Famine: Lessons Learned

Famine: Lessons Learned was produced as the world was responding to four potential famines simultaneously – in Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen and Somalia. Much has been written and researched on famine, and many lessons on how to best prevent and respond to famine have been learned the hard way. This paper therefore draws on lessons learned from the last 30-plus years of famine crises and response, going back to famines in Ethiopia and Sudan in the 1980s, up to the most recent famine in Somalia in 2011

Local knowledge of the impacts of eucalyptus expansion on water security in the Ethiopian highlands

Lack of long-term hydrological monitoring makes it difficult to determine impacts of changing land use on the water dynamics for many catchments in Africa. Here we use local ecological knowledge (LEK) to explore the impacts of rapid expansion of eucalyptus agroforestry on water security in the Ethiopian highlands. Local knowledge about the impacts of changes in tree cover was collected from farmers (n = 30), extension staff (n = 2) and timber merchants (n = 2) in five kebeles within the Jeldu woreda. Jeldu has undergone significant land use change over the last forty years. The area was heavily deforested 20 years ago and farmers associate this time with a major change in the water dynamics. Recently the development of a new road to Goja, the main town, opened up the area as a source of timber for Addis Ababa. This has resulted in a substantial expansion of eucalyptus plots adjacent to roads on the upper plateau and in riparian areas where growth is accelerated. Poorer farmers have been displaced on to the sloping land (which used to be woodland) where there is now evidence of rapid soil degradation. The key findings were that farmers identified significant trade-offs at the plot scale between eucalyptus and adjacent crop fields. They also identified indicators suggesting the sudden increase in eucalyptus cover had accelerated declines in water availability at landscape scales. The study showed the value of using LEK for exploring immediate landscape scale dynamics in the absence of hydrological monitoring. Whilst there is a degree of uncertainty surrounding the impacts of eucalyptus, this research demonstrated local awareness associated of problems associated with unregulated expansion of eucalyptus woodlots on the water regulating capacity at immediate landscape scales in the Ethiopian highlands

Synthesis and Complexation Study of New Aminoalkynyl−amidinate Ligands

Abstract The current library of amidinate ligands has been extended by the synthesis of two novel dimethylamino‐substituted alkynylamidinate anions of the composition [Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−C(NR) 2 ] − (R = i Pr, cyclohexyl (Cy)). The unsolvated lithium derivatives Li[Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−C(NR) 2 ] ( 1 : R = i Pr, 2 : R = Cy) were obtained in good yields by treatment of in situ‐ prepared Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−Li with the respective carbodiimides, R−N=C=N−R. Recrystallization of 1 and 2 from THF afforded the crystalline THF adducts Li[Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−C(NR) 2 ] ⋅  n THF ( 1 a : R = i Pr, n =1; 2 a : R = Cy, n =1.5). Precursor 2 was subsequently used to study initial complexation reactions with selected di‐ and trivalent transition metals. The dark red homoleptic vanadium(III) tris(alkynylamidinate) complex V[Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−C(NCy) 2 ] 3 ( 3 ) was prepared by reaction of VCl 3 (THF) 3 with 3 equiv. of 2 (75 % yield). A salt‐metathesis reaction of 2 with anhydrous FeCl 2 in a molar ratio of 2 : 1 afforded the dinuclear homoleptic iron(II) alkynylamidinate complex Fe 2 [Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−C(NCy) 2 ] 4 ( 4 ) in 69 % isolated yield. Similarly, treatment of Mo 2 (OAc) 4 with 3 or 4 equiv. of 2 provided the dinuclear, heteroleptic molybdenum(II) amidinate complex Mo 2 (OAc)[Me 2 N−CH 2 −C≡C−C(NCy) 2 ] 3 ( 5 ; yellow crystals, 50 % isolated yield). The cyclohexyl‐substituted title compounds 2 a , 4 , and 5 were structurally characterized through single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction studies.imag

Framing as a rejected web concept

The theses describe the issues why such a concept as framing became rejected by the web community nowadays. The points make it clear what kind of problems the frames are creating, not only for a single website but also for the entire Internet

Structure of low-lying states of 10,11^{10,11}C from proton elastic and inelastic scattering

NESTER PTH, expérience GANIL, équipement SISSITo probe the ground state and transition densities, elastic and inelastic scattering on a proton target were measured in inverse kinematics for the unstable $^{10}$C and $^{11}$C nuclei at 45.3 and 40.6 MeV/nucleon, respectively. The detection of the recoil proton was performed by the MUST telescope array, in coincidence with a wall of scintillators for the quasiprojectile. The differential cross sections for elastic and inelastic scattering to the first excited states are compared to the optical model calculations performed within the framework of the microscopic nucleon-nucleus Jeukenne-Lejeune-Mahaux potential. Elastic scattering is sensitive to the matter-root-mean square radius found to be 2.42$\pm$0.1 and 2.33$\pm$0.1 fm, for $^{10,11}$C, respectively. The transition densities from cluster and mean-field models are tested, and the cluster model predicts the correct order of magnitude of cross sections for the transitions of both isotopes. Using the Bohr-Mottelson prescription, a profile for the $^{10}$C transition density from the $0^+$ ground to the $2_1^+$ state is deduced from the data. The corresponding neutron transition matrix element is extracted: Mn=5.51$\pm$1.09 fm$^2$

Effects of maize residue and mineral nitrogen applications on maize yield in conservation-agriculture-based cropping systems of Southern Africa

Conservation agriculture (CA) and no-till (NT)-based cropping systems could address soil degradation and fertility decline in southern Africa. A multi-location and multi-year experiment was carried out between 2008 and 2014 to assess the effects of different levels of maize residue biomass (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 t ha−1) and nitrogen (N) fertilizer (0, 30, 90 kg ha−1) on maize performance under no-tillage. In some sites, different (N) fertilizer levels were superimposed to test their effects on maize grain yield and leaf chlorophyll content under different maize residue biomass levels. The different residue levels had no significant effect on maize yield in most growing seasons. Maize residue cover increased grain yield in eight out of 39 site-years across the sites used. However, in some sites, maize yield decreased with increases in residue level in cropping seasons that had average to above average rainfall. At a few sites maize yield increased with increase in residue level. Seasonal rainfall pattern influenced the effect of different residue levels on grain yield at most sites. Nitrogen fertilizer increased maize yield regardless of the residue level applied. This study demonstrates that mulching with maize residues in CA/NT systems results in limited maize yield gains – at least within the first 6 years in different agro-ecological conditions of southern Africa

Probing the 6He halo structure with elastic and inelastic proton scattering

Proton elastic scattering and inelastic scattering to the first excited state of 6He have been measured over a wide angular range using a 40.9A MeV 6He beam. The data have been analyzed with a fully microscopic model of proton-nucleus scattering using 6He wave functions generated from large space shell model calculations. The inelastic scattering data show a remarkable sensitivity to the halo structure of 6He.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. RevTeX. Replaced figure 3 with updated figur

Indication for the disappearance of reactor electron antineutrinos in the Double Chooz experiment

The Double Chooz Experiment presents an indication of reactor electron antineutrino disappearance consistent with neutrino oscillations. A ratio of 0.944 $\pm$ 0.016 (stat) $\pm$ 0.040 (syst) observed to predicted events was obtained in 101 days of running at the Chooz Nuclear Power Plant in France, with two 4.25 GW$_{th}$ reactors. The results were obtained from a single 10 m$^3$ fiducial volume detector located 1050 m from the two reactor cores. The reactor antineutrino flux prediction used the Bugey4 measurement as an anchor point. The deficit can be interpreted as an indication of a non-zero value of the still unmeasured neutrino mixing parameter \sang. Analyzing both the rate of the prompt positrons and their energy spectrum we find \sang = 0.086 $\pm$ 0.041 (stat) $\pm$ 0.030 (syst), or, at 90% CL, 0.015 $<$ \sang $\ <$ 0.16.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, (new version after PRL referee's comments