map with no significant deformations. In the N-terminal domain of HSP90, the RIP deformation map clearly identifies the ligand-binding lid as a highly flexible region capable of large conformational changes. In the Estrogen Receptor ligand-binding domain, the RIP deformation map is quite sparse except for one large conformational change involving Helix-12, which is the structural element that allosterically links ligand binding to receptor activation. RIP analysis has the potential to discover sites of functional conformational changes and the linchpin residues critical in determining these conformational states

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections for Higgs boson production in the diphoton decay channel at s√=8 TeV with ATLAS

Measurements of fiducial and differential cross sections are presented for Higgs boson production in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The analysis is performed in the H → γγ decay channel using 20.3 fb−1 of data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The signal is extracted using a fit to the diphoton invariant mass spectrum assuming that the width of the resonance is much smaller than the experimental resolution. The signal yields are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution. The pp → H → γγ fiducial cross section is measured to be 43.2 ±9.4(stat.) − 2.9 + 3.2 (syst.) ±1.2(lumi)fb for a Higgs boson of mass 125.4GeV decaying to two isolated photons that have transverse momentum greater than 35% and 25% of the diphoton invariant mass and each with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.37. Four additional fiducial cross sections and two cross-section limits are presented in phase space regions that test the theoretical modelling of different Higgs boson production mechanisms, or are sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model. Differential cross sections are also presented, as a function of variables related to the diphoton kinematics and the jet activity produced in the Higgs boson events. The observed spectra are statistically limited but broadly in line with the theoretical expectations