The Impact of Millet, Sorghum, and Cowpea Research and Technology Transfer in Niger

Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Downloads July 2008 - June 2009: 9,

An Economic Analysis of Research and Technology Transfer of Millet, Sorghum, and Cowpeas in Niger

This study analyzes returns to investments in Niger's research and technology transfer system for millet, sorghum, and cowpea between 1975 and 1991. Sixty-eight percent of the country's public-sector outlays for agricultural research and 58% of its agricultural researchers were devoted to research on these three crops between 1986 and 1990. Most of this research was done by INRAN, the national agricultural research institute of Niger (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger).food security, food policy, millet, sorghum, cowpeas, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Downloads July 2008 - July 2009: 11, R11,

Aspiring While Waiting: Temporality and Pacing of Ghanaian Stayer Youth's Migration Aspirations

Many youth in Global South countries, whose parents have migrated abroad while they have stayed, i.e., "stayer youth," also aspire to migrate. While the current literature depicts stayer youth as "waiting" to emigrate, connoting passivity, recent critical youth studies suggest the importance of centring young people's agency when focusing on their aspirations and experiences. This article investigates how stayer youth in Ghana "pace" their migration aspirations while "waiting." By observing how youth change their aspirations over time, we first distinguish between different aspirations according to when youth first aim to migrate. Second, we "follow" stayer youth after their secondary school graduation to understand how they seek to fulfil their migration aspirations and the strategies they adopt therein. We use ethnographic data from 38 Ghanaian "stayer" young people. Our analyses show that stayer youth adapt their decision‐making when they realise some misalignment between their migration aspirations and capabilities. By analysing their adaptation strategies, we emphasise stayer youth's agency despite structural forces confining them to what has been called "waithood.

Transnational parenting and the well-being of Angolan migrant parents in Europe

Studies on the transnational family highlight the emotional difficulties of migrant parents separated from their children through international migration. This article consists of a large-scale quantitative investigation into the insights of transnational family literature by examining the well-being of transnational parents compared with that of parents who live with their children in the destination country. Furthermore, through a survey of Angolan migrant parents in both the Netherlands and Portugal, we compare the contexts of two receiving country. Our study shows transnational parents are worse off than their non-transnational counterparts in terms of four measures of well-being – health, life satisfaction, happiness, and emotional well-being. Although studies on migrant well-being tend to focus exclusively on the characteristics of the receiving countries, our findings suggest that, to understand migrant parents' well-being, a transnational perspective should also consider the existence of children in the migrant sending country. Finally, comparing the same population in two countries revealed that the receiving country effects the way in which transnational parenting is associated with migrant well-being

International parental migration and the psychological well-being of children in Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola

When parents migrate, leaving their children in the origin country, transnational families are formed. Transnational family studies on children who are “left behind” indicate that children suffer psychologically from parental migration. Many of the factors identified as affecting children's responses to parental migration however are not considered in child psychology and family sociology studies. This study aims to bridge these areas of knowledge by quantitatively investigating the association between transnational families and children's psychological well-being. It analyzes a survey conducted in three African countries in 2010–11 (Ghana N = 2760; Angola N = 2243; Nigeria N = 2168) amongst pupils of secondary schools. The study compares children in transnational families to those living with their parents in their country of origin. Children's psychological well-being is measured through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses reveal that children in transnational families fare worse than their counterparts living with both parents but not in Ghana where living conditions mediate this relationship. This paper also looks at four characteristics of transnational families and finds that specific characteristics of transnational families and country contexts matter: (1) changing caregivers is associated with poorer well-being in all countries; (2) which parent migrates does not make a difference in Ghana, when mothers migrate and fathers are caregivers results in poorer well-being in Nigeria, and both mother's and father's migration result in worse outcomes in Angola; (3) the kin relationship of the caregiver is not associated with poorer well-being in Ghana and Nigeria but is in Angola; (4) children with parents who migrate internationally do not show different results than children whose parents migrate nationally in Ghana and Nigeria but in Angola international parental migration is associated with poorer psychological well-being. The study shows that broader characteristics in the population rather than parental migration per se are associated with decreased levels of well-being

The dominant allele Aft induces a shift from flavonol to anthocyanin production in response to UV-B radiation in tomato fruit

The introgression of the A ft allele into domesticated tomato induced a shift from flavonol to anthocyanin production in response to UV-B radiation, while the hp - 1 allele negatively influenced the response of flavonoid biosynthesis to UV-B. Introgression of the dominant allele Anthocyanin fruit (Aft) from Solanum chilense induces anthocyanin accumulation in the peel of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit. UV-B radiation can influence plant secondary metabolism regulating the expression of several genes, among which those involved in flavonoid biosynthesis. Here, we investigated whether post-harvest UV-B treatment could up-regulate flavonoid production in tomato fruits and whether the Aft allele could affect flavonoid biosynthesis under UV-B radiation. Mature green fruits of an anthocyanin-rich tomato mutant line (SA206) and of its wild-type reference, cv. Roma, were daily subjected to post-harvest UV-B treatment until full ripening. Up-regulation of CHS and CHI transcription by UV-B treatment induced flavonoid accumulation in the peel of cv. Roma. Conversely, UV-B decreased the total flavonoid content and CHS transcript levels in the SA206 peel. SA206 being a double mutant containing also hp-1 allele, we investigated also the behavior of hp-1 fruit. The decreased peel flavonoid accumulation and gene transcription in response to UV-B suggest that hp-1 allele is involved in the marked down-regulation of the flavonoid biosynthesis observed in SA206 fruit. Interestingly, in SA206, UV-B radiation promoted the synthesis of delphinidin, petunidin, and malvidin by increasing F3'5'H and DFR transcription, but it decreased rutin production, suggesting a switch from flavonols to anthocyanins. Finally, although UV-B radiation does not reach the inner fruit tissues, it down-regulated flavonoid biosynthesis in the flesh of both genotypes. This study provides, for the first time, evidence that the presence of the functional Aft allele, under UV-B radiation, redirects flavonoid synthesis towards anthocyanin production and suggests that the hp-1 allele negatively influences the response of flavonoid biosynthesis to UV-B

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Mixed-method social network analysis for multi-sited transnational migration research

Following the recent call to combine social network analysis (SNA) approaches in the study of migrant networks and their contextualization within transnational economic, social, legal and political frameworks, in this article, I review recent studies that combine mixed-methods SNA with observational methods in the study of transnational social networks. Such studies have enabled the collection of rich and contextualized data across multiple sites, helping to address the conundrum facing transnational migration researchers: how to combine breadth and depth in transnational data collection. Mixed-method SNA combines quantitative and qualitative SNA methods together with in-depth repeated interviews and observations. The article shows how mixed-method SNA helps to address three particular challenges of doing transnational migration research: designing a transnational research project; studying transnational relationships as 'worked at'; and capturing the dynamic and changing nature of transnational relationships as embedded within multiple environments (social, legal, economic and political) in which they take place