A Macaulay2 package for characteristic classes and the topological Euler characteristic of complex projective schemes

The Macaulay2 package CharacteristicClasses provides commands for the computation of the topological Euler characteristic, the degrees of the Chern classes and the degrees of the Segre classes of a closed subscheme of complex projective space. The computations can be done both symbolically and numerically, the latter using an interface to Bertini. We provide some background of the implementation and show how to use the package with the help of examples.Comment: 6 page

A method to compute Segre classes of subschemes of projective space

We present a method to compute the degrees of the Segre classes of a subscheme of complex projective space. The method is based on generic residuation and intersection theory. It has been implemented using the software system Macaulay2.Comment: 13 page

Workshop on Mapping out a CCAFS R4D Agenda and Strategy for Southeast Asia

Taking off from the convergence meeting of CGIAR Centers and selected partners in December 2013, this regional workshop to mapped out a CCAFS R4D agenda and strategy for Southeast Asia (SEA). The region was added to the CCAFS portfolio (East Africa, West Africa, South America, South Asia) in order to make the program fully global

Gender and Inclusion Toolbox: Participatory Research in Climate Change and Agriculture

This manual is a resource and toolbox for NGO practitioners and programme designers interested in diagnostic and action research for gender sensitive and socially inclusive climate change programmes in the rural development context. It is meant to be an easy to use manual, increasing the research capacity, skills and knowledge of its users. Integrating gender and social differentiation frameworks should ideally begin from the start of the programme cycle and be coordinated throughout research, design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation phases. The data gathered using this toolbox supports this programme work. While the manual emphasizes participatory and qualitative approaches, many of the activities and tools can produce quantitative data. Each chapter features a bundle of research tools intended to be used sequentially. However, we know that each organization has its diverse needs. The chapters are in modular format so that teams can assemble their own research toolbox specific to their needs

Financial costs of disease burden, morbidity and mortality from priority livestock diseases in Nigeria: Disease burden and cost-benefit analysis of targeted interventions

Nigeria’s agriculture sector generates one-third of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs two-thirds of the workforce. Its recent growth dominates Nigerian non-oil economic growth. Small-scale, semi-commercial farms, settled agricultural households and transhumant pastoralists dominate production. Livestock is the second largest agricultural sub-sector and features 16.43 million cattle, 34.69 million sheep, 55.15 million goats, 7.18 million pigs and 183.16 million poultry. These provide nutrition and food security, and a range of services including draught power for cropping activities. Poor animal productivity is widely attributed to the occurrence and endemicity of certain animal diseases. These are often unreported, unconfirmed or poorly documented. The financial losses associated with such outbreaks and costs associated with the disease burden are also rarely documented. Efforts at control of such animal diseases have yielded poor returns due to ineffective or absent control programs, insufficient inputs (such as vaccines), poor vaccination coverage due to limited vaccine supplies and constraints in field mobility and support funds, illiteracy of farmers and poor management systems. In preparation for the World Bank’s Integrated Animal and Human Health Management project for Nigeria, estimates of the economic and financial implications of high disease burden, morbidity and mortality and the costs of implementing various interventions, for all or a combination of priority diseases were required. The Government of Nigeria invited ILRI to provide such estimates for priority diseases: NCD in rural poultry flocks; PPR in sheep and goats; CBPP in cattle; ASF in pigs; and trypanosomosis in ruminants and pigs. For these diseases, and across agroecological zones, the study’s objectives were to: • assess the direct and indirect financial burden of inaction; • estimate the costs of targeted interventions; • determine the additional benefits, additional costs and net benefits associated with interventions; • evaluate of the benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) of targeted interventions; and • make recommendations on the feasibility of the targeted interventions. The study featured epidemiology and economic components. Spreadsheet-based economic modelling was effectively combined with participatory epidemiological fieldwork and analysis, and both national and international specialists contributed. Both primary and secondary data were obtained, and stakeholder consultations and expert interviews were conducted. An extensive literature review was compiled

CCAFS Theory of Change facilitation guide

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has in total produced two facilitation guides to support the development of Impact Pathways and project Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for result-based management. The "CCAFS Theory of Change facilitation guide" is the original, and more comprehensive guide, and was developed in June 2014. The updated version is more easy-to-use and stripped down version of the original facilitation guide, called "Revised CCAFS Theory of Change Facilitation Guide", from late 2014. The Annex belongs to the original version. The updated version can be found here: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/5687

CCAFS Theory of Change facilitation guide

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has in total produced two facilitation guides to support the development of Impact Pathways and project Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) for result-based management. The "CCAFS Theory of Change facilitation guide" is the original, and more comprehensive guide, and was developed in June 2014. The updated version is more easy-to-use and stripped down version of the original facilitation guide, called "Revised CCAFS Theory of Change Facilitation Guide", from late 2014. The Annex belongs to the original version. The updated version can be found here: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/5687

Closing the Relevance Gap: Lessons in Co-Developing Gender Transformative Research Approaches with Development Partners and Communities

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Theme Linking Knowledge with Action (K2A) engaged in a two-year social learning process to develop tools, best practices and capacity building trainings around gender sensitive and participatory research for climate change. The output was the resource guide, “Gender and Inclusion Toolbox: Participatory Research in Climate Change and Agriculture”. This paper documents the social learning process of co-designing and co-testing the toolbox with various development partners, CGIAR scientists, technical officers and local communities and offers key reflections and learning on the challenges and entry points to promoting a participatory and gender sensitive research agenda across upstream and downstream stakeholders