Effectiveness of Agricultural Extension Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Strategies among Small-Scale Maize (\u3ci\u3eZea mays\u3c/i\u3e) Farmers in Laikipia West Sub County, Kenya

Agriculture is critical in the achievement of food security, creation of employment opportunities, steering economic growth, and also a source of raw materials for agricultural industries in many Sub-Saharan countries. However, the small-scale farmers face various challenges which negatively affect farm productivity and production. Human-wildlife conflict is one of the most pressing challenges that small-scale maize farmers experience in some parts of Kenya. It arises from either people’s encroachment on wildlife habitats or the movement of wildlife from their natural habitat into the neighbouring farmland. The smallscale farmers use various agricultural extension strategies to mitigate the conflict. However, the effectiveness of the agricultural extension human wildlife conflict mitigation strategies adopted by small-scale maize farmers in Laikipia West Sub-County had not been investigated and information on the same was inadequate and poorly documented. This study therefore, sought to determine the effectiveness of the agricultural extension human wildlife conflict mitigation strategies adopted by small-scale maize farmers in Laikipia West Sub-County. Whereas a document review guide was used to collect secondary data, semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data from maize farmers and extension agents. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze primary data. It was established that crop damage was very severe, of up to 70% or even more per cropping season although farmers used various mitigation strategies such growing of unpalatable crops, live fences, grow resistant crop varieties and digging of trenches. This study concluded that the Agricultural Extension Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Strategies used were not effective. It was recommended that concerted efforts between stakeholders be used in dealing with the conflict to realize the benefits of synergies so as to stop crop damage and give small-scale farmers a chance to be food secure

What are innovation platforms? Innovation platforms practice brief 1

Innovation platforms are widely used in agricultural research to connect different stakeholders to achieve common goals. This is one of 12 ‘practice briefs’ to help guide agricultural research practitioners who seek to support and implement innovation platforms. A contribution to the CGIAR Humidtropics research program, the development of the briefs was led by the International Livestock Research Institute; they draw on experiences of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food, several CGIAR centres and partner organization

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

L2 English Pronunciation Errors by Kenyan University Students: A Case of L1 Ekegusii and L1 Kimeru Speakers

Pronunciation is a factor of two processes: the production and perception of human individual sounds (segments), referred to as phonetics and the combination of these segments in a speech, and referred to as phonology. Ekegusii and Kimeru are Bantu languages spoken in western and central parts of Kenya respectively. University students from the two language groups studying English and Literature in their year one to year four in the university setting formed the population for the study because the intonation and phonetic inventory for both languages are similar to the extent that a non-native speaker of the two languages may not draw a distinction between them. Some prosodic features of these languages such as vowel insertion to break consonant clusters are different from English and when speakers of these languages insert vowels in some English words with consonant clusters, this results in error, sometimes impeding their intelligibility. A study was needed to examine pronunciation errors among the Ekegusii L1 and Kimeru L1 university students so as to document the gravity of the problem. The study was a qualitative description of students' pronunciation errors in English language committed while the students were participating in university activities. The objectives of the study were to examine the most common mispronounced English phonemes produced by the students and to explore the possible sources of the errors. The study adopted a descriptive study design guided by Corder's (1974) error analysis model. A purposive sample of 50 students selected on the basis of first encountered first recorded was used for data generation. The data was in the form of notes from listening to the students' natural talk and audio recordings of their conversations. The study involved describing, analyzing, and interpreting common pronunciation errors. Based on the results of data analysis it was revealed that students made a multiple of pronunciation errors attributable to mainly interlingual and intralingual sources. From the findings, the researchers recommend that the best way to learn the pronunciation of a second language is by listening to good role model speakers of English language and by practising it regularly