A Tool for Creating Regionally Calibrated High-Resolution Land Cover Data Sets for the West African Sahel: Using Machine Learning to Scale Up Hand-Classified Maps in a Data-Sparse Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Van Gordon, M.; Van Gordon, S.; Min, A.; Sullivan, J.; Weiner, Z.; Tappan, G. G.

2017-12-01

Using support vector machine (SVM) learning and high-accuracy hand-classified maps, we have developed a publicly available land cover classification tool for the West African Sahel. Our classifier produces high-resolution and regionally calibrated land cover maps for the Sahel, representing a significant contribution to the data available for this region. Global land cover products are unreliable for the Sahel, and accurate land cover data for the region are sparse. To address this gap, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Regional Center for Agriculture, Hydrology and Meteorology (AGRHYMET) in Niger produced high-quality land cover maps for the region via hand-classification of Landsat images. This method produces highly accurate maps, but the time and labor required constrain the spatial and temporal resolution of the data products. By using these hand-classified maps alongside SVM techniques, we successfully increase the resolution of the land cover maps by 1-2 orders of magnitude, from 2km-decadal resolution to 30m-annual resolution. These high-resolution regionally calibrated land cover datasets, along with the classifier we developed to produce them, lay the foundation for major advances in studies of land surface processes in the region. These datasets will provide more accurate inputs for food security modeling, hydrologic modeling, analyses of land cover change and climate change adaptation efforts. The land cover classification tool we have developed will be publicly available for use in creating additional West Africa land cover datasets with future remote sensing data and can be adapted for use in other parts of the world.

Honor Role

Science.gov (United States)

Good, Howard

2004-01-01

In this article, the author talks about "honor" and describes how the word has been taken for granted in schools. He explains that "honor" traditionally, has had two meanings, and that the National Honor Society (NHS) reflects the most ancient of them. Like Aristotle, who described honor in his "Nicomachean Ethics" as "the prize of virtue and the…

Specification of parameters for development of a spatial database for drought monitoring and famine early warning in the African Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Rochon, Gilbert L.

1989-01-01

Parameters were described for spatial database to facilitate drought monitoring and famine early warning in the African Sahel. The proposed system, referred to as the African Drought and Famine Information System (ADFIS) is ultimately recommended for implementation with the NASA/FEMA Spatial Analysis and Modeling System (SAMS), a GIS/Dymanic Modeling software package, currently under development. SAMS is derived from FEMA'S Integration Emergency Management Information System (IEMIS) and the Pacific Northwest Laborotory's/Engineering Topographic Laboratory's Airland Battlefield Environment (ALBE) GIS. SAMS is primarily intended for disaster planning and resource management applications with the developing countries. Sources of data for the system would include the Developing Economics Branch of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the World Bank, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine's Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS) Project, the USAID's Foreign Disaster Assistance Section, the World Resources Institute, the World Meterological Institute, the USGS, the UNFAO, UNICEF, and the United Nations Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO). Satellite imagery would include decadal AVHRR imagery and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from 1981 to the present for the African continent and selected Landsat scenes for the Sudan pilot study. The system is initially conceived for the MicroVAX 2/GPX, running VMS. To facilitate comparative analysis, a global time-series database (1950 to 1987) is included for a basic set of 125 socio-economic variables per country per year. A more detailed database for the Sahelian countries includes soil type, water resources, agricultural production, agricultural import and export, food aid, and consumption. A pilot dataset for the Sudan with over 2,500 variables from the World Bank's ANDREX system, also includes epidemiological data on incidence of kwashiorkor, marasmus, other nutritional deficiencies, and

Damaging Rainfall and Flooding. The Other Sahel Hazards

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tarhule, A. [Department of Geography, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd Street, Norman, OK, 73079 (United States)

2005-10-01

Damaging rainfall and rain-induced flooding occur from time to time in the drought-prone Sahel savannah zone of Niger in West Africa but official records of these events and their socioeconomic impacts do not exist. This paper utilized newspaper accounts between 1970 and 2000 to survey and illustrate the range of these flood hazards in the Sahel. During the study interval, 53 newspaper articles reported 79 damaging rainfall and flood events in 47 different communities in the Sahel of Niger. Collectively, these events destroyed 5,580 houses and rendered 27,289 people homeless. Cash losses and damage to infrastructure in only three events exceeded $4 million. Sahel residents attribute these floods to five major causes including both natural and anthropogenic, but they view the flood problem as driven primarily by land use patterns. Despite such awareness, traditional coping strategies appear inadequate for dealing with the problems in part because of significant climatic variability. Analysis of several rainfall measures indicates that the cumulative rainfall in the days prior to a heavy rain event is an important factor influencing whether or not heavy rainfall results in flooding. Thus, despite some limitations, newspaper accounts of historical flooding are largely consistent with measured climatic variables. The study demonstrates that concerted effort is needed to improve the status of knowledge concerning flood impacts and indeed other natural and human hazards in the Sahel.

Sahel, North-West Nigeria

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nneka Umera-Okeke

impact depending on location, adaptation capacity and other socioeconomic factors. The Sudano-Sahel Nigeria is one of the vulnerable regions to climate ..... takes place, whereas, little or no cloud development or precipitation occur to the.

Energy in the strategy to Sahel development : Situation- Perspectives- Recommendations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-10-01

Energy plays an important role in the development of the Sahel Countries. For instance, in these countries, the use of wood fire is essential as a source of energy. However, the increase in the wood supply leads to environmental problems; hence the necessity for the states to promote alternative source of energy to replace the wood. Used in the field of agriculture, transport, industry and construction, energy in Sahel countries hurts to financial problems such as difficulties in the funding of oil import and supply security. It is then indispensable to develop energy resources in the Sahel countries. Energy policies must emphasize on hydroelectric energy, nuclear energy and also better reorganize certain sources of energy such as gas, oil, and coal. Thus this political assumption of responsibility through a comprehensive approach will contribute to generate the development of the Sahel countries [fr

Les plantations d' Eucalyptus au Sahel: distribution, importance ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Grâce à leur plasticité et leur rusticité, les espèces du genre Eucalyptus sont parmi les essences forestières les plus utilisées pour le reboisement en vue de lutter contre la désertification au Sahel. Toutefois, l'expansion rapide de ces espèces originaires d'Australie dans le Sahel, est surtout liée au succès économique de ...

Impact of internal variability on projections of Sahel precipitation change

Science.gov (United States)

Monerie, Paul-Arthur; Sanchez-Gomez, Emilia; Pohl, Benjamin; Robson, Jon; Dong, Buwen

2017-11-01

The impact of the increase of greenhouse gases on Sahelian precipitation is very uncertain in both its spatial pattern and magnitude. In particular, the relative importance of internal variability versus external forcings depends on the time horizon considered in the climate projection. In this study we address the respective roles of the internal climate variability versus external forcings on Sahelian precipitation by using the data from the CESM Large Ensemble Project, which consists of a 40 member ensemble performed with the CESM1-CAM5 coupled model for the period 1920-2100. We show that CESM1-CAM5 is able to simulate the mean and interannual variability of Sahel precipitation, and is representative of a CMIP5 ensemble of simulations (i.e. it simulates the same pattern of precipitation change along with equivalent magnitude and seasonal cycle changes as the CMIP5 ensemble mean). However, CESM1-CAM5 underestimates the long-term decadal variability in Sahel precipitation. For short-term (2010-2049) and mid-term (2030-2069) projections the simulated internal variability component is able to obscure the projected impact of the external forcing. For long-term (2060-2099) projections external forcing induced change becomes stronger than simulated internal variability. Precipitation changes are found to be more robust over the central Sahel than over the western Sahel, where climate change effects struggle to emerge. Ten (thirty) members are needed to separate the 10 year averaged forced response from climate internal variability response in the western Sahel for a long-term (short-term) horizon. Over the central Sahel two members (ten members) are needed for a long-term (short-term) horizon.

Koranic Education Centres: A viable educational alternative for the disadvantaged learner in Sahel Africa?

Science.gov (United States)

Bah-Lalya, Ibrahima

2015-08-01

Within the international momentum for achieving Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), many African countries have made considerable progress during the last decade in terms of access to basic education. However, a significant number of children enrolled in the early grades of primary schools either repeat classes or drop out and never graduate. Moreover, there are currently about 30 million school-age children in sub-Saharan Africa who have never attended any form of schooling. In view of this situation, sub-Saharan African countries have been looking for alternative options to educate those who have not been accounted for in the formal school system. This note considers informal Koranic Education Centres (KECs) which are trying to fill the gap of schooling in the Sahel-Saharan strip. The author looks at the challenges this form of schooling faces and at how to meet them efficiently. He sounds out the possibility of using KECs to cater for those who have been left aside by formal schooling. Based on existing studies, data compiled by educational systems and a study conducted by the Working Group on Non-Formal Education (WGNFE) of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) in four West African countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal) in 2013, the author of this research note came to the conclusion that a holistic approach, where the two systems (the Koranic and the formal) collaborate and support one another, could effectively contribute to alleviating the dropout predicament and to reducing the number of unschooled children. It could offer a second-chance opportunity to dropout and unschooled children in the Sahel and Saharan zone. However, before this can become a viable alternative, a number of major challenges need to be addressed. Through its WGNFE, ADEA intends to further investigate the holistic approach of combining formal "modern" and informal "Koranic" schooling to come up with tangible

Land Cover Land Use change and soil organic carbon under climate variability in the semi-arid West African Sahel (1960-2050)

Science.gov (United States)

Dieye, Amadou M.

Land Cover Land Use (LCLU) change affects land surface processes recognized to influence climate change at local, national and global levels. Soil organic carbon is a key component for the functioning of agro-ecosystems and has a direct effect on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the soil. The capacity to model and project LCLU change is of considerable interest for mitigation and adaptation measures in response to climate change. A combination of remote sensing analyses, qualitative social survey techniques, and biogeochemical modeling was used to study the relationships between climate change, LCLU change and soil organic carbon in the semi-arid rural zone of Senegal between 1960 and 2050. For this purpose, four research hypotheses were addressed. This research aims to contribute to an understanding of future land cover land use change in the semi-arid West African Sahel with respect to climate variability and human activities. Its findings may provide insights to enable policy makers at local to national levels to formulate environmentally and economically adapted policy decisions. This dissertation research has to date resulted in two published and one submitted paper.

Climatic information of Western Sahel (1535-1793 AD) in original documentary sources

Science.gov (United States)

Millán, V.; Rodrigo, F. S.

2014-09-01

The Sahel is the semi-arid transition zone between arid Sahara and humid tropical Africa, extending approximately 10-20° N from Mauritania in the West to Sudan in the East. The African continent, one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change, is subject to frequent droughts and famine. One climate challenge research is to isolate those aspects of climate variability that are natural from those that are related to human influences. Therefore, the study of climatic conditions before mid-19th century, when anthropogenic influence was of minor importance, is very interesting. In this work the frequency of extreme events, such as droughts and floods, in Western Sahel from the 16th to 18th centuries is investigated using documentary data. Original manuscripts with historical chronicles from Walata and Nema (Mauritania), Timbuktu and Arawan (Mali), and Agadez (Niger) have been analyzed. Information on droughts, intense rainfall, storms and floods, as well as socioeconomic aspects (famines, pests, scarcity, prosperity) has been codified in an ordinal scale ranging from -2 (drought and famines) to +2 (floods) to obtain a numerical index of the annual rainfall in the region. Results show wet conditions in the 17th century, as well as dry conditions in the 18th century (interrupted by a short wet period in the 1730s decade).

Sahel Journal of Veterinary Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Sahel Journal of Veterinary Sciences is the official journal of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria. The journal welcomes original research articles, short communications and reviews on all aspects of veterinary sciences and related disciplines.

A unifying view of climate change in the Sahel linking intra-seasonal, interannual and longer time scales

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giannini, A; Salack, S; Gaye, A T; Lodoun, T; Ali, A; Ndiaye, O

2013-01-01

We propose a re-interpretation of the oceanic influence on the climate of the African Sahel that is consistent across observations, 20th century simulations and 21st century projections, and that resolves the uncertainty in projections of precipitation change in this region: continued warming of the global tropical oceans increases the threshold for convection, potentially drying tropical land, but this ‘upped ante’ can be met if sufficient moisture is supplied in monsoon flow. In this framework, the reversal to warming of the subtropical North Atlantic, which is now out-pacing warming of the global tropical oceans, provides that moisture, and explains the partial recovery in precipitation since persistent drought in the 1970s and 1980s. We find this recovery to result from increases in daily rainfall intensity, rather than in frequency, most evidently so in Senegal, the westernmost among the three Sahelian countries analyzed. Continuation of these observed trends is consistent with projections for an overall wetter Sahel, but more variable precipitation on all time scales, from intra-seasonal to multi-decadal. (letter)

Using Relative Humidity Forecasts to Manage Meningitis in the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Pandya, R. E.; Adams-Forgor, A.; Akweogno, P.; Awine, T.; Dalaba, M.; Dukic, V.; Dumont, A.; Hayden, M.; Hodgson, A.; Hopson, T. M.; Hugonnet, S.; Yoksas, T. C.

2012-12-01

the number cases of meningitis in the Sahel. Using currently available forecast models contributed through the WMO Thorpex-Tigge project, and applying quantile regression to enhance their accuracy, we can forecast the average weekly relative humidity to two weeks in advance which allows us to anticipate the end of an epidemic in a region of the Sahel up to four weeks in advance. This would allow public health officials to deploy vaccines to areas in which the epidemics are likely to persist due to continued dryness and avoid vaccinating in areas where the epidemics will end with higher humidity. Our presentation will conclude by introducing the relative humidity decision-information tool developed for use by public-health officials. We will also summarize the results of a weekly meningitis forecast exercise held during the 2011-2012 dry season with public health decision makers from several African countries and the World Health Organization. Finally, we highlight some results of concurrent socio-economic research that suggests other interventions for managing meningitis and helps quantify the economic impact of the disease in Ghana. Overall, while our research has demonstrated an actionable relationship between weather and disease, this relationship is only one factor in a complex and coupled human-natural system which merits continued investigation.

The Logistics Of The War In The Sahel

OpenAIRE

Busch, Gary K

2013-01-01

There are both positive and negative aspects of waging a counter-insurgency war in the Sahel. The impediments are easy to see. The terrain of the Sahel does not lend itself to conventional warfare. There are broad expanses of sand and dunes, broken up by small villages and, occasionally, a town or city. There are no petrol stations, wells, repair shops, water stores, food stocks or fuel reserves in most of the region. Trucks and buses, as well as conventional armour, are difficult to transpor...

Defense.gov Special Report: African American History Month

Science.gov (United States)

in Military and Business Tuskegee Airman Shares History Soldier's Life Provides Example for West Department of Defense Submit Search During National African-American History Month, we celebrate the rich In honor of African-American History Month, Fred Moore, the first African-American Tomb Guard

Life on the edge: vulnerability in the Sahel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rubin, Vanessa [Africa Hunger Advisor, Care International UK (United Kingdom)

2007-07-15

Locusts, drought, crops crumbling into dust: in 2005, the Sahel was hit by a catastrophic food crisis. Eight million people were affected. Two years on, drought has eased in this arid strip south of the Sahara, but its people still live in the grip of extreme vulnerability. Their condition is a crisis in itself and a near-guarantee of more humanitarian disasters in the region, whatever the force or frequency of future shocks. Aid donors need to recognise this vulnerability as the root cause of the Sahel's rolling crises.

Genetic history of the African Sahelian populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Černý, V; Kulichová, I; Poloni, E S; Nunes, J M; Pereira, L; Mayor, A; Sanchez-Mazas, A

2018-03-01

From a biogeographic perspective, Africa is subdivided into distinct horizontal belts. Human populations living along the Sahel/Savannah belt south of the Sahara desert have often been overshadowed by extensive studies focusing on other African populations such as hunter-gatherers or Bantu in particular. However, the Sahel together with the Savannah bordering it in the south is a challenging region where people had and still have to cope with harsh climatic conditions and show resilient behaviours. Besides exponentially growing urban populations, several local groups leading various lifestyles and speaking languages belonging to three main linguistic families still live in rural localities across that region today. Thanks to several years of consistent population sampling throughout this area, the genetic history of the African Sahelian populations has been largely reconstructed and a deeper knowledge has been acquired regarding their adaptation to peculiar environments and/or subsistence modes. Distinct exposures to pathogens-in particular, malaria-likely contributed to their genetic differentiation for HLA genes. In addition, although food-producing strategies spread within the Sahel/Savannah belt relatively recently, during the last five millennia according to recent archaeological and archaeobotanical studies, remarkable amounts of genetic differences are also observed between sedentary farmers and more mobile pastoralists at multiple neutral and selected loci, reflecting both demographic effects and genetic adaptations to distinct cultural traits, such as dietary habits. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A different kind of honor culture : Family honor and aggression in Turks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Osch, Y.M.J.; Breugelmans, S.M.; Zeelenberg, M.; Bölük, P.

2013-01-01

Masculine honor has been found to explain the relationship between insults and aggression in the USA. However, detailed accounts of Mediterranean honor cultures suggest that family honor may be more important in explaining cross-cultural differences in aggression. Two studies revealed that people

A different kind of honor culture : Family honor and aggression in Turks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Osch, Yvette; Breugelmans, Seger M.; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Bölük, Pinar

Masculine honor has been found to explain the relationship between insults and aggression in the USA. However, detailed accounts of Mediterranean honor cultures suggest that family honor may be more important in explaining cross-cultural differences in aggression. Two studies revealed that people

Honors Education and Global Citizenship

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfensberger, Marca V. C.

2012-01-01

An issue of "Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council" devoted to "Honors Around the Globe" is an important opportunity to consider the role of honors in creating international awareness and understanding. Honors faculty and administrators have become increasingly active in global cross-communication through, for…

How Does Gender Affect Sustainable Intensification of Cereal Production in the West African Sahel? Evidence from Burkina Faso.

Science.gov (United States)

Theriault, Veronique; Smale, Melinda; Haider, Hamza

2017-04-01

Better understanding of gender differences in the adoption of agricultural intensification strategies is crucial for designing effective policies to close the gender gap while sustainably enhancing farm productivity. We examine gender differences in adoption rates, likelihood and determinants of adopting strategy sets that enhance yields, protect crops, and restore soils in the West African Sahel, based on analysis of cereal production in Burkina Faso. Applying a multivariate probit model to a nationally representative household panel, we exploit the individual plot as unit of analysis and control for plot manager characteristics along with other covariates. Reflecting the socio-cultural context of farming combined with the economic attributes of inputs, we find that female managers of individual cereal fields are less likely than their male counterparts to adopt yield-enhancing and soil-restoring strategies, although no differential is apparent for yield-protecting strategies. More broadly, gender-disaggregated regressions demonstrate that adoption determinants differ by gender. Plot manager characteristics, including age, marital status, and access to credit or extension services do influence adoption decisions. Furthermore, household resources influence the probability of adopting intensification strategy sets differently by gender of the plot manager. Variables expressing the availability of household labor strongly influence the adoption of soil-restoring strategies by female plot managers. By contrast, household resources such as extent of livestock owned, value of non-farm income, and area planted to cotton affect the adoption choices of male plot managers. Rectifying the male bias in extension services along with improving access to credit, income, and equipment to female plot managers could contribute to sustainable agricultural intensification.

Biomass burning in West African savannas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menaut, J.C.; Abbadie, L.; Lavenu, F.; Loudjani, P.; Podaire, A.

1991-01-01

This chapter approaches the influence of West African savanna ecosystems on the regional climate by giving, as precisely as possible, the amount of volatilized elements (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur) annually released by bush fires into the atmosphere. In spite of the relative functional similarity of West African savannas, fire behavior and effects vary with the different bioclimatic and phytogeographic zones of the region: Guinea or humid zone; Sudan or mesic zone; and, Sahel or arid zone. In order to reach an acceptable accuracy, results are given for each of the zones described and summarized for West Africa

Honor as Cultural Mindset: Activated Honor Mindset Affects Subsequent Judgment and Attention in Mindset-Congruent Ways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheida Novin

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Honor values articulate gender roles, the importance of reputation in maintaining one’s place in society, and maintaining respect for the groups one belongs to. In that sense honor provides a template for organizing social interactions and hence may be functional even among people and societies that do not report valuing and endorsing honor. We test the prediction that honor influences judgment and attention when activated in two experiments (N=538. Using a culture-as-situated cognition perspective, we predicted that activating one aspect of honor would activate other aspects, even among individuals who do not much endorse honor values. We tested these predictions among European Americans, a group that is not typically associated with honor values. In each study, participants were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups, which differed in one way: the experimental group read statements about honor values as a first step and the control group did not. Participants then judged stick-figure pairs (judging which is male; Study 1, n = 130 or made lexical decisions (judging whether a letter-string formed a correctly spelled word; Study 2, n = 408. In Study 1, experimental group participants were more likely to choose the visually agentic figure as male. In Study 2, experimental group participants were more accurate at noticing that the letter-string formed a word if the word was an honor-relevant word (e.g., noble, but they did not differ from the control group if the word was irrelevant to honor (e.g., happy. Participants in both studies were just above the neutral point in their endorsement of honor values. Individual differences in honor values endorsement did not moderate the effects of activating an honor mindset. Though honor is often described as if it is located in space, we did not find clear effects of where our letter strings were located on the computer screen. Our findings suggest a new way to consider how honor functions

Price and quality of livestock feeds in suburban markets of West Africa’s Sahel: Case study from Bamako, Mali

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Ayantunde

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In West African Sahel cities, livestock husbandry such as smallholder dairy production and livestock (cattle, sheep and goat fattening has become popular among livestock owners to meet food needs for the household, and for income generation. The increasing importance of urban and suburban agriculture, particularly livestock husbandry in the region, has led to a rapid increase in livestock populations in most of the cities. As a result of this increase and the associated growth in the demand for feeds, feed markets have sprung up in many cities and towns of West Africa’s Sahel. A survey of livestock feed markets was conducted in five markets in Bamako, Mali. Prices of livestock feeds were monitored monthly from January to December 2010. In addition, feed samples were collected from the markets for laboratory analysis to determine their nutritional quality. Results showed that the prices of cowpea hay and groundnut haulm were consistently higher than those of other feeds throughout the year. The price of cowpea hay ranged from 367 FCFA/kg dry matter (DM (1 USD ≈ 500 FCFA in October, i.e. immediately after harvest, to 667 FCFA/kg DM in August, i.e. in the wet season. Results also showed that there was no relationship between price and quality for all feed types. However, prices and quality of feeds differed significantly across seasons suggesting that the season was a major determinant for the price of livestock feeds in suburban areas of West Africa’s Sahel.

Woody Vegetation Die off and Regeneration in Response to Rainfall Variability in the West African Sahel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Brandt

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The greening in the Senegalese Sahel has been linked to an increase in net primary productivity, with significant long-term trends being closely related to the woody strata. This study investigates woody plant growth and mortality within greening areas in the pastoral areas of Senegal, and how these dynamics are linked to species diversity, climate, soil and human management. We analyse woody cover dynamics by means of multi-temporal and multi-scale Earth Observation, satellite based rainfall and in situ data sets covering the period 1994 to 2015. We find that favourable conditions (forest reserves, low human population density, sufficient rainfall led to a rapid growth of Combretaceae and Balanites aegyptiaca between 2000 and 2013 with an average increase of 4% woody cover. However, the increasing dominance and low drought resistance of drought prone species bears the risk of substantial woody cover losses following drought years. This was observed in 2014–2015, with a die off of Guiera senegalensis in most places of the study area. We show that woody cover and woody cover trends are closely related to mean annual rainfall, but no clear relationship with rainfall trends was found over the entire study period. The observed spatial and temporal variation contrasts with the simplified labels of “greening” or “degradation”. While in principal a low woody plant diversity negatively impacts regional resilience, the Sahelian system is showing signs of resilience at decadal time scales through widespread increases in woody cover and high regeneration rates after periodic droughts. We have reaffirmed that the woody cover in Sahel responds to its inherent climatic variability and does not follow a linear trend.

Woody vegetation die off and regeneration in response to rainfall variability in the west African Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Martin; Tappan, G. Gray; Aziz Diouf, Abdoul; Beye, Gora; Mbow, Cheikh; Fensholt, Rasmus

2017-01-01

The greening in the Senegalese Sahel has been linked to an increase in net primary productivity, with significant long-term trends being closely related to the woody strata. This study investigates woody plant growth and mortality within greening areas in the pastoral areas of Senegal, and how these dynamics are linked to species diversity, climate, soil and human management. We analyse woody cover dynamics by means of multi-temporal and multi-scale Earth Observation, satellite based rainfall and in situ data sets covering the period 1994 to 2015. We find that favourable conditions (forest reserves, low human population density, sufficient rainfall) led to a rapid growth of Combretaceae and Balanites aegyptiaca between 2000 and 2013 with an average increase of 4% woody cover. However, the increasing dominance and low drought resistance of drought prone species bears the risk of substantial woody cover losses following drought years. This was observed in 2014–2015, with a die off of Guiera senegalensis in most places of the study area. We show that woody cover and woody cover trends are closely related to mean annual rainfall, but no clear relationship with rainfall trends was found over the entire study period. The observed spatial and temporal variation contrasts with the simplified labels of “greening” or “degradation”. While in principal a low woody plant diversity negatively impacts regional resilience, the Sahelian system is showing signs of resilience at decadal time scales through widespread increases in woody cover and high regeneration rates after periodic droughts. We have reaffirmed that the woody cover in Sahel responds to its inherent climatic variability and does not follow a linear trend.

Honor and I: Differential relationships between honor and self-esteem in three cultural groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Novin, S.; Tatar, B.; Krabbendam, L.

2015-01-01

Honor is often defined as one's self-esteem through one's own eyes as through the eyes of others. This definition assumes that endorsing honor values is universally related to one's self-esteem. Yet, prior work shows that the salience of honor in individuals' lives differs across cultures, which

The Honors Thesis: A Handbook for Honors Directors, Deans, and Faculty Advisors. National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Mark; Lyons, Karen; Weiner, Norman

2014-01-01

This handbook is intended to help all those who design, administer, and implement honors thesis programs--honors directors, deans, staff, faculty, and advisors--evaluate their thesis programs, solve pressing problems, select more effective requirements or procedures, or introduce an entirely new thesis program. The authors' goal is to provide…

The blurred boundaries of political violence in the Sahel-Sahara

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walther, Olivier

2017-01-01

The Sahel and the Sahara are faced with exceptional political instability involving a combination of rebellions, jihadist insurgencies, coups d’état, protest movements and illegal trafficking. Analysis of the outbreaks of violence reveals that the region is not just the victim of an escalation...... of wars and conflicts that marked the 20th century. The Sahel-Sahara has also become the setting of a globalised security environment, in which boundaries between what is local and global, domestic and international, military and civilian, politics and identity are blurred....

The influence of land surface properties on Sahel climate. Part 1: Desertification

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Yongkang; Shukla, Jagadish

1993-01-01

This is a general circulation model sensitivity study of the physical mechanisms of the effects of desertification on the Sahel drought. The model vegetation types were changed in the prescribed desertification area, which led to changes in the surface characteristics. The model was integrated for three months (June, July, August) with climatological surface conditions (control) and desertification conditions (anomaly) to examine the summer season response to the changed surface conditions. The control and anomaly experiments consisted of five pairs of integrations with different initial conditions and/or sea surface temperature boundary conditions. In the desertification experiment, the moisture flux convergence and rainfall were reduced in the test area and increased to the immediate south of this area. The simulated anomaly dipole pattern was similar to the observed African drought patterns in which the axis of the maximum rainfall shifts to the south. The circulation changes in the desertification experiment were consistent with those observed during sub-Saharan dry years. The tropical easterly jet was weaker and the African easterly jet was stronger than normal. Further, in agreement with the observations, the easterly wave disturbances were reduced in intensity but not in number. Descending motion dominated the desertification area. The surface energy budget and hydrological cycle were also changed substantially in the anomaly experiment.

Culture, Masculine Honor, and Violence Toward Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Ryan P; Baughman, Kiersten; Carvallo, Mauricio

2018-04-01

Prior research has connected the cultural ideology of honor to intrasexual violence between men and to attitudes supporting intersexual aggression in response to perceived honor violations by female romantic partners. We extend this research to show that honor ideology is also associated with an increased likelihood of men actually engaging in violent and sexually coercive behaviors toward women. Extending previous research on honor-based schemas and scripts linked to relationship violence, comparisons between honor states and non-honor states in the United States show that official rape and domestic homicide rates by White male perpetrators (Study 1) and experiences of rape and violence in relationships anonymously reported by White female teenagers (Study 2) were higher in honor states, controlling for a variety of potential confounds. These results extend prior laboratory research on honor-based schemas and scripts into the realm of extreme, real-world behaviors.

Multiple outcomes of cultivation in the Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Laura Vang; Reenberg, Anette

2015-01-01

A default assumption about the Sahel is that farmers consider food provision for the family as the sole reason for cultivation. The degree to which this ‘cultivation for food’ assumption has been embedded in the scientific literature on land use changes is signified by the fact that hardly any...

Ground- and satellite-based evidence of the biophysical mechanisms behind the greening Sahel.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Martin; Mbow, Cheikh; Diouf, Abdoul A; Verger, Aleixandre; Samimi, Cyrus; Fensholt, Rasmus

2015-04-01

After a dry period with prolonged droughts in the 1970s and 1980s, recent scientific outcome suggests that the decades of abnormally dry conditions in the Sahel have been reversed by positive anomalies in rainfall. Various remote sensing studies observed a positive trend in vegetation greenness over the last decades which is known as the re-greening of the Sahel. However, little investment has been made in including long-term ground-based data collections to evaluate and better understand the biophysical mechanisms behind these findings. Thus, deductions on a possible increment in biomass remain speculative. Our aim is to bridge these gaps and give specifics on the biophysical background factors of the re-greening Sahel. Therefore, a trend analysis was applied on long time series (1987-2013) of satellite-based vegetation and rainfall data, as well as on ground-observations of leaf biomass of woody species, herb biomass, and woody species abundance in different ecosystems located in the Sahel zone of Senegal. We found that the positive trend observed in satellite vegetation time series (+36%) is caused by an increment of in situ measured biomass (+34%), which is highly controlled by precipitation (+40%). Whereas herb biomass shows large inter-annual fluctuations rather than a clear trend, leaf biomass of woody species has doubled within 27 years (+103%). This increase in woody biomass did not reflect on biodiversity with 11 of 16 woody species declining in abundance over the period. We conclude that the observed greening in the Senegalese Sahel is primarily related to an increasing tree cover that caused satellite-driven vegetation indices to increase with rainfall reversal. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Unravelling biodiversity, evolution and threats to conservation in the Sahara-Sahel.

Science.gov (United States)

Brito, José C; Godinho, Raquel; Martínez-Freiría, Fernando; Pleguezuelos, Juan M; Rebelo, Hugo; Santos, Xavier; Vale, Cândida G; Velo-Antón, Guillermo; Boratyński, Zbyszek; Carvalho, Sílvia B; Ferreira, Sónia; Gonçalves, Duarte V; Silva, Teresa L; Tarroso, Pedro; Campos, João C; Leite, João V; Nogueira, Joana; Alvares, Francisco; Sillero, Neftalí; Sow, Andack S; Fahd, Soumia; Crochet, Pierre-André; Carranza, Salvador

2014-02-01

Deserts and arid regions are generally perceived as bare and rather homogeneous areas of low diversity. The Sahara is the largest warm desert in the world and together with the arid Sahel displays high topographical and climatic heterogeneity, and has experienced recent and strong climatic oscillations that have greatly shifted biodiversity distribution and community composition. The large size, remoteness and long-term political instability of the Sahara-Sahel, have limited knowledge on its biodiversity. However, over the last decade, there have been an increasing number of published scientific studies based on modern geomatic and molecular tools, and broad sampling of taxa of these regions. This review tracks trends in knowledge about biodiversity patterns, processes and threats across the Sahara-Sahel, and anticipates needs for biodiversity research and conservation. Recent studies are changing completely the perception of regional biodiversity patterns. Instead of relatively low species diversity with distribution covering most of the region, studies now suggest a high rate of endemism and larger number of species, with much narrower and fragmented ranges, frequently limited to micro-hotspots of biodiversity. Molecular-based studies are also unravelling cryptic diversity associated with mountains, which together with recent distribution atlases, allows identifying integrative biogeographic patterns in biodiversity distribution. Mapping of multivariate environmental variation (at 1 km × 1 km resolution) of the region illustrates main biogeographical features of the Sahara-Sahel and supports recently hypothesised dispersal corridors and refugia. Micro-scale water-features present mostly in mountains have been associated with local biodiversity hotspots. However, the distribution of available data on vertebrates highlights current knowledge gaps that still apply to a large proportion of the Sahara-Sahel. Current research is providing insights into key

Analyzing Sanctuary Management in the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-12

Afghanistan and Iraq, but they often lack the specific skills required for the multicultural , multilingual, and multinational environment of the Sahel...article/2013/11/14/us-africa-usa-military-idUSBRE9AD1AA20131114. Arieff, Alexis. 2013. Crisis in Mali. Washington, DC: U.S. Library of Congress...2011. US Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress. Washington, DC: U.S. Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service

Soil measurements during HAPEX-Sahel intensive observation period.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cuenca, R.H.; Brouwer, J.; Chanzy, A.; Droogers, P.; Galle, S.; Gaze, S.R.; Sicot, M.; Stricker, J.N.M.; Angulo-Jaramillo, R.; Boyle, S.A.; Bromley, J.; Chebhouni, A.G.

1997-01-01

This article describes measurements made at each site and for each vegetation cover as part of the soils program for the HAPEX-Sahel regional scale experiment. The measurements were based on an initial sampling scheme and included profile soil water content, surface soil water content, soil water

Ground-and satellite-based evidence of the biophysical mechanisms behind the greening Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brandt, Martin Stefan; Mbow, Cheikh; Diouf, Abdoul A.

2015-01-01

After a dry period with prolonged droughts in the 1970s and 1980s, recent scientific outcome suggests that the decades of abnormally dry conditions in the Sahel have been reversed by positive anomalies in rainfall. Various remote sensing studies observed a positive trend in vegetation greenness...... over the last decades which is known as the re-greening of the Sahel. However, little investment has been made in including long-term ground-based data collections to evaluate and better understand the biophysical mechanisms behind these findings. Thus, deductions on a possible increment in biomass...... remain speculative. Our aim is to bridge these gaps and give specifics on the biophysical background factors of the re-greening Sahel. Therefore, a trend analysis was applied on long time series (1987-2013) of satellite-based vegetation and rainfall data, as well as on ground-observations of leaf biomass...

Analysis of teleconnections between AVHRR-based sea surface temperature and vegetation productivity in the semi-arid Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huber Gharib, Silvia; Fensholt, Rasmus

2011-01-01

Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the Sahel, however with different magnitudes in terms of strength for the western, central and eastern Sahel. Also the correlations based on NDVI and global SST anomalies revealed the same East–West gradient, with a stronger association for the western than the eastern Sahel......, we achieved high correlations for SSTs of oceanic basins which are geographically associated to the climate indices yet by far not always these patterns were coherent. The detected SST–NDVI patterns could provide the basis to develop new means for improved forecasts in particular of the western...

Water for a Thirsty Sahel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quevenco, Rodolfo

2013-01-01

In 2012, the IAEA launched a large scale, four-year, technical cooperation project to promote the integrated management and development of shared groundwater resources in the Sahel region. The project supports the use of isotope techniques in hydrological studies to map underground water, and to identify and understand the root causes of the main threats to the five transboundary aquifers. Isotope hydrology techniques can also provide useful information about the quality and availability of water hidden underground, and can be used to investigate the impact of climate change on water resources

African Environmental Change from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoag, Colin Brewster; Svenning, Jens-Christian

2018-01-01

This review explores what past environmental change in Africa—and African people’s response to it—can teach us about how to cope with life in the Anthropocene. Organized around four drivers of change—climate; agriculture and pastoralism; megafauna; and imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism......—our review focuses on key regions and debates, including dynamics of the Sahara-Sahel zones; the structure and function of savannas and Central African rainforests; and efforts at nature conservation. Contingent environmental change is a recurring theme in the history of the continent, producing a mosaic...... floral and faunal biogeography. With high levels of poverty, fast population growth, and potentially dramatic impacts expected from future climate change, Africa is emblematic of the kinds of social and ecological precariousness many fear will characterize the future globally. African people’s innovation...

Ponds' water balance and runoff of endorheic watersheds in the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Gal, Laetitia; Grippa, Manuela; Kergoat, Laurent; Hiernaux, Pierre; Mougin, Eric; Peugeot, Christophe

2015-04-01

The Sahel has been characterized by a severe rainfall deficit since the mid-twentieth century, with extreme droughts in the early seventies and again in the early eighties. These droughts have strongly impacted ecosystems, water availability, fodder resources, and populations living in these areas. However, an increase of surface runoff has been observed during the same period, such as higher "summer discharge" of Sahelian's rivers generating local floods, and a general increase in pond's surface in pastoral areas of central and northern Sahel. This behavior, less rain but more surface runoff is generally referred to as the "Sahelian paradox". Various hypotheses have been put forward to explain this paradoxical situation. The leading role of increase in cropped areas, often cited for cultivated Sahel, does not hold for pastoral areas in central and northern Sahel. Processes such as degradation of vegetation subsequent to the most severe drought events, soils erosion and runoff concentration on shallow soils, which generate most of the water ending up in ponds, seem to play an important role. This still needs to be fully understood and quantified. Our study focuses on a model-based approach to better understand the hydrological changes that affected the Agoufou watershed (Gourma, Mali), typical of the central, non-cultivated Sahel. Like most of the Sahelian basins, the Agoufou watershed is ungauged. Therefore we used indirect data to provide the information required to validate a rainfall-runoff model approach. The pond volume was calculated by combining in-situ water level measurements with pond's surface estimations derived by remote sensing. Using the pond's water balance equation, the variations of pond volume combined to estimates of open water bodies' evaporation and infiltration determined an estimation for the runoff supplying the pond. This estimation highlights a spectacular runoff increase over the last sixty years on the Agoufou watershed. The runoff

Cultural prototypes and dimensions of honor.

Science.gov (United States)

Cross, Susan E; Uskul, Ayse K; Gerçek-Swing, Berna; Sunbay, Zeynep; Alözkan, Cansu; Günsoy, Ceren; Ataca, Bilge; Karakitapoglu-Aygün, Zahide

2014-02-01

Research evidence and theoretical accounts of honor point to differing definitions of the construct in differing cultural contexts. The current studies address the question "What is honor?" using a prototype approach in Turkey and the Northern United States. Studies 1a/1b revealed substantial differences in the specific features generated by members of the two groups, but Studies 2 and 3 revealed cultural similarities in the underlying dimensions of self-respect, moral behavior, and social status/respect. Ratings of the centrality and personal importance of these factors were similar across the two groups, but their association with other relevant constructs differed. The tripartite nature of honor uncovered in these studies helps observers and researchers alike understand how diverse responses to situations can be attributed to honor. Inclusion of a prototype analysis into the literature on honor cultures can provide enhanced coverage of the concept that may lead to testable hypotheses and new theoretical developments.

32 CFR 901.12 - Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC and AFJROTC category.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... for nomination in this category applies to the administrative authority of the school involved. (b... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC...) DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE MILITARY TRAINING AND SCHOOLS APPOINTMENT TO THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY...

Characterization of Heat Waves in the Sahel and associated mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Oueslati, Boutheina; Pohl, Benjamin; Moron, Vincent; Rome, Sandra

2016-04-01

Large efforts are made to investigate the heat waves (HW) in developed countries because of their devastating impacts on society, economy and environment. This interest increased after the intense event over Europe during summer 2003. However, HWs are still understudied over developing countries. This is particularly true in West Africa, and especially in the Sahel, where temperatures recurrently reach critical values, such as during the 2010 HW event. Understanding the Sahelian HWs and associated health risks constitute the main objective of ACASIS, a 4-year project funded by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche. Our work contributes to this project and aims at characterizing the Sahelian HWs and understanding the mechanisms associated with such extreme events. There is no universal definition of a HW event, since it is highly dependent on the sector (human health, agriculture, transport...) and region of interest. In our case, a HW is defined when the heat index of the day and of the night exceeds the 90th percentile for at least 3 consecutive days (Rome et al. 2016, in preparation). This index combines temperature and relative humidity in order to determine the human-perceived equivalent temperature (definition adapted from Steadman, 1979). Intrinsic properties of Sahelian HW are analyzed from the Global Summary of the Day (GSOD) synoptic observations and ERA-interim reanalyses over 1979-2014 during boreal spring seasons (April-May-June), the warmest period of the year in the Central Sahel. ERA-interim captures well the observed interannual variability and seasonal cycle at the regional scale, as well as the 1979-2014 increasing linear trend of springtime HW occurrences in the Sahel. Reanalyses, however, overestimate the duration, spatial extent of HW, and underestimate their intensity. For both GSOD and ERA-interim, we show that, over the last three decades, Sahelian HWs tend to become more frequent, last longer, cover larger areas and reach higher

Diagnosing GCM errors over West Africa using relaxation experiments. Part II: intraseasonal variability and African easterly waves

Science.gov (United States)

Pohl, Benjamin; Douville, Hervé

2011-10-01

A near-global grid-point nudging of the Arpege-Climat atmospheric General Circulation Model towards ECMWF reanalyses is used to diagnose the regional versus remote origin of the summer model biases and variability over West Africa. First part of this study revealed a limited impact on the monsoon climatology compared to a control experiment without nudging, but a significant improvement of interannual variability, although the amplitude of the seasonal anomalies remained underestimated. Focus is given here on intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall and dynamics. The reproducible part of these signals is investigated through 30-member ensemble experiments computed for the 1994 rainy season, a year abnormally wet over the Sahel but representative of the model systematic biases. In the control experiment, Arpege-Climat simulates too few rainy days that are associated with too low rainfall amounts over the central and western Sahel, in line with the seasonal dry biases. Nudging the model outside Africa tends to slightly increase the number of rainy days over the Sahel, but has little effect on associated rainfall amounts. However, results do indicate that a significant part of the monsoon intraseasonal variability simulated by Arpege-Climat is controlled by lateral boundary conditions. Parts of the wet/dry spells over the Sahel occur in phase in the 30 members of the nudging experiment, and are therefore embedded in larger-scale variability patterns. Inter-member spread is however not constant across the selected summer season. It is partly controlled by African Easterly Waves, which show dissimilar amplitude from one member to another, but a coherent phasing in all members. A lowpass filtering of the nudging fields suggests that low frequency variations in the lateral boundary conditions can lead to eastward extensions of the African Easterly Jet, creating a favorable environment for easterly waves, while high frequency perturbations seem to control their

Diagnosing GCM errors over West Africa using relaxation experiments. Part II: intraseasonal variability and African easterly waves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pohl, Benjamin [CNRM-GAME, Meteo-France, CNRS, Toulouse (France); Centre de Recherches de Climatologie, CNRS, Universite de Bourgogne, Dijon (France); Douville, Herve [CNRM-GAME, Meteo-France, CNRS, Toulouse (France)

2011-10-15

A near-global grid-point nudging of the Arpege-Climat atmospheric General Circulation Model towards ECMWF reanalyses is used to diagnose the regional versus remote origin of the summer model biases and variability over West Africa. First part of this study revealed a limited impact on the monsoon climatology compared to a control experiment without nudging, but a significant improvement of interannual variability, although the amplitude of the seasonal anomalies remained underestimated. Focus is given here on intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall and dynamics. The reproducible part of these signals is investigated through 30-member ensemble experiments computed for the 1994 rainy season, a year abnormally wet over the Sahel but representative of the model systematic biases. In the control experiment, Arpege-Climat simulates too few rainy days that are associated with too low rainfall amounts over the central and western Sahel, in line with the seasonal dry biases. Nudging the model outside Africa tends to slightly increase the number of rainy days over the Sahel, but has little effect on associated rainfall amounts. However, results do indicate that a significant part of the monsoon intraseasonal variability simulated by Arpege-Climat is controlled by lateral boundary conditions. Parts of the wet/dry spells over the Sahel occur in phase in the 30 members of the nudging experiment, and are therefore embedded in larger-scale variability patterns. Inter-member spread is however not constant across the selected summer season. It is partly controlled by African Easterly Waves, which show dissimilar amplitude from one member to another, but a coherent phasing in all members. A lowpass filtering of the nudging fields suggests that low frequency variations in the lateral boundary conditions can lead to eastward extensions of the African Easterly Jet, creating a favorable environment for easterly waves, while high frequency perturbations seem to control their

Honors and Non-Honors Student Engagement: A Model of Student, Curricular, and Institutional Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Buckner, Ellen; Shores, Melanie; Sloane, Michael; Dantzler, John; Shields, Catherine; Shader, Karen; Newcomer, Bradley

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to apply several measures of learning and engagement to a comparable cohort of honors and non-honors students in order to generate a preliminary model of student engagement. Specific purposes were the following: (1) to determine the feasibility for use of several measures of student characteristics that may affect…

Cataloging the Pan-African Experience

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, Dianne

2012-01-01

Of all the honors and accolades bibliophile and noted authority on the Underground Railroad Charles Blockson has received, being bequeathed recently with some of Harriet Tubman's personal items by her great-niece is one of the most significant experiences of his life. A longtime collector of books and rare items by and about African-Americans,…

Academic success and early career outcomes : Can honors alumni be distinguished from non-honors alumni?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kool, A.; Mainhard, M. T.; Brekelmans, M.; van Beukelen, P.; Jaarsma, Alexandra

2016-01-01

This study compared Dutch alumni who previously participated in an honors program (n=72) to non-honors alumni who entered university as high-achieving high school students (n=72) with regard to (1) final university grade point average (GPA) and (2) early career outcomes. Final grades were drawn from

Inking and Thinking: Honors Students and Tattoos

Science.gov (United States)

Dundes, Lauren; Francis, Antonia

2016-01-01

This study examines whether academically accelerated students in a college Honors program are as likely as other students to acquire a tattoo and to spend the same amount of time contemplating this decision. A convenience sample of 71 honors students and 135 non-honors students completed a survey at a small mid-Atlantic liberal arts college in…

School violence and the culture of honor.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Ryan P; Osterman, Lindsey L; Barnes, Collin D

2009-11-01

We investigated the hypothesis that a sociocultural variable known as the culture of honor would be uniquely predictive of school-violence indicators. Controlling for demographic characteristics associated in previous studies with violent crime among adults, we found that high-school students in culture-of-honor states were significantly more likely than high-school students in non-culture-of-honor states to report having brought a weapon to school in the past month. Using data aggregated over a 20-year period, we also found that culture-of-honor states had more than twice as many school shootings per capita as non-culture-of-honor states. The data revealed important differences between school violence and general patterns of homicide and are consistent with the view that many acts of school violence reflect retaliatory aggression springing from intensely experienced social-identity threats.

Sahara and Sahel vulnerability to climate changes, lessons from the past

Science.gov (United States)

Lezine, Anne-Marie; Hély, Christelle; Grenier, Christophe; Braconnot, Pascale

2010-05-01

Since the Sahelian drought in the 1970s, climate variability in north tropical Africa has been the subject of intensive research focusing on the functioning of the Atlantic monsoon system as well as on past variations in rainfall from historical and natural archives. An "abrupt" climate change has been recorded off the Mauritanian coast at the end of the African Humid Period (AHP) 5500 years ago illustrating the onset of the modern climate regime [deMenocal et al., 2000]. At lake Yoa in NE Chad, [Kroepelin et al., 2008] report a "gradual" environmental change. Was this change abrupt or gradual, and amplified or not through vegetation change and feedbacks to the atmosphere is still the subject of debate. Here, we compile paleohydrological and palynological data between 10 and 28°N in the Sahara and Sahel with the purpose of understanding the response of the hydrological system and the vegetation cover to rainfall fluctuations from the onset of the AHP. Our data set is extracted from published studies. It is composed of 1651 dated samples from about 420 localities in the present day Sahara and Sahel. The occurrence of high and intermediate lake levels, fluvial terraces and wetlands as well as of dune edification are analysed with a 1000 yr period from 16 000 yrs BP to present. Clear trends are observed in the evolution of paleohydrological indicators versus time and latitude showing the progression of the centre of the distribution of humidity from south to north during the humid period and to the south after the AHP. The humidity maximum is observed with some temporal delay as compared to the June solar radiation maximum at 30°N. The reasons are investigated along the line of pure climate based processes and/or hydrological impacts. Further, the overall coherence among these signals is examined. Using climate simulations for different key periods in the Holocene, we investigate the relative impact of the insolation forcing, of the remnant ice sheet in the early

Calorific value of Prosopis africana and Balanites aegyptiaca wood: Relationships with tree growth, wood density and rainfall gradients in the West African Sahel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Montes, Carmen Sotelo; Weber, John C. [World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Sahel Office, B.P. E 5118 Bamako (Mali); Silva, Dimas Agostinho da; Bolzon de Muniz, Graciela Ines [Universidade Federal do Parana (UFPR), Av. Lothario Meissner, 900, CEP.: 80270-170-Curitiba (Brazil); Garcia, Rosilei A. [Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Instituto de Florestas, Departamento de Produtos Florestais, BR 465, km 07, 23890-000, Seropedica, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

2011-01-15

Prosopis africana and Balanites aegyptiaca are native tree species in the West African Sahel and provide wood for fuel, construction and other essential products. A provenance/progeny test of each species was established at one relatively dry site in Niger, and evaluated at 13 years. Gross calorific value of the wood was determined for a random sample of trees in each test: gross CV and CVm{sup 3} = gross calorific value in MJ kg{sup -1} and MJ m{sup -3}, respectively. The major objectives were to determine if gross CV was positively correlated with wood density and tree growth, and if gross CV and/or CVm{sup 3} varied with rainfall gradients in the sample region. Provenances were grouped into a drier and more humid zone, and correlations were computed among all trees and separately in each zone. Results indicated that gross CV was not significantly correlated with density in either species. Gross CV was positively correlated with growth of P. africana (but not B. aegyptiaca) only in the drier zone. Gross CVm{sup 3} was positively correlated with growth of both species, and the correlations were stronger in the drier zone. Multiple regressions with provenance latitude, longitude and elevation indicated that provenance means for gross CV increased, in general, from the drier to the more humid zones. Regressions with gross CVm{sup 3} were not significant. Results are compared with earlier research reports from the provenance/progeny tests and with other tropical hardwood species; and practical implications are presented for tree improvement and conservation programs in the region. (author)

Academic success and early career outcomes : Can honors alumni be distinguished from non-honors alumni?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kool, A.; Mainhard, M. T.; Jaarsma, A. D C; Brekelmans, M.; van Beukelen, P.

2016-01-01

This study compared Dutch alumni who previously participated in an honors program (n = 72) to non-honors alumni who entered university as high-achieving high school students (n = 72) with regard to (1) final university grade point average (GPA) and (2) early career outcomes. Final grades were drawn

Inventory and surveillance of natural resources as a contribution to land utilization planning in the Sahel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Panzer, K F

1980-09-01

The destructive land-use practices observed in large parts of the Sahel of West-Africa as a consequence of increasing population pressure must be replaced by sustained-yield management, e.g., by agro-sylvo-pastoral land-use systems. Information and planning aids required can only be obtained through the inventory and subsequent monitoring of the natural, renewable resources, i.e. water, range- and wood lands. Because of the extent and inaccessibility of the Sahel, an inventory design combining clustered fieldplots and large-scale aerial photography is being considered as most efficient in statistical and economical terms. Evidently, an inventory cannot solve the serious problems in the Sahel, but its results can contribute essentially towards defining better land-use policies and towards more effective management of the natural resource base.

Honor as Cultural Mindset: Activated Honor Mindset Affects Subsequent Judgment and Attention in Mindset-Congruent Ways

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Novin, Sheida; Oyserman, Daphna

2016-01-01

Honor values articulate gender roles, the importance of reputation in maintaining one’s place in society, and maintaining respect for the groups one belongs to. In that sense honor provides a template for organizing social interactions and hence may be functional even among people and societies that

The Re-Greening of the Sahel: Natural Cyclicity or Human-Induced Change?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Issa Ouedraogo

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The Sahel has been the focus of scientific interest in environmental-human dynamics and interactions. The objective of the present study is to contribute to the recent debate on the re-greening of Sahel. The paper examines the dynamics of barren land in the Sahel of Burkina Faso through analysis of remotely-sensed and rainfall data from 1975–2011. Discussions with farmers and land management staff have helped to understand the anthropogenic efforts toward soil restoration to enable the subsistence farming agriculture. Results showed that area of barren land has been fluctuating during the study period with approximately 10-year cyclicity. Similarly, rainfall, both at national and local levels has followed the same trends. The trends of the area of barren land and rainfall variability suggest that when rainfall increases, the area of barren land decreases and barren land increases when rainfall decreases. This implies that rainfall is one of the main factors driving the change in area of barren land. In addition, humans have contributed positively and negatively to the change by restoring barren lands for agriculture using locally known techniques and by accelerating land degradation through intensive and inappropriate land use practices.

Teaching for excellence: honors pedagogies revealed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolfensberger, M.V.C.

2012-01-01

What are characteristics of honors pedagogies in higher education? What are the teaching strategies that are particularly relevant and successful for academically gifted and motivated students? In spite of the substantial body of literature about the practice of honors education, very little

Hacia un nuevo y diferente “Flanco Sur” en el Gran Magreb-Sahel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raquel Barras

2015-10-01

Full Text Available La unión de espacios subgobernados, la corrupción, el crimen organizado y terrorismo es la amenaza a la que se enfrenta la UE y sus estados miembros en el Gran Magreb, el cual está recreando un nuevo y diferente Flanco Sur al que existía durante la Guerra Fría. El aumento de la actividad extremista en la región del Sahel-Sáhara a partir de 2005 ha ido en paralelo con el crecimiento de las redes de crimen organizado transnacional a través del área. Aunque hay un intenso debate sobre su relación, intensidad e impacto, es una dinámica innegable en el área. La UE no tiene realmente una política unificada Magreb-Sahel y en términos de crimen organizado y terrorismo, el Sahel no se puede separar del Magreb. Hay una comprensión limitada y parcial del problema tanto en términos de amenazas como en soluciones viables, ampliado irremediablemente por la acción de Boko Haram y desbordando la visión, proyección y estrategia de la UE. A pesar del "Sahel Regional Action Plan 2015-2020", las medidas tomadas son reducidas, muy recientes y probablemente insuficientes y tardías desde el punto de vista de la dinámica y sinergia entre terrorismo-crimen organizado en un contexto de corrupción. La UE sigue manteniendo un enfoque seguridad-desarrollo, básicamente en una concepción de seguridad humana, a pesar de que este enfoque es altamente discutible para enfrentarse a este tipo de amenazas.

"Women...mourn and men carry on": African women storying mourning practices: a South African example.

Science.gov (United States)

Kotzé, Elmarie; Els, Lishje; Rajuili-Masilo, Ntsiki

2012-09-01

African mourning of loss of lives in South Africa has been shaped by discursive practices of both traditional African cultures and the sociopolitical developments under apartheid and in post-apartheid South Africa. This article reports on changes in mourning practices on the basis of a literature review and uses a collection of examples to highlight the navigation of some cultural and gendered issues relating to mourning, against the backdrop of the everyday experiences of loss of life in South Africa due to violence and HIV/AIDS. The article draws on African womanist and feminist scholarship and focuses on the intersections between cultural and gender practices of bereavement in the lives of professional urban African women. The authors argue for the use of positioning theory and witnessing practices to honor and story the ongoing struggle of African women as these women take different agentic positions by accepting, questioning, resisting, and/or changing cultural mourning practices while they compassionately witness the self and others in the narratives they live.

Women's Right to Water for Agricultural Use in the Sahel (Mauritanie ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Women's Right to Water for Agricultural Use in the Sahel (Mauritanie, Niger, ... access of women to agricultural water resources in the three countries under study. ... long-term climate action to reduce social inequality, promote greater gender ...

Farm survey design in the Sahel : Experiences from Burkina Faso

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Graaff, de J.; Mijl, van der J.P.; Nibbering, J.W.

1999-01-01

In designing farm household surveys in the Sahel in West Africa much attention should be paid to various specific features of the farming systems. These features relate in particular to the social organisation of the farming communities. Within households, kinship relations have a strong bearing on

Recent variations in geopotential height associated with West African monsoon variability

Science.gov (United States)

Okoro, Ugochukwu K.; Chen, Wen; Nath, Debashis

2018-02-01

In the present study, the atmospheric circulation patterns associated with the seasonal West Africa (WA) monsoon (WAM) rainfall variability has been investigated. The observational rainfall data from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) and atmospheric fields from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis 2, from 1979 to 2014, have been used. The rainfall variability extremes, classified as wet or dry years, are the outcomes of simultaneous 6-month SPI at the three rainfall zones, which shows increasing trends [Guinea Coast (GC = 0.012 year-1), Eastern Sudano Sahel (ESS = 0.045 year-1) and Western Sudano Sahel (WSS = 0.056 year-1) from Sen's slope]; however, it is significant only in the Sahel region (α = 0.05 and α = 0.001 at ESS and WSS, respectively, from Mann-Kendall test). The vertical profile of the geopotential height (GpH) during the wet and dry years reveals that the 700 hPa anomalies show remarkable pattern at about 8°N to 13°N. This shows varying correlation with the zonal averaged vertically integrated moisture flux convergence and rainfall anomalies, respectively, as well as the oceanic pulsations indexes [Ocean Nino Index (ONI) and South Atlantic Ocean dipole index (SAODI), significant from t test], identified as precursors to the Sahel and GC rainfall variability respectively. The role of GpH anomalies at 700 hPa has been identified as the facilitator to the West African Westerly Jet's input to the moisture flux transported over the WA. This is a new perspective of the circulation processes associated with WAM and serves as a basis for modeling investigations.

Extensive Admixture and Selective Pressure Across the Sahel Belt

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Triska, P.; Soares, P.; Patin, E.; Fernandes, V.; Černý, Viktor; Pereira, L.

2015-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 12 (2015), s. 3484-3495 ISSN 1759-6653 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-37998S Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : genome-wide diversity * admixture * selection * Sahel Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology Impact factor: 4.098, year: 2015 http://gbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/12/3484.full.pdf+html

Costs and Benefits in the Economy of Honors

Science.gov (United States)

Badenhausen, Richard

2012-01-01

To be in honors is to be engaged in many different economic arrangements and exchanges. Honors educators work in concert with their admissions offices while recruiting high-achieving students whose decisions often hinge on how much money the institution can offer in the form of discounts to tuition and financial aid. Honors programs that tie…

Weeding method and pre-sowing tillage effects on weed growth and pearl millet yield in a sandy soil of the West African Sahelian zone.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klaij, M.C.; Hoogmoed, W.B.

1996-01-01

Weed control for the West African Sahel rainfed crops is done mainly manually, resulting in high labor requirements. Because of the seasonality of rainfed farming, weed control is often late and incomplete, resulting in considerable losses in crop yield. We examined the case of weed control in

Consider Your Man Card Reissued: Masculine Honor and Gun Violence

Science.gov (United States)

Shuffelton, Amy

2015-01-01

In this article, Amy Shuffelton addresses school shootings through an investigation of honor and masculinity. Drawing on recent scholarship on honor, including Bernard Williams's "Shame and Necessity" and Kwame Anthony Appiah's "The Honor Code," Shuffelton points out that honor has been misconstrued as exclusively a matter of…

To honor and obey: Perceptions and disclosure of sexual assault among honor ideology women.

Science.gov (United States)

McLean, Caitlin L; Crowder, Marisa K; Kemmelmeier, Markus

2018-05-15

The overwhelming majority of rapes goes unreported. To better understand the sociocultural mechanisms behind why underreporting may occur, three studies (total n = 1,481) examine how women's endorsement of honor values influence the perceptions of rape. Using vignettes that varied the closeness of the perpetrator of a sexual assault (i.e., stranger, acquaintance, or husband), we found that women who endorse honor values of womanhood were less likely to label a forced sexual act as "rape" and to suggest that the victim discloses the rape to others, including to the police. This was especially true the closer the victim was to the perpetrator (e.g., husband vs. stranger). Our findings highlight the effects of honor values on perceived sexual assault and the consequences of disclosure, and may aid in understanding barriers to rape reporting and areas for intervention. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Fessenden Honors in Engineering Program

Science.gov (United States)

Giazzoni, Michael

2018-01-01

Developing honors opportunities for students in engineering programs can be difficult, and the experience at the University of Pittsburgh is no exception. Often these students' degree requirements are so demanding that their opportunities for participating in honors experiences are severely limited. In each of the two semesters of their freshman…

Honor crimes: review and proposed definition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Elakkary, S.; Franke, B.; Shokri, D.; Hartwig, S.; Tsokos, M.; Puschel, K.

2014-01-01

There is every reason to believe that honor based violence is one of the forms of domestic violence that is being practiced against females all over the world. This type of violence includes a wide range of crimes, the severest of which is honor killing. Many studies have adopted different

The Study on Activation Strategy of Time-honored Brand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mu Jiankang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Time-honored brands have profound cultural heritage, a large part of glorious time-honored brands has gradually disappeared from the market. Brand activation is the core of management strategic of brand equity as well as the fundamental requirement of time-honored enterprise recovery. This paper constructs the time-honored brand purchase model and finds that consumers nostalgic psychology for the consumer’s perception and buying behavior has a positive effect.

Toward a Science of Honors Education

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Beata M.

2016-01-01

In this article, Beata Jones attempts to organize the honors discipline into a comprehensive framework that can guide explorations and shed light on specific attributes of honors entities in the framework of their interrelationships. The framework offers an approach to deal with the inherent fragmentation of the field, which can lead to…

76 FR 32851 - African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2011

Science.gov (United States)

2011-06-07

... community and reminding us of our shared values. During African-American Music Appreciation Month, we honor..., and brought hope to slaves toiling in fields. The soulfulness of jazz and storytelling in the blues... musicians continue to create new musical genres and transform the scope of traditional musical formats. The...

Aspects of the Hematology and Serum Biochemistry of Sahel and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study was conducted to investigate effects of year, age, season and breeds on aspects of the hematology and serum biochemical indices of Sahel and Sokoto red bucks in Mubi, Adamawa state, Nigeria. Blood and serum samples were used to determine PCV, Hb, RBC and WBC, and while serum protein (BSP) and ...

Medal of Honor Recipients: 1979-2004

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Richardson, Glenda

2004-01-01

.... Although the Persian Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom are listed in the Table of Contents, as of this writing, no Medals of Honor have been awarded for actions in these conflicts. For further information, see CRS Report 95-519, "Medal of Honor: History and Issues." This report will be updated as new recipients are named.

Spatial and temporal variations in net carbon flux during HAPEX-Sahel.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moncrieff, J.B.; Monteny, B.; Verhoef, A.; Friborg, Th.; Elbers, J.; Kabat, P.; DeBruin, H.; Soegaard, H.; Jarvis, P.G.; Taupin, J.D.

1997-01-01

Micrometeorological measurements of the surface flux of carbon dioxide were made at a number of spatially separate sites within the HAPEX-Sahel experimental area. Differences in the timing of plant development caused by differences in rainfall (both quantity and frequency) over the experimental area

Prioritizing Service to the Academically Talented: The Honors College

Science.gov (United States)

Floyd, Deborah L.; Holloway, Alexandria

2006-01-01

This chapter describes community college honors programs and courses, emphasizing in particular the Honors College at Miami Dade College in Florida. The chapter discusses pros and cons of honors programs and courses in the context of their appropriateness to the community college mission of open access and egalitarianism. (Contains 1 table.)

Trend in land degradation has been the most contended issue in the Sahel. Trends documented have not been consistent across authors and science disciplines, hence little agreement has been gained on the magnitude and direction of land degradation in the Sahel. Differentiated science outputs are related to methods and data used at various scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Mbow, C.; Brandt, M.; Fensholt, R.; Ouedraogo, I.; Tagesson, T.

2015-12-01

Thematic gaps in land degradation trends in the SahelTrend in land degradation has been the most contended issue for arid and semi-arid regions. In the Sahel, depending to scale of analysis and methods and data used, the trend documented have not been consistent across authors and science disciplines. The assessment of land degradation and the quantification of its effects on land productivity have been assessed for many decades, but little agreement has been gained on the magnitude and direction in the Sahel. This lack of consistency amid science outputs can be related to many methodological underpinnings and data used for various scales of analysis. Assessing biophysical trends on the ground requires long-term ground-based data collection to evaluate and better understand the mechanisms behind land dynamics. The Sahel is seen as greening by many authors? Is that greening geographically consistent? These questions enquire the importance of scale analysis and related drivers. The questions addressed are not only factors explaining loss of tree cover but also regeneration of degraded land. The picture used is the heuristic cycle model to assess loss and damages vs gain and improvements of various land use practices. The presentation will address the following aspects - How much we know from satellite data after 40 years of remote sensing analysis over the Sahel? That section discuss agreement and divergences of evidences and differentiated interpretation of land degradation in the Sahel. - The biophysical factors that are relevant for tracking land degradation in the Sahel. Aspects such detangling human to climate factors and biophysical factors behind land dynamics will be presented - Introduce some specific cases of driver of land architecture transition under the combined influence of climate and human factor. - Based on the above we will conclude with some key recommendations on how to improve land degradation assessment in the Arid region of the Sahel.

The Effect of Honors Courses on Grade Point Averages

Science.gov (United States)

Spisak, Art L.; Squires, Suzanne Carter

2016-01-01

High-ability entering college students give three main reasons for not choosing to become part of honors programs and colleges; they and/or their parents believe that honors classes at the university level require more work than non-honors courses, are more stressful, and will adversely affect their self-image and grade point average (GPA) (Hill;…

Interdisciplinary Teaching of Theatre and Human Rights in Honors

Science.gov (United States)

Szasz, Maria

2017-01-01

Since spring 2012, the author has taught a 300-level Theatre and Human Rights class in the University of New Mexico Honors College. One of the centerpieces of honors education is careful research and thorough analysis of what is taught and why it is taught. In creating the honors class Theatre and Human Rights, the author explored how she would…

Honor, Anger, and Belittlement in Aristotle’s Ethics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Sokolowski

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The author considers the phenomenon of honor (timē by examining Aristotle’s description of it and its role in ethical and political life. His study of honor leads him to two related phenomena, anger (orgē and belittlement or contempt (oligōria; examining them helps him define honor more precisely. With his examination of honor the author shows how densely interwoven Aristotle’s ethical theory is; he illuminates such diverse things as the human good, political life and friendship, virtue, vice, incontinence, flattery, wealth and pleasure; he shows how the metaphysical principles of dunamis and energeia are at work in human affairs; he treats the passion of anger as well as the moral attitude of contempt that provokes it, and he situates both within the study of rhetoric.

Honors in Honduras: Engaged Learning in Action

Science.gov (United States)

Folds-Bennett, Trisha; Twomey, Mary Pat

2013-01-01

A significant challenge in honors education is providing experiences through which students deeply engage ideas and content so that their analytical abilities and core beliefs and values are transformed. The College of Charleston Honors College aimed to stimulate critical thinking and examination of core values through a more holistic approach to…

West African think tank strengthens outreach and partnerships ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

28 avr. 2016 ... Les femmes du Sahel obtiennent de meilleurs rendements de leurs cultures. Moins d'engrais et rendements plus élevés pour les agricultrices du Sahel. Voir davantageLes femmes du Sahel obtiennent de meilleurs rendements de leurs cultures ...

The role of honor concerns in emotional reactions to offences

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rodriguez Mosquera, P.M.; Manstead, A.S.R.; Fischer, A.H.

2002-01-01

nvestigated the role of honor concerns in mediating the effect of nationality and gender on the reported intensity of anger and shame in reaction to insult vignettes. Spain, an honor culture, and The Netherlands, where honor is of less central significance, were selected for comparison. A total of

R&D 100 Awards Honor NREL Research

Science.gov (United States)

R&D 100 Awards Honor NREL Research For more information contact: George Douglas 303-275-4096 e National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be honored Thursday with two R&D 100 awards. The awards are given each year by the editors of R&D Magazine for what they consider to be among the year's 100

Role of Surface Wind and Vegetation Cover in Multi-decadal Variations of Dust Emission in the Sahara and Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dong; Chin, Mian; Remer, Lorraine A.; Diehl, Thomas L.; Bian, Huisheng; Yu, Hongbin; Brown, Molly E.; Stockwell, William R.

2016-01-01

North Africa, the world's largest dust source, is non-uniform, consisting of a permanently arid region (Sahara), a semi-arid region (Sahel), and a relatively moist vegetated region (Savanna), each with very different rainfall patterns and surface conditions. This study aims to better understand the controlling factors that determine the variation of dust emission in North Africa over a 27-year period from 1982 to 2008, using observational data and model simulations. The results show that the model-derived Saharan dust emission is only correlated with the 10-m winds (W10m) obtained from reanalysis data, but the model-derived Sahel dust emission is correlated with both W10m and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) that is obtained from satellite. While the Saharan dust accounts for 82 of the continental North Africa dust emission (1340-1570 Tg year(exp -1) in the 27-year average, the Sahel accounts for 17 with a larger seasonal and inter-annual variation (230-380 Tg year(exp -1), contributing about a quarter of the transatlantic dust transported to the northern part of South America. The decreasing dust emission trend over the 27-year period is highly correlated with W10m over the Sahara (R equals 0.92). Over the Sahel, the dust emission is correlated with W10m (R 0.69) but is also anti-correlated with the trend of NDVI (R equals 0.65). W10m is decreasing over both the Sahara and the Sahel between 1982 and 2008, and the trends are correlated (R equals 0.53), suggesting that Saharan Sahelian surface winds are a coupled system, driving the inter-annual variation of dust emission.

Assessing Land Degradation/Recovery in the African Sahel from Long-Term Earth Observation Based Primary Productivity and Precipitation Relationships

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fensholt, Rasmus; Rasmussen, Kjeld; Kaspersen, Per Skougaard

2013-01-01

degradation. Consequently, RUE may be regarded as means of normalizing ANPP for the impact of annual precipitation, and as an indicator of non-precipitation related land degradation. Large scale and long term identification and monitoring of land degradation in drylands, such as the Sahel, can only......The ‘rain use efficiency’ (RUE) may be defined as the ratio of above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) to annual precipitation, and it is claimed to be a conservative property of the vegetation cover in drylands, if the vegetation cover is not subject to non-precipitation related land...... useless as a means of normalizing for the impact of annual precipitation on ANPP. By replacing ΣNDVI by a ‘small NDVI integral’, covering only the rainy season and counting only the increase of NDVI relative to some reference level, this problem is solved. Using this approach, RUE is calculated...

Honoring Teachers for Their Vocation and Potential

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Raymond Brady

2007-01-01

One goal of the Wabash Center is to honor teachers for their potential, and hospitality has been a primary means to that end. A lesson learned is that the intention and effort to honor teachers create contexts for meaningful discussions, creative learning, and personal renewal of those engaged in workshops and consultations. The lesson is valuable…

Fear of the Loss of Honor: Implications of Honor-Based Violence for the Development of Youth and Their Families

Science.gov (United States)

Sedem, Mina; Ferrer-Wreder, Laura

2015-01-01

Background: Violence committed against young women, and in some cases young men, who are considered to have violated honor-based norms are reported in several countries, making honor-based violence (HBV) a global concern. This article is an overview of research in this area and summarizes key findings from a Swedish program of research dedicated…

Variations in selected physical proprieties of the soils of the sahel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Infiltration rate, water content and textural properties of soils in the Sahel region of Nigeria as they are affected by shelterbelts were studied. The study was conducted on three measurement positions (60, 120 and 180 m) within the shelterbelt and the control was the unsheltered area. The site was situated on the southern ...

Variability and Predictability of West African Droughts. A Review in the Role of Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez-Fonseca, Belen; Mohino, Elsa; Mechoso, Carlos R.; Caminade, Cyril; Biasutti, Michela; Gaetani, Marco; Garcia-Serrano, J.; Vizy, Edward K.; Cook, Kerry; Xue, Yongkang;

Aan de slag met honors : praktijklessen uit Europa

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolfensberger, Marca; Hogenstijn, Maarten

2015-01-01

In de brochure ‘Aan de slag met honors’ worden onderzoeksresultaten van het onderzoeksproject Honors in Europe hertaald naar tips voor succesvol en inspirerend honorsonderwijs. De brochure is grotendeels gebaseerd op het boek Talent Development in European Higher Education – Honors programs in the

Mothers in Honors

Science.gov (United States)

Killinger, Mimi; Binder-Hathaway, Rachel; Mitchell, Paige; Patrick, Emily

2013-01-01

This article describes the experiences of four honors mothers as they offer sage advice. They argue convincingly that they are motivated, focused students who bring rich diversity to college programs. They further report disturbing marginalization and isolation that could be ameliorated with support and increased sensitivity on the part of…

Creating Opportunities for Peer Leadership in Honors Education

Science.gov (United States)

Leichliter, Marie E.

2013-01-01

Honors educators are privileged to work with exceptional students who are also some of the most engaged and motivated students on campus. These students often seek opportunities within their honors experience to study abroad, join community service organizations, conduct research, participate in internships, and develop their leadership skills.…

Assessing Success in Honors: Getting beyond Graduation Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Kelly, Sean K.

2013-01-01

An honors curriculum with realistic graduation requirements should have a respectable graduation rate. This number, when low, can indicate significant problems in the program. But a high graduation rate does not necessarily indicate success. A quality honors program, especially one that remains attentive to students' ability to thrive, might have…

Seasonal contrast in the surface energy balance of the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, R. L.; Slingo, A.; Barnard, J. C.; Kassianov, E.

2009-07-01

during a dust aerosol outbreak is balanced comparably by net surface longwave and the sensible heat flux during the dry season, with the sensible flux increasing in importance with the onset of the summer monsoon winds. Measurements of surface fluxes by the AMF indicate broader features of the West African monsoon circulation and should be used to evaluate model simulations of the Sahel climate.

The UCAR Africa Initiative: Enabling African Solutions to African Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Pandya, R.; Bruintjes, R.; Foote, B.; Heck, S.; Hermann, S.; Hoswell, L.; Konate, M.; Kucera, P.; Laing, A.; Lamptey, B.; Moncrieff, M.; Ramamurthy, M.; Roberts, R.; Spangler, T.; Traoré, A.; Yoksas, T.; Warner, T.

2007-12-01

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Africa Initiative (AI) is a coordinated effort aimed at building sustainable partnerships between UCAR and African institutions in order to pursue research and applications for the benefit of the African people. The initiative is based on four fundamental operating principles, concisely summarized by the overall philosophy of enabling African solutions to African needs. The four principles are: • Collaborate with African institutions • Focus on institutional capacity building and research support • Explore science research themes critical to Africa and important for the world • Leverage the research infrastructure in UCAR to add value These principles are realized in a set of pilot activities, chosen for their high probability of short-term results and ability to set the stage for longer-term collaboration. The three pilot activities are listed below. 1. A modest radar network and data-distribution system in Mali and Burkina Faso, including a data-sharing MOU between the Mail and Burkina Faso Weather Services. 2. A partnership among UCAR, the Ghana Meteorological Agency, and the Ghana university community to develop an operational Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for West Africa. The output is used by researchers and operational forecasters in Africa. Model output is also part of a demonstration project that aims to allow humanitarian agencies to share geo-referenced information in Africa via a web portal. 3. A workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from April 2-6, 2007, with the theme Improving Lives by Understanding Weather. The workshop, co-organized with Programme SAAGA and the Commité Permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte Contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS), included over 80 participants from 18 countries, and produced a set of recommendations for continued collaboration. Our presentation will provide an update of these pilot activities and point to future directions. Recognizing

USSOF OPERATIONS IN AFRICA: PROSPECTS FOR FUTURE ENGAGEMENTS IN THE SAHEL

Science.gov (United States)

2017-04-03

counterterrorism operations in Somalia, Yemen , Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria.3 Absent the operational capability of terrorists to function in these...action by USSOF comes with some challenges. A fundamental challenge to USSOF operations outside the US, as evinced in the USSOF raid in Yakla- Yemen , is...assets. 8 Additionally, poor infrastructural facilities in the Sahel exacerbate the problem of poor logistics to support USSOF operations in

Services financiers et déploiement d'innovations agricoles au Sahel ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Services financiers et déploiement d'innovations agricoles au Sahel. Au cours des vingt dernières années, plusieurs innovations visant à améliorer les rendements des cultures vivrières ont été développées dans les centres de recherche agronomique d'Afrique de l'Ouest et par les chercheurs de la communauté ...

Cicero, Retrieving the Honorable

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William A. Frank

2014-06-01

Full Text Available From Marcus Tullius Cicero’s philosophical writings, the author first draws out a modest network of ideas that informs his understanding of what it means to be a good man (vir bonus. Then, he finds in Cicero the idea of a befitting mutuality among four distinctively human capacities: a faculty for inquiry into and love for truth manifest in words and actions (reason; a disposition for the recognition of and attraction to things of worth beyond self-interest (the honorable; an acute sense of one own spheres of responsibility along with facility for speaking and acting appropriately within them (appropriate action, and fostering and extending the bonds of mutual personal relations grounded in justice and benevolence (society. Against the background of deep commitments in modernity to hedonism and autonomous individualism, the author proposes a retrieval of the virtue of the honorable as an attractive alternative.

Honor Killing: Where Pride Defeats Reason.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanchan, Tanuj; Tandon, Abhishek; Krishan, Kewal

2016-12-01

Honor killings are graceless and ferocious murders by chauvinists with an antediluvian mind. These are categorized separately because these killings are committed for the prime reason of satisfying the ego of the people whom the victim trusts and always looks up to for support and protection. It is for this sole reason that honor killings demand strict and stern punishment, not only for the person who committed the murder but also for any person who contributed or was party to the act. A positive change can occur with stricter legislation and changes in the ethos of the society we live in today.

Naming patterns reveal cultural values: patronyms, matronyms, and the U.S. culture of honor.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Ryan P; Carvallo, Mauricio; Imura, Mikiko

2014-02-01

Four studies examined the hypothesis that honor norms would be associated with a pronounced use of patronyms, but not matronyms, for naming children. Study 1 shows that men who endorse honor values expressed a stronger desire to use patronyms (but not matronyms) for future children, an association that was mediated by patriarchal attitudes. Study 2 presents an indirect method for assessing state patronym and matronym levels. As expected, patronym scores were significantly higher in honor states and were associated with a wide range of variables linked previously to honor-related dynamics. Study 3a shows that following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, patronyms increased in honor states, but not in non-honor states. Likewise, priming men with a fictitious terrorist attack (Study 3b) increased the association between honor ideology and patronym preferences. Together, these studies reveal a subtle social signal that reflects the masculine values of an honor culture.

Demography of Honors: The Census of U.S. Honors Programs and Colleges

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Richard I.; Smith, Patricia J.; Cognard-Black, Andrew J.

2017-01-01

Beginning in 2013 and spanning four research articles, we have implemented an empirical analysis protocol for honors education that is rooted in demography (Scott; Scott and Smith; Smith and Scott "Growth"; Smith and Scott, "Demography"). The goal of this protocol is to describe the structure and distribution of the honors…

Committed to the Honor Code: An Investment Model Analysis of Academic Integrity

Science.gov (United States)

Dix, Emily L.; Emery, Lydia F.; Le, Benjamin

2014-01-01

Educators worldwide face challenges surrounding academic integrity. The development of honor codes can promote academic integrity, but understanding how and why honor codes affect behavior is critical to their successful implementation. To date, research has not examined how students' "relationship" to an honor code predicts…

Honoring our Nation's Veterans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robbins RA

2015-11-01

Full Text Available No abstract available. Article truncated at 150 words. Today is Armistice Day, renamed Veterans Day in 1954, to honor our Nation's Veterans. In Washington the rhetoric from both the political right and left supports our Veterans. My cynical side reminds me that this might have something to do with Veterans voting in a higher percentage than the population as a whole, but let me give the politicians this one. Serving our Country in the military is something that deserves to be honored. I was proud to serve our Veterans over 30 years at the four Department of Veterans Affairs (VA hospitals. However, the VA has had a very bad year. First, in Washington there were the resignations of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki; the undersecretary for the Veterans Health Administration, Robert Petzel; and the undersecretary for the Veterans Benefits Administration, Allison Hickey. Locally, in the light of the VA wait scandal there were the firing of ...

Honors pedagogy: tailoring learning preferences of honors and regular students for autonomy and structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kingma, Tineke; Kamans, Elanor; Heijne, Marjolein; Wolfensberger, Marca; Jaarsma, Debbie

2017-01-01

Students differ in their learning preferences. When students are more intrinsically motivated this improves their well-being and involvement (Levesque, Zuehlke, Stanek, & Ryan, 2004). Teaching highly motivated honors students places different demands on teachers (Wolfensberger, 2012). High motivated

Turning Points: Improving Honors Student Preparation for Thesis Completion

Science.gov (United States)

Patino, Cynthia

2012-01-01

This dissertation is an action research study that had as its primary goal to increase retention of honors college students at Arizona State University by implementing an additional advising session during the fifth semester of their academic career. Introducing additional, strategically-timed support for the honors thesis and demystifying the…

Summary of questionnaires completed by participating countries: for the project on the management of water resources in the Sahel region, using isotopic techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ito, Mari

2012-07-01

This presentation was carried out as part of the project on water resources management in the Sahel region, using isotope techniques. It summarizes the two sets of questionnaires made, highlights the basins (aquifers) selected for the Sahel project which are the Lullemen Basin, Taoudeni Basin, Lake Chad Basin and Liptako Gourma. Also, as well as the number of questionnaires completed by the participating countries.

Mission, Performance Indicators, and Assessment in U.S. Honors: A View from the Netherlands

Science.gov (United States)

Bartelds, Vladimir; Drayer, Lyndsay; Wolfensberger, Marca V. C.

2012-01-01

A mission statement that identifies the goals and aims of an honors program is a key step in program development. The National Collegiate Honors Council's Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program states unequivocally that a successful honors program "has a clear mandate from the institution's administration in the form of a…

A new brachypterous scarab species, Orphnus longicornis (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae), from the East African Rift.

Science.gov (United States)

Frolov, Andrey; Akhmetova, Lilia

2015-11-05

The Afrotropical Region is the center of the diversity of the scarab beetle genus Orphnus MacLeay, 1819 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Orphninae), with 94 species occurring from Sahel in the north to Little Karoo in the south (Paulian, 1948; Petrovitz, 1971; Frolov, 2008). The East African Rift is one of the richest regions of the Afrotropics housing more than 20 species of Orphnus (Paulian, 1948; Frolov, 2013), most of which are endemic to this region. Yet the scarab beetle fauna of the East African Rift, and especially the Eastern Arc Mountains, is still inadequately studied. Examination of the material housed in the Museum of Natural History of Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, Germany (ZMHUB), revealed a series of brachypterous Orphnus beetles belonging to an undescribed species. The new species is described and illustrated below.

Impacts of the seasonal distribution of rainfall on vegetation productivity across the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Wenmin; Brandt, Martin; Tong, Xiaoye; Tian, Qingjiu; Fensholt, Rasmus

2018-01-01

Climate change in drylands has caused alterations in the seasonal distribution of rainfall including increased heavy-rainfall events, longer dry spells, and a shifted timing of the wet season. Yet the aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) in drylands is usually explained by annual-rainfall sums, disregarding the influence of the seasonal distribution of rainfall. This study tested the importance of rainfall metrics in the wet season (onset and cessation of the wet season, number of rainy days, rainfall intensity, number of consecutive dry days, and heavy-rainfall events) for growing season ANPP. We focused on the Sahel and northern Sudanian region (100-800 mm yr-1) and applied daily satellite-based rainfall estimates (CHIRPS v2.0) and growing-season-integrated normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI; MODIS) as a proxy for ANPP over the study period: 2001-2015. Growing season ANPP in the arid zone (100-300 mm yr-1) was found to be rather insensitive to variations in the seasonal-rainfall metrics, whereas vegetation in the semi-arid zone (300-700 mm yr-1) was significantly impacted by most metrics, especially by the number of rainy days and timing (onset and cessation) of the wet season. We analysed critical breakpoints for all metrics to test if vegetation response to changes in a given rainfall metric surpasses a threshold beyond which vegetation functioning is significantly altered. It was shown that growing season ANPP was particularly negatively impacted after > 14 consecutive dry days and that a rainfall intensity of ˜ 13 mm day-1 was detected for optimum growing season ANPP. We conclude that the number of rainy days and the timing of the wet season are seasonal-rainfall metrics that are decisive for favourable vegetation growth in the semi-arid Sahel and need to be considered when modelling primary productivity from rainfall in the drylands of the Sahel and elsewhere.

A Tradition Unlike Any Other: Research on the Value of an Honors Senior Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Banks, H. Kay

2016-01-01

An honors senior thesis introduces students into a world of scholarship and professional activity in a way that no single course, either semester- or year-long, can do (Anderson, Lyons, and Weiner). Many honors educators consider honors thesis work to be the defining honors experience. For graduate schools, employers, and the students themselves,…

Energy needs, tasks and resources in the Sahel: Relevance to woodstoves programmes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cecelski, E

1983-01-01

This article reviews the wood fuels situation in the Sahel and the findings of various needs assessment methodologies, especially as these are relevant to the numerous programmes to introduce improved cooking technologies in the region. Most people in West Africa, especially in poor and rural areas, rely primarily on wood fuels and crop wastes for energy needs, with devastating environmental consequences. Most wood is used in cooking. The quantity of fuel used depends on the type of fireplace, utensils used, how and when food is prepared, food preparation methods, types of fuels, how fuelwood is collected, and special customs surrounding the family fire - all of which are intimately associated with the economic, cultural and social fabric of Sahelian societies. Conventional fuel consumption and resource surveys have yielded useful information about quantitative energy needs in the Sahel, but increasingly sociocultural studies are being used to ensure that stove designs will meet the needs of the end-user. Economic analysis is also necessary to establish the dimensions of wood scarcity, to assess the financial attractiveness to consumers of alternative fuels and stoves, and in evaluating the costs and benefits to society of proposed national woodstoves programmes.

RAINBIO: a mega-database of tropical African vascular plants distributions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dauby Gilles

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The tropical vegetation of Africa is characterized by high levels of species diversity but is undergoing important shifts in response to ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Although our knowledge of plant species distribution patterns in the African tropics has been improving over the years, it remains limited. Here we present RAINBIO, a unique comprehensive mega-database of georeferenced records for vascular plants in continental tropical Africa. The geographic focus of the database is the region south of the Sahel and north of Southern Africa, and the majority of data originate from tropical forest regions. RAINBIO is a compilation of 13 datasets either publicly available or personal ones. Numerous in depth data quality checks, automatic and manual via several African flora experts, were undertaken for georeferencing, standardization of taxonomic names and identification and merging of duplicated records. The resulting RAINBIO data allows exploration and extraction of distribution data for 25,356 native tropical African vascular plant species, which represents ca. 89% of all known plant species in the area of interest. Habit information is also provided for 91% of these species.

Honored Teacher Shows Commitment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratte, Kathy

1987-01-01

Part of the acceptance speech of the 1985 National Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year, this article describes the censorship experience of this honored social studies teacher. The incident involved the showing of a videotape version of the feature film entitled "The Seduction of Joe Tynan." (JDH)

NREL's Earl Christensen Honored with Two Awards from National Biodiesel

Science.gov (United States)

Board | News | NREL NREL's Earl Christensen Honored with Two Awards from National Biodiesel Board NREL's Earl Christensen Honored with Two Awards from National Biodiesel Board February 16, 2018 Fuel stability research advances innovation and bolsters industry confidence in biodiesel. Scott

An Augustinian Culture of Learning for Interdisciplinary Honors Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Ste. Antoine, Tom

2010-01-01

Any attempt to discern the purpose of honors education and to integrate it with the unique ethos of a Christian institution can prove to be difficult. Yet, describing and articulating a sense of purpose is essential for an honors program to justify itself. This essay contends that a philosophy of education based on Augustine's…

Spatiotemporal variability in carbon exchange fluxes across the Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tagesson, Håkan Torbern; Fensholt, Rasmus; Cappelaere, Bernard

2016-01-01

for semi-arid ecosystems. We have synthesized data on the land-atmosphere exchange of CO2 measured with the eddy covariance technique from the six existing sites across the Sahel, one of the largest semi-arid regions in the world. The overall aim of the study is to analyse and quantify the spatiotemporal...... variability in these fluxes and to analyse to which degree spatiotemporal variation can be explained by hydrological, climatic, edaphic and vegetation variables. All ecosystems were C sinks (average ± total error -162 ± 48 g C m-2 y-1), but were smaller when strongly impacted by anthropogenic influences...

Building Bridges between Science Courses Using Honors Organic Chemistry Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Hickey, Timothy; Pontrello, Jason

2016-01-01

Introductory undergraduate science courses are traditionally offered as distinct units without formalized student interaction between classes. To bridge science courses, the authors used three Honors Organic Chemistry projects paired with other science courses. The honors students delivered presentations to mainstream organic course students and…

Mesoscale modeling of smoke radiative feedback over the Sahel region

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Z.; Wang, J.; Ichoku, C. M.; Ellison, L.; Zhang, F.; Yue, Y.

2013-12-01

This study employs satellite observations and a fully-coupled meteorology-chemistry-aerosol model, Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to study the smoke radative feedback on surface energy budget, boundary layer processes, and atmospheric lapse rate in February 2008 over the Sahel region. The smoke emission inventories we use come from various sources, including but not limited to the Fire Locating and Modeling of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) developed by NRL and the Fire Energetic and Emissions Research (FEER) developed by NASA GSFC. Model performance is evaluated using numerous satellite and ground-based datasets: MODIS true color images, ground-based Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements from AERONET, MODIS AOD retrievals, and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar data with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) atmospheric backscattering and extinction products. Specification of smoke injection height of 650 m in WRF-Chem yields aerosol vertical profiles that are most consistent with CALIOP observations of aerosol layer height. Statistically, 5% of the CALIPSO valid measurements of aerosols in February 2008 show aerosol layers either above the clouds or between the clouds, reinforcing the importance of the aerosol vertical distribution for quantifying aerosol impact on climate in the Sahel region. The results further show that the smoke radiative feedbacks are sensitive to assumptions of black carbon and organic carbon ratio in the particle emission inventory. Also investigated is the smoke semi-direct effect as a function of cloud fraction.

Setting Them Free: Students as Co-Producers of Honors Education

Science.gov (United States)

van Gorp, Bouke; Wolfensberger, Marca V. C.; de Jong, Nelleke

2012-01-01

While the attractions and advantages of freedom that differentiates honors education from regular teaching are both theoretically and practically significant, the authors' experience at Utrecht University in the Netherlands has demonstrated drawbacks that need to be addressed and resolved in creating effective honors education. Freedom poses…

Evaluation of CMIP5 models in the context of food security assessments in Sahel and Eastern Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Shukla, S.; Funk, C. C.; Dettinger, M. D.; Robertson, F. R.

2012-12-01

Global climate change will adversely impact agricultural production in many African countries, mainly in the Sahel region and Eastern Africa that are already considered food insecure regions. The impacts of climate change will be particularly severe in these food insecure countries due to their high dependence on domestic agriculture production, rapid population growth, and lack of technological advances. Early planning and the targeted use of resources will therefore be critical to informing and motivating climate change adaptation actions that can save lives and mitigate economic losses. We seek to use Climate Model Intercomparison Project Phase-5 (CMIP5) global climate model projections to assess and attribute food and water security conditions in the above mentioned regions over next two decades or so. As a first order of business, however, we need to understand how the different models represent the tropical ocean response to anthropogenic warming. We pursue this question through an evaluation of the performance of eight different coupled ocean-atmosphere models under the conditions of the 'historical' experiment. The historical experiment forces the simulations with observed 1850-2005 greenhouse gas, aerosol and land cover. While all the models show substantial warming of the tropical oceans, the pattern and atmospheric response to that warming varies substantially. This analysis suggests that the Community Climate System Model (CCSM4) provides the most realistic 1850-2005 changes over the Indo-Pacific. We then present initial downscaling results, based on large scale forcing from the CCSM4, combined with statistical downscaling based on a combination of monthly simulations from Community Atmopsheric Model 4 (CAM4) and observed gridded time series of African rainfall and air temperatures.

Reduction of tree cover in West African woodlands and promotion in semi-arid farmlands

Science.gov (United States)

Brandt, Martin; Rasmussen, Kjeld; Hiernaux, Pierre; Herrmann, Stefanie; Tucker, Compton J.; Tong, Xiaoye; Tian, Feng; Mertz, Ole; Kergoat, Laurent; Mbow, Cheikh; David, John L.; Melocik, Katherine A.; Dendoncker, Morgane; Vincke, Caroline; Fensholt, Rasmus

2018-05-01

Woody vegetation in farmland acts as a carbon sink and provides ecosystem services for local people, but no macroscale assessments of the impact of management and climate on woody cover exist for drylands. Here we make use of very high spatial resolution satellite imagery to derive wall-to-wall woody cover patterns in tropical West African drylands. Our study reveals that mean woody cover in farmlands along all semi-arid and sub-humid rainfall zones is 16%, on average only 6% lower than in savannahs. In semi-arid Sahel, farmland management promotes woody cover around villages (11%), while neighbouring savannahs had on average less woody cover. However, farmlands in sub-humid zones have a greatly reduced woody cover (21%) as compared with savannahs (33%). In the region as a whole, rainfall, terrain and soil are the most important (80%) determinants of woody cover, while management factors play a smaller (20%) role. We conclude that agricultural expansion causes a considerable reduction of trees in woodlands, but observations in Sahel indicate that villagers safeguard trees on nearby farmlands which contradicts simplistic ideas of a high negative correlation between population density and woody cover.

A model of tree-crop competition for windbreaks systems in the Sahel : description and evaluation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mayus, M.; Keulen, van H.; Stroosnijder, L.

1999-01-01

A model was developed to simulate the effects of competition for soil water and radiation between windbreaks and pearl millet crops in the Sahel. These effects on millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) growth were simultaneously simulated for each millet row parallel to the windbreak with small

Fine-scale spatial distribution of plants and resources on a sandy soil in the Sahel

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rietkerk, M.G.; Ouedraogo, T.; Kumar, L.; Sanou, S.; Langevelde, F. van; Kiema, A.; Koppel, J. van de; Andel, J. van; Hearne, J.; Skidmore, A.K.; Ridder, N. de; Stroosnijder, L.; Prins, H.H.T.

2002-01-01

We studied fine-scale spatial plant distribution in relation to the spatial distribution of erodible soil particles, organic matter, nutrients and soil water on a sandy to sandy loam soil in the Sahel. We hypothesized that the distribution of annual plants would be highly spatially autocorrelated

Honors Programs at Smaller Colleges. 3rd Edition. National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series

Science.gov (United States)

Schuman, Samuel

2011-01-01

This monograph focuses upon areas of special concern to those working with honors at smaller colleges and universities: mission, recruitment, facilities, administration, budget, and curriculum. In each area, the author makes some general suggestions about overall operating principles, note specific issues that can lead to difficulties, and suggest…

Hearts and Minds: Honors Programs in North American Christian Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Bratt, Kenneth

2010-01-01

For readers outside North America, the concept of "honors education" may be confusing (since the word honours features in British and Commonwealth degree titles) or obscure (bringing to mind associations with aristocratic privilege or elitist competition). But in the United States the development of honors programs in colleges, and later honors…

Household possession, use and non-use of treated or untreated mosquito nets in two ecologically diverse regions of Nigeria – Niger Delta and Sahel Savannah

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Otsemobor Peju

2009-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Current use of treated mosquito nets for the prevention of malaria falls short of what is expected in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA, though research within the continent has indicated that the use of these commodities can reduce malaria morbidity by 50% and malaria mortality by 20%. Governments in sub-Sahara Africa are investing substantially in scaling-up treated mosquito net coverage for impact. However, certain significant factors still prevent the use of the treated mosquito nets, even among those who possess them. This survey examines household ownership as well as use and non-use of treated mosquito nets in Sahel Savannah and Niger Delta regions of Nigeria. Methodology This survey employed cross-sectional survey to collect data from households on coverage and use of mosquito nets, whether treated or not. Fever episodes in previous two weeks among children under the age of five were also recorded. The study took place in August 1 – 14 2007, just five months after the March distribution of treated mosquito nets, coinciding with the second raining period of the year and a time of high malaria transmission during the wet season. EPI INFO version 2003 was used in data analysis. Results The survey covered 439 households with 2,521 persons including 739 under-fives, 585 women in reproductive age and 78 pregnant women in Niger Delta Region and Sahel Savannah Region. Of the 439 HHs, 232 had any mosquito nets. Significantly higher proportion of households in the Niger Delta Region had any treated or untreated mosquito nets than those in the Sahel Savannah Region. In the Niger Delta Region, the proportion of under-fives that had slept under treated nets the night before the survey exceeded those that slept under treated nets in the Sahel Savannah Region. Children under the age of five years in the Niger Delta Region were four times more likely to sleep under treated nets than those in the Sahel Savannah Region. Conclusion This study

Isotope hydrology in the Sahel zone

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1974-01-01

Northern Africa has recently experienced an exceptional period of severe drought. Practically no precipitation has been received during two or three years by large regions in the so-called Sahel zone, which extends over all Africa from West to East at a latitude between 10 and 20 degrees North in the following countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Upper Volta, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia. Although precipitation is scarce even in normal years, important groundwater resources are present in the Sahei zone. However, groundwater is exploited mainly by dug wells, reaching only the upper part of the phreatic aquifer, which is also the one immediately affected by droughts (lowering of the water table). Deep groundwater is exploited only by a limited number of drilled wells. In recent years several hydrogeological projects have been financed by the United Nations through UNDP in the Sahel countries, with the purpose of locating and evaluating groundwater resources and of developing their exploitation. The International Atomic Energy Agency has taken or takes part in many of these projects by providing isotopic analyses of groundwater. Some of the most difficult questions to be answered in groundwater research in arid zones are: Is the recharge of a given aquifer also taking place at present? If so, from where does the major contribution to groundwater recharge come? What is the age of groundwater? Often it is not possible to answer these questions with the classical hydrogeological and geophysical methods above, but the techniques based on the so-called environmental isotopes ( 18 O and 2 H, 3 H and 14 C) may provide an answer. The information provided by isotope techniques is in many cases extremely valuable for a better understanding of groundwater resources and a better planning of their exploitation, despite the problems which always occur in actual cases. In fact, natural processes, like mixing or interaction with the aquifer material, or practical

Life history, code of honor, and emotional responses to inequality in an economic game.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Eric J; Forster, Daniel E; McCullough, Michael E

2014-10-01

The code of honor, which is characterized by a preoccupation with reputation and willingness to take retaliatory action, has been used extensively to explain individual and cultural differences in peoples' tendencies to behave aggressively. However, research on the relationship between the code of honor and emotional responses to social interactions has been limited in scope, focusing primarily on anger in response to insults and reputational threats. Here we broaden this scope by examining the relationship between code of honor and emotional reactions in response to an unfair economic exchange that resulted in unequal monetary earnings among 3 laboratory participants. We found that endorsement of the code of honor was related to anger and envy in response to unfair monetary distributions. Interestingly, code of honor predicted envy above and beyond what could be accounted for by anger, but the converse was not the case. This suggests that the code of honor influenced perceptions of how subjects viewed their own earnings relative to those of others, which consequently was responsible for their apparent anger as a result of the economic transaction. Furthermore, the unique relationship between code of honor and envy was present only for subjects who received unfair treatment and not for subjects who merely witnessed unfair treatment. Additionally, we replicated previous findings that harsh childhood environmental conditions are associated with endorsement of the code of honor, highlighting the potential value of incorporating a life history theoretical approach to investigating individual differences in endorsement of the code of honor. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Honors Thesis Preparation: Evidence of the Benefits of Structured Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, Steven

2016-01-01

A recent study of honors curricula across the nation indicates that 75.6% of honors programs and colleges at four-year institutions have thesis or capstone requirements (Savage and Cognard-Black). In addition to institutions with thesis requirements, many more also have the option for students to complete theses. For example, an earlier study…

Using Case Studies to Teach About Global Issues, The Sahel: The "Shore" of Disaster

Science.gov (United States)

Hall, Susan J.

1974-01-01

Sahel is the Arabic word for "shore" and is applied to the Southern belt of the Sahara Desert now undergoing a severe drought. This article describes the lifestyle of a Tuareg herder as he and his family fight for survival. Discussion questions and possible solution to the problems are provided in the case study. (Author/DE)

Male honor and female fidelity: implicit cultural scripts that perpetuate domestic violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandello, Joseph A; Cohen, Dov

2003-05-01

Two studies explored how domestic violence may be implicitly or explicitly sanctioned and reinforced in cultures where honor is a salient organizing theme. Three general predictions were supported: (a) female infidelity damages a man's reputation, particularly in honor cultures; (b) this reputation can be partially restored through the use of violence; and (c) women in honor cultures are expected to remain loyal in the face of jealousy-related violence. Study 1 involved participants from Brazil (an honor culture) and the United States responding to written vignettes involving infidelity and violence in response to infidelity. Study 2 involved southern Anglo, Latino, and northern Anglo participants witnessing a "live" incident of aggression against a woman (actually a confederate) and subsequently interacting with her.

Future supply and demand of net primary production in the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Sallaba, Florian; Olin, Stefan; Engström, Kerstin; Abdi, Abdulhakim M.; Boke-Olén, Niklas; Lehsten, Veiko; Ardö, Jonas; Seaquist, Jonathan W.

2017-12-01

In the 21st century, climate change in combination with increasing demand, mainly from population growth, will exert greater pressure on the ecosystems of the Sahel to supply food and feed resources. The balance between supply and demand, defined as the annual biomass required for human consumption, serves as a key metric for quantifying basic resource shortfalls over broad regions.Here we apply an exploratory modelling framework to analyse the variations in the timing and geography of different NPP (net primary production) supply-demand scenarios, with distinct assumptions determining supply and demand, for the 21st century Sahel. We achieve this by coupling a simple NPP supply model forced with projections from four representative concentration pathways with a global, reduced-complexity demand model driven by socio-economic data and assumptions derived from five shared socio-economic pathways.For the scenario that deviates least from current socio-economic and climate trends, we find that per capita NPP begins to outstrip supply in the 2040s, while by 2050 half the countries in the Sahel experience NPP shortfalls. We also find that despite variations in the timing of the onset of NPP shortfalls, demand cannot consistently be met across the majority of scenarios. Moreover, large between-country variations are shown across the scenarios, in which by the year 2050 some countries consistently experience shortage or surplus, while others shift from surplus to shortage. At the local level (i.e. grid cell), hotspots of total NPP shortfall consistently occur in the same locations across all scenarios but vary in size and magnitude. These hotspots are linked to population density and high demand. For all scenarios, total simulated NPP supply doubles by 2050 but is outpaced by increasing demand due to a combination of population growth and the adoption of diets rich in animal products. Finally, variations in the timing of the onset and end of supply shortfalls stem from

Do state-of-the-art CMIP5 ESMs accurately represent observed vegetation-rainfall feedbacks? Focus on the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Notaro, M.; Wang, F.; Yu, Y.; Mao, J.; Shi, X.; Wei, Y.

2017-12-01

The semi-arid Sahel ecoregion is an established hotspot of land-atmosphere coupling. Ocean-land-atmosphere interactions received considerable attention by modeling studies in response to the devastating 1970s-90s Sahel drought, which models suggest was driven by sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies and amplified by local vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks. Vegetation affects the atmosphere through biophysical feedbacks by altering the albedo, roughness, and transpiration and thereby modifying exchanges of energy, momentum, and moisture with the atmosphere. The current understanding of these potentially competing processes is primarily based on modeling studies, with biophysical feedbacks serving as a key uncertainty source in regional climate change projections among Earth System Models (ESMs). In order to reduce this uncertainty, it is critical to rigorously evaluate the representation of vegetation feedbacks in ESMs against an observational benchmark in order to diagnose systematic biases and their sources. However, it is challenging to successfully isolate vegetation's feedbacks on the atmosphere, since the atmospheric control on vegetation growth dominates the atmospheric feedback response to vegetation anomalies and the atmosphere is simultaneously influenced by oceanic and terrestrial anomalies. In response to this challenge, a model-validated multivariate statistical method, Stepwise Generalized Equilibrium Feedback Assessment (SGEFA), is developed, which extracts the forcing of a slowly-evolving environmental variable [e.g. SST or leaf area index (LAI)] on the rapidly-evolving atmosphere. By applying SGEFA to observational and remotely-sensed data, an observational benchmark is established for Sahel vegetation feedbacks. In this work, the simulated responses in key atmospheric variables, including evapotranspiration, albedo, wind speed, vertical motion, temperature, stability, and rainfall, to Sahel LAI anomalies are statistically assessed in Coupled Model

M. Deborrah Hyde, MD, MS: the second African-American female neurosurgeon.

Science.gov (United States)

McClelland, Shearwood

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: A less-publicized consequence of the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century is the door of opportunity it provided for African-American women to become neurosurgeons, beginning in 1984 with Alexa I. Canady (University of Minnesota). Unfortunately, the exploits of a contemporary African-American woman neurosurgeon, M. Deborrah Hyde, have remained largely in obscurity. This report details the career and exploits of Hyde, one of the first women to receive neurosurgery training in Ohio. METHODS: A comprehensive review of pertinent modern and historical records spanning the past century was performed. RESULTS: Born in 1949 in Laurel, MS, Hyde received her BS with honors from Tougaloo College in 1969 and her MS in biology at Cleveland State University. Despite being told in medical school that she was not qualified to compete with "better-prepared" nonminority students, Hyde received her MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1977, earning election into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. The next year, she began neurosurgery residency at Case Western under Dr. Robert A. Ratcheson and Dr. Robert F. Spetzler, finishing in 1982 as the program's first female graduate. In 1985, Hyde became the second African-American woman certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and in 1991 she established the Beacon of Hope Scholarship Foundation for underprivileged youth. She has subsequently continued a distinguished career in private practice, presently residing in West Hills, CA. CONCLUSION: Hyde's diligence, perseverance and commitment enabled her to overcome intense sexism and racism to train at Case Western, becoming the second African-American woman neurosurgeon and the third woman trained in Ohio (first and second of which were Carole Miller and Janet Bay). As the first woman to train under Ratcheson and Spetzler, her determination, excellence and generosity continue to inspire people of all races. Images Figure 1

PVO / NGO initiatives. The Global Dialogues Trust -- "Scenarios from the Sahel".

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

Scenarios from the Sahel is an HIV/AIDS prevention project for adolescents and young adults in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, organized by the Global Dialogues Trust and launched in January 1997. The project invites people aged 24 years and younger to engage in a competition in which they write scenarios for a 1-5 minute video on HIV/AIDS. Those 30 scenarios judged to be the most valuable to the HIV/AIDS prevention effort in the Sahel will be developed into video spots by the region's film-makers and screened at cinemas and broadcast on television stations in West Africa. The spots will also be collected upon a compilation video available for use by local nongovernmental organizations in their HIV/AIDS prevention activities in the region. The compilation video will be dubbed from French into local languages and English to facilitate its broad dissemination in the 4 participating countries and their neighbors. The video together with an education pack will also be distributed to local organizations and schools. The project, to be conducted in close partnership with local people and their organizations, will end with its evaluation in June 1998. Global Dialogues Trust is a charitable trust based in the UK dedicated to advance the education of the public throughout the world in all matters concerning the prevention of HIV/AIDS. The organization's main priority is to develop local capacity to fight HIV/AIDS through preventive education.

[Migration and urbanization in the Sahel. Consequences of the Sahelian migrations].

Science.gov (United States)

Traore, S

1997-10-01

The consequences of Sahelian migration are multiple and diverse. In rural areas there may be a loss of income in the short run and a reduced possibility of development in the long run. Apart from its implications for urban growth, Sahelian migration may have four series of consequences in the places of origin. In detaching peasants from their lands, migration may contribute to loss of appreciation and reverence for the lands. Attachment to the lands of the ancestors loses its meaning as soon as questions of survival or economic rationality are raised. Migration contributes to the restructuring of the societies of origin. Increasing monetarization of market relations and introduction of new needs create new norms that favor stronger integration into the world economy. Migration may cause a decline in production because of the loss of the most active population, and it changes the age and sex distribution of households and usually increases their dependency burden. The effects on fertility and mortality are less clear. The effects of migration on the zones of arrival in the Sahel depend on the type of area. Conflicts between natives and in-migrants are common in rural-rural migration. Degradation of land may result from the increased demands placed upon it. Migrants to cities in Africa, and especially in the Sahel, appear to conserve their cultural values and to transplant and reinterpret their village rules of solidarity.

NREL Senior Research Fellow Honored by The Journal of Physical Chemistry |

Science.gov (United States)

News | NREL 7 » NREL Senior Research Fellow Honored by The Journal of Physical Chemistry News Release: NREL Senior Research Fellow Honored by The Journal of Physical Chemistry January 10, 2007 The Journal of Physical Chemistry B. The Dec. 21 issue was titled The Arthur J. Nozik Festschrift (Volume 110

Determination of stable and radioactive isotopes in rain water for the equatorial and Sahel zones

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baudet, J.; Lesne, H.

1975-01-01

The extension of desert zones to detriment of Sahel zones lead to look for the circuit followed by water vapor between its principal source, i.e. the Guinea Gulf, and the place where it is changed in precipitation. Samples of rainwater have been collected in Abidjan, Ouagadougou, and Niamey when the Intertropical Front was beginning its moving down towards the South, i.e. at the end of the rainy season for the Sahel zone, and at the beginning of the small rainy season for the equatorial zone. The analysis of these tritium, deuterium and oxygen-18 contents show that: the rains collected in Abidjan comes mainly from Ocean; the rains collected in Ouagadougou and Niamey have followed a long journey above the continent, as shown by the tritium content. The water evaporated in the Guinea Gulf is condensed in the convergence zone above Cameroon, and mixed with re-evaporated continental water. The content of one of the Ouagadougou sample shows that the rain issued from a local cumulonimbus has drawn a part of its water from the stratosphere [fr

Minorities and Women and Honors Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, Maria Luisa Alvarez

1986-01-01

Although honors education can be a key to the liberation of women and minorities, both groups continue to be underrepresented, perhaps because bright women and minority students are uncomfortable displaying their talents and adding pressure in an already stressful situation. (MSE)

On the data-driven inference of modulatory networks in climate science: an application to West African rainfall

Science.gov (United States)

González, D. L., II; Angus, M. P.; Tetteh, I. K.; Bello, G. A.; Padmanabhan, K.; Pendse, S. V.; Srinivas, S.; Yu, J.; Semazzi, F.; Kumar, V.; Samatova, N. F.

2015-01-01

Decades of hypothesis-driven and/or first-principles research have been applied towards the discovery and explanation of the mechanisms that drive climate phenomena, such as western African Sahel summer rainfall~variability. Although connections between various climate factors have been theorized, not all of the key relationships are fully understood. We propose a data-driven approach to identify candidate players in this climate system, which can help explain underlying mechanisms and/or even suggest new relationships, to facilitate building a more comprehensive and predictive model of the modulatory relationships influencing a climate phenomenon of interest. We applied coupled heterogeneous association rule mining (CHARM), Lasso multivariate regression, and dynamic Bayesian networks to find relationships within a complex system, and explored means with which to obtain a consensus result from the application of such varied methodologies. Using this fusion of approaches, we identified relationships among climate factors that modulate Sahel rainfall. These relationships fall into two categories: well-known associations from prior climate knowledge, such as the relationship with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and putative links, such as North Atlantic Oscillation, that invite further research.

Hydrodynamic behaviour of crusted soils in the Sahel: a possible cause for runoff increase?

Science.gov (United States)

Malam Abdou, M.; Vandervaere, J.-P.; Bouzou Moussa, I.; Descroix, L.

2012-04-01

Crusted soils are in extension in the Sahel. As rainfall has decreased over the past decades (it is now increasing again in the central Sahel) and no significant change was observed in rainfall intensity and in its time and space distribution, it is supposed that land use management is the main cause for crusts cover increase. Fallow shortening, lack of manure, and land overexploitation (wood harvesting, overgrazing) are frequently cited as main factors of soil degradation. Based on field measurements in some small catchments of Western Niger, the hydrodynamics behaviour of the newly crusted soils of this area is described, mostly constituted by erosion crusts. A strong fall in soil saturated conductivity and in the active porosity as well as a rise in bulk density all lead to a quick onset of runoff production. Results are shown from field experiments in sedimentary and basement areas leading to similar conclusions. In both contexts, runoff plot production was measured at the rain event scale from 10-m2 parcels as well as at the catchment outlet. Soil saturated conductivity was reduced by one order of magnitude when crusting occurs, leading to a sharp runoff coefficient increase, from 4% in a weeded millet field and 10% in an old fallow to more than 60% in a erosion-crusted topsoil at the plot scale. At the experimental catchment scale, runoff coefficient has doubled in less than 20 years. In pure Sahelian basins, this resulted in endorheism breaching, and in a widespread river discharge increase. For some right bank tributaries of the Niger River, discharge is three times higher now than before the drought years, in spite of the remaining rainfall deficit. On the other hand, a general increase in flooding hazard frequency is observed in the whole Sahelian stripe. The role of surface crusts in the Sahel is discussed leading to the implementation of new experiments in the future.

Nursing Care at the Time of Death: A Bathing and Honoring Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodgers, Debra; Calmes, Beth; Grotts, Jonathan

2016-05-01

To explore family members' experience of a bathing and honoring practice after a loved one's death in the acute care setting.
. A descriptive, qualitative design using a semistructured telephone interview script.
. The Inpatient Adult Oncology Unit at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California. 
. 13 family members who participated in the bathing and honoring practice after their loved one's death on the oncology unit.
. Participants were selected by purposive sampling and interviewed by telephone three to six months after their loved one's death. Interviews using a semistructured script with open-ended questions were recorded, transcribed, verified, and analyzed using phenomenologic research techniques to identify common themes of experience.
. 24 first-level themes and 11 superordinate themes emerged from the data. All participants indicated that the bathing and honoring practice was a positive experience and supported the grieving process. The majority found the practice to be meaningful and stated that it honored their loved one. Many expressed that the bathing and honoring was spiritually significant in a nondenominational way and that they hope it will be made available to all families of patients who die in the hospital. 
. After patient death, a bathing and honoring practice with family member participation is positive and meaningful, and it supports family members' initial grieving.
. This study is a first step toward establishing specific nursing interventions as evidence-based practice that can be incorporated in routine nursing care for patients and families at the end of life.

2000 Honor List: A Hopeful Bunch.

Science.gov (United States)

Nilsen, Alleen Pace; Donelson, Ken; Blasingame, James, Jr.

2001-01-01

Presents 11 titles selected for the 2000 Honor List for young adult literature. Notes that the books were selected by combining their favorites with the best-book list compiled by the editors of such publications as "School Library Journal,""Booklist," and "Horn Book." (SG)

Intercomparison and analyses of the climatology of the West African monsoon in the West African monsoon modeling and evaluation project (WAMME) first model intercomparison experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xue, Yongkang; Sales, Fernando De [University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Lau, W.K.M.; Schubert, Siegfried D.; Wu, Man-Li C. [NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Boone, Aaron [Centre National de Recherches Meteorologiques, Meteo-France Toulouse, Toulouse (France); Feng, Jinming [University of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Beijing (China); Dirmeyer, Paul; Guo, Zhichang [Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Calverton, MD (United States); Kim, Kyu-Myong [University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD (United States); Kitoh, Akio [Meteorological Research Institute, Tsukuba (Japan); Kumar, Vadlamani [National Center for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Wyle Information Systems, Gaithersburg, MD (United States); Poccard-Leclercq, Isabelle [Universite de Bourgogne, Centre de Recherches de Climatologie UMR5210 CNRS, Dijon (France); Mahowald, Natalie [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Moufouma-Okia, Wilfran; Rowell, David P. [Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom); Pegion, Phillip [NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States); National Center for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Schemm, Jae; Thiaw, Wassila M. [National Center for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Sealy, Andrea [The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, St. James (Barbados); Vintzileos, Augustin [National Center for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Science Applications International Corporation, Camp Springs, MD (United States); Williams, Steven F. [National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)

2010-07-15

This paper briefly presents the West African monsoon (WAM) modeling and evaluation project (WAMME) and evaluates WAMME general circulation models' (GCM) performances in simulating variability of WAM precipitation, surface temperature, and major circulation features at seasonal and intraseasonal scales in the first WAMME experiment. The analyses indicate that models with specified sea surface temperature generally have reasonable simulations of the pattern of spatial distribution of WAM seasonal mean precipitation and surface temperature as well as the averaged zonal wind in latitude-height cross-section and low level circulation. But there are large differences among models in simulating spatial correlation, intensity, and variance of precipitation compared with observations. Furthermore, the majority of models fail to produce proper intensities of the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) and the tropical easterly jet. AMMA Land Surface Model Intercomparison Project (ALMIP) data are used to analyze the association between simulated surface processes and the WAM and to investigate the WAM mechanism. It has been identified that the spatial distributions of surface sensible heat flux, surface temperature, and moisture convergence are closely associated with the simulated spatial distribution of precipitation; while surface latent heat flux is closely associated with the AEJ and contributes to divergence in AEJ simulation. Common empirical orthogonal functions (CEOF) analysis is applied to characterize the WAM precipitation evolution and has identified a major WAM precipitation mode and two temperature modes (Sahara mode and Sahel mode). Results indicate that the WAMME models produce reasonable temporal evolutions of major CEOF modes but have deficiencies/uncertainties in producing variances explained by major modes. Furthermore, the CEOF analysis shows that WAM precipitation evolution is closely related to the enhanced Sahara mode and the weakened Sahel mode, supporting

Don't Trust the Big Man

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Coerr, Stanton S

2008-01-01

The African region below the Sahel, with its legacy of racist European colonial rule followed in the early 1960s by the emergence of incompetent, kleptocratic, and ruthless African rule, is dominated...

The effect of irrigated rice cropping on the alkalinity of two alkaline rice soils in the Sahel

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Asten, van P.J.A.; Zelfde, van 't J.A.; Zee, van der S.E.A.T.M.; Hammecker, C.

2004-01-01

Irrigated rice cropping is practiced to reclaim alkaline-sodic soils in many parts of the world. This practice is in apparent contrast with earlier studies in the Sahel, which suggests that irrigated rice cropping may lead to the formation of alkaline-sodic soils. Soil column experiments were done

Honors Anthropology and the Four Rs.

Science.gov (United States)

Farrer, Claire R.

1990-01-01

Describes an honors introductory cultural anthropology course taught at California State University, Chico. Discusses the course design, how course information is made relevant and reinforced, and how students have partial responsibility for the course design. Discusses the use of science fiction books to make material relevant to students. (JS)

Developing a Shuffled Complex-Self Adaptive Hybrid Evolution (SC-SAHEL) Framework for Water Resources Management and Water-Energy System Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Rahnamay Naeini, M.; Sadegh, M.; AghaKouchak, A.; Hsu, K. L.; Sorooshian, S.; Yang, T.

2017-12-01

Meta-Heuristic optimization algorithms have gained a great deal of attention in a wide variety of fields. Simplicity and flexibility of these algorithms, along with their robustness, make them attractive tools for solving optimization problems. Different optimization methods, however, hold algorithm-specific strengths and limitations. Performance of each individual algorithm obeys the "No-Free-Lunch" theorem, which means a single algorithm cannot consistently outperform all possible optimization problems over a variety of problems. From users' perspective, it is a tedious process to compare, validate, and select the best-performing algorithm for a specific problem or a set of test cases. In this study, we introduce a new hybrid optimization framework, entitled Shuffled Complex-Self Adaptive Hybrid EvoLution (SC-SAHEL), which combines the strengths of different evolutionary algorithms (EAs) in a parallel computing scheme, and allows users to select the most suitable algorithm tailored to the problem at hand. The concept of SC-SAHEL is to execute different EAs as separate parallel search cores, and let all participating EAs to compete during the course of the search. The newly developed SC-SAHEL algorithm is designed to automatically select, the best performing algorithm for the given optimization problem. This algorithm is rigorously effective in finding the global optimum for several strenuous benchmark test functions, and computationally efficient as compared to individual EAs. We benchmark the proposed SC-SAHEL algorithm over 29 conceptual test functions, and two real-world case studies - one hydropower reservoir model and one hydrological model (SAC-SMA). Results show that the proposed framework outperforms individual EAs in an absolute majority of the test problems, and can provide competitive results to the fittest EA algorithm with more comprehensive information during the search. The proposed framework is also flexible for merging additional EAs, boundary

Assessing the long-term effects of the Sahel drought on ponds and semi-arid hydrology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gal, L.; Grippa, M.; Kergoat, L.; Hiernaux, P.; Peugeot, C.; Mougin, E.

2015-12-01

The Sahel underwent a severe rainfall deficit in the late 20th century, with extreme droughts in the early 70s and early 80s. This drought is the strongest multidecadal drought of the 20th century, globally. It has strongly impacted ecosystems, water availability, and populations. However, an increase of surface water has been observed during the same period: higher discharge of Sahelian rivers, and a general increase in pond's surface. This phenomenon, "less rain but more surface runoff", is referred to as the "Sahelian paradox". The causes of this paradox are still debated. The role of the significant increase in cropped areas, often cited for cultivated Sahel, does not hold for pastoral areas in central and northern Sahel. Degradation of vegetation as a result of the drought, soils erosion, may also play an important role. Most Sahelian watersheds are still poorly gauged or ungauged, which makes it difficult to quantify surface runoff and its determinants. A method is developed to estimate runoff over ungauged ponds watersheds. It is tested for the Agoufou pond in the Gourma region in Mali, where in situ data are available for 2007-2014. A 3D model is first developed to relate water volume to height surface. This model is combined with daily evaporation and precipitation, to estimate the water supply to the pond which is a proxy for runoff over the watershed. This model highlights a spectacular increase of the runoff coefficient over the last 60 years. The method is then applied to two ungauged Sahelian watersheds in Mauritania and Niger, where pond surfaces by remote sensing are the only information. The runoff coefficients also increased in the last 60 years over these watersheds. The runoff derived for the Agoufou pond is used to evaluate simulations with the KINEROS2 model. We discuss to what extent the changes in rain intensity, soil hydrological properties and land-use land cover are able to cause the observed change in runoff over the last 60 years.

The significance of drinking water for population migration in the Sahel zone of the Republic of Sudan.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruppert, H

1991-01-01

This study examines how the availability of water supplies affects migration in the Sahel region of Sudan. More particularly, the author shows that "through the development of watering-places and the opening-up of new water resources, the government influences considerably processes of population migration and regional concentrations of population groups." excerpt

Long-Term Monitoring of Water Dynamics in the Sahel Region Using the Multi-Sar

Science.gov (United States)

Bertram, A.; Wendleder, A.; Schmitt, A.; Huber, M.

2016-06-01

Fresh water is a scarce resource in the West-African Sahel region, seasonally influenced by droughts and floods. Particularly in terms of climate change, the importance of wetlands increases for flora, fauna, human population, agriculture, livestock and fishery. Hence, access to open water is a key factor. Long-term monitoring of water dynamics is of great importance, especially with regard to the spatio-temporal extend of wetlands and drylands. It can predict future trends and facilitate the development of adequate management strategies. Lake Tabalak, a Ramsar wetland of international importance, is one of the most significant ponds in Niger and a refuge for waterbirds. Nevertheless, human population growth increased the pressure on this ecosystem, which is now degrading for all uses. The main objective of the study is a long-term monitoring of the Lake Tabalak's water dynamics to delineate permanent and seasonal water bodies, using weather- and daytime-independent multi-sensor and multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data available for the study area. Data of the following sensors from 1993 until 2016 are used: Sentinel-1A, TerraSARX, ALOS PALSAR-1/2, Envisat ASAR, RADARSAT-1/2, and ERS-1/2. All SAR data are processed with the Multi-SAR-System, unifying the different characteristics of all above mentioned sensors in terms of geometric, radiometric and polarimetric resolution to a consistent format. The polarimetric representation in Kennaugh elements allows fusing single-polarized data acquired by older sensors with multi-polarized data acquired by current sensors. The TANH-normalization guarantees a consistent and therefore comparable description in a closed data range in terms of radiometry. The geometric aspect is solved by projecting all images to an earth-fixed coordinate system correcting the brightness by the help of the incidence angle. The elevation model used in the geocoding step is the novel global model produced by the TanDEM-X satellite

Advances in monitoring vegetation and land use dynamics in the Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mbow, Cheikh; Fensholt, Rasmus; Nielsen, Thomas Theis

2014-01-01

of CO2 in the atmosphere, grazing pressure, bush fires and agricultural expansion or contraction. The use of satellite data in combination with field data played a major role in the monitoring of vegetation dynamics and land use in the Sahel, since the mega drought of the 1970s and the 1980s. This paper...... briefly reviews the advance of satellite-based monitoring of vegetation dynamics over these 40 years. We discuss the promises of current and likely future data sources and analysis tools, as well as the need to strengthen in situ data collection to support and validate satellite-based vegetation and land...

Water, energy and CO2 exchange over a seasonally flooded forest in the Sahel.

Science.gov (United States)

Kergoat, L.; Le Dantec, V.; Timouk, F.; Hiernaux, P.; Mougin, E.; Manuela, G.; Diawara, M.

2014-12-01

In semi-arid areas like the Sahel, perennial water bodies and temporary-flooded lowlands are critical for a number of activities. In some cases, their existence is simply a necessary condition for human societies to establish. They also play an important role in the water and carbon cycle and have strong ecological values. As a result of the strong multi-decadal drought that impacted the Sahel in the 70' to 90', a paradoxical increase of ponds and surface runoff has been observed ("Less rain, more water in the ponds", Gardelle 2010). In spite of this, there are excessively few data documenting the consequence of such a paradox on the water and carbon cycle. Here we present 2 years of eddy covariance data collected over the Kelma flooded Acacia forest in the Sahel (15.50 °N), in the frame of the AMMA project. The flooded forest is compared to the other major component of this Sahelian landscape: a grassland and a rocky outcrop sites. All sites are involved in the ALMIP2 data/LSM model comparison. The seasonal cycle of the flooded forest strongly departs from the surroundings grassland and bare soil sites. Before the rain season, the forest displays the strongest net radiation and sensible heat flux. Air temperature within the canopy reaches extremely high values. During the flood, it turns to the lowest sensible heat flux. In fact, due to an oasis effect, this flux is negative during the late flood. Water fluxes turn from almost zero in the dry season to strong evaporation during the flood, since it uses additional energy provided by negative sensible heat flux. The eddy covariance fluxes are consistent with sap flow data, showing that the flood greatly increases the length of the growing season. CO2 fluxes over the forest were twice as large as over the grassland, and the growing season was also longer, giving a much larger annual photosynthesis. In view of these data and data over surroundings grasslands and bare soil, as well as data from a long-term ecological

Revisiting historical climatic signals to better explore the future: prospects of water cycle changes in Central Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Leauthaud, C.; Demarty, J.; Cappelaere, B.; Grippa, M.; Kergoat, L.; Velluet, C.; Guichard, F.; Mougin, E.; Chelbi, S.; Sultan, B.

2015-06-01

Rainfall and climatic conditions are the main drivers of natural and cultivated vegetation productivity in the semiarid region of Central Sahel. In a context of decreasing cultivable area per capita, understanding and predicting changes in the water cycle are crucial. Yet, it remains challenging to project future climatic conditions in West Africa since there is no consensus on the sign of future precipitation changes in simulations coming from climate models. The Sahel region has experienced severe climatic changes in the past 60 years that can provide a first basis to understand the response of the water cycle to non-stationary conditions in this part of the world. The objective of this study was to better understand the response of the water cycle to highly variable climatic regimes in Central Sahel using historical climate records and the coupling of a land surface energy and water model with a vegetation model that, when combined, simulated the Sahelian water, energy and vegetation cycles. To do so, we relied on a reconstructed long-term climate series in Niamey, Republic of Niger, in which three precipitation regimes can be distinguished with a relative deficit exceeding 25% for the driest period compared to the wettest period. Two temperature scenarios (+2 and +4 °C) consistent with future warming scenarios were superimposed to this climatic signal to generate six virtual future 20-year climate time series. Simulations by the two coupled models forced by these virtual scenarios showed a strong response of the water budget and its components to temperature and precipitation changes, including decreases in transpiration, runoff and drainage for all scenarios but those with highest precipitation. Such climatic changes also strongly impacted soil temperature and moisture. This study illustrates the potential of using the strong climatic variations recorded in the past decades to better understand potential future climate variations.

And the Top Honor Goes to Voc Ed.

Science.gov (United States)

Hettinger, James

1998-01-01

Ray Chelewski is the first vocational-technical educator to win Walt Disney's top teaching honor. Chelewski is an agriculture teacher at the Presque Isle Regional Technology Center in northeast Maine. (JOW)

Rebuilding resilience in the Sahel: Regreening in the Maradi and Zinder regions of Niger

OpenAIRE

Sendzimir, J.; Reij, C.P.; Magnuszewski, P.

2011-01-01

The societies and ecosystems of the Nigerien Sahel appeared increasingly vulnerable to climatic and economic uncertainty in the late twentieth century. Severe episodes of drought and famine drove massive livestock losses and human migration and mortality. Soil erosion and tree loss reduced a woodland to a scrub steppe and fed a myth of the Sahara desert relentlessly advancing southward. Over the past two decades this myth has been shattered by the dramatic reforestation of more than 5 million...

The Crop Risk Zones Monitoring System for resilience to drought in the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Vignaroli, Patrizio; Rocchi, Leandro; De Filippis, Tiziana; Tarchiani, Vieri; Bacci, Maurizio; Toscano, Piero; Pasqui, Massimiliano; Rapisardi, Elena

2016-04-01

Food security is still one of the major concerns that Sahelian populations have to face. In the Sahel, agriculture is primarily based on rainfed crops and it is often structurally inadequate to manage the climatic variability. The predominantly rainfed cropping system of Sahel region is dependent on season quality on a year-to-year basis, and susceptible to weather extremes of droughts and extreme temperatures. Low water-storage capacity and high dependence on rainfed agriculture leave the agriculture sector even more vulnerable to climate risks. Crop yields may suffer significantly with either a late onset or early cessation of the rainy season, as well as with a high frequency of damaging dry spells. Early rains at the beginning of the season are frequently followed by dry spells which may last a week or longer. As the amount of water stored in the soil at this time of the year is negligible, early planted crops can suffer water shortage stresses during a prolonged dry spell. Therefore, the choice of the sowing date is of fundamental importance for farmers. The ability to estimate effectively the onset of the season and potentially dangerous dry spells becomes therefore vital for planning rainfed agriculture practices aiming to minimize risks and maximize yields. In this context, advices to farmers are key drivers for prevention allowing a better adaptation of traditional crop calendar to climatic variability. In the Sahel, particularly in CILSS (Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel) countries, national Early Warning System (EWS) for food security are underpinned by Multidisciplinary Working Groups (MWGs) lead by National Meteorological Services (NMS). The EWSs are mainly based on tools and models utilizing numeric forecasts and satellite data to outlook and monitor the growing season. This approach is focused on the early identification of risks and on the production of information within the prescribed time period for decision

"Shades of Foreign Evil": "Honor Killings" and "Family Murders" in the Canadian Press.

Science.gov (United States)

Shier, Allie; Shor, Eran

2016-09-01

This article compares murder cases labeled "honor killings" with cases labeled "family/spousal murders" in the Canadian news media, exploring the construction of boundaries between these two practices. We conducted a systematic qualitative content analysis, examining a sample of 486 articles from three major Canadian newspapers between 2000 and 2012. Our analysis shows that "honor killings" are framed in terms of culture and ethnic background, presenting a dichotomy between South Asian/Muslim and Western values. Conversely, articles presenting cases as "family/spousal murders" tend to focus on the perpetrators' personalities or psychological characteristics, often ignoring factors such as culture, patriarchy, honor, and shame. © The Author(s) 2015.

What Four Decades of Earth Observation Tell Us about Land Degradation in the Sahel?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheikh Mbow

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The assessment of land degradation and the quantification of its effects on land productivity have been both a scientific and political challenge. After four decades of Earth Observation (EO applications, little agreement has been gained on the magnitude and direction of land degradation in the Sahel. The large number of EO datasets and methods associated with the complex interactions among biophysical and social drivers of ecosystem changes make it difficult to apply aggregated EO indices for these non-linear processes. Hence, while many studies stress that the Sahel is greening, others indicate no trend or browning. The different generations of sensors, the granularity of studies, the study period, the applied indices and the assumptions and/or computational methods impact these trends. Consequently, many uncertainties exist in regression models between rainfall, biomass and various indices that limit the ability of EO science to adequately assess and develop a consistent message on the magnitude of land degradation. We suggest several improvements: (1 harmonize time-series data, (2 promote knowledge networks, (3 improve data-access, (4 fill data gaps, (5 agree on scales and assumptions, (6 set up a denser network of long-term field-surveys and (7 consider local perceptions and social dynamics. To allow multiple perspectives and avoid erroneous interpretations, we underline that EO results should not be interpreted without contextual knowledge.

The Economic Returns to Graduating with Honors - Evidence from Law Graduates

OpenAIRE

Schumann, Mathias; Freier, Ronny; Siedler, Thomas

2014-01-01

This paper studies the causal effects of graduating from university with an honors degree on subsequent labor market outcomes. While a rich body of literature has focused on estimating returns to human capital, few studies have analyzed returns at the very top of the education distribution. We highlight the importance of honors degrees for future labor market success in the context of German law graduates. Using a difference-in-differences research design combined with entropy balancing, we f...

Farmers´ perceptions of climate change and agricultural adaptation strategies in rural Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mertz, Ole; Mbow, Cheikh; Reenberg, Anette

2009-01-01

Farmers in the Sahel have always been facing climatic variability at intra- and inter-annual and decadal time scales. While coping and adaptation strategies have traditionally included crop diversification, mobility, livelihood diversification, and migration, singling out climate as a direct driver...... of changes is not so simple. Using focus group interviews and a household survey, this study analyzes the perceptions of climate change and the strategies for coping and adaptation by sedentary farmers in the savanna zone of central Senegal. Households are aware of climate variability and identify wind...

History of Great Ideas: An Honors Seminar.

Science.gov (United States)

Terrill, Marty; And Others

The History of Great Ideas is an interdisciplinary seminar course for sophomore honor students at North Arkansas Community Technical College that teaches the intellectual history of western civilization. Each semester, students study 14 ideas from science, philosophy, history, religion, sociology, and economics to discover how philosophical…

Masculine and family honor and youth violence: The moderating role of ethnic-cultural affiliation.

Science.gov (United States)

Khoury-Kassabri, Mona

2016-01-01

This study examines the involvement in violent behavior of at-risk Arab and Jewish male youth from a large city in Israel. It explores the role masculine and family honor plays in predicting youth involvement in violence and tests whether this association is moderated by ethnic-cultural affiliation. A total of 282 males (59.2% Arab), aged 15-21, filled out a self-report closed-ended questionnaire. We found that among both Jewish and Arab youth a greater concern with masculine honor was positively associated with involvement in violence. We also found that Arab youth are significantly more involved in violent behavior than Jewish youth, and that Arab participants were more concerned with masculine and family honor. However, contrary to what was expected, greater concern with family honor was associated with lower levels of Arab youth involvement in violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Attitudes of Turkish Academics Regarding Violence Against Women in the Name of Honor.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeşilçiçek Çalik, Kıymet

2017-11-01

Honor is an important concept that has a vital value in Turkey and affects many women's lives and even causes death. It is of utmost importance to know and scientifically demonstrate the value judgments of the academics that lead and pioneer the society in our country where honor culture is adopted. Therefore, in Turkey, where thousands of women are exposed to violence every year, 877 academics participated in this descriptive study to determine the attitudes of academics toward violence against women in the name of honor. The data were collected using "The Scale for Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women in the Name of Honor (SAVWNH)" in the form of electronic questionnaires through email addresses of the academics working at different faculties of the university in the official website of the university in September 1 to October 1, 2015. In our study, academics' "attitudes towards violence against women in the name of honor" were found low. That is, academics had negative attitudes toward the verbal or physical violence against women in the name of honor and opposed to the punishment of women for this reason. Nevertheless, the attitudes of those who were males; those who were not professors, associate professors, and assistant professors; those who were single; those who had lived in the district/village for a long time; those who had arranged marriages; those who used any kind of violence; and those who considered violence as a solution were found somewhat more conventional. These results showed that, for some academics, the traditional beliefs of the Turkish patriarchal society continued to be valid although they were included in university academic cultures. In fact, it is revealed here that social values, traditions, and customs are very effective and important on the formation of personality in socialization process.

Statistical and dynamical assessment of land-ocean-atmosphere interactions across North Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yan

North Africa is highly vulnerable to hydrologic variability and extremes, including impacts of climate change. The current understanding of oceanic versus terrestrial drivers of North African droughts and pluvials is largely model-based, with vast disagreement among models in terms of the simulated oceanic impacts and vegetation feedbacks. Regarding oceanic impacts, the relative importance of the tropical Pacific, tropical Indian, and tropical Atlantic Oceans in regulating the North African rainfall variability, as well as the underlying mechanism, remains debated among different modeling studies. Classic theory of land-atmosphere interactions across the Sahel ecotone, largely based on climate modeling experiments, has promoted positive vegetation-rainfall feedbacks associated with a dominant surface albedo mechanism. However, neither the proposed positive vegetation-rainfall feedback with its underlying albedo mechanism, nor its relative importance compared with oceanic drivers, has been convincingly demonstrated up to now using observational data. Here, the multivariate Generalized Equilibrium Feedback Assessment (GEFA) is applied in order to identify the observed oceanic and terrestrial drivers of North African climate and quantify their impacts. The reliability of the statistical GEFA method is first evaluated against dynamical experiments within the Community Earth System Model (CESM). In order to reduce the sampling error caused by short data records, the traditional GEFA approach is refined through stepwise GEFA, in which unimportant forcings are dropped through stepwise selection. In order to evaluate GEFA's reliability in capturing oceanic impacts, the atmospheric response to a sea-surface temperature (SST) forcing across the tropical Pacific, tropical Indian, and tropical Atlantic Ocean is estimated independently through ensembles of dynamical experiments and compared with GEFA-based assessments. Furthermore, GEFA's performance in capturing terrestrial

An Honors Interdisciplinary Community-Based Research Course

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar, David; Terlecki, Melissa; Watterson, Nancy; Ratmansky, Lisa

2013-01-01

This article describes how two faculty members at Cabrini College--one from biology and the other from psychology--incorporated interdisciplinary community-based research in an honors course on environmental watershed issues. The course, Environmental Psychology, was team-taught in partnership with a local watershed organization, the Valley Creek…

Tailoring an Honors Program to Your Institution.

Science.gov (United States)

Terrill, Marty

The first step in developing the honors program at North Arkansas Community College (NACC) involved establishing the following four program objectives: (1) to develop students' skills in critical thinking, research, and the application of knowledge; (2) to explore the historical, philosophical, and cultural backgrounds of disciplines; (3) to…

LONG-TERM MONITORING OF WATER DYNAMICS IN THE SAHEL REGION USING THE MULTI-SAR-SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Bertram

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Fresh water is a scarce resource in the West-African Sahel region, seasonally influenced by droughts and floods. Particularly in terms of climate change, the importance of wetlands increases for flora, fauna, human population, agriculture, livestock and fishery. Hence, access to open water is a key factor. Long-term monitoring of water dynamics is of great importance, especially with regard to the spatio-temporal extend of wetlands and drylands. It can predict future trends and facilitate the development of adequate management strategies. Lake Tabalak, a Ramsar wetland of international importance, is one of the most significant ponds in Niger and a refuge for waterbirds. Nevertheless, human population growth increased the pressure on this ecosystem, which is now degrading for all uses. The main objective of the study is a long-term monitoring of the Lake Tabalak’s water dynamics to delineate permanent and seasonal water bodies, using weather- and daytime-independent multi-sensor and multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR data available for the study area. Data of the following sensors from 1993 until 2016 are used: Sentinel-1A, TerraSARX, ALOS PALSAR-1/2, Envisat ASAR, RADARSAT-1/2, and ERS-1/2. All SAR data are processed with the Multi-SAR-System, unifying the different characteristics of all above mentioned sensors in terms of geometric, radiometric and polarimetric resolution to a consistent format. The polarimetric representation in Kennaugh elements allows fusing single-polarized data acquired by older sensors with multi-polarized data acquired by current sensors. The TANH-normalization guarantees a consistent and therefore comparable description in a closed data range in terms of radiometry. The geometric aspect is solved by projecting all images to an earth-fixed coordinate system correcting the brightness by the help of the incidence angle. The elevation model used in the geocoding step is the novel global model produced by the

Between honor and shame :|bmartyrdom in 2 Maccabees 6-7 within the socio-cultural arena

OpenAIRE

Hefer, Barend Joachim

2012-01-01

The study, “Between honor and shame: Martyrdom in 2 Maccabees 6-7 within the socio-cultural arena”, presents a look at how the community viewed martyrdom in 2 Maccabees 6:18-7:42 from the perspective of honor and shame. The chief objective is to determine whether or not the community supported or challenged the notion of the martyrs’ death being either honorable or shameful. In order to reach a satisfactory conclusion to this objective, this study set as goals the identification of key themes...

Pembangunan Aplikasi Perhitungan Honor dan Pengukuran Kinerja Asisten Praktikum Berbasis SaaS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fitri Susanti

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Bagi suatu perguruan tinggi, kegiatan praktikum sangat penting untuk mendukung pembelajaran di kelas. Beberapa masalah yang muncul dalam pengelolaan kegiatan praktikum seperti keterlambatan pengumpulan berita acara praktikum (BAP sehingga memperlambat perhitungan, pembayaran dan pelaporan honor asprak. Dibutuhkan waktu sekitar dua minggu untuk rekapitulasi dan validasi ratusan lembar BAP yang telah terkumpul setiap bulannya. Dibutuhkan pengolahan data lebih lanjut untuk menilai kinerja asprak berdasarkan data BAP. Untuk mengatasi permasalahan di atas maka dibangun aplikasi perhitungan honor dan kinerja asprak. Aplikasi ini digunakan untuk mengelola data BAP, perhitungan dan pelaporan honor, perhitungan nilai transkrip aktivitas kemahasiswaan (TAK dan pencetakan sertifikat asprak. Keterbatasan SDM atau biaya menyebabkan tidak semua perguruan tinggi dapat langsung membuat aplikasi yang dibutuhkan. Oleh karena itu aplikasi ini dibangun berbasis Software as A Service (SaaS. Aplikasi ini dikembangkan dengan metode analisis perancangan terstruktur dengan model waterfall. Pengumpulan data kebutuhan aplikasi dilakukan dengan survey ke fakultas-fakultas di Universitas Telkom. Hasilnya dianalisis dan dikembangkan menjadi rancangan aplikasi. Aplikasi diimplementasikan pada pemrograman PHP. Pengujian dilakukan dengan metode black box testing. Hasilnya berupa aplikasi SaaS untuk perhitungan honor dan pengukuran kinerja asisten praktikum. Perguruan tinggi pengguna aplikasi SaaS ini dapat melakukan kostumisasi terhadap fitur yang ada sesuai dengan kebutuhan.

Rainfall over the African continent from the 19th through the 21st century

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Sharon E.; Funk, Chris; Fink, Andreas H.

2018-06-01

Most of the African continent is semi-arid and hence prone to extreme variations in rainfall from year to year. The extreme droughts that have plagued the Sahel and eastern Africa are particularly well known. This article uses a markedly expanded and updated rainfall data set to examine rainfall variability in 13 sectors that cover most of the continent. Annual rainfall is presented for each sector; the March-to-May and October-November seasons are also examined for equatorial sectors. In each case, the article includes the longest and most comprehensive precipitation gauge series ever published. All time series cover at least a century and most cover roughly one and one-half centuries or more. Although towards the end of the 20th century there was a widespread trend towards more arid conditions, few significant trends are evident over the entire period of record. The largest were downward trends in the Sahel and western sectors of North Africa. In those regions, an abrupt reduction in rainfall occurred around 1968, but a synchronous change occurred many other parts of Africa. A recovery did occur in the Sahel, but to varying degrees across the east-west expanse of the region. Noteworthy is that the west-to-east rainfall gradient across the region appears to have weakened in recent decades. For the continent as a whole, another change began in the 1980s decade, with more arid conditions persisting at the continental scale until early in the twenty-first century. No other such period of dry conditions occurred within the roughly one and one-half centuries evaluated here. A notable change also occurred at the seasonal level. During the period 1980 to 1998 rainfall during March-to-May was well below the long-term mean throughout most of the area from 20° N to 35° S. At the same time rainfall was above the long-term mean in most of eastern sectors within this latitude span, indicating a change in the seasonality of rainfall of a large part of Africa.

Future supply and demand of net primary production in the Sahel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Sallaba

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the 21st century, climate change in combination with increasing demand, mainly from population growth, will exert greater pressure on the ecosystems of the Sahel to supply food and feed resources. The balance between supply and demand, defined as the annual biomass required for human consumption, serves as a key metric for quantifying basic resource shortfalls over broad regions.Here we apply an exploratory modelling framework to analyse the variations in the timing and geography of different NPP (net primary production supply–demand scenarios, with distinct assumptions determining supply and demand, for the 21st century Sahel. We achieve this by coupling a simple NPP supply model forced with projections from four representative concentration pathways with a global, reduced-complexity demand model driven by socio-economic data and assumptions derived from five shared socio-economic pathways.For the scenario that deviates least from current socio-economic and climate trends, we find that per capita NPP begins to outstrip supply in the 2040s, while by 2050 half the countries in the Sahel experience NPP shortfalls. We also find that despite variations in the timing of the onset of NPP shortfalls, demand cannot consistently be met across the majority of scenarios. Moreover, large between-country variations are shown across the scenarios, in which by the year 2050 some countries consistently experience shortage or surplus, while others shift from surplus to shortage. At the local level (i.e. grid cell, hotspots of total NPP shortfall consistently occur in the same locations across all scenarios but vary in size and magnitude. These hotspots are linked to population density and high demand. For all scenarios, total simulated NPP supply doubles by 2050 but is outpaced by increasing demand due to a combination of population growth and the adoption of diets rich in animal products. Finally, variations in the timing of the onset and end of supply

The Quest for Honor and Citizenship in Post-Slavery Borgu (Benin)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hahonou, Eric Komlavi

2015-01-01

that is increasingly being contested in a number of forms. The paper explores the heritage of slavery in its cultural, spatial, social, economic, and political dimensions. The author sheds light on the concept of honor that is a central dimension of social and political life in West Africa. In nowadays Benin, Gando...... peasants take pride in nourrishing a number of noble families and put at stake their honor in ostentatious competition. By doing so, they not only question the central idea that slaves are honorless but enact new conceptions and new practices of citizenship....

Integrated pearl millet management in the Sahel : Effects of legume rotation and fallow management on productivity and Striga hermonthica infestation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Samaké, O.; Stomph, T.J.; Kropff, M.J.; Smaling, E.M.A.

2006-01-01

Increasing population density and food needs in the Sahel are major drivers behind the conversion of land under natural vegetation to arable land. Intensification of agriculture is a necessity for farmers to produce enough food. As manure is scarce and fertilizers expensive, this study looks into

CUANDO LAS AFRENTAS SE LAVABAN CON SANGRE: HONOR, MASCULINIDAD Y DUELOS DE ESPADAS EN EL SIGLO XVIII CHILENO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Verónica Undurraga Schüler

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Este trabajo aborda la relación entre honor y prácticas sociales en el siglo XVIII chileno, analizando la figura de los duelos o expresiones de violencia masculina formalizada. Junto con indagar en los mecanismos restitutorios del honor y su vinculación a los fundamentos de una masculinidad tradicional, reflexiona sobre las gamas de manejo social de dicho valor en el período señalado. Teóricamente se rescatan los aportes de la antropología y se hace un balance del tratamiento historiográfico del problema. Desde los registros judiciales se plantea el carácter transversal del honor en términos sociales y se aborda su "doble naturaleza" en cuanto espacio relacional y ámbito de confrontación de los individuos.This works deals with the relationship between honor and social practices in Chile's eighteenth century and analyzes formal duels or expressions of legalized masculine violence. This article explores various manifestations of the social ways used to deal with honor at that time, together with the inquiries about mechanisms used to restore honor and its links with traditional masculinity. Theoretically, this work rescues contributions made by anthropologists and provides an overview of how honor and masculinity have been examined in the historiography. Starting from judicial records, the article considers the transversal character of honor in social terms and approaches its "double significance" as both a relational space for people and as a sphere for the confrontation of individuals.

IEEE Honors DeBlasio with Steinmetz Award | News | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

professional association, with the 2010 Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award. The award will be presented on Dec. 5 with the U.S. Department of the Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), will be honored

Codes, Ciphers, and Cryptography--An Honors Colloquium

Science.gov (United States)

Karls, Michael A.

2010-01-01

At the suggestion of a colleague, I read "The Code Book", [32], by Simon Singh to get a basic introduction to the RSA encryption scheme. Inspired by Singh's book, I designed a Ball State University Honors Colloquium in Mathematics for both majors and non-majors, with material coming from "The Code Book" and many other sources. This course became…

The Honorable Dr Adolfo Urso, Vice Minister for Foreign Trade, "Viceministro delle Attivita' Produttive, Italia"

CERN Multimedia

Patrice Loïez

2002-01-01

Photo 01: The Honorable Dr Adolfo Urso, Deputy Minister for Productive Activities, Italy, visiting SM18 with (from l to r): Dr Roberto Saban, Technical Coordination and Planning, LHC machine; Prof. Luciano Maiani, CERN Director-General; Dr Mario Gerbino, Director General of the Ministry and Prof. Lucio Rossi, LHC Main Magnet and Superconductors (MMS) Group Leader. Photo 02: Prof. Luciano Maiani, CERN Director-General and The Honorable Dr Adolfo Urso, Deputy Minister for Productive Activities, Italy, in front of one of the LHC superconducting magnet in SM18. Photo 03 :In front of one of the LHC superconducting magnets - from left to right Dr Roberto Saban, Technical Coordination and Planning, LHC machine; The Honorable Dr Adolfo Urso, Deputy Minister for Productive Activities, Italy and Prof. Luciano Maiani, CERN Director-General. Photo 04: In the SM18 hall (from l. to r.) Prof. Luciano Maiani, CERN Director-General, The Honorable Dr Adolfo Urso, Deputy Minister for Productive Activities, Italy and Dr Mario Ge...

Climate Research and Seasonal Forecasting for West Africans: Perceptions, Dissemination, and Use?.

Science.gov (United States)

Tarhule, Aondover; Lamb, Peter J.

2003-12-01

Beginning in response to the disastrous drought of 1968 73, considerable research and monitoring have focused on the characteristics, causes, predictability, and impacts of West African Soudano Sahel (10° 18°N) rainfall variability and drought. While these efforts have generated substantial information on a range of these topics, very little is known of the extent to which communities, activities at risk, and policy makers are aware of, have access to, or use such information. This situation has prevailed despite Glantz&;s provocative BAMS paper on the use and value of seasonal forecasts for the Sahel more than a quarter century ago. We now provide a systematic reevaluation of these issues based on questionnaire responses of 566 participants (in 13 communities) and 26 organizations in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. The results reveal that rural inhabitants have limited access to climate information, with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) being the most important source. Moreover, the pathways for information flow are generally weakly connected and informal. As a result, utilization of the results of climate research is very low to nonexistent, even by organizations responsible for managing the effects of climate variability. Similarly, few people have access to seasonal climate forecasts, although the vast majority expressed a willingness to use such information when it becomes available. Those respondents with access expressed great enthusiasm and satisfaction with seasonal forecasts. The results suggest that inhabitants of the Soudano Sahel savanna are keen for changes that improve their ability to cope with climate variability, but the lack of information on alternative courses of action is a major constraint. Our study, thus, essentially leaves unchanged both Glantz&;s negative “tentative conclusion” and more positive “preliminary assessment” of 25 years ago. Specifically, while many of the infrastructural deficiencies and socioeconomic

Honors

Science.gov (United States)

Anonymous

2012-05-01

A number of AGU members were honored during the European Geosciences Union's (EGU) General Assembly, held on 22-27 April in Vienna. EGU Union awards were presented to the following people: Vincent Courtillot, University of Paris Diderot, France, received the 2012 Arthur Holmes Medal and EGU honorary membership for seminal contributions to geomagnetism and the geodynamics of mantle hot spots.Michael Ghil, University of California, Los Angeles, and École Normale Supérieure, France, received the 2012 Alfred Wegener Medal and EGU honorary membership for his leading contributions to theoretical climate dynamics; his innovative observational studies involving model assimilation of satellite data in meteorology, oceanography, and space physics; the breadth of his interdisciplinary studies, including macroeconomics; and his extensive supervision and mentoring of scores of graduate and postdoctoral students. Robin Clarke, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, received the 2012 Alexander von Humboldt Medal for fundamental contributions in statistical analysis and modeling of hydrological processes.Angioletta Coradini, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofsica, Italy, received the 2012 Jean Dominique Cassini Medal and EGU honorary membership in recognition of her important and wide range of work in planetary sciences and solar system formation and for her leading role in the development of space infrared instrumentation for planetary exploration.

Honors

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-01

A number of AGU members were honored during the European Geosciences Union's (EGU) General Assembly, held on 22-27 April in Vienna. EGU Union awards were presented to the following people: Vincent Courtillot, University of Paris Diderot, France, received the 2012 Arthur Holmes Medal and EGU honorary membership for seminal contributions to geomagnetism and the geodynamics of mantle hot spots. Michael Ghil, University of California, Los Angeles, and École Normale Supérieure, France, received the 2012 Alfred Wegener Medal and EGU honorary membership for his leading contributions to theoretical climate dynamics; his innovative observational studies involving model assimilation of satellite data in meteorology, oceanography, and space physics; the breadth of his interdisciplinary studies, including macroeconomics; and his extensive supervision and mentoring of scores of graduate and postdoctoral students. Robin Clarke, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, received the 2012 Alexander von Humboldt Medal for fundamental contributions in statistical analysis and modeling of hydrological processes. Angioletta Coradini, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofsica, Italy, received the 2012 Jean Dominique Cassini Medal and EGU honorary membership in recognition of her important and wide range of work in planetary sciences and solar system formation and for her leading role in the development of space infrared instrumentation for planetary exploration.

Pasión y honor. elementos culturales del homicidio en la provincia de Soto (Santander) de 1903 a 1930

OpenAIRE

Jairo Antonio Melo Flórez

2010-01-01

Este artículo relaciona algunos elementos culturales de los conflictos interpersonales como son aquellos enmarcados en los conceptos de honor y pasión, entendiéndolos como sentimientos que adquieren sentido en las relaciones sociales, y que se pueden evidenciar en los casos de homicidio en la Provincia de Soto entre 1903 y 1930. El honor por lo general ha sido tratado desde la perspectiva de los hombres honorables, pero también existe una forma de honor en las personas del común, en un sentid...

Determinantes dos Honorários de Auditoria: um Estudo nas Empresas Listadas na BM&FBOVESPA, Brasil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walther Bottaro de Lima Castro

2015-12-01

Full Text Available RESUMO Este trabalho analisa os determinantes dos honorários de auditoria pagos por empresas listadas na BM&FBOVESPA. Os dados referentes às empresas listadas para 2012 mostram relação positiva entre honorários com as variáveis porte, complexidade do cliente e auditores Big N. O risco percebido pelo auditor demonstrou afetar os valores dos honorários de forma diferente nos clientes de maior e menor porte. Nos de menor porte, os resultados sugerem que o auditor cobre menores honorários de clientes mais alavancados e com maior risco, contrariando a hipótese de que o auditor cobraria maiores honorários como prêmio pelo risco assumido. Já nos de maior porte, os resultados demonstram que clientes com maior risco, medido pela liquidez e alavancagem, ou com maiores práticas de governança, tendem a gastar mais com auditoria. Quanto à troca do auditor, os resultados apontaram que clientes maiores pagam menos no primeiro ano de auditoria. Esses resultados qualificam os achados de Hallak e Silva (2012, sugerindo a necessidade de novas pesquisas com bases temporalmente mais extensas.

Computational simulations of frictional losses in pipe networks confirmed in experimental apparatusses designed by honors students

Science.gov (United States)

Pohlman, Nicholas A.; Hynes, Eric; Kutz, April

2015-11-01

Lectures in introductory fluid mechanics at NIU are a combination of students with standard enrollment and students seeking honors credit for an enriching experience. Most honors students dread the additional homework problems or an extra paper assigned by the instructor. During the past three years, honors students of my class have instead collaborated to design wet-lab experiments for their peers to predict variable volume flow rates of open reservoirs driven by gravity. Rather than learn extra, the honors students learn the Bernoulli head-loss equation earlier to design appropriate systems for an experimental wet lab. Prior designs incorporated minor loss features such as sudden contraction or multiple unions and valves. The honors students from Spring 2015 expanded the repertoire of available options by developing large scale set-ups with multiple pipe networks that could be combined together to test the flexibility of the student team's computational programs. The engagement of bridging the theory with practice was appreciated by all of the students such that multiple teams were able to predict performance within 4% accuracy. The challenges, schedules, and cost estimates of incorporating the experimental lab into an introductory fluid mechanics course will be reported.

The Relationship between High School Math Courses, High School GPA, and Retention of Honors Scholarships

Science.gov (United States)

Megert, Diann Ackerman

2005-01-01

This research examined the high school transcripts of honors scholarship recipients to identify a better criterion for awarding scholarships than high school grade point average (GPA) alone. Specifically, this study compared the honors scholarship retention rate when the scholarship was awarded based on completed advanced high school math classes…

Analysis for dry and wet years with the WIMISA model of tree-crop competition for wind break systems in the Sahel

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mayus, M.; Keulen, van H.; Stroosnijder, L.

1999-01-01

A modelling approach was chosen for analyzing the effects of competition between windbreaks and crops for soil water and radiation in the Sahel. The model has a high spatial and temporal resolution to account for the heterogeneity in a windbreak-cropping system. The model was parameterised for

A simple tentative model of the losses caused by the Senegalese grasshopper, Oedaleus senegalensis (Krauss 1877) to millet in the Sahel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bal, Amadou Bocar; Ouambama, Zakaria; Dieng, Ibnou

2015-01-01

Oedaleus senegalensis is a serious pest of millet in the Sahel, but the correlation to crop loss remains largely unknown. Therefore, the correlation between densities of O. senegalensis, defoliation level and millet yields was investigated in Niger in 2008, and a simple model to foresee the yield...

Prospects for agroforestry in REDD+ landscapes in Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Minang, Peter A.; Duguma, Lalisa A.; Bernard, Florence

2014-01-01

Vegetation dynamics of the West African Sahel has attracted great scientific interest over the last 40 years because of the dramatic inter-decadal variability observed in the resource base of the region directly impacting on the livelihoods of the West African population. From farmers to pastoral...

The Pursuit of Excellence: An Analysis of the Honors College Application and Enrollment Decision for a Large Public University

Science.gov (United States)

Singell, Larry D., Jr.; Tang, Hui-Hsuan

2012-01-01

Honors colleges housed in public universities began only in the last half century, but have become nearly ubiquitous over the last 20 years. This paper, using recent data from the oldest stand-alone honors college in the country, is the first to study how the application and enrollment decisions of honors college students differ from the general…

The Gifted and Honors Program at Ridgeroad Jr. High.

Science.gov (United States)

Moody, Bonnie

1984-01-01

Describes a science program for honors students that offers a blend of both teacher-directed and student-directed activities. Includes information on instructional strategies used, independent student study projects, financial considerations, grading, and student reaction to the program. (JN)

32 CFR 887.7 - Persons separated under other than honorable conditions (undesirable or bad conduct) or...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Persons separated under other than honorable conditions (undesirable or bad conduct) or dishonorable discharge. 887.7 Section 887.7 National Defense... honorable conditions (undesirable or bad conduct) or dishonorable discharge. Those persons whose character...

Mentors, Muses, and Mutuality: Honoring Barbara Snell Dohrenwend

Science.gov (United States)

Mulvey, Anne

2012-01-01

I describe feminist community psychology principles that have the potential to expand and enrich mentoring and that honor Barbara Snell Dohrenwend, a leader who contributed to the research, theory, and profession of community psychology. I reflect on the affect that Barbara Dohrenwend had on life and on the development of feminist community…

Colonisation humaine et développement sur une frontière écologique. Le Despoblado, le Sahel du Piura-Pérou Septentrional

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

1991-01-01

Full Text Available Le despoblado de Piura est une formation végétale mixte arborée et herbacée, un sahel qui, malgré des précipitations très irrégulières, associe plusieurs ressources complémentaires. Elles ont été diversement utilisées au fur et à mesure de l’intervention de nouvelles techniques. - Cueillette des racines et fruits de la pampa d’interfluves. - Arboriculture sur huerta d’inférofluse à l’amont, et cultures saisonnières sur les lits intermittents et petit élevage caprin sur l’algarrobal des interfluves. - Cultures commerciales d’irrigation permanente par dérivation des eaux de la sierra et maintien d’un petit élevage de despoblado. Trois étapes de la colonisation du Piura. Mais la dernière, si elle permet de supporter une forte densité paysanne, ne peut éviter les conséquences des fortes pluies exceptionnelles. COLONIZACIÓN HUMANA Y DESARROLLO SOBRE FRONTERA ECOLÓGICA. EL DESPOBLADO, EL SAHEL DE PIURA, NORTE-PERÚ. El despoblado de Piura es una formación vegetal mixta, arboleda y savana ocasional, un sahel que, a pesar de lluvias muy irregulares, combina varios recursos complementarios. Ésos fueron aprovechados distintamente a medida de la intervención de nuevas técnicas. - Recolección de raíces y frutas en las pampas de las planicies secas - Arboricultura en las huertas de las cabezas de conos torrenciales y cultura estacional sobre los cauces inundables de las quebradas, aguas abajo, y cría de cabras y asnos en el algarrobal de las pampas - Cultivos comerciales de riego permanente por desvío de aguas de los grandes ríos de la sierra, y permanencia de la ganadería de caprinos sobre las pampas del despoblado. Son tres etapas del asentamiento humano. Pero la última, si tiene la ventaja de soportar grandes densidades campesinas, no puede arrastrar el peligro de las lluvias excepcionales. HUMAN SETTLING AND DEVELOPMENT ON AN ECOLOGIC FRONTIERS. THE DESPOBLADO, THE SAHEL OF SEPTENTRIONAL PIURA-PERU. A Piura

Honor, Dignidad y Reciprocidad Honra, dignidade e reciprocidade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís R. Cardoso de Oliveira

2004-12-01

Full Text Available El texto discute la articulación entre las nociones de honor, dignidad y reciprocidad en los procesos de resolución de disputas, teniendo como foco los juzgados de pequeñas causas. El papel del don es destacado en la comprensión de las diputas, cuya resolución demanda el examen de tres dimensiones temáticas: los derechos, los intereses y el reconocimiento. Esta última dimensión está asociada a la visibilización del insulto moral, caracterizado como una agresión a derechos de difícil procesamiento en el ámbito judicial.The text discusses how notions of honor, dignity and reciprocity articulate in processes of dispute resolution, focusing in small claims courts. The role of the gift is highlighted in the understanding of disputes whose equation demands the examination of three thematic dimensions: rights, interests and recognition. The latter is associated to the visibility of moral insults, which are characterized as aggressions to rights that are frequently excluded from judicial processes.

Pasión y honor. elementos culturales del homicidio en la provincia de Soto (Santander de 1903 a 1930

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jairo Antonio Melo Flórez

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Este artículo relaciona algunos elementos culturales de los conflictos interpersonales como son aquellos enmarcados en los conceptos de honor y pasión, entendiéndolos como sentimientos que adquieren sentido en las relaciones sociales, y que se pueden evidenciar en los casos de homicidio en la Provincia de Soto entre 1903 y 1930. El honor por lo general ha sido tratado desde la perspectiva de los hombres honorables, pero también existe una forma de honor en las personas del común, en un sentido más conflictivo y complejo, que residía por lo general en el respeto generado por sus iguales y en la sexualidad de las mujeres. Así mismo, la pasión era un sentimiento que conllevaba a reacciones violentas, relacionado en buena medida con el honor, y cuya reacción podía ser más o menos ritualizada en un pleito o bastante impulsiva en una riña.

Rainfall variability, climate change and regionalization in the African monsoon region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fontaine, Bernard; Roucou, Pascal; Vigaud, Nicolas; Camara, Moctar; Konare, Abdourahamane; Sanda, Seidou Ibrah; Diedhiou, Arona; Janicot, Serge

2012-01-01

This summary recalls some results at the end of the AMMA international experiment (2003-2010) in terms of variability of the African monsoon at the intra-seasonal to multi-decadal scales and of climate prospective. The results confirmed the weight of surface temperatures and marine tele-connections for inter-annual and decadal fluctuations and stressed the importance of atmospheric variability. They also described the dominant modes of intra-seasonal variability as their interactions with the surface. Several hypotheses involving memory effects related to soil water and vegetation, particularly in boreal spring and autumn have also been made. Prospective analysis from model output suggests rainfall surplus around 2050 over the Eastern-central Sahel and relative deficit to the West. Phase 2 of AMMA (2010-2020) will focus more on aspects that have a high social impact in direct collaboration with meteorological services predictability, prediction scores, operational indicators, evaluation of the part of anthropogenic forcing in the current and future variations. (authors)

Local Vegetation Trends in the Sahel of Mali and Senegal Using Long Time Series FAPAR Satellite Products and Field Measurement (1982–2010

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Brandt

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Local vegetation trends in the Sahel of Mali and Senegal from Geoland Version 1 (GEOV1 (5 km and the third generation Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS3g (8 km Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR time series are studied over 29 years. For validation and interpretation of observed greenness trends, two methods are applied: (1 a qualitative approach using in-depth knowledge of the study areas and (2 a quantitative approach by time series of biomass observations and rainfall data. Significant greening trends from 1982 to 2010 are consistently observed in both GEOV1 and GIMMS3g FAPAR datasets. Annual rainfall increased significantly during the observed time period, explaining large parts of FAPAR variations at a regional scale. Locally, GEOV1 data reveals a heterogeneous pattern of vegetation change, which is confirmed by long-term ground data and site visits. The spatial variability in the observed vegetation trends in the Sahel area are mainly caused by varying tree- and land-cover, which are controlled by human impact, soil and drought resilience. A large proportion of the positive trends are caused by the increment in leaf biomass of woody species that has almost doubled since the 1980s due to a tree cover regeneration after a dry-period. This confirms the re-greening of the Sahel, however, degradation is also present and sometimes obscured by greening. GEOV1 as compared to GIMMS3g made it possible to better characterize the spatial pattern of trends and identify the degraded areas in the study region.

Rebuilding Resilience in the Sahel: Regreening in the Maradi and Zinder Regions of Niger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Sendzimir

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The societies and ecosystems of the Nigerien Sahel appeared increasingly vulnerable to climatic and economic uncertainty in the late twentieth century. Severe episodes of drought and famine drove massive livestock losses and human migration and mortality. Soil erosion and tree loss reduced a woodland to a scrub steppe and fed a myth of the Sahara desert relentlessly advancing southward. Over the past two decades this myth has been shattered by the dramatic reforestation of more than 5 million hectares in the Maradi and Zinder Regions of Niger. No single actor, policy, or practice appears behind this successful regreening of the Sahel. Multiple actors, institutions and processes operated at different levels, times, and scales to initiate and sustain this reforestation trend. We used systems analysis to examine the patterns of interaction as biophysical, livelihood, and governance indicators changed relative to one another during forest decline and rebound. It appears that forest decline was reversed when critical interventions helped to shift the direction of reinforcing feedbacks, e.g., vicious cycles changed to virtuous ones. Reversals toward de-forestation or reforestation were preceded by institutional changes in governance, then livelihoods and eventually in the biophysical environment. Biophysical change sustained change in the other two domains until interventions introduced new ideas and institutions that slowed and then reversed the pattern of feedbacks. However, while society seems better at coping with economic or climatic shock or stress, the resilience of society and nature in the Maradi/Zinder region to global sources of uncertainty remains a pressing question in a society with one of the highest population growth rates on Earth.

Medal of Honor Award Process Review: U.S. Army Noncommissioned Officer Nominee (Redacted)

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-04

award the nominee the Silver Star. We determined Secretary McHugh acted within his authority when he decided to award the SS. We found no evidence...why the Honorable John M. McHugh , Secretary of the Army, downgraded the nominee’s MOH award recommendation to the Silver Star (SS).1 In a memorandum...valorous actions as documented in the MOH award 1 The Honorable John M. McHugh left his position as Secretary of the Army on November 1, 2015. 2 We did

Information Technology Strategies for Honor Society and Organization Membership Retention in Online Nursing Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopkins, Emily E; Wasco, Jennifer J

Membership retention in an honor society or organization is of utmost importance for sustainability. However, retaining members in organizations that serve online education nursing students can be a challenging task. Understanding the importance of creating a sense of community to promote retention within an honor society chapter, nursing faculty at a small private university implemented different online approaches. This article highlights successful information technology strategies to promote membership retention in organizations for online nursing students.

The impact of Southern Atlantic moisture source in the precipitation regime of Sahel and Brazilian Nordeste using lagrangian models

Science.gov (United States)

Drumond, A.; Nieto, R.; Gimeno, L.; Ambrizzi, T.; Trigo, R.

2009-04-01

The socio-economical problems related to the severe droughts observed over Brazilian "Nordeste" and Sahel are well known nowadays. Several studies have showed that the precipitation regimes over these regions are influenced by the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) variability, which can be related with the climatic variations observed in the South and North Tropical Atlantic basins. However, a climatological detailed assessment of the annual cycle of the oceanic moisture contribution to both these regions is still needed in order to get a better understanding of their precipitation regimes and variability. To answer this question, a climatological seasonal analysis of the moisture supply from the South Atlantic to the precipitation in the "Nordeste" and Sahel was performed using a new Lagrangian method of diagnosis which identifies the humidity contributions to the moisture budget over a region. The applied methodology computes budgets of evaporation minus precipitation by calculating changes in the specific humidity along forward-trajectories for the following 10 days. In order to take into account distinct regional contributions we have divided the South Atlantic basin in several latitudinal bands (with a 5° width), and all air-masses residing over each region were tracked forward using the available 5-year dataset (2000-2004). For the Sahel, the preliminary results suggest that the oceanic band northwards 10 degrees south acts as a moisture source for the precipitation along the year and its contribution reaches the maximum during the austral winter, probably related to the ITCZ annual migration over the region. On the other hand, the precipitation over "Nordeste" can be better related to air masses emanating from the oceanic bands between 10 and 20 degrees south. However the response over the region is very heterogeneous spatially and temporally probably due to the high variability of the local climate characteristics. In order to clarify dynamically the

Comparative influence of land and sea surfaces on the Sahelian drought: a numerical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arona Diedhiou

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to compare the relative impact of land and sea surface anomalies on Sahel rainfall and to describe the associated anomalies in the atmospheric general circulation. This sensitivity study was done with the Météo-France climate model: ARPEGE. The sensitivity to land surface conditions consists of changes in the management of water and heat exchanges by vegetation cover and bare soil. The sensitivity to ocean surfaces consists in forcing the lower boundary of the model with worldwide composite sea surface temperature (SST anomalies obtained from the difference between 4 dry Sahel years and 4 wet Sahel years observed since 1970. For each case, the spatiotemporal variability of the simulated rainfall anomaly and changes in the modelled tropical easterly jet (TEJ and African easterly jet (AEJ are discussed. The global changes in land surface evaporation have caused a rainfall deficit over the Sahel and over the Guinea Coast. No significant changes in the simulated TEJ and an enhancement of the AEJ are found; at the surface, the energy budget and the hydrological cycle are substantially modified. On the other hand, SST anomalies induce a negative rainfall anomaly over the Sahel and a positive rainfall anomaly to the south of this area. The rainfall deficit due to those anomalies is consistent with previous diagnostic and sensitivity studies. The TEJ is weaker and the AEJ is stronger than in the reference. The composite impact of SST and land surfaces anomalies is also analyzed: the simulated rainfall anomaly is similar to the observed mean African drought patterns. This work suggests that large-scale variations of surface conditions may have a substantial influence on Sahel rainfall and shows the importance of land surface parameterization in climate change modelling. In addition, it points out the interest in accurately considering the land and sea surfaces conditions in sensitivity studies on Sahel rainfall.

Comparative influence of land and sea surfaces on the Sahelian drought: a numerical study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Diedhiou

1996-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to compare the relative impact of land and sea surface anomalies on Sahel rainfall and to describe the associated anomalies in the atmospheric general circulation. This sensitivity study was done with the Météo-France climate model: ARPEGE. The sensitivity to land surface conditions consists of changes in the management of water and heat exchanges by vegetation cover and bare soil. The sensitivity to ocean surfaces consists in forcing the lower boundary of the model with worldwide composite sea surface temperature (SST anomalies obtained from the difference between 4 dry Sahel years and 4 wet Sahel years observed since 1970. For each case, the spatiotemporal variability of the simulated rainfall anomaly and changes in the modelled tropical easterly jet (TEJ and African easterly jet (AEJ are discussed. The global changes in land surface evaporation have caused a rainfall deficit over the Sahel and over the Guinea Coast. No significant changes in the simulated TEJ and an enhancement of the AEJ are found; at the surface, the energy budget and the hydrological cycle are substantially modified. On the other hand, SST anomalies induce a negative rainfall anomaly over the Sahel and a positive rainfall anomaly to the south of this area. The rainfall deficit due to those anomalies is consistent with previous diagnostic and sensitivity studies. The TEJ is weaker and the AEJ is stronger than in the reference. The composite impact of SST and land surfaces anomalies is also analyzed: the simulated rainfall anomaly is similar to the observed mean African drought patterns. This work suggests that large-scale variations of surface conditions may have a substantial influence on Sahel rainfall and shows the importance of land surface parameterization in climate change modelling. In addition, it points out the interest in accurately considering the land and sea surfaces conditions in sensitivity studies on Sahel rainfall.

Centauri High School Teacher Honored as Colorado Outstanding Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Teacher Centauri High School Teacher Honored as Colorado Outstanding Biology Teacher For more information contact: e:mail: Public Affairs Golden, Colo., May 2, 1997 -- Tracy Swedlund, biology teacher at Centauri High School in LaJara, was selected as Colorado's 1997 Outstanding Biology Teacher and will be

Laboratories for educational innovation: honors programs in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolfensberger, Marca; van Eijl, Pierre; Pilot, Albert

2012-01-01

In Dutch universities, honors programs are a fast growing development. The first such programs started in 1993. Twenty years later a large number of programs are implemented at nearly all research universities and also at many universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Recent data have

Don't tread on me: masculine honor ideology in the U.S. and militant responses to terrorism.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Collin D; Brown, Ryan P; Osterman, Lindsey L

2012-08-01

Using both college students and a national sample of adults, the authors report evidence linking the ideology of masculine honor in the U.S. with militant responses to terrorism. In Study 1, individuals' honor ideology endorsement predicted, among other outcomes, open-ended hostile responses to a fictitious attack on the Statue of Liberty and support for the use of extreme counterterrorism measures (e.g., severe interrogations), controlling for right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and other covariates. In Study 2, the authors used a regional classification to distinguish honor state respondents from nonhonor state respondents, as has traditionally been done in the literature, and showed that students attending a southwestern university desired the death of the terrorists responsible for 9/11 more than did their northern counterparts. These studies are the first to show that masculine honor ideology in the U.S. has implications for the intergroup phenomenon of people's responses to terrorism.

The Sahel Region of West Africa: Examples of Climate Analyses Motivated By Drought Management Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Ndiaye, O.; Ward, M. N.; Siebert, A. B.

2011-12-01

The Sahel is one of the most drought-prone regions in the world. This paper focuses on climate sources of drought, and some new analyses mostly driven by users needing climate information to help in drought management strategies. The Sahel region of West Africa is a transition zone between equatorial climate and vegetation to the south, and desert to the north. The climatology of the region is dominated by dry conditions for most of the year, with a single peak in rainfall during boreal summer. The seasonal rainfall total contains both interannual variability and substantial decadal to multidecadal variability (MDV). This brings climate analysis and drought management challenges across this range of timescales. The decline in rainfall from the wet decades of the 1950s and 60s to the dry decades of the 1970s and 80s has been well documented. In recent years, a moderate recovery has emerged, with seasonal totals in the period 1994-2010 significantly higher than the average rainfall 1970-1993. These MDV rainfall fluctuations have expression in large-scale sea-surface temperature fluctuations in all ocean basins, placing the changes in drought frequency within broader ocean-atmosphere climate fluctuation. We have evaluated the changing character of low seasonal rainfall total event frequencies in the Sahel region 1950-2010, highlighting the role of changes in the mean, variance and distribution shape of seasonal rainfall totals as the climate has shifted through the three observed phases. We also consider the extent to which updating climate normals in real-time can damp the bias in expected event frequency, an important issue for the feasibility of index insurance as a drought management tool in the presence of a changing climate. On the interannual timescale, a key factor long discussed for agriculture is the character of rainfall onset. An extended dry spell often occurs early in the rainy season before the crop is fully established, and this often leads to crop

Honors

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-01

More than a dozen AGU members are among 94 researchers announced by U.S. president Barack Obama on 26 September as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, which is coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President, is considered the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. This year's recipients include Jeffrey Book, Naval Research Laboratory; Jonathan Cirtain, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; Fotini Katopodes Chow, University of California, Berkeley; Elizabeth Cochran, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); Ian Howat, Ohio State University; Christiane Jablonowski, University of Michigan; Justin Kasper, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; Elena Litchman, Michigan State University; James A. Morris Jr., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); Erin M. Oleson, NOAA; Victoria Orphan, California Institute of Technology; Sasha Reed, USGS; David Shelly, USGS; and Feng Wang, University of California, Berkeley. Five AGU members are among 10 U.S. representatives recently selected for International Arctic Science Committee working groups. The AGU members, chosen as representatives through the U.S. National Academies review process, are Atmosphere Working Group member James Overland, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA; Cryosphere Working Group members Walter Meier, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Elizabeth Hunke, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Marine Working Group member Mary-Louise Timmermans, Yale University; and Terrestrial Working Group member Vanessa Lougheed, University of Texas at El Paso.

PERLINDUNGAN HUKUM TENAGA HONORER SETELAH BERLAKUNYA UNDANG-UNDANG NOMOR 5 TAHUN 2014 TENTANG APARATUR SIPIL NEGARA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Made Aditya Pramana Putra

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The emergence of The State Civil Apparatus (No. 5 of 2014 gives an impact to position and the legal protection to honorary employees. According to that law, honorary employee was substituted by the government employee with treaty of work. This substitution makes the honorary employees do not have status and legal protection. The aim of this study is to examine position and legal protection of the honorary employee.  This study used normative, legislation, historical, and conceptual approaches. Legal materials used in this study come from primary, secondary, and tertiary, which used library research methods. This study found that since the government publishes the Law No. 5 of 2014 to substitute the Law no. 43 of 1999, the status and the legal protection of the honoraryemployee became unclear. This is because of the government was not able to handle the problem of the honorary employee, especially for the salary, recruitment, and the status. However, actually the case is honorary employee have been playing important roles in government institution. Thus, the Law of the State Civil Apparatus should makes a better protection for the government employee with treaty work as a substitute for the honorary employee. Terbitnya Undang-Undang nomor 5 tahun 2014 tentang Aparatur Sipil Negarasangat mempengaruhi kedudukan dan perlindungan hukum bagi tenaga honorer.Dalam undang-undang tersebut, istilah tenaga honorer diganti menjadi pegawai pemerintah dengan perjanjian kerja. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji posisi dan perlindungan hukum bagi tenaga honorer. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan normatif, perundangan, historis, dan konseptual. Materi hukum yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini berasal dari sumber primer, sekunderm dan tersier, dengan menggunakan metode studi pustaka. Penelitian ini menemukan bahw sejak diterbitkannya Undang-undang No. 5 Tahun 2014 yang menggantikan Undang-Undang No. 43 Tahun 1999, status dan perlindungan hukum tenaga

The impact of convection in the West African monsoon region on global weather forecasts - explicit vs. parameterised convection simulations using the ICON model

Science.gov (United States)

Pante, Gregor; Knippertz, Peter

2017-04-01

The West African monsoon is the driving element of weather and climate during summer in the Sahel region. It interacts with mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and the African easterly jet and African easterly waves. Poor representation of convection in numerical models, particularly its organisation on the mesoscale, can result in unrealistic forecasts of the monsoon dynamics. Arguably, the parameterisation of convection is one of the main deficiencies in models over this region. Overall, this has negative impacts on forecasts over West Africa itself but may also affect remote regions, as waves originating from convective heating are badly represented. Here we investigate those remote forecast impacts based on daily initialised 10-day forecasts for July 2016 using the ICON model. One set of simulations employs the default setup of the global model with a horizontal grid spacing of 13 km. It is compared with simulations using the 2-way nesting capability of ICON. A second model domain over West Africa (the nest) with 6.5 km grid spacing is sufficient to explicitly resolve MCSs in this region. In the 2-way nested simulations, the prognostic variables of the global model are influenced by the results of the nest through relaxation. The nest with explicit convection is able to reproduce single MCSs much more realistically compared to the stand-alone global simulation with parameterised convection. Explicit convection leads to cooler temperatures in the lower troposphere (below 500 hPa) over the northern Sahel due to stronger evaporational cooling. Overall, the feedback of dynamic variables from the nest to the global model shows clear positive effects when evaluating the output of the global domain of the 2-way nesting simulation and the output of the stand-alone global model with ERA-Interim re-analyses. Averaged over the 2-way nested region, bias and root mean squared error (RMSE) of temperature, geopotential, wind and relative humidity are significantly reduced in

African dust carries microbes across the ocean: are they affecting human and ecosystem health?

Science.gov (United States)

Kellogg, Christina A.; Griffin, Dale W.

2003-01-01

Atmospheric transport of dust from northwest Africa to the western Atlantic Ocean region may be responsible for a number of environmental hazards, including the demise of Caribbean corals; red tides; amphibian diseases; increased occurrence of asthma in humans; and oxygen depletion (eutrophication) in estuaries. Studies of satellite images suggest that hundreds of millions of tons of dust are trans-ported annually at relatively low altitudes across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and southeastern United States. The dust emanates from the expanding Sahara/Sahel desert region in Africa and carries a wide variety of bacteria and fungi. The U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with the NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center, is conducting a study to identify microbes--bacteria, fungi, viruses--transported across the Atlantic in African soil dust. Each year, millions of tons of desert dust blow off the west African coast and ride the trade winds across the ocean, affecting the entire Caribbean basin, as well as the southeastern United States. Of the dust reaching the U.S., Florida receives about 50 percent, while the rest may range as far north as Maine or as far west as Colorado. The dust storms can be tracked by satellite and take about one week to cross the Atlantic.

Soil Management Practices to Improve Nutrient-use Efficiencies and Reduce Risk in Millet-based Cropping Systems in the Sahel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koala, S.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Low soil fertility and moisture deficit are among the main constraints to sustainable crop yields in the Sahel. A study therefore, was conducted at the ICRISAT Sahelian Center, Sadore in Niger to test the hypothesis that integrated soil husbandry practices consisting of manure, fertilizer and crop residues in rotational cropping systems use organic and mineral fertilizes efficiently, thereby resulting in higher yields and reduced risk. Results from an analysis of variance showed that choice of cropping systems explained more than 50% of overall variability in millet and cowpea grain yields. Among the cropping systems, rotation gave higher yields than sole crop and intercropping systems and increased millet yield by 46% without fertilizer. Rainfall-use efficiency and partial factor productivity of fertilizer were similarly higher in rotations than in millet monoculture system. Returns from cowpea grown in cowpea-millet rotation without fertilizer and the medium rates of fertilizers (4 kg P.ha-1 + 15 kg N.ha-1 were found to be most profitable in terms of high returns and low risk, principally because of a higher price of cowpea than millet. The study recommends crop diversification, either in the form of rotations or relay intercropping systems for the Sahel as an insurance against total crop failure.

Robert L. Oprisko’s Honor: A Phenomenology and Holden Caulfield

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliza Quincey

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Robert L. Oprisko’s book, “Honor: A Phenomenology” challenges ones of the most obvious social norms in contemporary society. The concept of honor is one that the “generic” as Sergei Prozorov would say, simply cannot comprehend, nor even make efforts to define. Though fluently used in infamous works such as “The Iliad”, honor has yet to be so explicitly dissected until now. Dr. Oprisko’s book takes a promiscuous and brutally honest approach to “Honor” en generale as well as the many facets associated with such. Similar to fine cuisine and wine, there are many literary accompaniments that serve as wonderful pairings to broaden the kaleidoscope perspectives presented in the book. The contested novel by J.D. Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye”, although by no means consists of any political or metaphysical theory, contains a stark personification of what is actively presented in every chapter of Dr. Oprisko’s book. Holden Caufield serves as a terrific litmus test for the concepts defined in Oprisko’s work. Holden is by no means a likeable character in the literary world, but however he is raw enough to be able to internalize and beholden things like, “honorableness”, “dignity”, and most importantly for Holden, “face”. Though to the naked eye and untrained mind these “things” which Holden can in fact internalize may seem fairly simple; it challenges the reader to humble oneself and accept that which is the raw. There is no space for semantics and lies in Oprisko’s work. In fact it is so shockingly explicit, one may find themselves utterly offended. Holden Caufield offended readers for years after Sallinger brought him to life over the span of 200 or more so pages, so much that the book was condemned in certain places. Robert L. Oprisko’s, “Honor: A Phenomenology”, in my utmost opinion, contains this same potential. By critically engaging in Oprisko’s spar with “honor”, one may find themselves

Applying Customized Climate Advisory Information to Translate Extreme Rainfall Events into Farming Options in the Sudan-Sahel of West Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Salack, S.; Worou, N. O.; Sanfo, S.; Nikiema, M. P.; Boubacar, I.; Paturel, J. E.; Tondoh, E. J.

2017-12-01

In West Africa, the risk of food insecurity linked to the low productivity of small holder farming increases as a result of rainfall extremes. In its recent evolution, the rainy season in the Sudan-Sahel zone presents mixed patterns of extreme climatic events. In addition to intense rain events, the distribution of events is associated with pockets of intra-seasonal long dry spells. The negative consequences of these mixed patterns are obvious on the farm: soil water logging, erosion of arable land, dwartness and dessication of crops, and loss in production. The capacity of local farming communities to respond accordingly to rainfall extreme events is often constrained by lack of access to climate information and advisory on smart crop management practices that can help translate extreme rainfall events into farming options. The objective of this work is to expose the framework and the pre-liminary results of a scheme that customizes climate-advisory information package delivery to subsistence farmers in Bakel (Senegal), Ouahigouya & Dano (Burkina Faso) and Bolgatanga (Ghana) for sustainable family agriculture. The package is based on the provision of timely climate information (48-hours, dekadal & seasonal) embedded with smart crop management practices to explore and exploite the potential advantage of intense rainfall and extreme dry spells in millet, maize, sorghum and cowpea farming communities. It is sent via mobile phones and used on selected farms (i.e agro-climatic farm schools) on which some small on-farm infrastructure were built to alleviate negative impacts of weather. Results provide prominent insight on how co-production of weather/climate information, customized access and guidiance on its use can induce fast learning (capacity building of actors), motivation for adaptation, sustainability, potential changes in cropping system, yields and family income in the face of a rainfall extremes at local scales of Sudan-Sahel of West Africa. Keywords: Climate

Laboratories for Educational Innovation: Honors Programs in the Netherlands

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfensberger, Marca V. C.; Van Eijl, Pierre; Pilot, Albert

2012-01-01

In Dutch universities, honors programs are a fast growing development. The first such programs started in 1993. Twenty years later a large number of programs are implemented at nearly all research universities and also at many universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Recent data have revealed significant diversity in the types and…

AGU honored for Antarctic book

Science.gov (United States)

AGU has won an honorable mention award at the Fifteenth Annual Awards Program for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing sponsored by the Association of American Publishers for the book Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans. The book is part of AGU's Antarctic Research Series, an outgrowth of research done during the International Geophysical Year that was begun in 1963 with a grant from the National Science Foundation. The award was presented at the AAP Annual Awards Dinner on February 6 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. The award consists of a medallion and a plate on which the names of the publisher, title, and authors are engraved.

12 New England Organizations Honored for Outstanding Achievements in Energy Efficiency

Science.gov (United States)

EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring 12 New England businesses and organizations for their commitment to saving energy, saving money, and protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements.

Evaluating water controls on vegetation growth in the semi-arid sahel using field and earth observation data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abdi, Abdulhakim M.; Boke-Olen, Niklas; Tenenbaum, David E.

2017-01-01

Water loss is a crucial factor for vegetation in the semi-arid Sahel region of Africa. Global satellite-driven estimates of plant CO2 uptake (gross primary productivity, GPP) have been found to not accurately account for Sahelian conditions, particularly the impact of canopy water stress. Here, we...... identify the main biophysical limitations that induce canopy water stress in Sahelian vegetation and evaluate the relationships between field data and Earth observation-derived spectral products for up-scaling GPP. We find that plant-available water and vapor pressure deficit together control the GPP...

Climate variability and environmental stress in the Sudan-Sahel zone of West Africa

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mertz, Ole; D'haen, Sarah Ann Lise; Maiga, Abdou

2012-01-01

Environmental change in the Sudan-Sahel region of West Africa (SSWA) has been much debated since the droughts of the 1970s. In this article we assess climate variability and environmental stress in the region. Households in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria were asked about climatic...... to household perceptions, observed rainfall patterns showed an increasing trend over the past 20 years. However, August rainfall declined, and could therefore potentially explain the contrasting negative household perceptions of rainfall trends. Most households reported degradation of soils, water resources......, vegetation, and fauna, but more so in the 500–900 mm zones. Adaptation measures to counter environmental degradation included use of manure, reforestation, soil and water conservation, and protection of fauna and vegetation. The results raise concerns for future environmental management in the region...

Rôle et place de la chèvre dans les ménages du Sahel burkinabé

OpenAIRE

Gnanda, BI.; Wereme N'Diaye, A.; O. Sanon, H.; Somda, J.; Nianogo, JA.

2016-01-01

Role and Position of the Goat in Households of the Burkinabian Sahel. A formal household survey was carried out in Burkina Faso with 150 Sahelian farms in order to appreciate the role and the position of goat breeding in the life and the functioning of these family units. The results of the investigation show that the Burkinabe Sahelian stockbreeders first start usually by raising a goat, because of its high prolificacy, but with the view to acquire more or less rapidly other species of rumin...

Studies of African wave disturbances with the GISS GCM

Science.gov (United States)

Druyan, Leonard M.; Hall, Timothy M.

1994-01-01

Simulations made with the general circulation model of the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS GCM) run at 4 deg latitude by 5 deg longitude horizontal resolution are analyzed to determine the model's representation of African wave disturbances. Waves detected in the model's lower troposphere over northern Africa during the summer monsoon season exhibit realistic wavelengths of about 2200 km. However, power spectra of the meridional wind show that the waves propagate westward too slowly, with periods of 5-10 days, about twice the observed values. This sluggishness is most pronounced during August, consistent with simulated 600-mb zonal winds that are only about half the observed speeds of the midtropospheric jet. The modeled wave amplitudes are strongest over West Africa during the first half of the summer but decrease dramatically by September, contrary to observational evidence. Maximum amplitudes occur at realistic latitudes, 12 deg - 20 deg N, but not as observed near the Atlantic coast. Spectral analyses suggest some wave modulation of precipitation in the 5-8 day band, and compositing shows that precipitation is slightly enhanced east of the wave trough, coincident with southerly winds. Extrema of low-level convergence west of the wave troughs, coinciding with northerly winds, were not preferred areas for simulated precipitation, probably because of the drying effect of this advection, as waves were generally north of the humid zone. The documentation of African wave disturbances in the GISS GCM is a first step toward considering wave influences in future GCM studies of Sahel drought.

Explaining how honors students position themselves when collaborating with regular students

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Volker, Judith; Kamans, Elanor; Tiesinga, Lammert; Wolfensberger, Marca

2015-01-01

Paper presentatie tijdens de EARLI Conference 2015, Limassol, Cypres, 28 augustus. In this line of research we take a social psychological approach to understanding how honors students position themselves when collaborating with regular students. More specifically, we explore whether stereotypes

The concept of «honor», «dignity» in the context of the professionalization of public service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. M. Serjogin

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes ethical aspects of the personality of a public servant. Such  concepts as, «professional honor», «professional dignity», «professional justice», «professional responsibility» are disclosed. The role of these concepts in public servants’ professional activities is defermined. It is stated that professional dignity of the public servant is closely connected with his position in the team, his personal merit and honor public servant. The matter is that a public servant is a representative a particular team, and the entire public service. The attention is focused on the fact that the higher developed feeling of personal and official dignity of public servants, the more he values his professional honor, the more significant social value he has to society. As a result, professional honor and professional dignity, complement each other, help to maintain a certain, fairly high level of a public servant’s morality. It was found that such concepts as «professional honor», «professional dignity», «professional justice», «professional responsibility» were brought up before and are brought up now in a large stable structures and organizations of the world. In developed countries, such as France, Germany, Japan, England – the honor and responsibility of public servant are essential professional qualities, which largely determine style of activities and influence decision-making process. In our country, nowadays, the education of a public servant is missed, therefore we will not be able in the future to count on the loyalty of civil servants to their job. We will have to deal with the satisfaction of public servants’ personal needs, as it often happens now. Based on the analysis concluded that the professional ethics of a public servant is a rather complicated and weighty task of harmonizing professional and personal moral responsibility, principles, values and interests.

Trace-metal concentrations in African dust: effects of long-distance transport and implications for human health

Science.gov (United States)

Garrison, Virginia; Lamothe, Paul; Morman, Suzette; Plumlee, Geoffrey S.; Gilkes, Robert; Prakongkep, Nattaporn

2010-01-01

The Sahara and Sahel lose billions of tons of eroded mineral soils annually to the Americas and Caribbean, Europe and Asia via atmospheric transport. African dust was collected from a dust source region (Mali, West Africa) and from downwind sites in the Caribbean [Trinidad-Tobago (TT) and U.S. Virgin Islands (VI)] and analysed for 32 trace-elements. Elemental composition of African dust samples was similar to that of average upper continental crust (UCC), with some enrichment or depletion of specific trace-elements. Pb enrichment was observed only in dust and dry deposition samples from the source region and was most likely from local use of leaded gasoline. Dust particles transported long-distances (VI and TT) exhibited increased enrichment of Mo and minor depletion of other elements relative to source region samples. This suggests that processes occurring during long-distance transport of dust produce enrichment/depletion of specific elements. Bioaccessibility of trace-metals in samples was tested in simulated human fluids (gastric and lung) and was found to be greater in downwind than source region samples, for some metals (e.g., As). The large surface to volume ratio of the dust particles (<2.5 µm) at downwind sites may be a factor.

The Role of Meteorology and Surface Condition to Multi-Decadal Variations of Dust Emission in Sahara and Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, D.; Chin, M.; Diehl, T. L.; Bian, H.; Brown, M. E.; Remer, L. A.; Stockwell, W. R.

2014-12-01

North Africa is the world's largest dust source region influencing regional and global climate, human health, and even the local economy. However North Africa as a dust source is not uniform but it consists of the arid region (Sahara) and the semi-arid region (Sahel) with emission rates depending on meteorological and surface conditions. Several recent studies have shown that dust from North Africa seems to have a decreasing trend in the past three decades. The goal of this study is to better understand the controlling factors that determine the change of dust in North Africa using observational data and model simulations. First we analyze surface bareness conditions determined from a long-term satellite observed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index for 1980-2008. Then we examine the key meteorological variables of precipitation and surface winds. Modeling experiments were conducted using the NASA Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model, which has been recently updated with a dynamic dust source function. Using the method we separate the dust originating from the Sahel from that of the Sahara desert. We find that the surface wind speed is the most dominant factor affecting Sahelian dust emission while vegetation has a modulating effect. We will show regional differences in meteorological variables, surface conditions, dust emission, and dust distribution and address the relationships among meteorology, surface conditions, and dust emission/loading in the past three decades (1980-2008).

The hydrogeological conditions in Sahel Hasheesh, Eastern Desert, Eg

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed A. Abdalla

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The groundwater development in Egypt in the present time is of a vital importance than in past few years. A comprehensive plan for new land reclamation projects has been recently established. To achieve these plans new sources of water must be available. This has been done by conducting a number of VES’S where interpreted by a comparison with the existing drilled borehole soil samples. The optimum resistivity model is obtained by matching method using “IPI2Win” Moscow State University 2000 software computer programs for resistivity interpretation. The results of the quantitative interpretation of the resistivity curves has been represented as geoelectric sections, showing the thickness and true electric resistivity values of the different geoelectric layers. The results of quantitative interpretation of the vertical electrical soundings show subsurface five geoelectric units and the aquifer system belongs to lower Miocene and the total salinity of 2451.2 ppm. The depth to water surface is 88.05 m and the total dissolved solids are 2451.2 ppm (Mekhemer well. The salt assemblages in Sahel Hasheesh are NaCl, MgCl2, MgSO4, CaSO4, Ca(HCO32. This marine water is of brackish sodium chloride water type (NaCl.

The hydrogeological conditions in Sahel Hasheesh, Eastern Desert, Eg

Science.gov (United States)

Abdalla, Mohamed A.; Mekhemer, Hatem M.; Mabrou, Walid Abdallah

2016-06-01

The groundwater development in Egypt in the present time is of a vital importance than in past few years. A comprehensive plan for new land reclamation projects has been recently established. To achieve these plans new sources of water must be available. This has been done by conducting a number of VES'S where interpreted by a comparison with the existing drilled borehole soil samples. The optimum resistivity model is obtained by matching method using "IPI2Win" Moscow State University 2000 software computer programs for resistivity interpretation. The results of the quantitative interpretation of the resistivity curves has been represented as geoelectric sections, showing the thickness and true electric resistivity values of the different geoelectric layers. The results of quantitative interpretation of the vertical electrical soundings show subsurface five geoelectric units and the aquifer system belongs to lower Miocene and the total salinity of 2451.2 ppm. The depth to water surface is 88.05 m and the total dissolved solids are 2451.2 ppm (Mekhemer well). The salt assemblages in Sahel Hasheesh are NaCl, MgCl2, MgSO4, CaSO4, Ca(HCO3)2. This marine water is of brackish sodium chloride water type (NaCl).

Honoring Leslie A. Geddes - farewell ...

Science.gov (United States)

Valentinuzzi, Max E

2010-01-05

Honor thy father and thy mother, say the Holy Scriptures1, for they at least gave thee this biological life, but honor thy teachers, too, for they gave thee knowledge and example.Leslie Alexander Geddes took off on a long, long trip, Sunday October 25, 2009, leaving his body for medical and research use. The departing station was West Lafayette, Indiana, where he set foot in 1974, at Purdue University, stamping there a unique deep imprint, similar and probably more profound than the one left at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), Houston, Texas, in the period 1955-1974. Memories came back as a flood the minute after a message broke the news to me: When I first met him visiting the Department of Physiology at BCM back in 1962, my first Classical Physiology with Modern Instrumentation Summer Course ... The versatile Physiograph was the main equipment, an electronic-mechanical three or four channel recorder that could pick up a variety of physiological variables. Les and his collaborators had introduced also the impedance pneumograph, which was a simplified version of previous developments made by others. It became a ubiquitous unit that trod many roads in the hands of eager and curious students. Ventricular fibrillation and especially its counterpart, defibrillation, stand out as subjects occupying his concern along the years. Many were the students recruited to such effort and long is the list of papers on the subject. Physiological signals attracted considerable part of his activities because one of his perennial mottos was measurement is essential in physiology. He has written thirteen books and over eight hundred scientific papers, receiving also several prizes and distinctions. Not only his interests stayed within the academic environment but an industrial hue was manifested in over 20 USA patents, all applied to medical use. History of science and technology was another area in which, often with Hebbel Hoff, he uncovered astounding and delightful information. It

Career and Technology Center Honors Julie Hartman | Poster

Science.gov (United States)

By Carolynne Keenan, Contributing Writer On May 7, Julie Hartman was honored by the Frederick County Career and Technology Center (CTC) for her support of the CTC’s Biomedical Sciences Program. As an education program specialist for Outreach and Special Programs at NCI at Frederick, Hartman is responsible for NCI at Frederick’s participation in the program, which is designed to offer Frederick County high school students hands-on, practical laboratory experience beyond the typical classroom setting. 

Mapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel.

Science.gov (United States)

Malmborg, Katja; Sinare, Hanna; Enfors Kautsky, Elin; Ouedraogo, Issa; Gordon, Line J

2018-01-01

Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method) and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption) that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel.

Mapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Sinare, Hanna; Enfors Kautsky, Elin; Ouedraogo, Issa; Gordon, Line J.

2018-01-01

Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method) and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption) that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel. PMID:29389965

Mapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katja Malmborg

Full Text Available Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel.

Planning and implementing an honors degree in environmental science curricula: a case study from the University of Delaware, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Levia, Delphis

2015-04-01

Environmental degradation is undermining the sustainability of our planet. The multi-faceted nature of environmental stressors, which inherently couples human-environment interactions across space and time, necessitates that we train environmental scientists holistically within an interdisciplinary framework. Recruiting top-notch honors students to major in the environmental sciences is a critical step to ensure that we have the human capital to tackle complicated environmental problems successfully. Planning and implementing an honors degree is no trivial task. Based upon a recently completed and implemented set of programmatic revisions*, this poster showcases a successful example of an honors curriculum in environmental science to recruit and educate dynamic thinkers capable of improving the quality of our environment. The interdisciplinary environmental science program at the University of Delaware emphasizes the cross-cutting among earth's spheres through a core set of courses which employ a quantitative approach which is supplemented by several environmental policy courses. The core is coupled with six different thematic concentrations (students choose one) which permit the student to delve into a particular area of environmental science. The honors component of the degree consists of twelve additional credits. These credits are met through a specially designed introductory environmental course, a field experience requiring data collection, analysis, and write-up, a capstone course, and one other environmentally related course. The environmental sciences honors curriculum outlined in this poster may serve as a useful guide to others wishing to establish an honors program of their own in environmental science to recruit and prepare the next generation to mitigate environmental degradation. -------------- * Please note that the planning process for the environmental programs was and is the collective effort of many dedicated people. Current members of the

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African Journals Online (AJOL)

Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. ... savanna in the Sahel, and then to desert scrub in the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert at ... Guinea savanna .... In Hirji, R., Johnson, P., Maro, P. & Chiuta, T.M. (Eds), Defining.

Honor killings in the Middle East and North Africa: a systematic review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Kulczycki, Andrzej; Windle, Sarah

2011-11-01

A systematic review of the research literature on honor killings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) indicates a paucity of studies relative to the presumed magnitude of the problem. Forty articles were reviewed and critically appraised, of which only 9 contained primary data and 11 presented original secondary analyses. Despite a recent increase in published studies, persistent methodological limitations restrict the generalizability of findings. Most studies focus on legal aspects, determinants, and characteristics of victims and perpetrators. Victims are mostly young females murdered by their male kin. Unambiguous evidence of a decline in tolerance of honor killings remains elusive.

The effect of a dynamic background albedo scheme on Sahel/Sahara precipitation during the mid-Holocene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. S. E. Vamborg

2011-02-01

Full Text Available We have implemented a new albedo scheme that takes the dynamic behaviour of the surface below the canopy into account, into the land-surface scheme of the MPI-ESM. The standard (static scheme calculates the seasonal canopy albedo as a function of leaf area index, whereas the background albedo is a gridbox constant derived from satellite measurements. The new (dynamic scheme additionally models the background albedo as a slowly changing function of organic matter in the ground and of litter and standing dead biomass covering the ground. We use the two schemes to investigate the interactions between vegetation, albedo and precipitation in the Sahel/Sahara for two time-slices: pre-industrial and mid-Holocene. The dynamic scheme represents the seasonal cycle of albedo and the correspondence between annual mean albedo and vegetation cover in a more consistent way than the static scheme. It thus gives a better estimate of albedo change between the two time periods. With the introduction of the dynamic scheme, precipitation is increased by 30 mm yr⁻¹ for the pre-industrial simulation and by about 80 mm yr⁻¹ for the mid-Holocene simulation. The present-day dry bias in the Sahel of standard ECHAM5 is thus reduced and the sensitivity of precipitation to mid-Holocene external forcing is increased by around one third. The locations of mid-Holocene lakes, as estimated from reconstructions, lie south of the modelled desert border in both mid-Holocene simulations. The magnitude of simulated rainfall in this area is too low to fully sustain lakes, however it is captured better with the dynamic scheme. The dynamic scheme leads to increased vegetation variability in the remaining desert region, indicating a higher frequency of green spells, thus reaching a better agreement with the vegetation distribution as derived from pollen records.

The Malian Crisis and the Challenge of Regional Cooperation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolfram Lacher

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The weakness of regional security cooperation has been a key factor in the gradual destabilization of the Sahel-Sahara region over the past decade. While organized crime, extremist activity, and cross-border movements of arms and fighters have strengthened linkages among non-state actors in the region, state policies have failed to keep up. With the escalation of the crisis in Mali, West African states have adopted an approach diverging strongly from that of Mali’s North African neighbours. Western governments’ tendency to understand insecurity in the region through the notion of the Sahel has compounded the problem. Insecurity in the region, including criminal and extremist networks, is more Saharan than Sahelian in scope. North African states are part of the problem, and need to be part of the solution. A new framework for regional cooperation is needed – and while this can only be established on the initiative of regional states themselves, external actors need to adapt their policies to help such a framework emerge.

Revisiting the coupling between NDVI trends and cropland changes in the Sahel drylands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tong, Xiaoye; Brandt, Martin Stefan; Hiernaux, Pierre

2017-01-01

The impact of human activities via land use/cover changes on NDVI trends is critical for an improved understanding of satellite-observed changes in vegetation productivity in drylands. The dominance of positive NDVI trends in the Sahel, the so-called re-greening, is sometimes interpreted...... as a combined effect of an increase in rainfall and cropland expansion or agricultural intensification. Yet, the impact of changes in land use has yet to be thoroughly tested and supported by empirical evidence. At present, no studies have considered the importance of the different seasonal NDVI signals...... of cropped and fallowed fields when interpreting NDVI trends, as both field types are commonly merged into a single ‘cropland’ class. We make use of the distinctly different phenology of cropped and fallowed fields and use seasonal NDVI curves to separate these two field types. A fuzzy classifier is applied...

Contribution of different livestock species as sources of meat in Bauchi

African Journals Online (AJOL)

, 169, 119 and 7 were White Fulani, Red Bororo, Sokoto Gudali and Kuri breeds ... Of the 28,321 goats slaughtered, the contributions of Sokoto Red, Kano brown, Sahel and West African Dwarf were 20,265; 7,469; 575 and 12 respectively.

Impact of aerosols on solar energy production - Scenarios from the Sahel Zone

Science.gov (United States)

Neher, Ina; Meilinger, Stefanie; Crewell, Susanne

2017-04-01

Solar energy is one option to serve the rising global energy demand with low environmental impact. Building an energy system with a considerable share of solar power requires long-term investment and a careful investigation of potential sites. Therefore, understanding the impacts from varying regionally and locally determined meteorological conditions on solar energy production will influence energy yield projections. Aerosols reduce global solar radiation due to absorption and scattering and therewith solar energy yields. Depending on aerosol size distribution they reduce the direct component of the solar radiation and modify the direction of the diffuse component compared to standard atmospheric conditions without aerosols. The aerosol size distribution and composition in the atmosphere is highly variable due to meteorological and land surface conditions. A quantitative assessment of aerosol effects on solar power yields and its relation to land use change is of particular interest for developing countries countries when analyzing the potential of local power production. This study aims to identify the effect of atmospheric aerosols in three different land use regimes, namely desert, urban/polluted and maritime on the tilted plane of photovoltaic energy modules. Here we focus on the Sahel zone, i.e. Niamey, Niger (13.5 N;2.1 E), located at the edge of the Sahara where also detailed measurements of the atmospheric state are available over the year 2006. Guided by observations a model chain is used to determine power yields. The atmospheric aerosol composition will be defined by using the Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) library. Direct and diffuse radiation (up- and downward component) are then calculated by the radiative transfer model libRadtran which allows to calculate the diffuse component of the radiance from different azimuth and zenith angles. Then the diffuse radiance will be analytically transformed to an east, south and west facing

ESO Receives Computerworld Honors Program 21st Century Achievement Award in Science Category

Science.gov (United States)

2005-06-01

In a ceremony held in Washington, D.C. (USA) on June 6, 2005, ESO, the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the southern Hemisphere, received the coveted 21st Century Achievement Award from the Computerworld Honors Program for its visionary use of information technology in the Science category. Sybase, a main database server vendor and member of the Chairmen's Committee, nominated ESO's Data Flow System in recognition of its contributions to the global information technology revolution and its positive impact on society. The citations reads: "ESO has revolutionized the operations of ground-based astronomical observatories with a new end-to-end data flow system, designed to improve the transmission and management of astronomical observations and data over transcontinental distances." This year's awards, in 10 categories, were presented at a gala event at the National Building Museum, attended by over 250 guests, including leaders of the information technology industry, former award recipients, judges, scholars, and diplomats representing many of the 54 countries from which the 17-year-old program's laureates have come. "The Computerworld Honors Program 21st Century Achievement Awards are presented to companies from around the world whose visionary use of information technology promotes positive social, economic and educational change," said Bob Carrigan, president and CEO of Computerworld and chairman of the Chairmen's Committee of the Computerworld Honors Program. "The recipients of these awards are the true heroes of the information age and have been appropriately recognized by the leading IT industry chairmen as true revolutionaries in their fields." ESO PR Photo 18/05 ESO PR Photo 18/05 ESO Receives the Award in the Science Category [Preview - JPEG: 400 x 496 pix - 53k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 992 pix - 470k] [Full Res - JPEG: 1250 x 1550 pix - 1.1M] Caption: ESO PR Photo 18/05: Receiving the Computerworld 21st Century Achievement Award for Science

Large-scale control of the Arabian Sea monsoon inversion in August

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chi-Hua; Wang, S.-Y. Simon; Hsu, Huang-Hsiung

2017-12-01

The summer monsoon inversion in the Arabian Sea is characterized by a large amount of low clouds and August as the peak season. Atmospheric stratification associated with the monsoon inversion has been considered a local system influenced by the advancement of the India-Pakistan monsoon. Empirical and numerical evidence from this study suggests that the Arabian Sea monsoon inversion is linked to a broader-scale monsoon evolution across the African Sahel, South Asia, and East Asia-Western North Pacific (WNP), rather than being a mere byproduct of the India-Pakistan monsoon progression. In August, the upper-tropospheric anticyclone in South Asia extends sideways corresponding with the enhanced precipitation in the subtropical WNP, equatorial Indian Ocean, and African Sahel while the middle part of this anticyclone weakens over the Arabian Sea. The increased heating in the adjacent monsoon systems creates a suppression effect on the Arabian Sea, suggesting an apparent competition among the Africa-Asia-WNP monsoon subsystems. The peak Sahel rainfall in August, together with enhanced heating in the equatorial Indian Ocean, produces a critical effect on strengthening the Arabian Sea thermal inversion. By contrast, the WNP monsoon onset which signifies the eastward expansion of the subtropical Asian monsoon heating might play a secondary or opposite role in the Arabian Sea monsoon inversion.

El Médico de su Honra (The Doctor of his Own Honor by Calderón de la Barca: The Honor as a Cause of Exemption of the Penal Responsibility in the Baroque Spain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Palacio González

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The notion of honor or reputation is at the very core of the Spanish theatre in the baroque period. This fact could not be correctly understood without taking into consideration the obsession about purity of blood, having got a relevant influence in the Spanish society daily life since the expulsion of the Jewish population and the taking over of Grenade in 1492, as well as the first rank role played by the clerical and political power against the reform movement into the Church. One additional element that should be included into this general frame of reference is the structural inability of the Spanish economy to take off, after the end of the middle-age, in a process leading to a beginning of industrial revolution, with the subsequent assumption of modern values that necessarily would come out of that process. The most telling example of the importance of the idea of honor in the Spanish baroque theatre is, with no doubt, The Doctor of his own honor (El medico de su honra, by Calderón de la Barca, which plot turns around the announced death of an innocent lady suspicioned of adultery, just because of an unhappy sets of events. In the play the jealousy is less determinant for the purpose of the plot that the need for the husband to eliminate any element of uncertainty, as far as his reputation is concerned. The King understands the husband’s motivation and forgives him. Such a conception of honor has left, till very recent times, a major mark in the evolution of the Spanish society, even at a legislative level. El concepto de honor o reputación es un elemento fundamental en el teatro barroco español. Este hecho no se puede entender correctamente sin tener en cuenta la obsesión por la pureza de sangre, concepto con una influencia relevante en la vida cotidiana de la sociedad española desde la expulsión de la población judía y la conquista de Granada en 1492, así como por el papel fundamental desempeñado por el poder clerical y pol

Theories of the Universe: A One Semester Course for Honors Undergraduates

Science.gov (United States)

Dimmock, John O.; Adams, Mitzi; Sever, Tom

1999-01-01

For the last two years The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) has delivered a one semester course entitled Theories of The Universe as a seminar for undergraduate honors students. The enrollment is limited to fifteen students to encourage a maximum amount of interaction and discussion. The course has been team-taught enlisting the support of four scientists from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center as well as UAH faculty from the history, philosophy, biology and physics departments. The course mixes history, mythology, philosophy, religion, and, of course, science and astronomy. The course traces mankind's view of the universe and how that has changed from about 30,000 years BCE to the current observations and models. Starting with a brief history of mankind we trace the evolution of ideas including Prehistoric European, Babylonian, Egyptian, Asian, North, Central and South American, African, Chinese, Greek, Middle Ages, Copernican, Galileo, Kepler, the Renaissance and Enlightenment, Newton, Einstein, and Hawking etc. Namely, we try to touch on just about every different view to puzzles of quantum cosmology, missing mass and the cosmological constant. By the end of the course, students should have a good understanding of: (1) the human desire and need for understanding; (2) the interplay between observations, modeling and theory development, and the need for revisions based on further observations; (3) the role of developing technology in advancing knowledge; (4) the evolution of our views of the universe and our relation to it; and (5) where we are today in our quest. Students are required to write two term papers and present them to the class. The final exam is a open discussion on our views of what we have learned.

Dealing with extreme environmental degradation: stress and marginalization of Sahel dwellers.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Haaften, E H; Van de Vijver, F J

1999-07-01

Psychological aspects of environmental degradation are hardly investigated. In the present study these aspects were examined among Sahel dwellers, who live in environments with different states of degradation. The degradation was assessed in terms of vegetation cover, erosion, and loss of organic matter. Subjects came from three cultural groups: Dogon (agriculturalists, n = 225), Mossi (agriculturalists, n = 914), and Fulani (pastoralists, n = 844). Questionnaires addressing marginalization, locus of control, and coping were administered. Environmental degradation was associated with higher levels of stress, marginalization, passive coping (avoidance), a more external locus of control, and lower levels of active coping (problem solving and support seeking). Compared to agriculturalists, pastoralists showed a stronger variation in all psychological variables across all regions, from the least to the most environmentally degraded. Women showed higher scores of stress, (external) locus of control, problem solving, and support seeking than men. The interaction of gender and region was significant for several variables. It was concluded that environmental degradation has various psychological correlates: people are likely to display an active approach to environmental degradation as long as the level of degradation is not beyond their control.

Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic fingerprinting of transatlantic dust derived from North Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Wancang; Balsam, William; Williams, Earle; Long, Xiaoyong; Ji, Junfeng

2018-03-01

Long-range transport of African dust plays an important role in understanding dust-climate relationships including dust source areas, dust pathways and associated atmospheric and/or oceanic processes. Clay-sized Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic compositions can be used as geochemical fingerprints to constrain dust provenance and the pathways of long-range transported mineral dust. We investigated the clay-sized Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic composition of surface samples along four transects bordering the Sahara Desert. The transects are from Mali, Niger/Benin/Togo, Egypt and Morocco. Our results show that the Mali transect on the West African Craton (WAC) produces lower εNd (εNd-mean = -16.38) and εHf (εHf-mean = -9.59) values than the other three transects. The Egyptian transect exhibits the lowest 87Sr/86Sr ratios (87Sr/86Srmean = 0.709842), the highest εHf (εHf-mean = -0.34) and εNd values of the four transects. Comparison of the clay-sized Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic values from our North African samples to transatlantic African dust collected in Barbados demonstrates that the dust's provenance is primarily the western Sahel and Sahara as well as the central Sahel. Summer emission dust is derived mainly from the western Sahel and Sahara regions. The source of transatlantic dust in spring and autumn is more varied than in the summer and includes dust not only from western areas, but also south central areas. Comparison of the Sr-Nd-Hf isotopic fingerprints between the source and sink of transatlantic dust also suggests that a northwestward shift in dust source occurs from the winter, through the spring and into the summer. The isotopic data we develop here provide another tool for discriminating changes in dust archives resulting from paleoenvironmental evolution of source regions.

"The Endless Appetite": Honors Education and the Spirit of the Humanities

Science.gov (United States)

Martino, Andrew

2015-01-01

In a world that no longer privileges thinking, Andrew Martino writes here that we might need to consider what we are asking of our students--and why--when we ask them to think. This article presents a declaration of how Martino thinks honors education can serve as a resistant force against the increasing encroachment of a wholly utilitarian…

Setting the Table for Diversity. National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Lisa L., Ed.; Kotinek, Jonathan D., Ed.

2010-01-01

This monograph provides a cross section of policy and practice through the voices and experiences of honors faculty, staff, and students from across the nation. While far from comprehensive, this volume does pick up different strands of thinking on diversity to present a rich and complicated understanding of what diversity is, why it is important,…

Preparing students for global citizenship: the effects of a Dutch undergraduate honors course

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schutte, Ingrid W.; Kamans, Elanor; Wolfensberger, Marca; Veugelers, Wiel

2017-01-01

Using a mixed method approach, this case study investigates effects on the participating students () of an undergraduate honors course in the Netherlands, aimed at global justice citizenship. Knowledge about effects of global citizenship courses is still limited. The Ethical Sensitivity Scale

Developing Trustworthy Commissioned Officers: Transcending the Honor Codes and Concept

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-01

prima   facie  evidence  that  one  has  been  honorable.  This  assumption  is...the   staff   and   faculty   at   each   commissioning   source  have  an   obligation   to   show  Cadets,  Midshipmen...and belief in the competency, character, and commitment of an institution, organization, group, or individual to fulfill obligations and

Effect of pregnancy on some biochemical parameters in Sahel goats in semi-arid zones.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandabe, U K; Mustapha, A R; Sambo, E Y

2004-05-01

The effects of pregnancy on some biochemical parameters were studied using 20 sexually mature, cycling goats with weight range 20-25 kg. They were randomly separated into two groups of 10 animals each. In one group, oestrus was detected while going round with a buck in the morning and evening; a single buck on detection of oestrus mated the does and the does were tagged as pregnant after confirmation of non-return of oestrus. The other group was kept cycling and tagged as non-pregnant. The mean serum glucose concentration in pregnant does was 63.35 +/- 7.70 mg/dl, significantly lower than 71.59 +/- 1.14 mg/dl for non-pregnant does (p 0.05), as did the liver enzymes (ALT, AST). Therefore this study showed that low serum glucose and high cholesterol levels are features of mid to late pregnancy in Sahel goats.

The project RUSSADE: geoethic education to face environmental problems in the Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrero, Elena; Semita, Carlo

2016-04-01

The hard environmental and climatic conditions in Sahel countries affect life choices of younger generations, whose number continues to increase especially in large Sahelian cities, with increasing levels of discomfort and lack of adequate education and governance. To improve job opportunities and consequently the quality of life at all levels of the population, it is important to guarantee a better access to basic natural resources, such as soil, water, food. At the same time it is essential to spread awareness and knowledge of the vulnerability and of the risks that threaten natural resources, both for natural processes and for the interaction with human not sustainable activities. For this purpose, a Master course has been achieved in the project RUSSADE (Réseau des Universités Sahéliennes pour la Sécurité Alimentaire et la Durabilité Environnementale - www.russade.eu), funded in the ACP-EU Cooperation Programme in higher education (EDULINK II). The Master course includes teaching modules dedicated to these issues and takes care of their integration with other modules in the technical and application fields of the rural development. For instance, the objectives of the teaching module "Land and natural resources management" provide for the transmission of skills to diagnose types of soil degradation risks, to guide options for protection, conservation and soil restoration and to identify the components of integrated soil fertility management in particular African contexts (Subunit "Land management"); to choose appropriate methods of management and exploitation of water resources (defining the limits in the use of water resources) (Subunit "Water supply"); to propose alternative solutions concerning conventional energy resources, to know and promote the various possibilities of solar and other renewable energies production (Subunit "Using solar and other renewable energies"). Some teaching modules introduce and discuss risks related to inadequate waste

Mirror Neurons, Theatrical Mirrors and the Honor Code

OpenAIRE

Greer, M.G. (Margaret G.)

2012-01-01

Este artículo relaciona el descubrimiento de cierta clase de células cerebrales denominados «neuronas espejo», que pueden ayudar a explicar la base biológica de la naturaleza pre-conceptual, pre-lingüística de la cognición humana, a la teoría lacaniana de la formación de la subjetividad humana en el espacio del Otro. Así explica la naturaleza inter-sujetiva del honor que Lope describe en Los comendadores de Córdoba como «aquélla que consiste en otro». La teoría de las neuronas espejo muestra ...

Cut throat injuries and honor killings: review of 15 cases in eastern Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozdemir, Bora; Celbis, Osman; Kaya, Atılhan

2013-05-01

Throat cuts could be of homicidal, suicidal or accidental origin. In the cases of death from cut throat, suicide can be distinguished from homicide based on the type and location of the wound and crime scene investigation. The purpose of the current study is to attract attention to the instructive findings for origin determination in deaths by cut throat according to the number and characteristics of the wounds and crime scene investigation. We have reviewed the files of autopsies performed between the years of 2000 and 2010, and compared with previously published case reports; all results were summarized in the current study. The results showed that 60% of cases were male, 40% were female, with 27.9 years of average age. The mean number of wounds was calculated to be 34.3 per case for honor homicides, 7.4 per case for other homicides, and 2.0 per case for suicides. Numbers of wounds were approximately 5 times higher in the honor homicides compared to other homicides. If the number of wounds were excessive, possibility of honor killings should be taken into account. When the killer was a parent not in psychosis, hesitation cuts were detected. Additional lesions were present in 46.7% of the cases, and they were assessed as homicide. Presence of vertebral notch and spinal cord cuts, which require a substantial amount of force and pressure via sharp tools, indicates homicide. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Influence of grazing regimes on cattle nutrition and performance and vegetation dynamics in Sahelian rangelands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ayantunde, A.A.

1998-01-01

In the West African Sahel, common herd management practices such as night grazing and corralling influence time available for grazing. When animals are used to deposit manure in the cropping fields, conflicts often arise between the need for animals to graze long enough for adequate feed

Search Results | Page 14 | IDRC - International Development ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Results 131 - 138 of 138 ... ... TEACHING AIDS 10 Apply TEACHING AIDS filter · RESEARCH CAPACITY 9 Apply ... Helping young migrant job seekers ... Integrated nutrient and water management for sustainable food production in the Sahel ... without assessing the risks posed by the flood of equipment into African countries?

Strengthening African Union for African Integration: An African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. ... in the international state system and seek for African initiative in solving African problems. ... of the African Union by examining the efforts of African Leaders towards African integration, ...

La cultura del honor en la culpabilización de la mujer objeto de violación

OpenAIRE

Canto, Jesús M.; Perles, Fabiola; San Martín, Jesús

2014-01-01

Se analiza el papel que desempeña la cultura del honor en la culpabilización de las mujeres objeto de violación. Se obtiene que en los escenarios de violación en lo que previamente se daba algún tipo de intimidad entre la víctima y el agresor (violación por un conocido y violación marital), a medida que se puntúa más alto en la aceptación de los postulados de la cultura del honor, más se culpabiliza a la mujer.

African Climate Change Fellowship | CRDI - Centre de recherches ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Extrants. Articles de revue. Spatial fields' dispersion as a farmer strategy to reduce agro-climatic risk at the household level in pearl millet-based systems in the Sahel : a modeling ... L'Initiative des conseils subventionnaires de la recherche scientifique en Afrique subsaharienne remporte le prix de la diplomatie scientifique.

An intensely sympathetic awareness: Experiential similarity and cultural norms as means for gaining older African Americans’ trust of scientific research

Science.gov (United States)

Sabir, Myra G.; Pillemer, Karl A.

2014-01-01

Well-known trust-building methods are routinely used to recruit and retain older African Americans into scientific research studies, yet the quandary over how to overcome this group’s hesitance to participate in research remains. We present two innovative and testable methods for resolving the dilemma around increasing older African Americans’ participation in scientific research studies. Certain specific and meaningful experiential similarities between the primary researcher and the participants, as well as clear recognition of the elders’ worth and dignity, improved older African Americans’ willingness to adhere to a rigorous research design. Steps taken in an intervention study produced a potentially replicable strategy for achieving strong results in recruitment, retention and engagement of this population over three waves of assessment. Sixty-two (n = 62) older African Americans were randomized to treatment and control conditions of a reminiscence intervention. Sensitivity to an African-American cultural form of respect for elders (recognition of worth and dignity), and intersections between the lived experience of the researcher and participants helped dispel this population’s well-documented distrust of scientific research. Results suggest that intentional efforts to honor the worth and dignity of elders through high level hospitality and highlighting meaningful experiential similarities between the researcher and the participants can improve recruitment and retention results. Experiential similarities, in particular, may prove more useful to recruitment and retention than structural similarities such as age, race, or gender, which may not in themselves result in the trust experiential similarities elicit. PMID:24655682

Essays on the future in honor of Nick Metropolis

CERN Document Server

Rota, Gian-Carlo

2000-01-01

This collection represents a unique undertaking in scientific publishing to honor Nick Metropolis. Nick was the last survivor of the World War II Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, and was an important member of the Los Alamos national Laboratory until his death in October, 1999. In this volume, some of the leading scientists and humanists of our time have contributed essays related to their respective disciplines, exploring various aspects of future developments in science and society, philosophy, national security, nuclear power, pure and applied mathematics, physics and biology, particle physics, computing, and information science.

An empirical analysis of the simultaneous effects of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in millet

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Voortman, R.L.; Brouwer, J.

2003-01-01

Low soil fertility is a major constraint for increasing millet production on the acid sandy soils of the West African Sahel. On these soils, all three macronutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphate ( P) and potassium ( K), may be expected to limit crop yields. The important question is therefore: which of

The responses of three nigerian indigenous goat breeds to primary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Responses of three Nigerian breeds of goat; Red Sokoto (RS), West African Dwarf (WAD) and Sahel White (SW) were investigated following primary and secondary experimental infections ... On day 42 post infection, (n=12) goats, (4 per breed) of the infected animals were humanely euthanized and worm count determined.

Fertilizer micro-dosing: a profitable innovation for Sahelian women ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

2016-06-06

Jun 6, 2016 ... The localized application of small quantities of fertilizer (micro-dosing), combined with improved planting pits for rainwater harvesting, has generated greater profits and food security for women farmers in the Sahel. Women have taken to the new methods developed by West African and Canadian ...

Sea Lions and Honors Students: More in Common than You May Think

Science.gov (United States)

Lindemann-Biolsi, Kristy L.

2014-01-01

One can easily find a link between the general principles of learning in relation to both nonhuman and human animals. What may be a more difficult but equally important parallel is how these learning principles are applied to the training of animals and the teaching of honors students. The author considers what teachers can learn from observing…

Highlighting the Transfer, Honors, and Excellence Workshop. CSCC Bulletin, Issue 7, 1983.

Science.gov (United States)

Center for the Study of Community Colleges, Los Angeles, CA.

Summaries are provided for the major presentations given at a workshop on honors, transfer, and excellence, held in Los Angeles in October 1982. Following a brief overview of the main topics covered, highlights are presented from the talks of: (1) Robert McCabe, president of Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC), who urged participants to set high…

Seasonal labour migration strategies in the Sahel: coping with poverty or optimising security?

Science.gov (United States)

Hampshire, K; Randall, S

1999-01-01

This study examined the relationship between seasonal labor migration and poverty for various Fulani populations in the Sahel region of northern Burkina Faso, who represent the spectrum of production systems from pure pastoralism to agropastoralism to cultivation. There is a general trend of rising seasonal labor participation with increasing household wealth; limited financial and human resources mean that families belonging to the lower income population are excluded from this option. However, other ethnic and economic differences among the population compound this picture. Agriculturalists are more likely to migrate than pastoralists, and the Fulani subgroup Fulbe Djelgobe is unlikely to migrate at all unless desperate. The impacts of circular labor also differ. For a few agriculturalists and agropastoralists, migration to the cities is rewarding; for most the gains are small but are still essential. Pastoralists are more likely to experience negative outcomes than agriculturalists. Unless sufficient provision is made to fill in labor deficits in the migrants' absence, the cost of domestic production may seriously outweigh any benefits in the long run.

The paradoxical evolution of runoff in the pastoral Sahel: analysis of the hydrological changes over the Agoufou watershed (Mali) using the KINEROS-2 model

Science.gov (United States)

Gal, Laetitia; Grippa, Manuela; Hiernaux, Pierre; Pons, Léa; Kergoat, Laurent

2017-09-01

In recent decades, the Sahel has witnessed a paradoxical increase in surface water despite a general precipitation decline. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as the Sahelian paradox, is not completely understood yet. The role of cropland expansion due to the increasing food demand by a growing population has been often put forward to explain this situation for the cultivated Sahel. However, this hypothesis does not hold in pastoral areas where the same phenomenon is observed. Several other processes, such as the degradation of natural vegetation following the major droughts of the 1970s and the 1980s, the development of crusted topsoils, the intensification of the rainfall regime and the development of the drainage network, have been suggested to account for this situation. In this paper, a modeling approach is proposed to explore, quantify and rank different processes that could be at play in pastoral Sahel. The kinematic runoff and erosion model (KINEROS-2) is applied to the Agoufou watershed (245 km2), in the Gourma region in Mali, which underwent a significant increase of surface runoff during the last 60 years. Two periods are simulated, the past case (1960-1975) preceding the Sahelian drought and the present case (2000-2015). Surface hydrology and land cover characteristics for these two periods are derived by the analysis of aerial photographs, available in 1956, and high-resolution remote sensing images in 2011. The major changes identified are (1) a partial crusting of isolated dunes, (2) an increase of drainage network density, (3) a marked decrease in vegetation with the nonrecovery of tiger bush and vegetation growing on shallow sandy soils, and (4) important changes in soil properties with the apparition of impervious soils instead of shallow sandy soil. The KINEROS-2 model was parameterized to simulate these changes in combination or independently. The results obtained by this model display a significant increase in annual discharge between the

Investigating the Relationship between the Inter-Annual Variability of Satellite-Derived Vegetation Phenology and a Proxy of Biomass Production in the Sahel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michele Meroni

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In the Sahel region, moderate to coarse spatial resolution remote sensing time series are used in early warning monitoring systems with the aim of detecting unfavorable crop and pasture conditions and informing stakeholders about impending food security risks. Despite growing evidence that vegetation productivity is directly related to phenology, most approaches to estimate such risks do not explicitly take into account the actual timing of vegetation growth and development. The date of the start of the season (SOS or of the peak canopy density can be assessed by remote sensing techniques in a timely manner during the growing season. However, there is limited knowledge about the relationship between vegetation biomass production and these variables at the regional scale. This study describes the first attempt to increase our understanding of such a relationship through the analysis of phenological variables retrieved from SPOT-VEGETATION time series of the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR. Two key phenological variables (growing season length (GSL; timing of SOS and the maximum value of FAPAR attained during the growing season (Peak are analyzed as potentially related to a proxy of biomass production (CFAPAR, the cumulative value of FAPAR during the growing season. GSL, SOS and Peak all show different spatial patterns of correlation with CFAPAR. In particular, GSL shows a high and positive correlation with CFAPAR over the whole Sahel (mean r = 0.78. The negative correlation between delays in SOS and CFAPAR is stronger (mean r = −0.71 in the southern agricultural band of the Sahel, while the positive correlation between Peak FAPAR and CFAPAR is higher in the northern and more arid grassland region (mean r = 0.75. The consistency of the results and the actual link between remote sensing-derived phenological parameters and biomass production were evaluated using field measurements of aboveground herbaceous biomass

For Distinguished Public Service: Medical Library Association Honors FNLM and NIH MedlinePlus Magazine | NIH ...

Science.gov (United States)

... Medical Library Association Honors FNLM and NIH MedlinePlus Magazine Past Issues / Summer 2011 Table of Contents MLA ... From You We want your feedback on the magazine and ideas for future issues, as well as ...

Sub-Saharan Northern African climate at the end of the twenty-first century: forcing factors and climate change processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patricola, C.M. [Cornell University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Ithaca, NY (United States); Texas A and M University, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, College Station, TX (United States); Cook, K.H. [The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, Austin, TX (United States)

2011-09-15

A regional climate model, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, is forced with increased atmospheric CO{sub 2} and anomalous SSTs and lateral boundary conditions derived from nine coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models to produce an ensemble set of nine future climate simulations for northern Africa at the end of the twenty-first century. A well validated control simulation, agreement among ensemble members, and a physical understanding of the future climate change enhance confidence in the predictions. The regional model ensembles produce consistent precipitation projections over much of northern tropical Africa. A moisture budget analysis is used to identify the circulation changes that support future precipitation anomalies. The projected midsummer drought over the Guinean Coast region is related partly to weakened monsoon flow. Since the rainfall maximum demonstrates a southward bias in the control simulation in July-August, this may be indicative of future summer drying over the Sahel. Wetter conditions in late summer over the Sahel are associated with enhanced moisture transport by the West African westerly jet, a strengthening of the jet itself, and moisture transport from the Mediterranean. Severe drought in East Africa during August and September is accompanied by a weakened Indian monsoon and Somali jet. Simulations with projected and idealized SST forcing suggest that overall SST warming in part supports this regional model ensemble agreement, although changes in SST gradients are important over West Africa in spring and fall. Simulations which isolate the role of individual climate forcings suggest that the spatial distribution of the rainfall predictions is controlled by the anomalous SST and lateral boundary conditions, while CO{sub 2} forcing within the regional model domain plays an important secondary role and generally produces wetter conditions. (orig.)

Encouraging Self-Reflection by Business Honors Students: Reflective Writing, Films, and Self-Assessments

Science.gov (United States)

Yoder, Stephen A.

2017-01-01

"The Moral Imagination," edited by Oliver F. Williams is a collection of essays written nearly twenty years ago on how honors educators might teach students to develop a sense of moral imagination through literature, art, and film. The book's subtitle--"How Literature and Films Can Stimulate Ethical Reflection in the Business…

Da destinação dos honorários de sucumbência nas causas cíveis patrocinadas pelo Núcleo de Assistência Judiciária da UFV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Júlio Justo Peter

2013-11-01

Full Text Available O presente trabalho tem por objetivo investigar quem deve ser o destinatário dos honorários advocatícios de sucumbência nas causas cíveis patrocinadas pelo Núcleo de Assistência Judiciária (NAJ da Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV. Por meio dos métodos bibliográfico, dedutivo e indutivo, consistentes no exame da legislação nacional, da jurisprudência, da doutrina e de normas administrativas, analisou-se a natureza jurídica e a destinação dos honorários advocatícios inclusos na condenação, a legalidade do Regulamento nº 5/96 do Conselho Universitário (CONSU da UFV, que destina os honorários inclusos na condenação aos cofres da universidade, e se os professores inscritos na Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (OAB que atuaram nessas causas estariam autorizados a perceber os honorários de sucumbência. A conclusão foi pela ilegalidade desse regulamento por não destinar os honorários de advogado inclusos na condenação nem ao advogado nem à parte vencedora, devendo, portanto, ser essa verba honorária destinada aos professores.

Modelling spatial and temporal dynamics of gross primary production in the Sahel from earth-observation-based photosynthetic capacity and quantum efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tagesson, Håkan Torbern; Ardoe, Jonas; Cappelaere, Bernard

2017-01-01

based on earth observation (EO) (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), renormalized difference vegetation index (RDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and shortwave infrared water stress index (SIWSI)); and (3) to study the applicability of EO upscaled Fopt and α for GPP modelling purposes...... impacted by anthropogenic land use. Upscaled GPP for the Sahel 2001-2014 was 736 ± 39 gCm-2yr-1. This study indicates the strong applicability of EO as a tool for spatially explicit estimates of GPP, Fopt and α incorporating EO-based Fopt and α in dynamic global vegetation models could improve estimates...

Puelles romero, Luis: Honoré Daumier: la risa republicana

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Óscar Ortega Ruiz

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Recientemente, Abada Editores ha puesto a disposición de sus lectores el nuevo ensayo de Luis Puelles Romero, titular de Estética y Teoría de las Artes de la Universidad de Málaga. Honoré Daumier: la risa republicana se interna en la vida y la obra de este marsellés nacido en 1808 y muerto en París en 1879, cuyo trabajo se desarrolló durante cincuenta años decisivos de la historia de Francia, desde el final del periodo legitimista hasta los inicios de la III República.

De la difusión cultural de la virtud caballeresca a la defensa del honor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Remedios Morán Martín

2000-01-01

Full Text Available A medida que la nobleza va perdiendo su carácter guerrero (bellatores, empieza a elaborar un concepto de virtud y de honor cercano a las nuevas corrientes humanistas que se difunden en la Península, lo que conlleva unas nuevas formas de defensa del honor como práctica social, que desembocarán en la tipificación del duelo como delito.As the same time as Nobility is on the way to lose its warlike attitude (bellatores, it begins to elabórate a new concept of virtue and honour cióse to the new humanistic tendencies spread in the Iberian Península, what implles new ways to defend the honour as a social practico, which wlll lead to the typification of the duel as an offense.

Psychocultural Mechanisms of the Propensity toward Criminal Homicide: A Multidimensional View of the Culture of Honor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica G. T. C. Souza

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Theory of the Culture of Honor is one of the few models in criminology specifically geared toward homicide. It proposes that, in certain societies, men must never show weakness and are required to react violently to any perceived threats to their reputation, thereby increasing their probability of committing a homicide. This has been suggested as the main explanation for the high rates of this type of crime in Brazil, particularly in the Northeast. Underlying this explanation there are complex mechanisms and processes that have yet to be clarified.Objectives: The present research aimed to investigate the workings of the possible psychocultural mechanisms underlying the culture of honor and the process through which they might affect the individual propensity toward homicide.Methods: A total of 336 Brazilian adults were assessed regarding a broad range of sociodemographic, psychological, and sociocultural variables, including their attitudes toward homicide. The resulting dataset was analyzed using Smallest Space Analysis and Facet Theory.Results: It seems that certain cultural elements associated to traditional masculinity and enhanced anger tend to promote negative personality traits and increase one’s propensity toward committing homicide.Conclusion: The findings obtained not only confirm the Theory of the Culture of Honor for the propensity toward homicide, but also explicit and clarify some of the psychocultural processes and mechanisms involved, suggesting a new scientific framework.

Evaluating U.S. and EU Trans Sahel Policies

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-01

elected leaders as well as young Africans who are leaders in civil society and entrepreneurship . Protecting Human Rights, Civil Society, and...GSPC: Newest Franchise in al-Qa‘ida‘s Global Jihad,‖ The Combating Terrorism Center, United States Military Academy, West Point, April 2007, 2. 40

Imagination and the Humanities in Honors across the Disciplines at a Jesuit University

Science.gov (United States)

Kraus, Joe

2015-01-01

Not every student has done honors work in the humanities, but all students experience research at a human level that necessarily recalls the work of the humanities. This article describes how Joe Kraus, a professor of literature at the University of Scranton, was inspired to see applied humanities in stories of human experiences, which helped him…

The culture of honor as the best explanation for the high rates of criminal homicide in Pernambuco: A comparative study with 160 convicts and non-convicts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Gomes Teixeira Campello de Souza

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present work aimed to investigate the propensity towards criminal homicide using a broad approach, encompassing theories based on socioeconomic frustration, decision-making processes, emotional attachment, testosterone, moral development, moral values, and the culture of honor. A total of 160 adult Brazilian men completed a questionnaire, various psychological tests, and right-hand digit ratio measurements. The findings discarded all theories tested, except the culture of honor. It is concluded that, in the region, public policies for the reduction of the rate of homicides must be specific to that crime and address cultural issues regarding honor and moral satisfaction.

Climate variability and environmental stress in the Sudan-Sahel zone of West Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Mertz, Ole; D'haen, Sarah; Maiga, Abdou; Moussa, Ibrahim Bouzou; Barbier, Bruno; Diouf, Awa; Diallo, Drissa; Da, Evariste Dapola; Dabi, Daniel

2012-06-01

Environmental change in the Sudan-Sahel region of West Africa (SSWA) has been much debated since the droughts of the 1970s. In this article we assess climate variability and environmental stress in the region. Households in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria were asked about climatic changes and their perceptions were compared across north-south and west-east rainfall gradients. More than 80% of all households found that rainfall had decreased, especially in the wettest areas. Increases in wind speeds and temperature were perceived by an overall 60-80% of households. Contrary to household perceptions, observed rainfall patterns showed an increasing trend over the past 20 years. However, August rainfall declined, and could therefore potentially explain the contrasting negative household perceptions of rainfall trends. Most households reported degradation of soils, water resources, vegetation, and fauna, but more so in the 500-900 mm zones. Adaptation measures to counter environmental degradation included use of manure, reforestation, soil and water conservation, and protection of fauna and vegetation. The results raise concerns for future environmental management in the region, especially in the 500-900 mm zones and the western part of SSWA.

Honoring and Building on the Rich Literacy Practices of Young Bilingual and Multilingual Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Souto-Manning, Mariana

2016-01-01

In this article, the author invites teachers of children who are bilingual, multilingual, and at promise for bi-/multilingualism to honor and build on their rich literacy practices. To do so, she challenges ideas and labels that continuously disempower bilingual and multilingual learners. Souto-Manning establishes the understanding that education…

Playing with Light: Adventures in Optics and Spectroscopy for Honors and Majors General Chemistry

Science.gov (United States)

van Staveren, Marie N.; Edwards, Kimberly D.; Apkarian, V. A.

2012-01-01

A lab was developed for use in an undergraduate honors and majors general chemistry laboratory to introduce students to optics, spectroscopy, and the underlying principles of quantum mechanics. This lab includes four mini-experiments exploring total internal reflection, the tunneling of light, spectra of sparklers and colored candles, and emission…

Honoring the Past, Changing the Future: Bringing Native American Voices into Dance Theory Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Prichard, Robin

2016-01-01

The inclusion of Native American perspectives adds an important voice in honoring the multiplicities of histories and cultures inherent in American society. And yet, teachers run the risk of committing unknown offenses if they are not familiar with the potential pitfalls that longstanding asymmetrical power relations between cultures can produce.…

GLOBAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES ISSN 1596-2903

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ada Global

mean rainfall for locations in the West African Sahel will reduce yields substantially and in many cases could lead to total crop failure. The study ... roughness, and the amount of dust generation are seen as possible triggers to a .... Table 1: Coefficient of determintion (R2) for the multiple regression models. Model 1. Location.

Pudor, honor, and autoridad: the evolving patient-physician relationship in Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, R M; Borrell i Carrió, F

2001-10-01

The expression of emotion and the sharing of information are determined by cultural factors, consultation time, and the structure of the health care system. Two emblematic situations in Spain - the expression of aggression in the patient-physician encounter, and the withholding of diagnostic information from the patient - have not been well-described in their sociocultural context. To explore these, the authors observed and participated in clinical practice and teaching in several settings throughout Spain and analyzed field notes using qualitative methods. In this paper, we explore three central constructs - modesty (pudor), dignity (honor), and authority (autoridad) - and their expressions in patient-physician encounters. We define two types of emotions in clinical settings - public, extroverted expressions of anger and exuberance; and private, deeply held feelings of fear and grief that tend to be expressed through the arts and religion. Premature reassurance and withholding of information are interpreted as attempts to reconstruct the honor and pudor of the patient. Physician authority and perceived loyalty to the government-run health care system generate conflict and aggression in the patient-physician relationship. These clinical behaviors are contextualized within cultural definitions of effective communication, an ideal patient-physician relationship, the role of the family, and ethical behavior. Despite agreement on the goals of medicine, the behavioral manifestations of empathy and caring in Spain contrast substantially with northern European and North American cultures.

A course for developing interprofessional skills in pre-professional honor students using humanities and media.

Science.gov (United States)

Poirier, Therese I; Stamper-Carr, Connie; Newman, Kate

2017-09-01

To design and implement an undergraduate honors course for pre-health professional students that develops interpersonal skills through use of a variety of humanities. A three credit hour course in an honors seminar sequence was developed by pharmacy practice faculty and with input from faculty in mass communications, philosophy, applied communication studies and history. The course utilized a variety of media such as literature, film, and podcasts to foster student discussion about a variety of health-related topics. Topics included public health, stigmatization, portrayals of health care providers, patient experiences, health care ethics, aging, and death and dying. Students were assessed using pre-class assignments and reflective writings as well as a formal written and oral presentation on a selected health-related book. A quasi-experimental design was used to assess the impact of the course on desired course outcomes. The first course offering was to 22 undergraduate pre-health professional honors students. Pre- and post-course surveys on students' perceptions and students' reflective writings revealed achievement of desired course outcomes. Post-course evaluations also revealed positive perceptions about the course. The design of this course provided an outlet for students to read and enjoy various forms of media, while also meeting its goal of exposing students to a variety of humanities. The course allowed students to think critically about various health care issues, and to begin to develop interpersonal skills. The course could be adapted for pharmacy by developing affective domains of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Remote sensing of desert dust aerosols over the Sahel : potential use for health impact studies

Science.gov (United States)

Deroubaix, A. D.; Martiny, N. M.; Chiapello, I. C.; Marticorena, B. M.

2012-04-01

Since the end of the 70's, remote sensing monitors the desert dust aerosols due to their absorption and scattering properties and allows to make long time series which are necessary for air quality or health impact studies. In the Sahel, a huge health problem is the Meningitis Meningococcal (MM) epidemics that occur during the dry season : the dust has been suspected to be crucial to understand their onsets and dynamics. The Aerosol absorption Index (AI) is a semi-quantitative index derived from TOMS and OMI observations in the UV available at a spatial resolution of 1° (1979-2005) and 0.25° (2005-today) respectively. The comparison of the OMI-AI and AERONET Aerosol Optical thickness (AOT) shows a good agreement at a daily time-step (correlation ~0.7). The comparison of the OMI-AI with the Particle Matter (PM) measurement of the Sahelian Dust Transect is lower (~0.4) at a daily time-step but it increases at a weekly time-step (~0.6). The OMI-AI reproduces the dust seasonal cycle over the Sahel and we conclude that the OMI-AI product at a 0.25° spatial resolution is suitable for health impact studies, especially at a weekly epidemiological time-step. Despite the AI is sensitive to the aerosol altitude, it provides a daily spatial information on dust. A preliminary investigation analysis of the link between weekly OMI AI and weekly WHO epidemiological data sets is presented in Mali and Niger, showing a good agreement between the AI and the onset of the MM epidemics with a constant lag (between 1 and 2 week). The next of this study is to analyse a deeper AI time series constituted by TOMS and OMI data sets. Based on the weekly ratios PM/AI at 2 stations of the Sahelian Dust Transect, a spatialized proxy for PM from the AI has been developed. The AI as a proxy for PM and other climate variables such as Temperature (T°), Relative Humidity (RH%) and the wind (intensity and direction) could then be used to analyze the link between those variables and the MM epidemics

Statement of Honorable Donald C. Winter Secretary of the Navy Before the House Armed Services Committee

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Winter, Donald C

2007-01-01

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, and Members of the Committee, it is an honor to appear before you representing the brave men and women of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps active, reserve...

[Population resettlement and women's changing roles in the Sahel].

Science.gov (United States)

Ouedraogo, D O

1992-01-01

For many decision makers in the Sahel, relocating populations from poor, over-populated regions to relatively fertile zones regulated by the state seemed the best approach to improving women's conditions, particularly in household affairs. In the original territories, women have their personal fields where they raise vegetables and other products which they sell to secure their own income. During the dry season, they engage in other activities for money (e.g., production and sale of millet beer and sale of pottery). Women have relative economic autonomy. Within the family household and in villages, they isolate themselves in their own spaces (e.g., kitchen and wells) and discuss their specific problems. In government-controlled zones where families resettle, the families are supposed to plant the same varieties of imposed cultivation (e.g., rice) judged to be more productive. They must sow, plow, and harvest using the same techniques. All activities are controlled. Women have no decision power and must submit to the logic of the chief of agricultural production. They no longer have time to dedicate themselves to individual economic activity (especially in irrigated zones, where there are two annual plantings), or to assure a good education for their children. They have little time to dedicate to hygiene and nutrition. These government-controlled agricultural zones have established an exploitation model that contributes to the socioeconomic destabilization of families. The retreat of women's economic power is often accompanied by degradation of family well-being. Agricultural development schemes that involve agricultural migrations have marginalized women even more than they were before resettlement in spite of improvement in family income. It is narrowly linked to short-term development. In conclusion, agricultural resettlement schemes do not improve the status of women.

Preparing Students for Global Citizenship: The Effects of a Dutch Undergraduate Honors Course

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Ingrid W. Schutte

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Using a mixed method approach, this case study investigates effects on the participating students (N=25 of an undergraduate honors course in the Netherlands, aimed at global justice citizenship. Knowledge about effects of global citizenship courses is still limited. The Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire and the Global Citizenship Scale were used in a pre- and posttest design to measure possible development in the moral and civic domain among the participants of the course. In the qualitative part, deductive content analyses of students’ work and students’ written reflection on the course, utilizing the theory-based curriculum guidelines Global Justice Citizenship Education, were performed. In addition, a follow-up blog and interview were analyzed to learn students’ perception on the effects of the course after half a year. Quantitative results show increased ethical sensitivity as well as global civic engagement and global competence among the participants. Qualitative results point in the same direction and provide deeper insights in the content of students’ learning and the perceived impact of the course on their attitudes and behavior. Results are discussed in relation to theory on justice-oriented global citizenship and honors pedagogies.

The Sign Language Situation in Mali

Science.gov (United States)

Nyst, Victoria

2015-01-01

This article gives a first overview of the sign language situation in Mali and its capital, Bamako, located in the West African Sahel. Mali is a highly multilingual country with a significant incidence of deafness, for which meningitis appears to be the main cause, coupled with limited access to adequate health care. In comparison to neighboring…

Variation in NAT2 acetylation phenotypes is associated with differences in food-producing subsistence modes and ecoregions in Africa

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Podgorná, Eliška; Diallo, I.; Vangenot, Ch.; Sanchez-Mazas, A.; Sabbagh, A.; Černý, Viktor; Poloni, E. S.

2015-01-01

Roč. 15, č. 263 (2015) ISSN 1471-2148 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-37998S Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : NAT2 * acetylation polymorphism * African Sahel * pastoral nomads * subsistence mode * ecoregion * natural selection Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology Impact factor: 3.406, year: 2015 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/15/263

Coherent response of the Indo-African boreal summer monsoon to Pacific SST captured in Ethiopian rain δ18O

Science.gov (United States)

Madhavan, M.; Palliyil, L. R.; Ramesh, R.

2017-12-01

Pacific Sea Surface Temperature (SST) plays an important role in the inter-annual to inter-decadal variability of boreal monsoons. We identified a common mode of inter annual variability in the Indian and African boreal summer monsoon (June to September) rainfalls, which is linked to Pacific SSTs, using Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. Temporal coefficients (Principle component: PC1) of the leading mode of variability (EOF-1) is well correlated with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall and Sahel rainfall. About forty year long monthly observations of δ18O (and δD) at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia show a strong association with PC1 (r=0.69 for δ18O and r=0.75 for δD). Analysis of SST, sea level pressure and lower tropospheric winds suggest that 18O depletion in Ethiopian rainfall (and wet phases of PC1) is associated with cooler eastern tropical Pacific and warmer western Pacific and strengthening of Pacific subtropical high in both the hemispheres. Associated changes in the trade winds cause enhanced westerly moisture transport into the Indian subcontinent and northern Africa and cause enhanced rainfall. The intrusion of Atlantic westerly component of moisture transport at Addis Ababa during wet phases of PC1 is clearly recorded in δ18O of rain. We also observe the same common mode of variability (EOF1) of Indo-African boreal summer monsoon rain on decadal time scales. A 100 year long δ18O record of actively growing speleothem from the Mechara cave, Ethiopia, matches very well with the PC1 on the decadal time scale. This highlights the potential of speleothem δ18O and leaf wax δD from Ethiopia to investigate the natural variability and teleconnections of Indo-African boreal monsoon.

Too Smart to Fail: Perceptions of Asian American Students' Experiences in a Collegiate Honors Program

Science.gov (United States)

Henfield, Malik S.; Woo, Hongryun; Lin, Yi-Chun; Rausch, Meredith A.

2014-01-01

There is a considerable history of misunderstandings associated with Asian American in education. Although many educators and scholars have begun to pay more attention to unique issues associated with this population, studies exploring these students' experiences as honors students in collegiate contexts are scant in the educational literature.…

Lateral extrusion of Tunisia : Contribution of Jeffara Fault (southern branch) and Petroleum Implications

Science.gov (United States)

Ghedhoui, R.; Deffontaines, B.; Rabia, M. C.

2012-04-01

Contrasting to the northward African plate motion toward Eurasia and due to its geographic position in the North African margin, since early cretaceous, Tunisia seems to be submitted to an eastward migration. The aim of this work is to study the southern branch of this inferred tectonic splay that may guide the Tunisian extrusion characterised to the east by the Mediterranean sea as a free eastern boundary. The Jeffara Fault zone (southern Tunisia), represent a case example of such deformation faced by Tunisia. Helped by the results of previous researchers (Bouaziz, 1995 ; Rabiaa, 1998 ; Touati et Rodgers, 1998 ; Sokoutis D. et al., 2000 ; Bouaziz et al., 2002 ; Jallouli et al., 2005 ; Deffontaines et al., 2008…), and new evidences developed in this study, we propose a geodynamic Tunisian east extrusion model, due to such the northern African plate migration to the Eurasian one. In this subject, structural geomorphology is undertaken herein based on both geomorphometric drainage network analysis (Deffontaines et al., 1990), the Digital Terrain Model photo-interpretation (SRTM) combined with photo-interpretation of detailed optical images (Landsat ETM+), and confirmed by field work and numerous seismic profiles at depth. All these informations were then integrated within a GIS (Geodatabase) (Deffontaines 1990 ; Deffontaines et al. 1994 ; Deffontaines, 2000 ; Slama, 2008 ; Deffontaines, 2008) and are coherent with the eastern extrusion of the Sahel block. We infer that the NW-SE Gafsa-Tozeur, which continue to the Jeffara major fault zone acting as a transtensive right lateral motion since early cretaceous is the southern branch of the Sahel block extrusion. Our structural analyses prove the presence of NW-SE right lateral en-echelon tension gashes, NW-SE aligned salt diapirs, numerous folds offsets, en-echelon folds, and so on that parallel this major NW-SE transtensive extrusion fault zone.These evidences confirm the fact that the NW-SE Jeffara faults correspond

The influence of culture of honor and emotional intelligence in the acculturation of Moroccan immigrant women.

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Lopez-Zafra, Esther; El Ghoudani, Karima

2014-01-01

Migration is a normal process of people seeking new opportunities, work, or leisure in societies. The way people adapt to a new country (acculturation) is a complex process in which immigrants' evaluations about the culture of origin and their perceptions of the host country interact. The combination of these two factors produces four types of acculturation: separation, assimilation, integration, and marginalization. Several variables, such as personality, attitudes, and emotional intelligence, have been studied to help explain this process. However, the impact of a culture of honor and its interaction with other variables remains an open question that may help to explain how migrants can better adjust to their host culture. In this study, we examine the influence of the culture of honor (social) and emotional intelligence (individual) on acculturation. In a sample of 129 Moroccan women (mean age = 29, SD = 9.40) immigrants in Spain (mean time in Spain = 6 years, SD = 3.60), we investigated the relations among the variables of interest. Our results show that no significant differences emerged in the scores given for culture of honor (CH) and the acculturation strategies of the Moroccan immigrant women F(3, 99) = .233; p = .87. However women who preferred the integration strategy scored highest on emotional intelligence (EI), whereas the assimilated immigrants showed the lowest scores for EI F(3, 92) = 4.63; p = .005. Additionally, only in the case of integration does EI mediate between CH and the value given to the immigrant's own and host cultures (p <.001).

Accelerating improvements in nutritional and health status of young children in the Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa: review of international guidelines on infant and young child feeding and nutrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wuehler, Sara E; Hess, Sonja Y; Brown, Kenneth H

2011-04-01

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child holds governments responsible to ensure children's right to the highest attainable standard of health by providing breastfeeding support, and access to nutritious foods, appropriate health care, and clean drinking water. International experts have identified key child care practices and programmatic activities that are proven to be effective at reducing infant and young child undernutrition, morbidity, and mortality. Nevertheless, progress towards reducing the prevalence of undernutrition has been sporadic across countries of the Sahel sub-region of Sub-Saharan Africa. In view of this uneven progress, a working group of international agencies was convened to 'Reposition children's right to adequate nutrition in the Sahel.' The first step towards this goal was to organize a situational analysis of the legislative, research, and programmatic activities related to infant and young child nutrition (IYCN) in six countries of the sub-region: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal. The purposes of this introductory paper are to review current information concerning the nutritional and health status of infants and young children in the Sahel and to summarize international guidelines on optimal IYCN practices. These guidelines were used in completing the above-mentioned situational analyses and encompass specific recommendations on: (i) breastfeeding (introduction within the first hour after birth, exclusivity to 6 months, continuation to at least 24 months); (ii) complementary feeding (introduction at 6 months, use of nutrient dense foods, adequate frequency and consistency, and responsive feeding); (iii) prevention and/or treatment of micronutrient deficiencies (vitamin A, zinc, iron and anaemia, and iodine); (iv) prevention and/or treatment of acute malnutrition; (v) feeding practices adapted to the maternal situation to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV; (vi) activities to ensure food

Sequía, inmigración y políticas locales: el Sahel en la encrucijada del desarrollo

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Sara Nso

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Este artículo trata de delimitar los principales factores socio-económicos y políticos que ponen en relación desertificación y flujos migratorios internacionales, en el área Sahel. A través del estudio -no exhaustivo para todos los países de la muestra, por ausencia de datos disponibles- de dichas realidades en Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Malí, Mauritania, Níger y Senegal, el análisis del elemento local será privilegiado, sin despreciar por ello el valor de las dinámicas regionales. Desde una perspectiva "transnacionalista", se aportarán así las claves para la comprensión global de la problemática saheliana, con el objetivo de sacar a esta región de la encrucijada del subdesarrollo.

Symposium in Honor of Minoru M. Freund

CERN Document Server

Langhoff, Stephanie

2014-01-01

The presentations at this NASA-hosted Symposium in honor of Mino Freund will touch upon the fields, to which his prolific mind has made significant contributions. These include low temperature physics, cosmology, and nanotechnology with its wide-ranging applicability to material science, neuroscience, Earth sciences and satellite technology.  To learn more about Mino’s career you can download the "Tribute" , which outlines his journey from (i) low-temperature physics and superconductivity at the ETH Zürich to (ii) building one remarkable milliKelvin refrigerator for the US-Japan IRTS mission at UC Berkeley and ISAS in Japan to (iii) a decade in cosmology, to (iv) being on the micro-bolometer team at NASA Goddard for the HAWC instrument on SOFIA, to (v) developing at AFRL the nanotechnology portfolio for the entire Air Force.  This was followed by six years at the NASA Ames Research Center, where Mino formulated his far-ahead ideas about swarms of capable nanosats circling the Earth, which have since star...

Marketingová strategie pro vzdělávací program Honors Academia

OpenAIRE

Šanová, Hana

2017-01-01

Diploma thesis deals with educational program of Honors Academia. The aim of the thesis is to set the marketing strategy of the program and to recommend suitable communication channels for marketing communication. The theoretical part deals with the marketing for education and services, with strategic management, namely with marketing strategy, tactics and analysis of internal and external environment. The pratical part consists of secondary research, one qualitative research, focus group, an...

Los reglamentos de honores y distinciones: una estrategia de interacción con los públicos. Los galardones otorgados y revocados por la Diputación Provincial de Sevilla / Honors and distinctions regulations: a strategy of interaction with publics. The awards granted and revoked by the Diputación Provincial de Seville

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Margarita Parrilla Amador

2013-12-01

Full Text Available A través de las Relaciones Públicas las organizaciones inician sistemas de comunicación dialógicos con los públicos de su entorno, posicionando mensajes a través de la interactividad con su entorno. Tradicionalmente concebidas desde el ámbito empresarial, han sido poco estudiadas desde el sector público como sistema a través del cual las administraciones públicas gestionan sus relaciones con sus administrados. En este sentido, desde el prisma de la comunicación organizacional, este trabajo pretende analizar cómo los reglamentos de honores y distinciones regulados y otorgados por la administración pública española, se erigen como un sistema de comunicación bidireccional que permite al Estado posicionar determinados mensajes relacionados con el ensalzamiento de determinados valores vigentes en cada contexto histórico, previamente detectados como dignos de respeto por la opinión pública. Para llevar a cabo el objetivo principal de este estudio, se selecciona como objeto de estudio la normativa de reglamentos de honores y distinciones de la Diputación de Sevilla para demostrar que la historia, la normativa y su ejecución nos hablan de honores y distinciones que ensalzan valores que deben ser referencia para la sociedad del momento. / Through public relations organizations starts a dialogic communication system with the public in their environment, positioning messages through the interactivity with their environment. Traditionally designed from the business sector, they have received little attention from the public administrations as a system through which government manages their relationships with their citizens. Thus, from the perspective of organizational communication, this paper analyzes how the regulations of honors and distinctions awarded by the Spanish publics administrations, stand as a bidirectional communication system that allows the state to position certain related messages exaltation of certain values

Statistical relationship between surface PM10 concentration and aerosol optical depth over the Sahel as a function of weather type, using neural network methodology

Science.gov (United States)

Yahi, H.; Marticorena, B.; Thiria, S.; Chatenet, B.; Schmechtig, C.; Rajot, J. L.; Crepon, M.

2013-12-01

work aims at assessing the capability of passive remote-sensed measurements such as aerosol optical depth (AOD) to monitor the surface dust concentration during the dry season in the Sahel region (West Africa). We processed continuous measurements of AODs and surface concentrations for the period (2006-2010) in Banizoumbou (Niger) and Cinzana (Mali). In order to account for the influence of meteorological condition on the relationship between PM10 surface concentration and AOD, we decomposed the mesoscale meteorological fields surrounding the stations into five weather types having similar 3-dimensional atmospheric characteristics. This classification was obtained by a clustering method based on nonlinear artificial neural networks, the so-called self-organizing map. The weather types were identified by processing tridimensional fields of meridional and zonal winds and air temperature obtained from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model output centered on each measurement station. Five similar weather types have been identified at the two stations. Three of them are associated with the Harmattan flux; the other two correspond to northward inflow of the monsoon flow at the beginning or the end of the dry season. An improved relationship has been found between the surface PM10 concentrations and the AOD by using a dedicated statistical relationship for each weather type. The performances of the statistical inversion computed on the test data sets show satisfactory skills for most of the classes, much better than a linear regression. This should permit the inversion of the mineral dust concentration from AODs derived from satellite observations over the Sahel.

Atmospheric feedbacks in North Africa from an irrigated, afforested Sahara

Science.gov (United States)

Kemena, Tronje Peer; Matthes, Katja; Martin, Thomas; Wahl, Sebastian; Oschlies, Andreas

2018-06-01

Afforestation of the Sahara has been proposed as a climate engineering method to sequester a substantial amount of carbon dioxide, potentially effective to mitigate climate change. Earlier studies predicted changes in the atmospheric circulation system. These atmospheric feedbacks raise questions about the self-sustainability of such an intervention, but have not been investigated in detail. Here, we investigate changes in precipitation and circulation in response to Saharan large-scale afforestation and irrigation with NCAR's CESM-WACCM Earth system model. Our model results show a Saharan temperature reduction by 6 K and weak precipitation enhancement by 267 mm/year over the Sahara. Only 26% of the evapotranspirated water re-precipitates over the Saharan Desert, considerably large amounts are advected southward to the Sahel zone and enhance the West African monsoon (WAM). Different processes cause circulation and precipitation changes over North Africa. The increase in atmospheric moisture leads to radiative cooling above the Sahara and increased high-level cloud coverage as well as atmospheric warming above the Sahel zone. Both lead to a circulation anomaly with descending air over the Sahara and ascending air over the Sahel zone. Together with changes in the meridional temperature gradient, this results in a southward shift of the inner-tropical front. The strengthening of the Tropical easterly jet and the northward displacement of the African easterly jet is associated with a northward displacement and strengthening of the WAM precipitation. Our results suggest complex atmospheric circulation feedbacks, which reduce the precipitation potential over an afforested Sahara and enhance WAM precipitation.

African Journals Online: Central African Republic

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online: Central African Republic. Home > African Journals Online: Central African Republic. Log in or Register to get access to full text downloads. Username, Password, Remember me, or Register · Browse By Category · Browse Alphabetically · Browse By Country · List All Titles · Free to read Titles This ...

Mobile Engagement at Scottsdale Community College: The Apple iPad in an English Honors Class

Science.gov (United States)

Tualla, Larry Tech

2011-01-01

This dissertation reports on an action research study that sought to discover how a new WiFi, tablet computing device, the Apple iPad, affected, enhanced, and impacted student engagement in an English Honors course at Scottsdale Community College. The researcher was also the instructor in the two semester, first-year, college composition sequence…

Sensitivity of Sahelian Precipitation to Desert Dust under ENSO variability: a regional modeling study

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, A.; Zaitchik, B. F.; Gnanadesikan, A.

2016-12-01

Mineral dust is estimated to comprise over half the total global aerosol burden, with a majority coming from the Sahara and Sahel region. Bounded by the Sahara Desert to the north and the Sahelian Savannah to the south, the Sahel experiences high interannual rainfall variability and a short rainy season during the boreal summer months. Observation-based data for the past three decades indicates a reduced dust emission trend, together with an increase in greening and surface roughness within the Sahel. Climate models used to study regional precipitation changes due to Saharan dust yield varied results, both in sign convention and magnitude. Inconsistency of model estimates drives future climate projections for the region that are highly varied and uncertain. We use the NASA-Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) model to quantify the interaction and feedback between desert dust aerosol and Sahelian precipitation. Using nested domains at fine spatial resolution we resolve changes to mesoscale atmospheric circulation patterns due to dust, for representative phases of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The NU-WRF regional earth system model offers both advanced land surface data and resolvable detail of the mechanisms of the impact of Saharan dust. Results are compared to our previous work assessed over the Western Sahel using the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) CM2Mc global climate model, and to other previous regional climate model studies. This prompts further research to help explain the dust-precipitation relationship and recent North African dust emission trends. This presentation will offer a quantitative analysis of differences in radiation budget, energy and moisture fluxes, and atmospheric dynamics due to desert dust aerosol over the Sahel.

Effect of Positive Psychology Elements on Job Pride and Honor with an Emphasis on Mediating Role of Communication among Faculty Members of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Hosein Kamani, Seyed Mohammad

2017-01-01

Job pride and honor is affected by various causes. Elements of positive psychology can be pointed out as one of them that in recent years has played an important role in organizational development. Hence, this study is to provide a prediction model about the impact of hope and resilience on job pride and honor with an emphasis on mediator role of…

An Examination of Classroom Social Environment on Motivation and Engagement of College Early Entrant Honors Students

Science.gov (United States)

Maddox, Richard S.

2010-01-01

This study set out to examine the relationships between the classroom social environment, motivation, engagement and achievement of a group of early entrant Honors students at a large urban university. Prior research on the classroom environment, motivation, engagement and high ability students was examined, leading to the assumption that the…

Parsing the Gulf between Africans and African Americans

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Ashly Nsangou

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The rise in African immigrants to the US provides an opportunity to assess relations between Africans and African Americans in college. An online survey of 322 current and recently-graduated college students (including 45 Africans, 160 African Americans, and 117 whites assessed respondents’ experiences of racism in US high schools and colleges. Semi-structured interviews of 30 students (10 African, 10 African American and 10 white students supplemented these data. Even within a sociopolitical context of more visible racial intolerance, Black intra-racial cohesion was absent. Although more first- and second-generation Africans (73% felt that they had been judged while living in the US compared to African Americans (34% or whites (20%, for 70–80% of respondents, this had occurred only in high school. Despite experiencing these judgments, Africans’ identity related more to their focus on education than their race, reflected in a higher proportion who felt intense family pressure to attend college (65% compared to African Americans (37% and whites (39%. Interview data confirmed previous reports in the literature that African Americans lack a sense of connection to Africans, attributed to Africans’ purported sense of superiority and disregard for African Americans’ ongoing struggle to end oppression. These mixed-methods data suggest that intermingling in the college environment has not resulted in first- and second-generation Africans and African Americans sharing a common in-group, race-based identity. We discuss the implications of overlooking ethnic distinctions due to presumptions of racial homogeneity that deprive Black individuals of their uniqueness.

The Fertilizing Role of African Dust in the Amazon Rainforest: A First Multiyear Assessment Based on CALIPSO Lidar Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hongbin; Chin, Mian; Yuan, Tianle; Bian, Huisheng; Remer, Lorraine A.; Prospero, Joseph M.; Omar, Ali; Winker, David; Yang, Yuekui; Zhang, Yan;

Basında Yer Alan Namus Cinayetlerinin Sosyolojik Analizi /A Sociological Analysis of Honor Killings Reported by the Mass Media

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Ülkü Hayriye İNCİ

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Öz Erkek egemen toplumlarda kadına yönelik şiddetin kısmi bir kabul gördüğü bilinmektedir. Kadına yönelik şiddetin özel bir şekli de namus cinayetleridir. Son zamanlarda ulusal medyada kendisine oldukça fazla yer bulan namus cinayetleri, sosyolojik çalışmalarda da kendisine yer bulmaya başlamıştır. Bu çalışma, Türkiye’de son zamanlarda oldukça sık tartışılan namus cinayetlerinin sosyal ve kültürel hayattaki durumunu tartışmaya açmaktadır. Çalışma basında yer alan namus cinayetleri ile sınırlıdır. Çalışmada içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Bu bağlamda, Türkiye’de meydana gelen namus cinayetlerinin yoğun olarak ortaya çıktığı bölgelerdeki sosyal sorunlar, farklı bölgelerdeki sosyal yapının namus cinayetlerini nasıl etkilediği, toplumda nasıl yansıma bulduğu ve özellikle kadınlar tarafından nasıl algılandığı konusu, basına yansıyan haberlerin içerik çözümlemesiyle ortaya konulmaya çalışılmıştır. Abstract Violence against women is somewhat acceptable in societies which dominated by the patriarchal system. One of the aspects of violence against women is honor killings. Nowadays, honor killings take place pretty much in Turkish national media. This article discusses the social and cultural basis of honor killings debated quite often recently. The work is limited to honor killings reported by mass media. In the work the content analysis method was used. In this context, social problems and social structures of different regions of Turkey analyzed to determine the source of problem. Additionally, the place of the honor killings, how they come up, and their effects on women and society have been presented with the content analysis of the news on the media.

African Journals Online: African Studies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 51 - 56 of 56 ... Research Review of the Institute of African Studies. Please note: As of 2013 the Research Review of the Institute of African Studies is now publishing under the title Contemporary Journal of African Studies. You can view the CJAS pages on AJOL here: http://www.ajol.info/index.php/contjas/index.

Black versus Black: The Relationship among African, African American, and African Caribbean Persons.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Jennifer V.; Cothran, Mary E.

2003-01-01

Surveyed people of African descent regarding relationships among African, African-American, and African-Caribbean persons, focusing on contact and friendship, travel to countries of the diaspora, cross-cultural communication, thoughts and stereotypes, and education. Most respondents had contacts with the other groups, but groups had preconceived…

Bilan et perspectives des cultures vivrières dans les pays du Sahel

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Egg Johny

2006-07-01

Full Text Available Twenty-five years after the beggining of the policies of adjustment and liberalization which is the situation of the food crops in the countries of the Sahel? The balance-sheet is approached by contrasting the cereals sub sector, facing to a very strong control by the State, and the onion whose growth is related to the increase in the demand of the great urban centers. The increase in the production of cereals was accompanied by deep changes in the structures. The market became more efficient and better integrated on a regional scale. But, the level and the instability of the prices of cereals increased, making difficult the provisioning of the poor. Clear differences in trajectories appear. Mali, which implemented a policy of reforming cereals market and successful the revival of rice sector, must manage at the same time the improvement of the competitiveness of its cereals and the access to cereals of the low incomes consumers. Niger must face the increase in the vulnerability of a great part of the rural households. The production of onion experienced a spectacular increase in Senegal after the devaluation of franc FCA in response to the urban market. That of Niger intended mainly for the close countries progressed more slowly. But in both cases, the regulation of the European onion imports constitutes a paramount stake.

Capacity Building in South African Astronomy and Astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

McGruder, Charles H.; Dunsby, Peter; Whitelock, Patricia; Norris, Lawrence; Assamagan, Ketevi; Holbrook, Jarita; Imara, Nia; Oluseyi, Hakeem; Medupe, Thebe

2016-01-01

South Africa (SA) has had great success in creating major astronomical facilities - SALT, KAT and MeerKAT. However, the existing SA astronomical community is almost entirely white. The lack of black scientists (80% of SA population is black) is obviously one of the many legacies of apartheid and a major initiative was required to rectify the situation. The National Astrophysics and Space Science Program (NASSP) is aimed at ensuring the development of high level physics skills within SA, and specifically takes graduates with bachelor's degrees in math or the physical sciences and prepares them to do PhDs in astrophysics and related disciplines. However, in 2003 when NASSP was established, there were no black SA astronomers, who could act as role models and mentors. This jeopardized the chances of success of NASSP and with it astronomy in SA. An American organization, the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) received a $355,000 grant from the WK Kellogg Foundation to increase the number of black SA astronomers. It enabled African American scientists - both professionals and students - to participate in NASSP. The African American professionals taught NASSP courses and acted as role models and mentors. The project was an overwhelming success. From its beginning in 2003, the NASSP honors program graduates have gone on to a Master's or PhD program at a rate of 60% (USA rate: 35%). American participation started in 2008. In the very next year the number of black students jumped dramatically, reaching 80% in 2013 and this level continued in 2010-2014. We believe this increase and its maintenance is in large part due to bringing black SA students from SA historically black colleges for two weeks to expose them to astronomy, to a one year program to allow them to catch up academically and to the mentoring activities of the members of NSBP.

Honoring Choices Minnesota: preliminary data from a community-wide advance care planning model.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Kent S; Kottke, Thomas E; Schettle, Sue

2014-12-01

Advance care planning (ACP) increases the likelihood that individuals who are dying receive the care that they prefer. It also reduces depression and anxiety in family members and increases family satisfaction with the process of care. Honoring Choices Minnesota is an ACP program based on the Respecting Choices model of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The objective of this report is to describe the process, which began in 2008, of implementing Honoring Choices Minnesota in a large, diverse metropolitan area. All eight large healthcare systems in the metropolitan area agreed to participate in the project, and as of April 30, 2013, the proportion of hospitalized individuals 65 and older with advance care directives in the electronic medical record was 12.1% to 65.6%. The proportion of outpatients aged 65 and older was 11.6% to 31.7%. Organizations that had sponsored recruitment initiatives had the highest proportions of records containing healthcare directives. It was concluded that it is possible to reduce redundancy by recruiting all healthcare systems in a metropolitan area to endorse the same ACP model, although significantly increasing the proportion of individuals with a healthcare directive in their medical record requires a campaign with recruitment of organizations and individuals. © 2014 The Authors.The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.

A Means of Honorable Support: Art and Music in Women's Education in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Science.gov (United States)

Nash, Margaret A.

2013-01-01

"The value of the Art Education becomes more and more apparent as a means of honorable support and of high culture and enjoyment," stated the catalog of Ingham University in western New York State in 1863. The Art Department there would prepare "pupils for Teachers and Practical Artists." This statement reveals some of the…

[The pharmacists of Angoulême in the days of Honoré de Balzac].

Science.gov (United States)

Courcou, G

1997-01-01

The large volume of Honoré de Balzac's correspondence testifies to his keen sense of friendship. He stayed in Angoulême three times at his friend Carraud's, which inspired his novel: Les Illusions perdues. His character, Lucien, is the son of Chardon, a pharmacist of the l'Houmeau, neighborhood similar to a real life character Evangelista. As the chemical revolution was dawning, the pharmacists of Angoulême, who often held their positions from their fathers, belonged to the town's 19th century bourgeoisie.

The supply and demand of net primary production in the Sahel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdi, A M; Seaquist, J; Tenenbaum, D E; Eklundh, L; Ardö, J

2014-01-01

Net primary production (NPP) is the principal source of energy for ecosystems and, by extension, human populations that depend on them. The relationship between the supply and demand of NPP is important for the assessment of socio-ecological vulnerability. We present an analysis of the supply and demand of NPP in the Sahel using NPP estimates from the MODIS sensor and agri-environmental data from FAOSTAT. This synergistic approach allows for a spatially explicit estimation of human impact on ecosystems. We estimated the annual amount of NPP required to derive food, fuel and feed between 2000 and 2010 for 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. When comparing annual estimates of supply and demand of NPP, we found that demand increased from 0.44 PgC to 1.13 PgC, representing 19% and 41%, respectively, of available supply due to a 31% increase in the human population between 2000 and 2010. The demand for NPP has been increasing at an annual rate of 2.2% but NPP supply was near-constant with an inter-annual variability of approximately 1.7%. Overall, there were statistically significant (p < 0.05) increases in the NPP of cropland (+6.0%), woodland (+6.1%) and grassland/savanna (+9.4%), and a decrease in the NPP of forests (−0.7%). On the demand side, the largest increase was for food (20.4%) followed by feed (16.7%) and fuel (5.5%). The supply-demand balance of NPP is a potentially important tool from the standpoint of sustainable development, and as an indicator of stresses on the environment stemming from increased consumption of biomass. (letter)

A Legacy of Sacrifice and Honor: Celebrating Tribal Resilience and Military Service at Haskell Nations University

Science.gov (United States)

Warrington, Jacinta

2017-01-01

Haskell Indian Nations University opened 133 years ago, on September 17, 1884, as the U.S. Training and Industrial School--one of three original tribal boarding schools funded by the United States Congress. Three years later the school changed its name to Haskell Institute in honor of Chase Dudley Haskell, a U.S. representative from the Second…

Bush War: The Use of Surrogates in Southern Africa (1975-1989)

Science.gov (United States)

2009-05-01

government, which was negotiating with Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress at the time, sold the battalion out, instead of defending its honor...harness African labor to meet the demands of both rural and urban employers. And the migrant system should be extended, not reduced. 18 by Nelson ... Mandela , the African National Congress (ANC), began to challenge apartheid. 54 Although the ANC used peaceful means at first, by 1960 the

Introductory Molecular Orbital Theory: An Honors General Chemistry Computational Lab as Implemented Using Three-Dimensional Modeling Software

Science.gov (United States)

Ruddick, Kristie R.; Parrill, Abby L.; Petersen, Richard L.

2012-01-01

In this study, a computational molecular orbital theory experiment was implemented in a first-semester honors general chemistry course. Students used the GAMESS (General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System) quantum mechanical software (as implemented in ChemBio3D) to optimize the geometry for various small molecules. Extended Huckel…

The Heritage of Herding and Southern Homicide: Examining the Ecological Foundations of the Code of Honor Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Baller, Robert D.; Zevenbergen, Matthew P.; Messner, Steven F.

2009-01-01

The authors examine the ecological foundations of the thesis of a "code of honor" as an explanation for southern homicide. Specifically, they consider the effects of indicators of ethnic groups that migrated from herding economies (the Scotch-Irish), cattle and pig herding, and the relative importance of agricultural production across…

Long-term increase in diffuse groundwater recharge following expansion of rainfed cultivation in the Sahel, West Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Ibrahim, Maïmouna; Favreau, Guillaume; Scanlon, Bridget R.; Seidel, Jean Luc; Le Coz, Mathieu; Demarty, Jérôme; Cappelaere, Bernard

2014-09-01

Rapid population growth in sub-Saharan West Africa and related cropland expansion were shown in some places to have increased focused recharge through ponds, raising the water table. To estimate changes in diffuse recharge, the water content and matric potential were monitored during 2009 and 2010, and modeling was performed using the Hydrus-1D code for two field sites in southwest Niger: (1) fallow land and (2) rainfed millet cropland. Monitoring results of the upper 10 m showed increased water content and matric potential to greater depth under rainfed cropland (>2.5 m) than under fallow land (≤1.0 m). Model simulations indicate that conversion from fallow land to rainfed cropland (1) increases vadose-zone water storage and (2) should increase drainage flux (˜25 mm year-1) at 10-m depth after a 30-60 year lag. Therefore, observed regional increases in groundwater storage may increasingly result from diffuse recharge, which could compensate, at least in part, groundwater withdrawal due to observed expansion in irrigated surfaces; and hence, contribute to mitigate food crises in the Sahel.

Two Sides of the Communicative Coin: Honors and Nonhonors French and Spanish Classes in a Midwestern High School

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Michael

2005-01-01

This study compares the instructional practices in honors and nonhonors French and Spanish classes at a Midwestern high school, as well as factors influencing those practices. The researcher observed 54 class sessions and used questionnaires and interviews to obtain teachers' perspectives on instruction. Analysis revealed a statistically…

Human Rights and the African Renaissance | Acheampong | African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article examines the idea of African renaissance in relation to the teaching of human rights in African schools. It explores the connection between the African Renaissance and human rights, and whether there is a specific African concept of human rights. In the light of these discussions, the article sketches a perspective ...

Within- and between-culture variation: individual differences and the cultural logics of honor, face, and dignity cultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Angela K-Y; Cohen, Dov

2011-03-01

The CuPS (Culture × Person × Situation) approach attempts to jointly consider culture and individual differences, without treating either as noise and without reducing one to the other. Culture is important because it helps define psychological situations and create meaningful clusters of behavior according to particular logics. Individual differences are important because individuals vary in the extent to which they endorse or reject a culture's ideals. Further, because different cultures are organized by different logics, individual differences mean something different in each. Central to these studies are concepts of honor-related violence and individual worth as being inalienable versus socially conferred. We illustrate our argument with 2 experiments involving participants from honor, face, and dignity cultures. The studies showed that the same "type" of person who was most helpful, honest, and likely to behave with integrity in one culture was the "type" of person least likely to do so in another culture. We discuss how CuPS can provide a rudimentary but integrated approach to understanding both within- and between-culture variation. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Management of protected areas in Sahel savannah ecoregion of Nigeria under the threat of desertification

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BOROKINI Temitope Israel

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to assess the challenges facing 8 selected protected areas in the Sahel Savannah ecoregion and proffer solutions to these challenges in order to ensure conservation and sustainability of Nigeria’s biodiversity. Primary data were collected from randomly-selected 120 staffs using questionnaire administration from 8 Forest Reserves within Borno and Yobe states of Nigeria. A high level of encroachment of all the studied protected areas was observed, which ranged from deforestation, overgrazing, poaching to converting protected areas into farmlands. Other notable challenges include poor staffing, inadequate equipment and funding. The respondents further reported that majority of the defaulters were farmers and local people in the area, involved in such practices for their survival in the wake of harsher climate and desert encroachment in the region. This paper calls for a revision of the Government Policy on Forestry in Nigeria to allow the people own and plant forests, implementation of community based forest resources management, provision of environment and user-friendly solar powered cooking stoves and sustainable farming systems such as crop rotation, intercropping, sustainable irrigation, organic farming and agroforestry. In addition, sources of income for the locals need to be diversified, such as honey bee production.

La carrera de un capellán de honor de Palacio en la crisis del Antiguo Régimen (1783-1827

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Juan Carlos Saavedra Zapater

2001-01-01

Full Text Available La presente comunicación intenta acercamos al estudio de ios capellanes de honor de la Real Capilla como grupo social y élite de poder La Capilla real, parte integrante de la Casa Real como institución en sí misma, sufre con la evolución de los acontecimientos del final del Antiguo Régimen, las transformaciones propias tanto en las cuestiones económicas como en las funcionales. Tomando como referencia la vida y carrera de Antonio llarraza vemos el proceso que un individuo debe de llevar a cabo para acceder al honor de ser capolan real: su carrera, trayectoria profesional y relaciones sociales y de parentesco, así como es utilizado este empleo para acceder a más altos cargos.The present paper is an aproximation to the study of the Royal Chaplans of the Royal Chapel as a social group and élite ofpower The Royal Chapel, a department within the whole Royal Hause as an institution in itself, suffers with the evolution of events during the end of the Anclen Régime, the proper transformations and changos, in economical aspects as in its rule. Taking the Ufe and carrer of Antonio llarraza as a reference, we can analizo the procces that a person has to realizo in order to achive the honor ofa royal chaplancy: his professional charges, his studios and personal relationships, familiar and social as this job is used to get more important charges.

Learning Strategies in Play during Basic Training for Medal of Honor and Call of Duty Video Games

Science.gov (United States)

Ziaeehezarjeribi, Yadi

2010-01-01

This study, based on experiential play methodology was used to explore student engagement while playing "Medal of Honor (2002)" and "Call of Duty (2003)". It identifies some of the key issues related to the use of video games and simulations during the training phase of game play. Research into the effects of gaming in education has been extremely…

Perfectionism, Stress, and Social (Dis)Connection: A Short-Term Study of Hopelessness, Depression, and Academic Adjustment among Honors Students

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Kenneth G.; Leever, Brooke A.; Christopher, John; Porter, J. Diane

2006-01-01

This study tested models of perfectionism predicting psychological distress and academic adjustment and moderators and mediators of those associations in 2 successive cohorts of high-achieving university honors students (N = 499). Participants completed measures earl and late in the semester. Adaptive (high standards) and maladaptive…

Fear, Honor, Intervention: Why Did the U.S. Not Stop Known Genocide?

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

echoed in other locations of genocide from Chile , to the Genocide Museum in Kigali, Rwanda, to the Argentine truth commission.1 Modern US...1960 to 1990 respectively.43 Of African immigrants in the US, the total number of Rwandan-born immigrants ranked upon the lowest among all African...US government has a natural linkage with Liberia. 43 Kristen McCabe, “African Immigrants in the United States,” Migration Policy Institute. US

The African Diaspora in continental African struggles for freedom ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In light of this realization, this article discusses the contributions of the African Diaspora towards continental African liberation from European colonial domination, with a view to theorizing the implications of this history on the criticism of African Renaissance literature. Focusing on Diasporan African agency in organizing ...

Rôle et place de la chèvre dans les ménages du Sahel burkinabé

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Gnanda, BI.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Role and Position of the Goat in Households of the Burkinabian Sahel. A formal household survey was carried out in Burkina Faso with 150 Sahelian farms in order to appreciate the role and the position of goat breeding in the life and the functioning of these family units. The results of the investigation show that the Burkinabe Sahelian stockbreeders first start usually by raising a goat, because of its high prolificacy, but with the view to acquire more or less rapidly other species of ruminants, in particular cattle. Although the generation of income of goat rearing remains low compared to other ruminants (bovine, ovine; their non-monetary role in poverty alleviation is highlighted. That is shown through the large proportion of the population (91% of the target-group implied in goat breeding, the first position of goats in the non-commercial (social transaction, and their position in terms of risk prevention against the climatic hazards for livestock farmers. Despite its critical role, the goat remains the least favored ruminant species in regarding health protection and food supplementation.

The paradoxical evolution of runoff in the pastoral Sahel: analysis of the hydrological changes over the Agoufou watershed (Mali using the KINEROS-2 model

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L. Gal

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, the Sahel has witnessed a paradoxical increase in surface water despite a general precipitation decline. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as the Sahelian paradox, is not completely understood yet. The role of cropland expansion due to the increasing food demand by a growing population has been often put forward to explain this situation for the cultivated Sahel. However, this hypothesis does not hold in pastoral areas where the same phenomenon is observed. Several other processes, such as the degradation of natural vegetation following the major droughts of the 1970s and the 1980s, the development of crusted topsoils, the intensification of the rainfall regime and the development of the drainage network, have been suggested to account for this situation. In this paper, a modeling approach is proposed to explore, quantify and rank different processes that could be at play in pastoral Sahel. The kinematic runoff and erosion model (KINEROS-2 is applied to the Agoufou watershed (245 km2, in the Gourma region in Mali, which underwent a significant increase of surface runoff during the last 60 years. Two periods are simulated, the past case (1960–1975 preceding the Sahelian drought and the present case (2000–2015. Surface hydrology and land cover characteristics for these two periods are derived by the analysis of aerial photographs, available in 1956, and high-resolution remote sensing images in 2011. The major changes identified are (1 a partial crusting of isolated dunes, (2 an increase of drainage network density, (3 a marked decrease in vegetation with the nonrecovery of tiger bush and vegetation growing on shallow sandy soils, and (4 important changes in soil properties with the apparition of impervious soils instead of shallow sandy soil. The KINEROS-2 model was parameterized to simulate these changes in combination or independently. The results obtained by this model display a significant increase in annual

8th Symposium Honoring Mathematical Physicist Jean-Pierre Vigier

CERN Document Server

Kauffman, Louis H; Rowlands, Peter; The Physics of Reality : Space, Time, Matter, Cosmos

2013-01-01

A truly Galilean class volume as it also introduces a new method in theory formation this time completing the tools of epistemology. This book covers a broad spectrum of theoretical and mathematical physics by researchers from over 20 nations from four continents. Like Vigier himself, the Vigier symposia are noted for addressing avant-garde cutting-edge topics in contemporary physics. Among the six proceedings honoring J-P Vigier this is perhaps the most exciting one as several important breakthroughs are introduced for the first time. The most interesting breakthrough in view of the recent NIST experimental violations of QED is a continuation of pioneering work by Vigier on Tight Bound States in Hydrogen. The new experimental protocol described not only promises empirical proof of large-scale extra dimensions in conjunction with avenues for testing string theory but also implies the birth of the field of Unified Field Mechanics ushering in a new age of discovery. Work on quantum computing redefines the qubit...

Pursuing excellence in mathematics education essays in honor of Jeremy Kilpatrick

CERN Document Server

Silver, Edward

2014-01-01

​Chapters in this book recognize the more than forty years of sustained and distinguished lifetime achievement in mathematics education research and development of Jeremy Kilpatrick. Including contributions from a variety of skilled mathematics educators, this text honors Jeremy Kilpatrick, reflecting on his groundbreaking papers, book chapters, and books - many of which are now standard references in the literature - on mathematical problem solving, the history of mathematics education, mathematical ability and proficiency, curriculum change and its history, global perspectives on mathematics education, and mathematics assessment. Many chapters also offer substantial contributions of their own on important themes, including mathematical problem solving, mathematics curriculum, the role of theory in mathematics education, the democratization of mathematics, and international perspectives on the professional field of mathematics education.​.

Fiestas en honor a la Santa Muerte en el Caribe mexicano

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Antonio Higuera Bonfil

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Se abordan tres fiestas en honor a la Santa Muerte en Chetumal. Se muestran los rasgos generales de las celebraciones organizadas anualmente por la parroquia del Señor de la Misericordia y la Santa Muerte, adscrita a la Iglesia Católica Tradicional México-Estados Unidos, así como por dos altares domésticos que operan como centros esotéricos. Caracterizar estas ocasiones permite entender la forma en que se ha desarrollado una práctica religiosa local, que lejos de tener una tradición única, alimenta rituales propios. Las diferentes estructuras locales permiten que los creyentes expresen su creencia mediante la inserción en la organización de estas fiestas.

Climate dynamics: a network-based approach for the analysis of global precipitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Scarsoglio, Stefania; Laio, Francesco; Ridolfi, Luca

2013-01-01

Precipitation is one of the most important meteorological variables for defining the climate dynamics, but the spatial patterns of precipitation have not been fully investigated yet. The complex network theory, which provides a robust tool to investigate the statistical interdependence of many interacting elements, is used here to analyze the spatial dynamics of annual precipitation over seventy years (1941-2010). The precipitation network is built associating a node to a geographical region, which has a temporal distribution of precipitation, and identifying possible links among nodes through the correlation function. The precipitation network reveals significant spatial variability with barely connected regions, as Eastern China and Japan, and highly connected regions, such as the African Sahel, Eastern Australia and, to a lesser extent, Northern Europe. Sahel and Eastern Australia are remarkably dry regions, where low amounts of rainfall are uniformly distributed on continental scales and small-scale extreme events are rare. As a consequence, the precipitation gradient is low, making these regions well connected on a large spatial scale. On the contrary, the Asiatic South-East is often reached by extreme events such as monsoons, tropical cyclones and heat waves, which can all contribute to reduce the correlation to the short-range scale only. Some patterns emerging between mid-latitude and tropical regions suggest a possible impact of the propagation of planetary waves on precipitation at a global scale. Other links can be qualitatively associated to the atmospheric and oceanic circulation. To analyze the sensitivity of the network to the physical closeness of the nodes, short-term connections are broken. The African Sahel, Eastern Australia and Northern Europe regions again appear as the supernodes of the network, confirming furthermore their long-range connection structure. Almost all North-American and Asian nodes vanish, revealing that extreme events can

Climate dynamics: a network-based approach for the analysis of global precipitation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefania Scarsoglio

Full Text Available Precipitation is one of the most important meteorological variables for defining the climate dynamics, but the spatial patterns of precipitation have not been fully investigated yet. The complex network theory, which provides a robust tool to investigate the statistical interdependence of many interacting elements, is used here to analyze the spatial dynamics of annual precipitation over seventy years (1941-2010. The precipitation network is built associating a node to a geographical region, which has a temporal distribution of precipitation, and identifying possible links among nodes through the correlation function. The precipitation network reveals significant spatial variability with barely connected regions, as Eastern China and Japan, and highly connected regions, such as the African Sahel, Eastern Australia and, to a lesser extent, Northern Europe. Sahel and Eastern Australia are remarkably dry regions, where low amounts of rainfall are uniformly distributed on continental scales and small-scale extreme events are rare. As a consequence, the precipitation gradient is low, making these regions well connected on a large spatial scale. On the contrary, the Asiatic South-East is often reached by extreme events such as monsoons, tropical cyclones and heat waves, which can all contribute to reduce the correlation to the short-range scale only. Some patterns emerging between mid-latitude and tropical regions suggest a possible impact of the propagation of planetary waves on precipitation at a global scale. Other links can be qualitatively associated to the atmospheric and oceanic circulation. To analyze the sensitivity of the network to the physical closeness of the nodes, short-term connections are broken. The African Sahel, Eastern Australia and Northern Europe regions again appear as the supernodes of the network, confirming furthermore their long-range connection structure. Almost all North-American and Asian nodes vanish, revealing that

Bárbara Mujica, ed., Shakespeare and the Spanish «Comedia». Translation, Interpretation, Performance. Essays in Honor of Susan L. Fischer

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Alejandro García-Reidy

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Reseña de Bárbara Mujica, ed., Shakespeare and the Spanish «Comedia». Translation, Interpretation, Performance. Essays in Honor of Susan L. Fischer, Bucknell University Press, Lewisburg, 2013, 298 pp. ISBN 9781611485172.

The African Diaspora, Civil Society and African Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Opoku-Mensah, Paul Yaw

This paper, a work-in-progress, makes a contribution to the discussions on the appropriate modalities for incorporating the African diaspora in the African integration project.  It argues that the most appropriate entry points for incorporating the African diaspora into the integration project...... might not, necessarily, be in the formal political structures, although this is important. To the contrary, the most effective and sustainable might be within civil society---that is the links between the peoples and organizations of Africa and the diaspora. Using the case of the African academy......-- as an institution of civil society--- the paper outlines a conceptual framework for incorporating the diaspora into the African integration project....

Investigating Shifts in Diverse Family Structures in Newbery Award and Honor Books Utilizing U.S. Census Data, 1930-2010

Science.gov (United States)

Despain, Shannon M.; Tunnell, Michael O.; Wilcox, Brad; Morrison, Timothy G.

2015-01-01

Newbery Award and Honor books are a representation of children's literature, but family structures portrayed in them have not previously been studied. This prescriptive content analysis considered 87 contemporary realistic fiction Newbery winners and runners-up since the 1930s that portray families in English-speaking, Western settings. The family…

Improving Shaping Efforts in Africa’s Maghreb and Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-21

threat in North Africa to U.S. interests? Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is a relatively new franchise of Al Qaeda. Upon declaring allegiance...trafficking to finance their operations. Should a West African franchise of Al Qaeda, or any other terrorist organization with local grievances and/or global...solve issues like desertification, poverty, unemployment , social inequalities, and so on. By adapting to this new environment and by reallocating

Towards an indigenous African bioethics | Behrens | South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

One way is for African bioethicists to begin to apply indigenous African philosophy, thought and values to ethical issues. This project is important (i) to restore dignity; (ii) because a bioethics grounded in indigenous ideas is more likely to be accepted by Africans; and (iii) because such ideas can enrich bioethical discourse.

Female genital mutilation in African and African American women's literature

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Darja Marinšek

2007-12-01

Full Text Available The article builds on the existing dispute between African and African American women writers on the competence of writing about female genital mutilation (FGM, and tries to determine the existence and nature of the differences between the writings of these two groups. The author uses comparative analysis of two popular African and African American novels, comparing their ways of describing FGM, its causes and consequences, the level ob objectivity and the style of the narrations.This is followed by a discussion on the reasons for such differences, incorporating a larger circle of both African and African American women authors, at the same time analysing the deviance within the two groups. While the differences between African American writers are not that great, as they mostly fail to present the issue from different points of view, which is often the result of their lack of direct knowledge of the topic, African authors' writing is in itself discovered to be ambivalent and not at all invariable. The reasons for such ambivalence are then discussed in greater context, focusing on the effect of the authors' personal contact with circumcision as well as their knowledge and acceptance of Western values. The author concludes by establishing the African ambivalent attitude towards FGM, which includes different aspects of the issue, as the most significant difference between their and African American writers' description of this practice.

Biometry of the ovary in Balami, Yankassa sheep and Sahel goat ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A Aliyu, I.D. Peter, M Zakariah, V.A. Maina, K.D. Malgwi, A.A. Bitrus. Abstract. No Abstract. Keywords: biometry, goat, sheep, reproduction, ovary, follicles. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL.

From extreme pH to extreme temperature: An issue in honor of the geochemical contributions of Kirk Nordstrom, USGS hydrogeochemist

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Kate M.; Verplanck, Philip L.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; Alpers, Charles N.

2015-01-01

This special issue of Applied Geochemistry honors Dr. D. Kirk Nordstrom, and his influential career spent primarily at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This issue does not herald his retirement or other significant career milestone, but serves as a recognition of the impact his work has had on the field of geochemistry in general. This special issue grew from a symposium in Kirk’s honor (affectionately dubbed “Kirkfest”) at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA, during October 2013. At GSA, 27 talks and 35 posters showed how Kirk’s work has influenced a wide range of current hydrogeochemical research, from geothermal processes to acid mine drainage to geochemical modeling. The breadth of his knowledge and his many contributions to the published literature have left an indelible mark on the field of geochemistry, and this special issue is a tribute to his experience and contributions.

Selection for earlier flowering crop associated with climatic variations in the Sahel.

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Yves Vigouroux

Full Text Available Climate changes will have an impact on food production and will require costly adaptive responses. Adapting to a changing environment will be particularly challenging in sub-Saharan Africa where climate change is expected to have a major impact. However, one important phenomenon that is often overlooked and is poorly documented is the ability of agro-systems to rapidly adapt to environmental variations. Such an adaptation could proceed by the adoption of new varieties or by the adaptation of varieties to a changing environment. In this study, we analyzed these two processes in one of the driest agro-ecosystems in Africa, the Sahel. We performed a detailed study in Niger where pearl millet is the main crop and covers 65% of the cultivated area. To assess how the agro-system is responding to recent recurrent drought, we analyzed samples of pearl millet landraces collected in the same villages in 1976 and 2003 throughout the entire cultivated area of Niger. We studied phenological and morphological differences in the 1976 and 2003 collections by comparing them over three cropping seasons in a common garden experiment. We found no major changes in the main cultivated varieties or in their genetic diversity. However, we observed a significant shift in adaptive traits. Compared to the 1976 samples, samples collected in 2003 displayed a shorter lifecycle, and a reduction in plant and spike size. We also found that an early flowering allele at the PHYC locus increased in frequency between 1976 and 2003. The increase exceeded the effect of drift and sampling, suggesting a direct effect of selection for earliness on this gene. We conclude that recurrent drought can lead to selection for earlier flowering in a major Sahelian crop. Surprisingly, these results suggest that diffusion of crop varieties is not the main driver of short term adaptation to climatic variation.

A comparison of the physical properties of desert dust retrieved from the sunphotometer observation of major events in the Sahara, Sahel, and Arabian Peninsula

KAUST Repository

Masmoudi, Mohamed

2015-05-01

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. The objective of this work is to assess the variability of the size-distribution, real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the refractive index, asymmetry parameter (g), and single scattering albedo (SSA) of desert dust events observed in the Sahara, Sahel, and Arabian Peninsula areas. For this we use the level-2 inversions of 14 AERONET sunphotometers representative of the area of study. In the dataset, the dust-dominated events are discriminated on the basis of their large optical depth and low (<. 0.3) Ångström exponent (α) calculated between 440. nm and 870. nm. In all the volume size-distributions a coarse mode (CM) of particles is observed but a fine mode (FM) of particles with radii. <. 0.2. μm is also present. The volume fraction represented by the FM is lower (3%) during the most intense dust storms than during moderate ones (12%). The inter-site variability of the characteristics of the CM-dominated situations is found to be non-significant and at 440, 675, 870, and 1020. nm a common set of values can be adopted for n (1.54 ± 0.03, 1.53 ± 0.02, 1.50 ± 0.02, 1.48 ± 0.02), k (0.0037 ± 0.0007, 0.0012 ± 0.0002, 0.0011 ± 0.0002, 0.0012 ± 0.0002), g (0.77 ± 0.01, 0.74 ± 0.01, 0.73 ± 0.01, 0.74 ± 0.01), and the SSA (0.90 ± 0.02, 0.97 ± 0.01, 0.98 ± 0.01, 0.98 ± 0.01). However; during the less intense dust-events the growing influence of the FM leads to regional differentiation of the dust properties and 2 main areas can be distinguished: 1) the relatively clean central Sahara/Sahel, and 2) the more polluted continuum constituted by the Mediterranean coast and the Arabian Peninsula.

A comparison of the physical properties of desert dust retrieved from the sunphotometer observation of major events in the Sahara, Sahel, and Arabian Peninsula

KAUST Repository

Masmoudi, Mohamed; Alfaro, Sté phane C.; El Metwally, Mossad

2015-01-01

© 2015 Elsevier B.V. The objective of this work is to assess the variability of the size-distribution, real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the refractive index, asymmetry parameter (g), and single scattering albedo (SSA) of desert dust events observed in the Sahara, Sahel, and Arabian Peninsula areas. For this we use the level-2 inversions of 14 AERONET sunphotometers representative of the area of study. In the dataset, the dust-dominated events are discriminated on the basis of their large optical depth and low (<. 0.3) Ångström exponent (α) calculated between 440. nm and 870. nm. In all the volume size-distributions a coarse mode (CM) of particles is observed but a fine mode (FM) of particles with radii. <. 0.2. μm is also present. The volume fraction represented by the FM is lower (3%) during the most intense dust storms than during moderate ones (12%). The inter-site variability of the characteristics of the CM-dominated situations is found to be non-significant and at 440, 675, 870, and 1020. nm a common set of values can be adopted for n (1.54 ± 0.03, 1.53 ± 0.02, 1.50 ± 0.02, 1.48 ± 0.02), k (0.0037 ± 0.0007, 0.0012 ± 0.0002, 0.0011 ± 0.0002, 0.0012 ± 0.0002), g (0.77 ± 0.01, 0.74 ± 0.01, 0.73 ± 0.01, 0.74 ± 0.01), and the SSA (0.90 ± 0.02, 0.97 ± 0.01, 0.98 ± 0.01, 0.98 ± 0.01). However; during the less intense dust-events the growing influence of the FM leads to regional differentiation of the dust properties and 2 main areas can be distinguished: 1) the relatively clean central Sahara/Sahel, and 2) the more polluted continuum constituted by the Mediterranean coast and the Arabian Peninsula.

Real-Life Solutions to Real-Life Problems: Collaborating with a Non-Profit Foundation to Engage Honors Students in Applied Research

Science.gov (United States)

Stark, Emily

2013-01-01

Colleges and universities have long emphasized undergraduate research experiences as valuable activities for students. Collegiate honors programs in particular have embraced the role of student research as an integral experience for high-ability students, leading the way in developing the thesis-based model of undergraduate research that is…

International conference on "Photosynthesis research for sustainability-2013: in honor of Jalal A. Aliyev", held during June 5-9, 2013, Baku, Azerbaijan.

Science.gov (United States)

Allakhverdiev, Suleyman I; Huseynova, Irada M; Govindjee

2013-12-01

In this brief report, we provide a pictorial essay on an international conference "Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability-2013 in honor of Jalal A. Aliyev" that was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, during June 5-9, 2013 ( http://photosynthesis2013.cellreg.org/ ). We begin this report with a brief note on Jalal Aliyev, the honored scientist, and on John Walker (1997 Nobel laureate in Chemistry) who was a distinguished guest and lecturer at the Conference. We briefly describe the Conference, and the program. In addition to the excellent scientific program, a special feature of the Conference was the presentation of awards to nine outstanding young investigators; they are recognized in this report. We have also included several photographs to show the pleasant ambience at this conference. (See http://photosynthesis2013.cellreg.org/Photo-Gallery.php ; https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qcr124dajwffwh6/TlcHBvFu4H?m ; and https://www.copy.com/s/UDlxb9fgFXG9/Baku for more photographs taken by the authors as well as by others.) We invite the readers to the next conferences on "Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability-2014: in honor of Vladimir A. Shuvalov" to be held during June 2-7, 2014, in Pushchino, Russia. Detailed information for this will be posted at the Website: http://photosynthesis2014.cellreg.org/ , and for the subsequent conference on "Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability-2015" to be held in May or June 2015, in Baku, Azerbaijan, at http://photosynthesis2015.cellreg.org/ .

The Fertilizing Role of African Dust in the Amazon Rainforest. A First Multiyear Assessment Based on Data from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yu, Hongbin [Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Chin, Mian [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Yuan, Tianle [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States); Bian, Huisheng [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States); Remer, L. A. [Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States); Prospero, J. [Univ. of Miami, FL (United States); Omar, Ali [NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States); Winker, D. [NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States); Yang, Yuekui [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD (United States); Zhang, Yan [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD (United States); Zhang, Zhibo [Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States); Zhao, Chun [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2015-03-18

The productivity of the Amazon rainforest is constrained by the availability of nutrients, in particular phosphorus (P). Deposition of long-range transported African dust is recognized as a potentially important but poorly quantified source of phosphorus. This study provides a first multiyear satellite-based estimate of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin using three dimensional (3D) aerosol measurements over 2007-2013 from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). The 7-year average of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin is estimated to be 28 (8~48) Tg a^-1 or 29 (8~50) kg ha^-1 a^-1. The dust deposition shows significant interannual variation that is negatively correlated with the prior-year rainfall in the Sahel. The CALIOP-based multi-year mean estimate of dust deposition matches better with estimates from in-situ measurements and model simulations than a previous satellite-based estimate does. The closer agreement benefits from a more realistic geographic definition of the Amazon Basin and inclusion of meridional dust transport calculation in addition to the 3D nature of CALIOP aerosol measurements. The imported dust could provide about 0.022 (0.006~0.037) Tg P of phosphorus per year, equivalent to 23 (7~39) g P ha^-1 a^-1 to fertilize the Amazon rainforest. This out-of-Basin P input is comparable to the hydrological loss of P from the Basin, suggesting an important role of African dust in preventing phosphorus depletion on time scales of decades to centuries.

The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

Tishkoff, Sarah A.; Reed, Floyd A.; Friedlaender, Françoise R.; Ehret, Christopher; Ranciaro, Alessia; Froment, Alain; Hirbo, Jibril B.; Awomoyi, Agnes A.; Bodo, Jean-Marie; Doumbo, Ogobara; Ibrahim, Muntaser; Juma, Abdalla T.; Kotze, Maritha J.; Lema, Godfrey; Moore, Jason H.; Mortensen, Holly; Nyambo, Thomas B.; Omar, Sabah A.; Powell, Kweli; Pretorius, Gideon S.; Smith, Michael W.; Thera, Mahamadou A.; Wambebe, Charles; Weber, James L.; Williams, Scott M.

2010-01-01

Africa is the source of all modern humans, but characterization of genetic variation and of relationships among populations across the continent has been enigmatic. We studied 121 African populations, four African American populations, and 60 non-African populations for patterns of variation at 1327 nuclear microsatellite and insertion/deletion markers. We identified 14 ancestral population clusters in Africa that correlate with self-described ethnicity and shared cultural and/or linguistic properties. We observed high levels of mixed ancestry in most populations, reflecting historical migration events across the continent. Our data also provide evidence for shared ancestry among geographically diverse hunter-gatherer populations (Khoesan speakers and Pygmies). The ancestry of African Americans is predominantly from Niger-Kordofanian (~71%), European (~13%), and other African (~8%) populations, although admixture levels varied considerably among individuals. This study helps tease apart the complex evolutionary history of Africans and African Americans, aiding both anthropological and genetic epidemiologic studies. PMID:19407144

Hierarchical decision modeling essays in honor of Dundar F. Kocaoglu

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

This volume, developed in honor of Dr. Dundar F. Kocaoglu, aims to demonstrate the applications of the Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) in different sectors and its capacity in decision analysis. It is comprised of essays from noted scholars, academics and researchers of engineering and technology management around the world. This book is organized into four parts: Technology Assessment, Strategic Planning, National Technology Planning and Decision Making Tools. Dr. Dundar F. Kocaoglu is one of the pioneers of multiple decision models using hierarchies, and creator of the HDM in decision analysis. HDM is a mission-oriented method for evaluation and/or selection among alternatives. A wide range of alternatives can be considered, including but not limited to, different technologies, projects, markets, jobs, products, cities to live in, houses to buy, apartments to rent, and schools to attend. Dr. Kocaoglu’s approach has been adopted for decision problems in many industrial sectors, including electronics rese...

The present situation of photo-electric plants in the Sahel zone: Possibilities and limits of a marketing strategy using the example of the Niger. Zur gegenwaertigen Situation photovoltaischer Anlagen in der Sahelzone: Moeglichkeiten und Grenzen einer Vermarktungsstrategie am Beispiel des Niger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hempel, C. (GTZ - Sonderenergieprogramm Niger, Niamey (Niger))

1993-01-01

The report is aimed at three targets: First one deals with the meteorological data as the basis for the technical design of photo-electric plants, secondly there is a short survey of the present situation of photo-electrics in Nigeria (referring also to other Sahel countries), and thirdly, the possibilities and limits of a marketing strategy for photo-electric plants are sketched out for this region. (orig.)

Measurements of land surface features using an airborne laser altimeter: the HAPEX-Sahel experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ritchie, J.C.; Menenti, M.; Weltz, M.A.

1997-01-01

An airborne laser profiling altimeter was used to measure surface features and properties of the landscape during the HAPEX-Sahel Experiment in Niger, Africa in September 1992. The laser altimeter makes 4000 measurements per second with a vertical resolution of 5 cm. Airborne laser and detailed field measurements of vegetation heights had similar average heights and frequency distribution. Laser transects were used to estimate land surface topography, gully and channel morphology, and vegetation properties ( height, cover and distribution). Land surface changes related to soil erosion and channel development were measured. For 1 km laser transects over tiger bush communities, the maximum vegetation height was between 4-5 and 6-5 m, with an average height of 21 m. Distances between the centre of rows of tiger bush vegetation averaged 100 m. For two laser transects, ground cover for tiger bush was estimated to be 225 and 301 per cent for vegetation greater than 0-5m tall and 190 and 25-8 per cent for vegetation greater than 10m tall. These values are similar to published values for tiger bush. Vegetation cover for 14 and 18 km transects was estimated to be 4 per cent for vegetation greater than 0-5 m tall. These cover values agree within 1-2 per cent with published data for short transects (⩾ 100 m) for the area. The laser altimeter provided quick and accurate measurements for evaluating changes in land surface features. Such information provides a basis for understanding land degradation and a basis for management plans to rehabilitate the landscape. (author)

Phenotypic variations in osmotic lysis of Sahel goat erythrocytes in non-ionic glucose media.

Science.gov (United States)

Igbokwe, Nanacha Afifi; Igbokwe, Ikechukwu Onyebuchi

2016-03-01

Erythrocyte osmotic lysis in deionised glucose media is regulated by glucose influx, cation efflux, and changes in cell volume after water diffusion. Transmembrane fluxes may be affected by varied expression of glucose transporter protein and susceptibility of membrane proteins to glucose-induced glycosylation and oxidation in various physiologic states. Variations in haemolysis of Sahel goat erythrocytes after incubation in hyposmotic non-ionic glucose media, associated with sex, age, late pregnancy, and lactation, were investigated. The osmotic fragility curve in glucose media was sigmoidal with erythrocytes from goats in late pregnancy (PRE) or lactation (LAC) or from kid (KGT) or middle-aged (MGT) goats. Non-sigmoidal phenotype occurred in yearlings (YGT) and old (OGT) goats. The composite fragility phenotype for males and non-pregnant dry (NPD) females was non-sigmoidal. Erythrocytes with non-sigmoidal curves were more stable than those with sigmoidal curves because of inflectional shift of the curve to the left. Erythrocytes tended to be more fragile with male than female sex, KGT and MGT than YGT and OGT, and LAC and PRE than NPD. Thus, sex, age, pregnancy, and lactation affected the haemolytic pattern of goat erythrocytes in glucose media. The physiologic state of the goat affected the in vitro interaction of glucose with erythrocytes, causing variations in osmotic stability with variants of fragility phenotype. Variations in the effect of high extracellular glucose concentrations on the functions of membrane-associated glucose transporter, aquaporins, and the cation cotransporter were presumed to be relevant in regulating the physical properties of goat erythrocytes under osmotic stress.

Vulnerability and the Role of Education in Environmentally Induced Migration in Mali and Senegal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria van der Land

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the West African Sahel, the majority of the population depends on subsistence farming and livestock breeding and is thus particularly vulnerable to climatic changes. One possible response to natural hazards is migration. Recent research suggests that environmentally induced mobility is closely linked to the social vulnerability and adaptive capacity of individuals and groups. However, only little attention has been paid thus far to the role of formal education in this context. Our objective was to fill this gap by examining the role of formal education in environmentally induced migration as one characteristic of social vulnerability to environmental change. Our analysis focuses on two regions in the West African Sahel, Bandiagara in Mali and Linguère in Senegal, that are presumed to be particularly affected by climate change and environmental degradation. Our results reveal that formal education plays an important role in reducing vulnerability to environmental stress because people with a higher level of education are usually less dependent on environmentally sensitive economic activities such as farming. Moreover, an agricultural economic activity can be an obstacle to a high level of formal education. We found no significant effect of people's education on the migration experience as such. However, motives for migration differ considerably depending on the amount of education received, suggesting that migration constitutes a livelihood strategy, particularly for the lower educated.

Undergraduate honors students' images of science: Nature of scientific work and scientific knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Wallace, Michael L.

This exploratory study assessed the influence of an implicit, inquiry-oriented nature of science (NOS) instructional approach undertaken in an interdisciplinary college science course on undergraduate honor students' (UHS) understanding of the aspects of NOS for scientific work and scientific knowledge. In this study, the nature of scientific work concentrated upon the delineation of science from pseudoscience and the value scientists place on reproducibility. The nature of scientific knowledge concentrated upon how UHS view scientific theories and how they believe scientists utilize scientific theories in their research. The 39 UHS who participated in the study were non-science majors enrolled in a Honors College sponsored interdisciplinary science course where the instructors took an implicit NOS instructional approach. An open-ended assessment instrument, the UFO Scenario, was designed for the course and used to assess UHS' images of science at the beginning and end of the semester. The mixed-design study employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyze the open-ended responses. The qualitative techniques of open and axial coding were utilized to find recurring themes within UHS' responses. McNemar's chi-square test for two dependent samples was used to identify whether any statistically significant changes occurred within responses from the beginning to the end of the semester. At the start of the study, the majority of UHS held mixed NOS views, but were able to accurately define what a scientific theory is and explicate how scientists utilize theories within scientific research. Postinstruction assessment indicated that UHS did not make significant gains in their understanding of the nature of scientific work or scientific knowledge and their overall images of science remained static. The results of the present study found implicit NOS instruction even with an extensive inquiry-oriented component was an ineffective approach for modifying UHS

Introducing Scientific Literature to Honors General Chemistry Students: Teaching Information Literacy and the Nature of Research to First-Year Chemistry Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrer-Vinent, Ignacio J.; Bruehl, Margaret; Pan, Denise; Jones, Galin L.

2015-01-01

This paper describes the methodology and implementation of a case study introducing the scientific literature and creative experiment design to honors general chemistry laboratory students. The purpose of this study is to determine whether first-year chemistry students can develop information literacy skills while they engage with the primary…

Harmonic analysis, partial differential equations and applications in honor of Richard L. Wheeden

CERN Document Server

Franchi, Bruno; Lu, Guozhen; Perez, Carlos; Sawyer, Eric

2017-01-01

This is a collection of contributed papers by many eminent Harmonic Analysts and specialists of Partial Differential equations. The papers focus on weighted norm equalities for singular integrals, focusing wave equations, degenerate elliptic equations, Navier-Stokes flow in two dimensions and Poincare-Sobolev inequalities in the setting of metric spaces equipped with measures among others. Many topics considered in this volume stem from the interests of Richard L. Wheeden whose contributions to Potential Theory, singular integral theory and degenerate elliptic PDE theory this volume honors. Luis Caffarelli, Sagun Chanillo, Bruno Franchi, Cristian Guttierez, Xiaojun Huang, Carlos Kenig, Ermanno Lanconelli, Eric Sawyer and Alexander Volberg, are some of the many contributors to this volume. .

“El florecimiento del terrorismo islámico en el Sahel, un reto para la seguridad de Europa Occidental. Estudio de caso: Malí y España (2011- 2013)”

OpenAIRE

Rodríguez Uribe, Mónica Alejandra

2015-01-01

El objetivo central de este Estudio de Caso, consiste en investigar en qué sentido la proximidad geográfica y el hecho de que la región del Sahel constituya una zona de tránsito, influyen a que el crecimiento del terrorismo islámico en Malí comprenda una amenaza tanto para la seguridad nacional, como para la estabilidad de España. Se avanzará posteriormente con la descripción de herramientas específicas, tanto judiciales como de cooperación que el gobierno español ha buscado apoyar a nivel ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. In partnership with hundreds of journals from all over the continent, AJOL works to change this, so that African-origin research output is available to Africans and to the rest of the world. AJOL is ... African Journal of AIDS Research.

Immunizations and African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

... Data > Minority Population Profiles > Black/African American > Immunizations Immunizations and African Americans African American adults are less ... 19 to 35 months had comparable rates of immunization. African American women are as likely to have ...

Sultens tilskuere

OpenAIRE

Wichmann, Søren Sofus

2012-01-01

This project examines the ethical demands that a cosmopolitan approach to ethics lays down on the media in the Western world in covering distant suffering. By examining a number of newspaper articles from danish media regarding a humanitarian crisis in the African Sahel area using theories about distant suffering, and discussing the findings by applying a number of different normative ethical theories, it delivers a view on what such ethical demands might be. It concludes that a politics of p...

The Role of African Dust Particles on Cloud Chemistry and Microphysics in a Tropical Montane Cloud Forest in the Caribbean

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Delgado, E.; Valle-Diaz, C. J.; Baumgardner, D.; McDowell, W. H.; Gonzalez, G.; Mayol-Bracero, O. L.

2015-12-01

Huge amounts of African dust travels thousands of kilometers from the Sahara and Sahel regions to the Caribbean, northern South America and southern North America. However, not much is understood about how the aging process that takes place during transport changes dust properties, and how it affects cloud's composition and microphysics. In order to improve our understanding of the role of long-range transported African dust (LRTAD) in cloud formation processes we had field campaigns measuring dust physical and chemical properties in summers of 2013, 2014 and 2015, as part of the Puerto Rico African Dust and Cloud Study (PRADACS), and of the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory (LCZO). Measurements were performed at the tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF) of Pico del Este (PE, 1051 masl) and at the nature reserve of Cabezas de San Juan (CSJ, 60 masl). In both ground stations we monitored meteorological parameters (e.g., temperature, wind speed, wind direction). At CSJ, we measured light absorption and scattering at three wavelengths (467, 528 and 652 nm). At PE we collected cloud and rainwater for chemical analyses and monitored cloud microphysical properties (e.g., liquid water content, droplet size distribution, droplet number concentration, effective diameter and median volume diameter). Summer 2015 was the first attempt to characterize microphysical properties of the summer period (June to August) at PE, where dust is in its higher concentrations of the year. Samples were classified using data from models and satellites together with CSJ measurements as low or high dust influenced. Soluble ions, insoluble trace metals, pH, conductivity, total and dissolved organic carbon and total and dissolved nitrogen were measured for cloud and rainwater. Enrichment factor analysis was used to determine sea and crustal contribution of species by sample, as well as the neutralization factor and fractional acidity. Some preliminary results show cloud water conductivity for low

Impact of West African Monsoon convective transport and lightning NOx production upon the upper tropospheric composition: a multi-model study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Schlager

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Within the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA, we investigate the impact of nitrogen oxides produced by lightning (LiNOx and convective transport during the West African Monsoon (WAM upon the composition of the upper troposphere (UT in the tropics. For this purpose, we have performed simulations with 4 state-of-the-art chemistry transport models involved within AMMA, namely MOCAGE, TM4, LMDz-INCA and p-TOMCAT. The model intercomparison is complemented with an evaluation of the simulations based on both spaceborne and airborne observations. The baseline simulations show important differences between the UT CO and O3 distributions simulated by each of the 4 models when compared to measurements from the MOZAIC program and fom the Aura/MLS spaceborne sensor. We show that such model discrepancies can be explained by differences in the convective transport parameterizations and, more particularly, the altitude reached by convective updrafts (ranging between ~200–125 hPa. Concerning UT O3, the models exhibit a good agreement with the main observed features. Nevertheless the majority of models simulate low O3 concentrations compared to both MOZAIC and Aura/MLS observations south of the equator, and rather high concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere. Sensitivity studies are performed to quantify the effect of deep convective transport and the influence of LiNOx production on the UT composition. These clearly indicate that the CO maxima and the elevated O3 concentrations south of the equator are due to convective uplift of air masses impacted by Southern African biomass burning, in agreement with previous studies. Moreover, during the WAM, LiNOx from Africa are responsible for the highest UT O3 enhancements (10–20 ppbv over the tropical Atlantic between 10° S–20° N. Differences between models are primarily due to the performance of the parameterizations used to simulate lightning activity which are evaluated using spaceborne

African Journals: An Evaluation of their Use in African Universities ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The use of African published journals in two African universities was surveyed through the use of questionnaire, interviews, journal usage count and citation analysis. The survey reveals that African published journals are not popular with academics because of lack of bibliographic and physical access. For conclusion to be ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals OnLine (AJOL) is the world's largest online library of ... AJOL works to change this, so that African-origin research output is available to Africans ... South African Medical Journal ... Global Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences.

Risk and reliability analysis theory and applications : in honor of Prof. Armen Der Kiureghian

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

This book presents a unique collection of contributions from some of the foremost scholars in the field of risk and reliability analysis. Combining the most advanced analysis techniques with practical applications, it is one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date books available on risk-based engineering. All the fundamental concepts needed to conduct risk and reliability assessments are covered in detail, providing readers with a sound understanding of the field and making the book a powerful tool for students and researchers alike. This book was prepared in honor of Professor Armen Der Kiureghian, one of the fathers of modern risk and reliability analysis.

Identifying tagging SNPs for African specific genetic variation from the African Diaspora Genome.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Henry Richard; Hu, Yi-Juan; Gao, Jingjing; O'Connor, Timothy D; Abecasis, Gonçalo R; Wojcik, Genevieve L; Gignoux, Christopher R; Gourraud, Pierre-Antoine; Lizee, Antoine; Hansen, Mark; Genuario, Rob; Bullis, Dave; Lawley, Cindy; Kenny, Eimear E; Bustamante, Carlos; Beaty, Terri H; Mathias, Rasika A; Barnes, Kathleen C; Qin, Zhaohui S

2017-04-21

A primary goal of The Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestry Populations in the Americas (CAAPA) is to develop an 'African Diaspora Power Chip' (ADPC), a genotyping array consisting of tagging SNPs, useful in comprehensively identifying African specific genetic variation. This array is designed based on the novel variation identified in 642 CAAPA samples of African ancestry with high coverage whole genome sequence data (~30× depth). This novel variation extends the pattern of variation catalogued in the 1000 Genomes and Exome Sequencing Projects to a spectrum of populations representing the wide range of West African genomic diversity. These individuals from CAAPA also comprise a large swath of the African Diaspora population and incorporate historical genetic diversity covering nearly the entire Atlantic coast of the Americas. Here we show the results of designing and producing such a microchip array. This novel array covers African specific variation far better than other commercially available arrays, and will enable better GWAS analyses for researchers with individuals of African descent in their study populations. A recent study cataloging variation in continental African populations suggests this type of African-specific genotyping array is both necessary and valuable for facilitating large-scale GWAS in populations of African ancestry.

Relocating the history of science essays in honor of Kostas Gavroglu

CERN Document Server

Renn, Jurgen; Simoes, Ana

2015-01-01

This volume is put together in honor of a distinguished historian of science, Kostas Gavroglu, whose work has won international acclaim, and has been pivotal in establishing the discipline of history of science in Greece, its consolidation in other countries of the European Periphery, and the constructive dialogue of these emerging communities with an extended community of international scholars. The papers in the volume reflect Gavroglu’s broad range of intellectual interests and touch upon significant themes in recent history and philosophy of science. They include topics in the history of modern physical sciences, science and technology in the European periphery, integrated history and philosophy of science, historiographical considerations, and intersections with the history of mathematics, technology and contemporary issues. They are authored by eminent scholars whose academic and personal trajectories crossed with Gavroglu’s. The book will interest historians and philosophers of science and techno...

Bo Xilai :China will honor its World Trade Organization(WTO) commitments. Banking and telecommunications market sectors would be opened in time

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2006-01-01

@@ Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai promised on September 4 that China will honor its WTO commitments. At a ceremony to mark China's five-year WTO partnership, Bo Xilai promised this to commercial leaders of Europe present again. Bo said all market sectors would be opened in time, referring especially to banking and telecommunications.

Couplings between the seasonal cycles of surface thermodynamics and radiative fluxes in the semi-arid Sahel

Science.gov (United States)

Guichard, F.; Kergoat, L.; Mougin, E.; Timouk, F.; Bock, O.; Hiernaux, P.

2009-04-01

A good knowledge of surface fluxes and atmospheric low levels is central to improving our understanding of the West African monsoon. This study provides a quantitative analysis of the peculiar seasonal and diurnal cycles of surface thermodynamics and radiative fluxes encountered in Central Sahel. It is based on a multi-year dataset collected in the Malian Gourma over a sandy soil at 1.5°W-15.3°N (a site referred to as Agoufou) with an automated weather station and a sunphotometer (AERONET), complemented by observations from the AMMA field campaign. The seasonal cycle of this Tropical region is characterized by a broad maximum of temperature in May, following the first minimum of the solar zenith angle by a few weeks, when Agoufou lies within the West African Heat-Low, and a late summer maximum of equivalent potential temperature within the core of the monsoon season, around the second yearly maximum of solar zenith angle, as the temperature reaches its Summer minimum. More broadly, subtle balances between surface air temperature and moisture fields are found on a range of scales. For instance, during the monsoon, apart from August, their opposite daytime fluctuations (warming, drying) lead to an almost flat diurnal cycle of the equivalent potential temperature at the surface. This feature stands out in contrast to other more humid continental regions. Here, the strong dynamics associated with the transition from a drier hot Spring to a brief cooler wet tropical Summer climate involves very large transformations of the diurnal cycles. The Summer increase of surface net radiation, Rnet, is also strong; typically 10-day mean Rnet reaches about 5 times its Winter minimum (~30 W.m-2) in August (~150 W.m-2). A major feature revealed by observations is that this increase is mostly driven by modifications of the surface upwelling fluxes shaped by rainfall events and vegetation phenology (surface cooling and darkening), while the direct impact of atmospheric changes on

Jesus the Healer: A Sermon in Honor of the Memory of Donald Eric Capps (1939-2015).

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrell, Donald R

2018-04-01

The article below is a sermon preached in 2008. It was inspired by Donald Capps's book, Jesus the Village Psychiatrist. I offer this sermon in honor of his memory as a creative contributor to the work of the Journal as well as his distinguished career as Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Many of us have been blessed by his profound psychological and theological insights into the human psyche, his scholarly explorations of the relationship of psychology and religion, and his remarkable sense of humor. We are diminished by his absence.

Deriving albedo maps for HAPEX-Sahel from ASAS data using kernel-driven BRDF models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Lewis

1999-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the application and testing of a method for deriving spatial estimates of albedo from multi-angle remote sensing data. Linear kernel-driven models of surface bi-directional reflectance have been inverted against high spatial resolution multi-angular, multi- spectral airborne data of the principal cover types within the HAPEX-Sahel study site in Niger, West Africa. The airborne data are obtained from the NASA Airborne Solid-state Imaging Spectrometer (ASAS instrument, flown in Niger in September and October 1992. The maps of model parameters produced are used to estimate integrated reflectance properties related to spectral albedo. Broadband albedo has been estimated from this by weighting the spectral albedo for each pixel within the map as a function of the appropriate spectral solar irradiance and proportion of direct and diffuse illumination. Partial validation of the results was performed by comparing ASAS reflectance and derived directional-hemispherical reflectance with simulations of a millet canopy made with a complex geometric canopy reflectance model, the Botanical Plant Modelling System (BPMS. Both were found to agree well in magnitude. Broadband albedo values derived from the ASAS data were compared with ground-based (point sample albedo measurements and found to agree extremely well. These results indicate that the linear kernel-driven modelling approach, which is to be used operationally to produce global 16 day, 1 km albedo maps from forthcoming NASA Earth Observing System spaceborne data, is both sound and practical for the estimation of angle-integrated spectral reflectance quantities related to albedo. Results for broadband albedo are dependent on spectral sampling and on obtaining the correct spectral weigthings.

African Anthropologist

African Journals Online (AJOL)

PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFRICAN RESEARCH ... It provides a forum for African and Africanist anthropologists to publish research reports, articles, book ... A Qualitative Exploration · EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT

African Anthropologist: Submissions

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Author Guidelines. The African Anthropologist is a biannual journal of the Pan African Anthropological Association. It provides a forum for African and Africanist anthropologists to publish articles, research reports, review articles, and book reviews. The views expressed in any published material are those of the authors and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals OnLine (AJOL) is the world's largest and pre-eminent collection of peer-reviewed, African-published scholarly journals. Historically, scholarly information has flowed from North to South and from West to East. It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. In partnership with hundreds of journals from all over the continent, AJOL works to change this, so that African-origin research output is available to Africans and ... Featured Country: South Africa, Featured Journal: Ergonomics SA ...

Fat, Fiber and Cancer Risk in African Americans and Rural Africans

Science.gov (United States)

O'Keefe, Stephen J.D.; Li, Jia V.; Lahti, Leo; Ou, Junhai; Carbonero, Franck; Mohammed, Khaled; Posma, Joram M; Kinross, James; Wahl, Elaine; Ruder, Elizabeth; Vipperla, Kishore; Naidoo, Vasudevan; Mtshali, Lungile; Tims, Sebastian; Puylaert, Philippe G.B.; DeLany, James; Krasinskas, Alyssa; Benefiel, Ann C.; Kaseb, Hatem O.; Newton, Keith; Nicholson, Jeremy K.; de Vos, Willem M.; Gaskins, H. Rex; Zoetendal, Erwin G.

2015-01-01

Rates of colon cancer are much higher in African Americans (65:100,000) than in rural South Africans (<5:100,000). The higher rates are associated with higher animal protein and fat and lower fiber consumption, higher colonic secondary bile acids, lower colonic short chain fatty acid quantities and higher mucosal proliferative biomarkers of cancer risk in otherwise healthy middle aged volunteers. Here we investigate further the role of fat and fiber in this association. We performed two-week food exchanges in subjects from the same populations, where African Americans were fed a high-fiber, lowfat African-style diet, and rural Africans a high-fat low-fiber western-style diet under close supervision. In comparison to their usual diets, the food changes resulted in remarkable reciprocal changes in mucosal biomarkers of cancer risk and in aspects of the microbiota and metabolome known to affect cancer risk, best illustrated by increased saccharolytic fermentation and butyrogenesis and suppressed secondary bile acid synthesis in the African Americans. PMID:25919227

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African ... search for an article by title, author/s or keywords,; and find other information sources ... Southern African Business Review; The role played by the South African ... The Basis of Distinction Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research in ...

Trends in African philosophy

African Journals Online (AJOL)

JONATHAN

In the contention of Oladipo (2006), the debate on the idea of. African philosophy which has been divided into trends or schools, dates back to the 1960's and 70's, which constitute the modern epoch of African philosophy, when some African thinkers began to question the perspective that traditional African beliefs and.

Significant Learning Experiences and Ignatian Pedagogy: A Case Study of Curricula, Academic Practices, and Graduate Outcomes in Jesuit Universities' Honors Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Pampel, Robert

2017-01-01

This qualitative, multisite case study used Dee Fink's taxonomy of significant learning as a lens through which to examine the curricular structure, academic practices, and graduate outcomes for honors programs at Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. Special attention was given to the distinctive quality of Ignatian pedagogy and…

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. In partnership with hundreds of journals from all over the continent, AJOL works to change this, so that African-origin research output is available to Africans and to the rest of the ... Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics.

Interdisciplinary Water and Sanitation Project in Burkina Faso

OpenAIRE

船水, 尚行

2017-01-01

Interdisciplinary project on water and sanitation was performed in Burkina Faso from 2010 to 2015. The title of the project was “Development of sustainable water and sanitation systems in the African Sahel region”, and the project was supported by SATREPS (JST and JICA) and collaborated with International Institute of Water and Sanitation (2iE). The main purpose of the project was to develop and demonstrate the new system of water and sanitation based on the concept of “do not mix” and “do no...

Increasing the Effectiveness of the “Great Green Wall” as an Adaptation to the Effects of Climate Change and Desertification in the Sahel

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David O'Connor

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The Great Green Wall (GGW has been advocated as a means of reducing desertification in the Sahel through the planting of a broad continuous band of trees from Senegal to Djibouti. Initially proposed in the 1980s, the plan has received renewed impetus in light of the potential of climate change to accelerate desertification, although the implementation has been lacking in all but two of 11 countries in the region. In this paper, we argue that the GGW needs modifying if it is to be effective, obtain the support of local communities and leverage international support. Specifically, we propose a shift from planting trees in the GGW to utilizing shrubs (e.g., Leptospermum scoparium, Boscia senegalensis, Grewia flava, Euclea undulata or Diospyros lycioides, which would have multiple benefits, including having a faster growth rate and proving the basis for silvo-pastoral livelihoods based on bee-keeping and honey production.

Exploring the Relationship of College Freshmen Honors Students' Effort and Ability Attribution, Interest, and Implicit Theory of Intelligence with Perceived Ability

Science.gov (United States)

Siegle, Del; Da Via Rubenstein, Lisa; Pollard, Elizabeth; Romey, Elizabeth

2010-01-01

Although there are several explanations for why one succeeds or fails, effort and ability are the major causes that students report. The purpose of the present study was to measure the perceptions of 149 college freshmen enrolled in a university honors program about their skills in 15 talent areas. In addition, this study explored the relationship…

From Comedy to the Sacramental Play: from Honor to Forgiveness in Lope de Vega

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J. Enrique Duarte Lueiro

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The author of this article reviews the critical bibliography of the sacramental plays by Lope to show how scholars have always considered that this writer adapted elements and resources taken from his comedies into the sacramental plays. Actually, this article analyses the code of honor relevant in comic comedies and tragedies with different results. But this convention is also coherent with the sacramental genre, because it is supported by images and biblical metaphors and, in this case, they force a determined end. Equally, we have to take into consideration that the playwright employs other means specific of the auto sacramental to allow the allegory to operate and connect its two allegorical levels.

African American Diaspora

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Angela Brown

2013-05-01

Full Text Available The migration of blacks in North America through slavery became united.  The population of blacks past downs a tradition of artist through art to native born citizens. The art tradition involved telling stories to each generation in black families. The black culture elevated by tradition created hope to determine their personal freedom to escape from poverty of enslavement and to establish a way of life through tradition. A way of personal freedoms was through getting a good education that lead to a better foundation and a better way of life. With regard to all historic migrations (forced and voluntary, the African Union defined the African diaspora as "[consisting] of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union." Its constitutive act declares that it shall "invite and encourage the full participation of the African diaspora as an important part of our continent, in the building of the African Union."

The Dictionary Unit for South African English. South African Concise Oxford Dictionary

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Rajend Mesthrie

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The South African Concise Oxford Dictionary (henceforth SACOD is a South Af-rican version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the first time that this particular hybrid has been prepared. It is testimony to the enduring success of the work of the Dictionary Unit for South African English at Rhodes University, headed by teams that included Jean and William Branford in the 1970s, Penny Silva in the 1990s and now, Kathryn Kavanagh. The lexicographical work from the unit saw the publication of four editions of the Dictionary of Southern African English (1978, 1980, 1987, 1991, a South African Pocket Oxford Dictionary (SAPOD and the Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles (DOSAEHP (1995. SACOD differs from the rest in several ways. It is larger in scope than SAPOD, smaller than DOSAEHP, and unlike DOSAE and DOSAEHP, does not deal with South African words alone. Based on the 10th edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary SACOD has excised some words from the parent, whilst adding many new words of general English as well as of South Africa.

African Dust Fertilizing the Amazon Rainforest: An Assessment with Seven-year Record of CALIOP Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, H.; Chin, M.; Yuan, T.; Bian, H.; Prospero, J. M.; Omar, A. H.; Remer, L. A.; Winker, D. M.; Yang, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Z.

2014-12-01

The productivity of Amazon rainforest is constrained by the availability of nutrients, in particular phosphorus (P). Deposition of transported African dust in boreal winter and spring is considered an important nutrient input for the Amazon Basin, though its magnitude is not well qunatified. This study provides a remote sensing observation-based estimate of dust deposition in the Amazon Basin using a 7-year (2007-2013) record of three dimensional (3D) distributions of aerosol in both cloud-free and above-cloud conditions from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). It is estimated that the 7-year average of dust deposition into the Amazon Basin amounts to 15.1 ~ 32.1 Tg a-1 (Tg = 1012 g). This imported dust could provide 0.012 ~ 0.025 Tg P a-1 or equivalent to 12 ~ 26 g P ha-1 a-1 to fertilize the Amazon rainforest, which largely compensates the hydrological loss of P. The CLAIOP-based estimate agrees better with estimates from in-situ measurements and model simulations than what has been reported in literature. The closer agreement benefits from a more realistic geographic definition of the Amazon Basin and inclusion of meridional dust transport calculation in addition to the 3D nature of CALIOP aerosol measurements. The trans-Atlantic transport and deposition of dust shows strong interannual variations that are found to correlate with the North Atlantic Oscillation index in the winter season and anticorrelate with the prior-year Sahel Precipitation Index on an annual basis. Uncertainties associated with the estimate will also be discussed.

African languages and African studies librarianship: taking a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Most African educational systems are centred on imported languages such as English, French, and Portuguese. The emphasis in national publishing industries on producing books, journals and newspapers overwhelmingly in those tongues is also hard to justify. It is difficult to imagine a future African renaissance that does ...

At Home in the Great Northern Wilderness: African Americans and Freedom’s Ecology in the Adirondacks, 1846-1859

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Daegan Miller

2013-05-01

Full Text Available In the fall of 1846, the first of 3,000 African American settlers set foot on their 40-acre plots in the Great Northern Wilderness of New York State, a place we now call the “forever wild” wilderness of the Adirondack State Park. These black settlers were the initial wave of a social experiment meant to destroy both slavery and, more generally, racism throughout the entire United States through the redemptive practice of a utopian agrarianism. The settlers understood that nature and culture, wilderness and society, were thickly, dialectically intertwined. And they weren’t alone: their efforts were seeded by the white abolitionist, Gerrit Smith; fertilized by the utopian socialist communes that covered the Northeast in the 1840s; and nurtured by abolitionists, both black and white. To United States environmental history, I add two threads less frequently seen: African American history and an intellectual history of radical politics. Following these threads has led me beyond the disciplinary confines of history and into larger debates about the cultural politics of wilderness. In this article I argue that the critical wilderness paradigm currently reigning both in and beyond historical scholarship has obscured nuanced, sometimes radical visions of the natural world. Instead of an ironic, deconstructed notion of a troubling wilderness, I suggest another heuristic, the ecology of freedom, which highlights past contingency and hope, and can furthermore help guide our present efforts, both scholastic and activist, to find an honorable, just way of living on the earth.

Social Realism in the African Novel: The South African and East ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Although the African novel arose from Europe, the African has used it to explore a different world view; a world where gods and men hold a place together in the affairs of men. But more importantly, the African novel has followed the peculiar history of colonization and decolonization. While the earlier novels depicted the ...

Changes in the interannual SST-forced signals on West African rainfall. AGCM intercomparison

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohino, Elsa [LOCEAN/IPSL, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris Cedex 05 (France); Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla (Spain); Rodriguez-Fonseca, Belen [Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Dpto. Geofisica y Meteorologia, Madrid (Spain); Instituto de Geociencias (CSIC-UCM), Madrid (Spain); Losada, Teresa [Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Dpto. Geofisica y Meteorologia, Madrid (Spain); Gervois, Sebastien [LOCEAN/IPSL, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris Cedex 05 (France); Janicot, Serge [LOCEAN/IPSL, IRD, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France); Bader, Juergen [Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen (Norway); Ruti, Paolo [Progetto Speciale Clima Globale, Ente Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l' Energia e l' Ambiente, Rome (Italy); Chauvin, Fabrice [GAME/CNRM, Meteo-France/CNRS, Toulouse (France)

2011-11-15

Rainfall over West Africa shows strong interannual variability related to changes in Sea Surface Temperature (SST). Nevertheless, this relationship seem to be non-stationary. A particular turning point is the decade of the 1970s, which witnessed a number of changes in the climatic system, including the climate shift of the late 1970s. The first aim of this study is to explore the change in the interannual variability of West African rainfall after this shift. The analysis indicates that the dipolar features of the rainfall variability over this region, related to changes in the Atlantic SST, disappear after this period. Also, the Pacific SST variability has a higher correlation with Guinean rainfall in the recent period. The results suggest that the current relationship between the Atlantic and Pacific El Nino phenomena is the principal responsible for these changes. A fundamental goal of climate research is the development of models simulating a realistic current climate. For this reason, the second aim of this work is to test the performance of Atmospheric General Circulation models in simulating rainfall variability over West Africa. The models have been run with observed SSTs for the common period 1957-1998 as part of an intercomparison exercise. The results show that the models are able to reproduce Guinean interannual variability, which is strongly related to SST variability in the Equatorial Atlantic. Nevertheless, problems in the simulation of the Sahelian interannual variability appear: not all models are able to reproduce the observed negative link between rainfall over the Sahel and El Nino-like anomalies in the Pacific, neither the positive correlation between Mediterranean SSTs and Sahelian rainfall. (orig.)

Obesity and African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

... Data > Minority Population Profiles > Black/African American > Obesity Obesity and African Americans African American women have the ... youthonline . [Accessed 08/18/2017] HEALTH IMPACT OF OBESITY People who are overweight are more likely to ...

African Zoology

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Zoology, a peer-reviewed research journal, publishes original scientific contributions and critical reviews that focus principally on African fauna in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Research from other regions that advances practical and theoretical aspects of zoology will be considered. Rigorous ...

African Journals Online: Kenya

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 29 of 29 ... African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development ... African and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs); African and .... for scholars and practitioners in all spheres of biological sciences to publish ...

Heart Disease and African Americans

Science.gov (United States)

... Minority Population Profiles > Black/African American > Heart Disease Heart Disease and African Americans Although African American adults are ... were 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease than non-Hispanic whites. African American women are ...

The African Political Organisation's contributions to South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The history of South African sport remains an under researched area. According to the historian, Ander Odendaal, the racist nature of 20th Century South African society implies that there are “past exclusions that persist” (Odendaal, 2006:27) In order to address this situation, a scientifichistorical enquiry into the publications ...

Chiefs and the State in independent Zambia : exploring the Zambian national press

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Binsbergen, van W.M.J.

1987-01-01

Zambia is among the few African countries where chiefs occupy an honorable position at the national level, and where a House of Chiefs is established, complementary to Parliament. This paper examines the relationship between chiefs and the central government on the basis of an analysis of newspaper

Advances in complex analysis and operator theory festschrift in honor of Daniel Alpay’s 60th birthday

CERN Document Server

Sabadini, Irene; Struppa, Daniele; Vajiac, Mihaela

2017-01-01

This book gathers contributions written by Daniel Alpay’s friends and collaborators. Several of the papers were presented at the International Conference on Complex Analysis and Operator Theory held in honor of Professor Alpay’s 60th birthday at Chapman University in November 2016. The main topics covered are complex analysis, operator theory and other areas of mathematics close to Alpay’s primary research interests. The book is recommended for mathematicians from the graduate level on, working in various areas of mathematical analysis, operator theory, infinite dimensional analysis, linear systems, and stochastic processes.

Anonimo, “Totas honors e tuig faig benestan” (BdT 461.234

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Marco Grimaldi

2010-08-01

Full Text Available This paper will examine an anonymous ‘planh’, “Totas honor e tuig faig benestan”, for the death of Manfred of Swabia, illegitimate son of Frederick II, who was killed in the battle of Benevento in 1266. The text is copied in a section of the ‘twin’ chansonniers I and K which contains mainly lyric laments (an exception in the troubadour manuscript tradition and for this reason will serve as a basis for a discussion of the concept of ‘documentary series’. The paper will also consider the author’s origin, probably Italian on the basis of the linguistic and metrical evidence, and attempt to place the planh more precisely within the context of the struggle between Charles of Anjou and Manfred, as well as illustrate the role played by political troubadour poetry at the Italian court of the last Swabians.

Retraction | Simon | African Zoology

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Panthera leo) ina. West African national park”. African Zoology is publishing an Editorial Expression of Concern regarding the following article: “New records of a threatened lion population (Panthera leo) in a West African national park” by ...

An introduction to Randell Mills' Grand Unified Theory of Classical Physics (GUT-CP) : an Eindhoven University of Technology Honors Program 2007-2008 research project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heijden, E.H.M.; van der Heijden, M.A.; Roosmalen, van J.; Verdonschot, S.; Kroesen, G.M.W.; Nijdam, S.

2008-01-01

This document represents the results of a year of research as part of the Honors Program of Eindhoven University of Technology. We heard about Randell L. Mills abandoning Quantum Mechanics and proposing an alternative theory. This sounded interesting enough to contact Gerrit M.W. Kroesen whose group

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

reviewed, African-published scholarly journals. Historically, scholarly information has flowed from North to South and from West to East. It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. In partnership with ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

reviewed, African-published scholarly journals. Historically ... It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. In partnership with ... Vol 15, No 1 (2018). SAHARA-J: Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS.

Strengthening African Union for African Integration: An African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Toshiba

to secure African continent, speed up development process, and strengthen our survival ... Regional integration generally involves a somewhat complex web of cooperation ... networking of various government institutions to provide and shape.

Understanding the Rise of African Business

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jorem, Kaja Tvedten; Jeppesen, Søren; Hansen, Michael W.

of African firm strategy and performance that takes into account the specificities of the African business environment and African firm capabilities. The paper starts by juxtaposing the widespread pessimistic view of African business with more recent, optimistic studies on African firms’ performance....... The latter suggests that profound improvements in African business performance are indeed under way: with the private sector playing a more important role as an engine of growth, with the rise of a capable African entrepreneurial class, and with the emergence of dynamic and competitive African enterprises...... in the literature, the authors suggest an analytical framework for understanding African business performance, underlining the interplay between contextual specificities, firm capabilities, and firm strategy....

Leadership in the African context

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M. Masango

2002-08-01

Full Text Available The Western world has always viewed the African continent as plagued by corruption; dictatorship; military coups; rebellious leaders; greediness; misuse of power; and incompetent, politically unstable leaders - in effect, suspicious leaders who undermine their own democracies. This paper analyzes African leadership and its impact by concentrating on three historical eras, namely; the African Religious era; the Christian era, and the era of Globalization. These affected African leadership. In addition, many brilliant minds left the continent in search of greener pastures. A review of these three eras will help us understand how leadership shifted from African values into Western concepts. The role of missionaries lead African people to live with both an African and a Western concept of life. In spite of the above problems, our past leaders did their best in addressing the difficulties they faced during the three eras. African concepts of leadership were often regarded as barbaric and uncultured. Structures were evaluated by Western standards. Due to globalisation, African leaders, through programmes like NEPAD, are going back to basics, drawing on African concepts of unity among its leadership. Effectiveness or life-giving leadership is emerging and empowering villagers/communities in the continent. This type of leadership is innovative and has brought new hope for the continent.

A Pedagogical Approach toward Teaching an Information Systems Student How to Conduct a Web Usability Study for an Honors Project: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Jesse, Gayle

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide educators with a course model and pedagogy to teach a computer information systems usability course. This paper offers a case study based on an honors student project titled "Web Usability: Phases of Developing an Interactive Event Database." Each individual phase--creating a prototype along with…

North-eastern Ethiopia: Society in famine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lundstrom, K.J.

1976-01-01

A Special Report on the two Ethiopian drought-famine crises is reviewed. The Wollo drought occurred at the same time as the West African. Although drought also hit Sudan, and thus spread from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, Ethiopia's drought seems to have been unique, for its normal rainfall pattern is different from that of the Sahel; there are two rainy seasons, linked to a wind system more complex than that in West Africa. The limited data on this is summarized in S. Bethke's chapter of Rehab. This is an important study which helps impact an understanding of the revolution provoked by the Imperial regime's handling of the northern famine, and also allows useful comparisons of the Ethiopian and West African drought crisis.

Rehab: Drought and famine in Ethiopia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hussein, A.M.

1976-01-01

A Special Report on the two Ethiopian drought-famine crises is reviewed. The Wollo drought occurred at the same time as the West African. Although drought also hit Sudan, and thus spread from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, Ethiopia's drought seems to have been unique, for its normal rainfall pattern is different from that of the Sahel; there are two rainy seasons, linked to a wind system more complex than that in West Africa. The limited data on this is summarized in S. Betheke's chapter of Rehap. This is an important study which helps impact an understanding of the revolution provoked by the Imperial regime's handling of the northern famine, and also allows useful comparisons of the Ethiopian and West African drought crisis.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals OnLine (AJOL) is the world's largest and pre-eminent collection of peer-reviewed, African-published scholarly journals. Historically ... African Research Review; The Roles of Information Communication Technologies in Education: Review Article with Emphasis to the Computer and Internet Ethiopian Journal ...

Arthropod diversity and assemblage structure response to deforestation and desertification in the Sahel of western Senegal

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Brandon J. Lingbeek

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Drylands are highly vulnerable to desertification and among the most endangered ecosystems. To understand how biodiversity responds to environmental degradation in these fragile ecosystems, we examined whether arthropod, beetle, spider and ant diversity and assemblage structure differed (1 between seasons, (2 among locations (3 between protected areas of tropical dry forest and adjacent communal lands suffering from desertification, as well as (4 how vegetation impacts assemblage structures. We established 12 plots spaced homogenously throughout each protected area and the adjacent communal land at three locations: Beersheba, Bandia and Ngazobil. Within each plot, we measured canopy closure, vegetation height, percent cover of bare ground, leaf litter, grasses and forbs and collected arthropods using pitfall traps during the 2014 dry (May and rainy (September seasons. We collected 123,705 arthropods representing 733 morphospecies, 10,849 beetles representing 216 morphospecies, 4969 spiders representing 91 morphospecies and 59,183 ants representing 45 morphospecies. Results showed greater arthropod and beetle diversities (P = 0.002–0.040 in the rainy season, no difference in diversity among locations for any taxonomic group and a difference (P ≤ 0.001 in diversity for all taxa between protected areas and communal lands. Assemblage structures of all taxa responded (P = 0.001 to vegetation characteristics, differed (P = 0.015–0.045 between seasons and, with a few exceptions, locations and fragments. Our results illustrate the importance of a multi-taxa approach in understanding biodiversity response to anthropogenic disturbances as well as the value of protected areas in preserving biodiversity of the Sahel.

African Journal on Conflict Resolution

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The African Journal on Conflict Resolution (AJCR) publishes the writings of a wide range of African and international authors in the field, but emphasis has deliberately been kept on African writers and the thinking emerging from African universities, colleges and organisations. Other websites assiciated with this Journal: ...

A Segmentation Analysis of an Illustrator's Quilt

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnici, Joseph; Scherban, Dwight M.

2007-01-01

Jerry Pinkney's pencils and watercolors have created an indelible niche in African American children's literature, celebrating a magical world where children's thoughts flow freely back in time and across space. His illustrations have been repeatedly recognized by multiple awards and honor book citations (Brodie, 1998), including the Coretta Scott…

Advanced Placement Academy: Case Study of a Program within a School

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, Julie Dingle; Nagy, Steven

2014-01-01

The focus of this study was the first year of implementation of the Advanced Placement Academy (APA), a program within a high school providing honors and Advanced Placement coursework for high-ability African American students with previously limited access to rigorous courses. The qualitative investigation explores practical solutions from…

Neotectonic deformation in Tunisia (North of the African plate)

Science.gov (United States)

Soumaya, Abdelkader; Ben Ayed, Noureddine; Kadri, Ali; Delvaux, Damien; Khayati Ammar, Hayet; Braham, Ahmed

2017-04-01

In Tunisia, at the extreme North of the African plate, the neotectonic context is largely influenced by the Eurasia-Africa convergence. The aim of this work is to characterize the neotectonic regime that affected this region during Quaternary. Field work investigations integrated with published data allowed to evidence a spatial-temporal variation of the tectonic stress regime during this period. The spatial repartition of the different types of Quaternary to historical deformation shows a North-South neotectonic zoning in Tunisia. After lower Pleistocene, the Tellian domain (Maghrebides) in the North and its Atlassic foreland in central Tunisia are affected by NNW-SSE compression. It generated E-W to NE-SW folds and reverse faults, well developed in the Plio-Quaternary molassic basins of Kechabta and Jendouba (Northern Tunisia). In the Atlas, the major E-W and N-S pre-existing faults have been reactivated with dextral and sinistral strike-slip kinematic respectively, associated to en-echelon folds (Kasserine, N-S Axis, Northern Chott belt...). After the Tyrrhenian, a submeridian compressional regime affected Northern Tunisia (e.g., Bizerte region) and was responsible for the E-W folding of marine strata. More to the South, in the Tunisian Sahel, transtensional tectonics with a NW-SE horizontal maximal compression (SHmax) deformed the Tyrrhenian marine series (Khénis, Skanès, Monastir…). During the Holocene and up to present-day times, N-S compressional tectonics reactivated the E-W pre-existing faults with a reverse movement in Northern Tunisia (Bulla Regia, Utica …), generating historical earthquakes. In Central Tunisia, the Aqueduct of Cherichira (built around AD 850) is displaced by a N-S normal fault. Similarly, a mosaic of a roman house is shifted by 10 cm, along a N-S sinistral normal fault. These deformations evidence a transtensional tectonic regime. During the Quaternary, all the NW-SE oriented grabens are subsiding (e.g., Bizerte Lake, Grombalia

Globalization and African Political Science | Nnoli | African Journal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

No Abstract Available African Journal of Political Science Vol.8(2) 2003: 11-32. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajps.v8i2.27352 · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors ...

From Contextual Theology to African Christianity: The Consideration of Adiaphora from a South African Perspective

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Joel Mokhoathi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The move towards contextual Christianity in Africa is an essential venture if Christianity is to communicate with the African cultural heritage. As a universal religion, Christianity has to find an expression within the cultural context. However, the contextualization of Christianity in Africa appears to have permitted the practice of syncretism. It has resulted in the emergence of African Christianity, which is the amalgamation of Christianity and African Traditional Religion. The amalgamation of Christianity and African Traditional Religion appears to overlook the essence of both religions as there is currently no clarity on how Christianity can best be expressed within the African cultural and religious heritage. This paper employs the document review method to explore the things that fall in between—“adiaphora”, which the proponents of contextual Christianity may have overlooked with regard to the African cultural and religious heritage. These include the pragmatic nature of the African cultural and religious heritage, and the African traditional methods of healing.

Technology, organization and economic structure essays in honor of Prof. Isamu Yamada

CERN Document Server

Beckmann, Martin

1983-01-01

The essays in this volume were presented to Professor Isamu Yamada in honor of his seventy-third birthday. In view of his many professional contributions and associations, a single volume of essays is really insufficient to house the works of all those who wish to be part of a venture of this kind. Therefore, the editors would like to apologize to those friends and well-wishers of Professor Yamada who could not be accommodated in this volume. Born in Nagoya in 1909, Professor Yamada began his brilliant career at Nagoya Commercial College where he studied economics, statistics, mathematics and physics. After serving as a Professor of Economics and Statistics at Yokohama College between 1939-1940, Professor Yamada moved to Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, where he served as a Professor of Econometrics until his retirement in 1973. Currently, he is teaching at Asia University as a Professor of Economics and Statistics. During his long tenure at Hitotsubashi University (where Professor Ichiro Nakayama, a "Japane...

Petite motorisation et exploitations maraîchères de taille limitée du Sahel tunisien Partie 2: Evaluation sur le terrain des performances et des coûts de préparation du sol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chehaibi, S.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Low Power Mechanisation and Small-scale Vegetable Production in the Tunisian Sahel Region. Part 2: On the Field Evaluation of Performances and of Soil Preparation Costs. In this study, it was investigated to what extent low power mechanisation could be introduced in vegetable production in the Tunisian Sahel region by evaluating its performance (labour input and field efficiency by means of field experiments in which different traction equipment was used for carrying out several cultivation operations. Furthermore, costs per unit area for soil preparation in both sandy clay and clayish sand were calculated for four different power classes and for small fields. The results showed that two wheel tractors had a real labour input for scuffling between plant rows ranging from 11.3 h/ha to 18.7 h/ha. These inputs ranged from 5.5 h/ha to 6.7 h/ha for tied crops. For mowing, the two wheel tractor had labour inputs of 17.3 and 14.2 h/ha for the first and the second cut, respectively, while for potato digging, the first and the second passage of secondary tillage these values were 11.5, 14.3 and 10.4 h/ha, respectively. Superficial soil preparation by means of a four wheel tractor gave rise to values between 2.7 and 3.5 h/ha. With respect to the cost estimation for soil preparation, the lowest costs were obtained by means of the low power mechanisation. Similar conclusions were drawn for the field efficiencies for the operations investigated. In general, these efficiencies were above 70%.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African academics. ... search for an article by title, author/s or keywords,; and find other information ... Southern African Business Review; Project Work by Students for First ... The Basis of Distinction Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African ... search for an article by title, author/s or keywords,; and find other information ... Southern African Business Review; Effect of Globalization on Sovereignty of States ... The Basis of Distinction Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

It has also been difficult for African researchers to access the work of other African ... search for an article by title, author/s or keywords,; and find other information sources ... Southern African Business Review; Conflicts in Africa: Meaning, Causes, ... The Basis of Distinction Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research in ...

How student teachers understand African philosophy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matsephe M. Letseka

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The question ‘What constitutes African philosophy?’ was first raised with the publication of Placide Tempels’s seminal work Bantu philosophy in 1959. Tempels’s book inevitably elicited considerable critical response from African philosophers, which culminated in a wide range of publications such as Wiredu’s (1980 Philosophy and an African culture, Hountondji’s (1983 African philosophy: Myth and reality, Oruka’s (1990 Sage philosophy: Indigenous thinkers and modern debate on African philosophy, Shutte’s (1993 Philosophy for Africa, Masolo’s (1994 African philosophy in search of identity and Gyekye’s (1995 An essay of African philosophical thought: The Akan conceptual scheme. It has been over 60 years since the publication of Temples’s book and there continues to be serious debate about African philosophy. This article sought to contribute to the debate on the various conceptions of African philosophy, but with a focus on the challenges of teaching African philosophy to Philosophy of Education students at an open distance learning institution in South Africa. This article discussed the tendency amongst undergraduate Philosophy of Education students to conflate and reduce African philosophy to African cultures and traditions, and to the notion of ubuntu, and sought to understand the reasons for students’ inclination to treat African philosophy in this way. It examined students’ background knowledge of African philosophy, their critical thinking skills and whether their official study materials are selected and packaged in a manner that, in fact, adds to the challenges they face. Finally, the article explored the ways in which Philosophy of Education lecturers can adapt their pedagogy to provide students with a better understanding of African philosophy.

African Traditional Religion and the African Cinema: The Case of Nollywood

OpenAIRE

Akua Agyeiwaa Manieson

2014-01-01

This study aims at a discussion of the portrayal of African Traditional Religion in some selected Nollywood films. It is herein argued that Nollywood is deliberately bent on denigrating the African traditional religion. Three main religious groups are represented in Nigeria. These are Muslims forming about 50.4%, followed by Christians 48.2% while followers of other religions especially African Traditional religion, comprises 1.4% 1. This statistic has earned for Nigeria an accolade: a multi-...

African Journals Online: Health

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 167 ... African Journal of AIDS Research (AJAR) is a peer-reviewed ... The African Journal of Drug & Alcohol Studies is an international ... The Journal has been produced through the efforts of Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the African .... in basic and clinical medical sciences as well as dentistry.

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In partnership with hundreds of journals from all over the continent, AJOL works to change this, so that African-origin research output is available to Africans and to ... African Journal of AIDS Research. Vol 35, No 2 (2017). Zimbabwe Veterinary Journal. Vol 34, No 1 (2018). Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review.

Genetics and the origin of species: the continuing synthesis a symposium in honor of Richard G. Harrison

Science.gov (United States)

Grosberg, Richard K.; Rand, David M.; Normark, Benjamin B.

2013-01-01

This is a special issue of Genetica that has its origins in a symposium held in honor of Richard G. Harrison at Ithaca, New York on July 22–23. Former students of Rick Harrison organized the symposium and most of the speakers were former students, as well. The quality and breadth of the talks were a testament to Rick’s influence as a thinker, synthesizer, and mentor and it is only appropriate to reflect on Rick’s contributions to the fields of evolutionary ecology, systematics, and genetics in this preface to the symposium articles. PMID:21152955

African Studies Monographs

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The African Studies Monographs is a serial that promotes research and scholarship on the African perspective worldwide. This includes matters of philosophy, history, literature, arts and culture, environment, gender, politics, administration crisis management, etc.

On being African and Reformed? Towards an African Reformed ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Here, the notions of being African and Reformed are interrogated. The research notes that these notions are rarely used in the same vein. It is admitted that notions tend to pick up different meanings as they evolve, so these notions are especially seen in that light. The theological hegemony, which in the South African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

West African Journal of Applied Ecology. Vol 6, No 2 (2017). Filosofia Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religions. AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians · for Authors · FAQ's · More about AJOL · AJOL's Partners · Terms and Conditions of Use · Contact AJOL ...

Writing on Your Feet: Reflective Practices in City as Text™. A Tribute to the Career of Bernice Braid. National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Ada, Ed.

2014-01-01

City as Text™ (CAT) is one of the earliest structural forms of experiential learning created and practiced in the United States. This monograph explores the centrality of writing in the process of active learning, focusing primarily on the Faculty Institutes and Honors Semesters that foster CAT experiences. All manifestations of this pedagogical…

Surface fluxes of water vapour, momentum and CO{sub 2} over a savanna in Niger. A contribution to HAPEX-SAHEL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verhoef, A; De Bruin, H A.R.; Krikke, R [Dept. of Meteorology. Landbouwuniversiteit, Wageningen (Netherlands)

1995-11-01

For large scale models such as Global Circulation Models (GCM) the lower boundary condition is often provided by a SVAT model (Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer). A wide range of SVATs is in use nowadays, varying from models based on the simple big-leaf concept to complicated multiple source models. Obviously, a SVAT intended to provide the lower boundary condition in GCM`s needs to be able to describe a wide range of surface types, varying from completely vegetated to sparsely vegetated or completely bare surfaces. Especially sparse canopy surface types exhibit rather demanding features with respect to the exchange of momentum, water vapour, CO{sub 2} and heat between the surface and the atmosphere. In this paper attention is focused on a sparse canopy. We will compare SVAT model simulations with data collected in 1992 at a Savannah site, in the framework of the HAPEX-SAHEL project (a large-scale study of land atmosphere interactions in the semi-arid tropics). Two existing SVAT models are considered (Choudhury-Monteith and Deardorff). In a separate study these models have been tested. A combined model has been constructed, consisting of the `best` parts of the original SVAT`s. Some preliminary results will be presented. 4 figs., 14 refs., 1 appendix

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Journals Online (AJOL)

South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation. Vol 17, No 4 (2017). African Health Sciences. Vol 6, No 1 (2015). Nigeria Journal of Pure and Applied Physics. Vol 5, No 2 (2017). Journal of Student Affairs in Africa. Vol 14, No 1 (2017). Annals of African Surgery. Vol 63, No 7-9 (2018).

Population Genomics of sub-saharan Drosophila melanogaster: African diversity and non-African admixture.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John E Pool

Full Text Available Drosophila melanogaster has played a pivotal role in the development of modern population genetics. However, many basic questions regarding the demographic and adaptive history of this species remain unresolved. We report the genome sequencing of 139 wild-derived strains of D. melanogaster, representing 22 population samples from the sub-Saharan ancestral range of this species, along with one European population. Most genomes were sequenced above 25X depth from haploid embryos. Results indicated a pervasive influence of non-African admixture in many African populations, motivating the development and application of a novel admixture detection method. Admixture proportions varied among populations, with greater admixture in urban locations. Admixture levels also varied across the genome, with localized peaks and valleys suggestive of a non-neutral introgression process. Genomes from the same location differed starkly in ancestry, suggesting that isolation mechanisms may exist within African populations. After removing putatively admixed genomic segments, the greatest genetic diversity was observed in southern Africa (e.g. Zambia, while diversity in other populations was largely consistent with a geographic expansion from this potentially ancestral region. The European population showed different levels of diversity reduction on each chromosome arm, and some African populations displayed chromosome arm-specific diversity reductions. Inversions in the European sample were associated with strong elevations in diversity across chromosome arms. Genomic scans were conducted to identify loci that may represent targets of positive selection within an African population, between African populations, and between European and African populations. A disproportionate number of candidate selective sweep regions were located near genes with varied roles in gene regulation. Outliers for Europe-Africa F(ST were found to be enriched in genomic regions of locally

Population Genomics of Sub-Saharan Drosophila melanogaster: African Diversity and Non-African Admixture

Science.gov (United States)

Pool, John E.; Corbett-Detig, Russell B.; Sugino, Ryuichi P.; Stevens, Kristian A.; Cardeno, Charis M.; Crepeau, Marc W.; Duchen, Pablo; Emerson, J. J.; Saelao, Perot; Begun, David J.; Langley, Charles H.

2012-01-01

Drosophila melanogaster has played a pivotal role in the development of modern population genetics. However, many basic questions regarding the demographic and adaptive history of this species remain unresolved. We report the genome sequencing of 139 wild-derived strains of D. melanogaster, representing 22 population samples from the sub-Saharan ancestral range of this species, along with one European population. Most genomes were sequenced above 25X depth from haploid embryos. Results indicated a pervasive influence of non-African admixture in many African populations, motivating the development and application of a novel admixture detection method. Admixture proportions varied among populations, with greater admixture in urban locations. Admixture levels also varied across the genome, with localized peaks and valleys suggestive of a non-neutral introgression process. Genomes from the same location differed starkly in ancestry, suggesting that isolation mechanisms may exist within African populations. After removing putatively admixed genomic segments, the greatest genetic diversity was observed in southern Africa (e.g. Zambia), while diversity in other populations was largely consistent with a geographic expansion from this potentially ancestral region. The European population showed different levels of diversity reduction on each chromosome arm, and some African populations displayed chromosome arm-specific diversity reductions. Inversions in the European sample were associated with strong elevations in diversity across chromosome arms. Genomic scans were conducted to identify loci that may represent targets of positive selection within an African population, between African populations, and between European and African populations. A disproportionate number of candidate selective sweep regions were located near genes with varied roles in gene regulation. Outliers for Europe-Africa FST were found to be enriched in genomic regions of locally elevated cosmopolitan

African Journal of Marine Science

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE (AJOL) · Journals · Advanced Search ... The African (formerly South African) Journal of Marine Science provides an international forum for the publication of original scientific contributions or critical reviews, ...

The Honorable William Nelson, Senior Senator from Florida, Chairman, Senate Committee on Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences visiting the AMS Hall of Prevessin with Prof. Samuel Ting from the MIT.

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2008-01-01

The Honorable William Nelson, Senior Senator from Florida, Chairman, Senate Committee on Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences visiting the AMS Hall of Prevessin with Prof. Samuel Ting from the MIT.

Integrated and sustainable management of the shared aquifer systems in the Sahel region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edwerd, Mickel

2012-01-01

It highlights the project Justification, the long term objective, the specific objectives and the project implementation strategy. The countries which participate to this project are the following: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Regarding Aquifer System we have: Chad Basin, Liptako-Gourma Aquifer, Iullemeden Aquifer, Senegalo-Mauritanian Aquifer and Taoudeni/Tanezrouft Basin.

Symposium on Recent Advances in Experimental Mechanics : in honor of Isaac M. Daniel

CERN Document Server

2002-01-01

This book contains 71 papers presented at the symposium on “Recent Advances in Experimental Mechanics” which was organized in honor of Professor Isaac M. Daniel. The symposium took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on th June 23-28, 2002, in conjunction with the 14 US National Congress of Applied Mechanics. The book is a tribute to Isaac Daniel, a pioneer of experimental mechanics and composite materials, in recognition of his continuous, original, diversified and outstanding contributions for half a century. The book consists of invited papers written by leading experts in the field. It contains original contributions concerning the latest developments in experimental mechanics. It covers a wide range of subjects, including optical methods of stress analysis (photoelasticity, moiré, etc.), composite materials, sandwich construction, fracture mechanics, fatigue and damage, nondestructive evaluation, dynamic problems, fiber optic sensors, speckle metrology, digital image process...

Leadership in the African context

OpenAIRE

M. Masango

2002-01-01

The Western world has always viewed the African continent as plagued by corruption; dictatorship; military coups; rebellious leaders; greediness; misuse of power; and incompetent, politically unstable leaders - in effect, suspicious leaders who undermine their own democracies. This paper analyzes African leadership and its impact by concentrating on three historical eras, namely; the African Religious era; the Christian era, and the era of Globalization. These affected African leadership. In ...

The African Proverbs Project and After

African Journals Online (AJOL)

rbr

links to others in Africa, Europe and America, are continuing this work on proverbs. Keywords: AFRICAN PROVERBS PROJECT, AFRICAN PROVERBS SERIES, PROVERB,. PAREMIOGRAPHY, PAREMIOLOGY. Opsomming: Die African Proverbs Project en daarna. Die Pew Charitable Trusts het die African Proverbs ...

Internal diversification of non-Sub-Saharan haplogroups in Sahelian populations and the spread of pastoralism beyond the Sahara.

Science.gov (United States)

Kulichová, Iva; Fernandes, Verónica; Deme, Alioune; Nováčková, Jana; Stenzl, Vlastimil; Novelletto, Andrea; Pereira, Luísa; Černý, Viktor

2017-10-01

Today, African pastoralists are found mainly in the Sahel/Savannah belt spanning 6,000 km from west to east, flanked by the Sahara to the north and tropical rainforests to the south. The most significant group among them are the Fulani who not only keep cattle breeds of possible West Eurasian ancestry, but form themselves a gene pool containing some paternally and maternally-transmitted West Eurasian haplogroups. We generated complete sequences for 33 mitogenomes belonging to haplogroups H1 and U5 (23 and 10, respectively), and genotyped 16 STRs in 65 Y chromosomes belonging to haplogroup R1b-V88. We show that age estimates of the maternal lineage H1cb1, occurring almost exclusively in the Fulani, point to the time when the first cattle herders settled the Sahel/Savannah belt. Similar age estimates were obtained for paternal lineage R1b-V88, which occurs today in the Fulani but also in other, mostly pastoral populations. Maternal clade U5b1b1b, reported earlier in the Berbers, shows a shallower age, suggesting another possibly independent input into the Sahelian pastoralist gene pool. Despite the fact that animal domestication originated in the Near East ∼ 10 ka, and that it was from there that animals such as sheep, goats as well as cattle were introduced into Northeast Africa soon thereafter, contemporary cattle keepers in the Sahel/Savannah belt show uniparental genetic affinities that suggest the possibility of an ancient contact with an additional ancestral population of western Mediterranean ancestry. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

African Philosophy and the Search for an African Philosopher: The ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Given Oruka, Makinde, Oladipo, Oke, and Hallen's perception of these challenges, they concede that these challenges gave birth to the postcolonial search for a distinct African identity. On the one hand, D. A. Masolo's submission that because “Africa cannot be re -subjectivised; hence, an identity which is peculiarly African ...

Radiative transfer in shrub savanna sites in Niger: preliminary results from HAPEX-Sahel. 2. Photosynthetically active radiation interception of the woody layer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bégué, A.; Hanan, N.P.; Prince, S.D.

1994-01-01

Interception by the woody layer of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was measured and calculated for two Guiera senegalensis J.F. Gmel, shrub savannas in Ouallam, Western Niger, in 1991 as part of the HAPEX-Sahel experiment. Two different scales were considered. At the plant scale, PAR interception was measured throughout the day with amorphous silicon sensors, together with detailed measurements of the structure of the shrubs (size of the ‘envelope’ of the shrub, area index, and angular distribution of the leaves and the branches). These data permitted us to develop and validate a simple radiative transfer model in which the shrubs are represented by porous cylinders; the total transmissivity (or porosity) of the shrubs estimated by the model was approximately 0.4. It indicates that semi-arid shrubs cannot be considered opaque objects and that the fraction of ground covered with plants is a poor indicator of the PAR interception efficiency of the canopy. The model was also applied at a landscape scale to calculate the daily PAR interception of two shrub savanna sites. This value is needed to model primary production in conjunction with remotely sensed and production data acquired simultaneously on the sites. (author)

Role of dust direct radiative effect on the tropical rainbelt over Middle East and North Africa: A high resolution AGCM study

KAUST Repository

Bangalath, Hamza Kunhu

2015-04-25

To investigate the influence of direct radiative effect of dust on the tropical summer rainbelt across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the present study utilizes the high resolution capability of an Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM),the High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM). Ensembles of Atmospheric Model Inter-comparison Project (AMIP)-style simulations have been conducted with and without dust radiative impacts, to differentiate the influence of dust on the tropical rainbelt. The analysis focuses on summer season. The results highlight the role of dust induced responses in global and regional scale circulations in determining the strength and the latitudinal extent of the tropical rainbelt. A significant response in the strength and position of the local Hadley circulation is predicted in response to meridionally asymmetric distribution of dust and the corresponding radiative effects. Significant responses are also found in regional circulation features such as African Easterly Jet (AEJ) and West African Monsoon (WAM) circulation. Consistent with these dynamic responses at various scales, the tropical rainbelt across MENA strengthens and shifts northward. Importantly, the summer precipitation over the semi-arid strip south of Sahara, including Sahel, increases up to 20%. As this region is characterized by the “Sahel drought" , the predicted precipitation sensitivity to the dust loading over this region has a wide-range of socioeconomic implications. Overall, the study demonstrates the extreme importance of incorporating dust radiative effects and the corresponding circulation responses at various scales, in the simulations and future projections of this region\\'s climate.

Land-Surface Characteristics and Climate in West Africa: Models’ Biases and Impacts of Historical Anthropogenically-Induced Deforestation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Souleymane Sy

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Land Use Land-Cover Change (LULCC, such as deforestation, affects the climate system and land-atmosphere interactions. Using simulations carried out within the LUCID (Land Use and Climate, IDentification of robust Impacts project framework, we first quantify the role of historical land-cover change induced by human activities on surface climate in West Africa. Focusing on two contrasted African regions, we find that climate responses of land-use changes are small but they are still statistically significant. In Western Sahel, a statistically significant near-surface atmospheric cooling and a decrease in water recycling are simulated in summer in response to LULCC. Over the Guinean zone, models simulate a significant decrease in precipitation and water recycling in autumn in response to LULCC. This signal is comparable in magnitude with the effect induced by the increase in greenhouse gases. Simulated climate changes due to historical LULCC could however be underestimated because: (i the prescribed LULCC can be underestimated in those regions; (ii the climate models underestimate the coupling strength between West African surface climate and leaf area index (LAI and (iii the lack of interactive LAI in some models. Finally, our study reveals indirect atmospheric processes triggered by LULCC. Over the Western Sahel, models reveal that a significant decrease in solar reflection tend to cool down the surface and thus counteract the atmospheric feedback. Conversely, over the Guinea zone, models reveal that the indirect atmospheric processes and turbulent heat fluxes dominate the climatic responses over the direct effects of LULCC.

Witchcraft in African and African-American Novel – A Perspective ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

In African and therefore, African American cultural world-view, some perceive witchcraft as evil and some identify it as an art that unifies and orders ... as evil conspirators and collaborators with the demonic world who are rarely benevolent and should be purged from the society; whereas, Toni Morrison sees them as ...

African Health Sciences

African Journals Online (AJOL)

African Health Sciences is an open access, free online, internationally ... by the African Health Journals Partnership Project that is funded by the US National .... Homa Ahmadzia, Sarah Cigna, Imelda Namagembe, Charles Macri, France ... Workers (HEWs) delivering integrated community case management (iCCM) of ...

'Walk with your head high': African and African-Caribbean fatherhood, children's mental well-being and social capital.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Robert; Hewison, Alistair; Wagstaff, Chris; Randall, Duncan

2012-01-01

The findings presented in this article were unanticipated and came to light during a study which investigated African and African-Caribbean fathers' views about preventive primary care services. This article reports findings which indicate that African and African-Caribbean fathers strive to enable and protect children's mental well-being and create social, cultural and symbolic forms of capital. It also seeks to identify implications for health and social care policy and practice in England. There is limited literature examining African and African-Caribbean fathers' health experiences in England. Consequently an exploratory research approach was required. This involved nine, in-depth, semi-structured qualitative group interviews undertaken with 46 African and African-Caribbean fathers. The data were analysed thematically using abductive reasoning, informed by Bourdieu's theoretical work. Fathers were striving to enable and protect children's mental well-being through providing authoritative, loving, affectionate fatherhood involving reasoning, good communication and promoting self-esteem. These practices were seen to be necessary if children were to prosper in a harsh social world characterised by structural hazards including racism, negative stereotypes and limited opportunities. The fathers reported their efforts to develop what Bourdieu has termed symbolic, cultural and social capital as means of promoting the mental well-being of their children and the children of others. The implications for theory, future research, public health policy and practice, in relation to the needs of African and African-Caribbean fathers and families, are also discussed, with specific focus on how to realise the potential of African and African-Caribbean fathers' positive contributions to family and community health.

Seasonal Changes in Sleep Duration in African American and African College Students Living In Washington, D.C.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janna Volkov

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Duration of nocturnal melatonin secretion, a marker of “biological night” that relates to sleep duration, is longer in winter than in summer in patients with seasonal affective disorder (SAD, but not in healthy controls. In this study of African and African American college students, we hypothesized that students who met criteria for winter SAD or subsyndromal SAD (S-SAD would report sleeping longer in winter than in summer. In addition, based on our previous observation that Africans report more “problems” with change in seasons than African Americans, we expected that the seasonal changes in sleep duration would be greater in African students than in African American students. Based on Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ responses, African American and African college students in Washington, D.C. (N = 575 were grouped into a winter SAD/S-SAD group or a no winter diagnosis group, and winter and summer sleep length were determined. We conducted a 2 (season × 2 (sex × 2 (ethnicity × 2 (winter diagnosis group ANCOVA on reported sleep duration, controlling for age. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that African and African American students with winter SAD/S-SAD report sleeping longer in the summer than in the winter. No differences in seasonality of sleep were found between African and African American students. Students with winter SAD or S-SAD may need to sacrifice sleep duration in the winter, when their academic functioning/efficiency may be impaired by syndromal or subsyndromal depression, in order to meet seasonally increased academic demands.

Analytic number theory, approximation theory, and special functions in honor of Hari M. Srivastava

CERN Document Server

Rassias, Michael

2014-01-01

This book, in honor of Hari M. Srivastava, discusses essential developments in mathematical research in a variety of problems. It contains thirty-five articles, written by eminent scientists from the international mathematical community, including both research and survey works. Subjects covered include analytic number theory, combinatorics, special sequences of numbers and polynomials, analytic inequalities and applications, approximation of functions and quadratures, orthogonality, and special and complex functions. The mathematical results and open problems discussed in this book are presented in a simple and self-contained manner. The book contains an overview of old and new results, methods, and theories toward the solution of longstanding problems in a wide scientific field, as well as new results in rapidly progressing areas of research. The book will be useful for researchers and graduate students in the fields of mathematics, physics, and other computational and applied sciences.

African American Suicide

Science.gov (United States)

African American Suicide Fact Sheet Based on 2012 Data (2014) Overview • In 2012, 2,357 African Americans completed suicide in the U.S. Of these, 1,908 (80. ... rate of 9.23 per 100,000). The suicide rate for females was 1.99 per 100, ...

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY: EMERGENT ISSUES ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dean SPGS NAU

another on meta-philosophical issues about African philosophy, their successors, in ... Key Words: African identity, hermeneutics and culture, ... Even the quest to overcome the hegemony of Western ..... African philosophers to rethink the principles, concepts, attitudes ... there is a certain openness to new possibilities at the.

African names for American plants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Andel, van T.R.

2015-01-01

African slaves brought plant knowledge to the New World, sometimes applying it to related plants they found there and sometimes bringing Old World plants with them. By tracing the linguistic parallels between names for plants in African languages and in communities descended from African slaves,

Toward an African-Christian Demonology: The Demonologies of African Traditional Religion, African Christianity, and Early Christianity in Dialogue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moscicke, Hans

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Christian interactions with the spirit-world of African traditional religion (ATR have remained problematic due, in part, to the failure of Christian missionaries to understand in detail the cosmology of ATR and the angelologies and demonologies of early Christianity. In this article I suggest a way beyond this impasse. I first survey the shape of cosmology and demonology in ATR, and then examine African Christianitys variegated responses to these traditional beliefs. Finally, I submit that a retrieval of the early Christian mythological narrative about demons and its associated cosmology could help theologians accommodate the spirit-world of ATR within a truly African-Christian theology.

Successfully Educating Our African-American Students

Science.gov (United States)

Moncree-Moffett, Kareem

2013-01-01

The purpose of this empirical study was to explore the lived experiences of African American retired female teachers who have prior experience with educating urban African American students in public schools. Also explored are the experiences of active African American female teachers of urban African American students and comparisons are…

OGIRISI: a New Journal of African Studies

African Journals Online (AJOL)

OGIRISI is a multidisciplinary journal. Its principal scope definition is focus on Africa. It therefore welcomes articles that attend to the African world, existence and development; African worldview and values; African symbols and institutions; African situation and the globalizing world; African problems and prospects. Reviews ...

Differential effects of the classroom on African American and non-African American's mathematics achievement.

Science.gov (United States)

Schenke, Katerina; Nguyen, Tutrang; Watts, Tyler W; Sarama, Julie H; Clements, Douglas H

2017-08-01

We examined whether African American students differentially responded to dimensions of the observed classroom-learning environment compared with non-African American students. Further, we examined whether these dimensions of the classroom mediated treatment effects of a preschool mathematics intervention targeted at students from low-income families. Three observed dimensions of the classroom (teacher expectations and developmental appropriateness; teacher confidence and enthusiasm; and support for mathematical discourse) were evaluated in a sample of 1,238 preschool students in 101 classrooms. Using multigroup multilevel mediation where African American students were compared to non-African American students, we found that teachers in the intervention condition had higher ratings on the observed dimensions of the classroom compared with teachers in the control condition. Further, ratings on teacher expectations and developmental appropriateness had larger associations with the achievement of African American students than for non-African Americans. Findings suggest that students within the same classroom may react differently to that learning environment and that classroom learning environments could be structured in ways that are beneficial for students who need the most support.

Marilyn Nelson: Poetic Justice

Science.gov (United States)

Pierpont, Katherine

2006-01-01

This article features some of the books written by Marilyn Nelson. Here, the author discusses how she has written a children's book of poetry about lynching, entitled "A Wreath for Emmitt Till." The author discusses how her books for children honor and memorialize history-changing African Americans. Among other things, the author discusses some of…

African Journals Online: South Africa

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Items 1 - 50 of 96 ... African Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Sport Facilitation ... continent of Africa, to contribute to developing home-grown (African) methods ... Envisaged readers are academic researchers, teachers and students and practitioners in the ... that have relevance to the South African educational context.

African bees to control African elephants

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Vollrath, Fritz; Douglas-Hamilton, Iain

2002-11-01

Numbers of elephants have declined in Africa and Asia over the past 30 years while numbers of humans have increased, both substantially. Friction between these two keystone species is reaching levels which are worryingly high from an ecological as well as a political viewpoint. Ways and means must be found to keep the two apart, at least in areas sensitive to each species' survival. The aggressive African bee might be one such method. Here we demonstrate that African bees deter elephants from damaging the vegetation and trees which house their hives. We argue that bees can be employed profitably to protect not only selected trees, but also selected areas, from elephant damage.

Triglyceride-based screening tests fail to recognize cardiometabolic disease in African immigrant and African-American men.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Sophia S K; Ramsey, Natalie L M; Castillo, Darleen C; Ricks, Madia; Sumner, Anne E

2013-02-01

The prevalence of cardiometabolic disease in Africa now rivals that of Western nations. Therefore, screening programs that lead to effective prevention of cardiometabolic disease in Africans is imperative. Most screening tests for cardiometabolic disease use triglyceride (TG) levels as a criterion. However, the failure rate of TG-based screening tests in African Americans is high. In Africans, the efficacy of TG-based screening tests is unknown. Our goal was to determine the association between hypertriglyceridemia (TG ≥150 mg/dL) and cardiometabolic disease in African and African-American men. This was a cross-sectional study of 155 men (80 African immigrants, 75 African Americans) [age, 35±9 years, mean±standard deviation (SD), body mass index (BMI) 28.5±5.2 kg/m(2)] who self-identified as healthy. Lipid profiles were performed. Glucose tolerance and insulin resistance was determined by oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and the insulin sensitivity index (S(I)), respectively. Cardiometabolic disease was defined by four possible subtypes--prediabetes, diabetes, insulin resistance, or metabolic triad [hyperinsulinemia, hyperapolipoprotein B, small low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles]. TG levels were higher in men with cardiometabolic disease than without (88±43 versus 61±26 mg/dL, Pfail to identify both African immigrants and African-American men with cardiometabolic disease. As a consequence, the opportunity for early intervention and prevention is lost.

Simulation of the Impact of Climate Variability on Malaria Transmission in the Sahel

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Bomblies, A.; Eltahir, E.; Duchemin, J.

2007-12-01

A coupled hydrology and entomology model for simulation of malaria transmission and malaria transmitting mosquito population dynamics is presented. Model development and validation is done using field data and observations collected at Banizoumbou and Zindarou, Niger spanning three wet seasons, from 2005 through 2007. The primary model objective is the accurate determination of climate variability effects on village scale malaria transmission. Malaria transmission dependence on climate variables is highly nonlinear and complex. Temperature and humidity affect mosquito longevity, temperature controls parasite development rates in the mosquito as well as subadult mosquito development rates, and precipitation determines the formation and persistence of adequate breeding pools. Moreover, unsaturated zone hydrology influences overland flow, and climate controlled evapotranspiration rates and root zone uptake therefore also influence breeding pool formation. High resolution distributed hydrologic simulation allows representation of the small-scale ephemeral pools that constitute the primary habitat of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the dominant malaria vectors in the Niger Sahel. Remotely sensed soil type, vegetation type, and microtopography rasters are used to assign the distributed parameter fields for simulation of the land surface hydrologic response to precipitation and runoff generation. Predicted runoff from each cell flows overland and into topographic depressions, with explicit representation of infiltration and evapotranspiration. The model's entomology component interacts with simulated pools. Subadult (aquatic stage) mosquito breeding is simulated in the pools, and water temperature dependent stage advancement rates regulate adult mosquito emergence into the model domain. Once emerged, adult mosquitoes are tracked as independent individual agents that interact with their immediate environment. Attributes relevant to malaria transmission such as gonotrophic

Re-greening the Sahel: farmer-led innovation in Burkina Faso and Niger

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Reij, Chris; Smale, Melinda; Tappan, G. Gray; Spielman, David J.; Pandya-Lorch, Rajul

2009-01-01

did 30 years ago. These findings suggest a human and environmental success story at a scale not seen anywhere else in Africa. The re-greening of the Sahel began when local farmers’ practices were rediscovered and enhanced in simple, low-cost ways by innovative farmers and nongovernmental organizations. An evolving coalition of local, national, and international actors then enabled large-scale diffusion and continued use of these improved practices where they benefited farmers.

The Dictionary Unit for South African English. South African Concise Oxford Dictionary

OpenAIRE

Rajend Mesthrie

2011-01-01

The South African Concise Oxford Dictionary (henceforth SACOD) is a South Af-rican version of the Concise Oxford Dictionary, the first time that this particular hybrid has been prepared. It is testimony to the enduring success of the work of the Dictionary Unit for South African English at Rhodes University, headed by teams that included Jean and William Branford in the 1970s, Penny Silva in the 1990s and now, Kathryn Kavanagh. The lexicographical work from the unit saw the publication of fou...

African Crop Science Journal

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AFRICAN JOURNALS ONLINE (AJOL) · Journals · Advanced Search · USING AJOL ... The African Crop Science Journal, a quarterly publication, publishes original ... interactions, information science, environmental science and soil science.

Diseases that turn African hair silky.

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Ajose, Frances O A

2012-11-01

African hair in its natural state poses tenacious grooming challenges; consequently a large portion of the African cosmetic industry is focused on means to relax the tight curls of African hair to make the hair more manageable. In malnourished and hypoproteinemic states, African hair straightens in an uncomplimentary manner. Recently, we observed that in certain diseases African hair changes to a desirable silky wavy texture. To identify the diseases that turn African hair silky and their parameters we examined 5612 dermatology patients at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. We then studied the clinical and basic laboratory parameters of those patients whose diseases were accompanied by the silky hair change. Silky hair change similar to the hair of the African neonatal child was observed in five diseases, namely AIDS, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, pulmonary tuberculosis with cachexia, and Behçet's disease. Our study identified retrogression of African hair to the neonatal structure in five diseases. Anemia of chronic illness, high erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and mild hypocalcemia were significant laboratory parameters. This is an important observation, which should excite and advance research into the nature and structure of African hair. The causes of structural hair changes should include these five diseases. © 2012 The International Society of Dermatology.

African Journal of International Affairs

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The African Journal of International Affairs (AJIA) is a bi-annual publication of CODESRIA, Dakar, Senegal. It offers a platform for analyses on contemporary issues in African International Affairs in relation to global developments as they affect Africa. AJIA welcomes contributions in English and in French from both African ...

The Struggles over African Languages

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Maseko, Pam; Vale, Peter

2016-01-01

In this interview, African Language expert Pam Maseko speaks of her own background and her first encounter with culture outside of her mother tongue, isiXhosa. A statistical breakdown of South African languages is provided as background. She discusses Western (originally missionary) codification of African languages and suggests that this approach…