Capacity development is increasingly recognized as central to conservation goals. Efforts to develop individual, organizational and societal capacity underpin direct investments in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management, and sustain their impact over time. In the face of urgent needs and increasingly complex contexts for conservation the sector not only needs more capacity development, it needs new approaches to capacity development. The sector is embracing the dynamic relationships between the ecological, political, social and economic dimensions of conservation. Capacity development practitioners should ensure that individuals, organizations and communities are prepared to work effectively in these complex environments of constant change to transform the systems that drive biodiversity loss and unsustainable, unequitable resource use. Here we advocate for a systems view of capacity development. We propose a conceptual framework that aligns capacity development components with all stages of conservation efforts, fosters attention to context, and coordinates with parallel efforts to engage across practitioners and sectors for more systemic impact. Furthermore, we highlight a need for practitioners to target, measure and support vital elements of capacity that have traditionally received less attention, such as values and motivation, leadership and organizational culture, and governance and participation by using approaches from psychology, the social sciences and systems thinking. Drawing from conservation and other sectors, we highlight examples of approaches that can support reflective practice, so capacity development practitioners can better understand the factors that favour or hinder effectiveness of interventions and influence system-wide change.

From equilibrium silica concentrations over imogolite and boehmite at 100–155°C, the heat and free energy of the reaction (HO)3Al2O3SiOH + H2O ⇌ 2AlOOH + Si(OH)4 have been obtained: ΔH°r (298·15 K)=38·6 ± 4·1, ΔG°r (298·15 K) = 26.8 ± 1·1 kJ mol−1, and hence the heat and free energy of formation of imogolite: ΔH°f (298·15 K) = −3189·6 ± 4·1, ΔG°f (298·15 K) = − 2926·7 ± 1·1 kJ mol−1 These results are consistent with observations indicating that imogolite, halloysite and gibbsite can co-exist in soils, but that imogolite is metastable relative to either halloysite or gibbsite in the long term. At temperatures above 25°C there is a widening range of silica concentrations in which imogolite is more stable than halloysite, although both are metastable relative to kaolinite.

The dominant source of oxalate-soluble Al in the B horizon of a brown podzolic soil developed on andesite appears to be hydroxyaluminium interlayers in a dioctahedral vermiculite in the clay and silt fractions, of which the latter contributes most to the total extractable Al and fluoride reactivity of the whole soil. Cold sodium carbonate solutions extract as much interlayer Al as does oxalate, indicating that this fraction of the interlayer material is highly reactive, and sharply distinguished from more resistant interlayers which are also present.

Since digestion of imogolite or allophane in 5% Na2CO3 at 95°C for periods of 2–100 h leads to solid products different in structure and composition from the starting materials, the procedure is unsuitable for selective dissolution of reactive silica-alumina gels from complex clay mixtures. Cold 5% Na2CO3 does not alter these clays, but effects partial solution, the extent of which depends on the degree of dispersion of the clay and the ratio of solids to solution.

The most important factors known to influence the eating quality of beef are well established and include both pre- and post-slaughter events with many of the determinants interacting with each other. A substantial programme of work has been conducted by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in Northern Ireland aimed at quantifying those factors of most importance to the local beef industry. Post-slaughter effects such as carcase chilling and electrical stimulation, ageing, carcase hanging and cooking method have been shown to have a significant impact on eating quality when compared with pre-slaughter activities such as animal handling and lairage time in the Northern Ireland studies. However, the effect of animal breed, particularly the use of dairy breed animals, was shown to significantly improve eating quality. Many of these factors were found to interact with each other.

To achieve their conservation goals individuals, communities and organizations need to acquire a diversity of skills, knowledge and information (i.e. capacity). Despite current efforts to build and maintain appropriate levels of conservation capacity, it has been recognized that there will need to be a significant scaling-up of these activities in sub-Saharan Africa. This is because of the rapid increase in the number and extent of environmental problems in the region. We present a range of socio-economic contexts relevant to four key areas of African conservation capacity building: protected area management, community engagement, effective leadership, and professional e-learning. Under these core themes, 39 specific recommendations are presented. These were derived from multi-stakeholder workshop discussions at an international conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2015. At the meeting 185 delegates (practitioners, scientists, community groups and government agencies) represented 105 organizations from 24 African nations and eight non-African nations. The 39 recommendations constituted six broad types of suggested action: (1) the development of new methods, (2) the provision of capacity building resources (e.g. information or data), (3) the communication of ideas or examples of successful initiatives, (4) the implementation of new research or gap analyses, (5) the establishment of new structures within and between organizations, and (6) the development of new partnerships. A number of cross-cutting issues also emerged from the discussions: the need for a greater sense of urgency in developing capacity building activities; the need to develop novel capacity building methodologies; and the need to move away from one-size-fits-all approaches.

The authors report, for the first time, the finding by magnetic resonance imaging of a neurofibroma at the craniocervical junction with upper cervical cord and lower brainstem compression causing complete apnea from birth. Subsequent subtotal resection of the neurofibroma resulted in the successful extubation of a previously ventilator-dependent patient. After a two month period of breathing spontaneously, the newborn developed an upper respiratory tract infection and was reintubated. The patient, unable to be weaned off of the respirator, was extubated and expired shortly thereafter, at the age of five months. The authors suggest that in newborns with unexplained apnea, MRI of the craniocervical junction is indicated. Certain patients may be discovered who have less compromised cervicomedullary function and are afflicted by less aggressive forms of neurofibromatosis type 1. These patients may benefit permanently from a surgical decompression.

Mixing of cattle prior to slaughter which results in aggressive activity (Mohan Raj et al 1992) leads to glycogen depletion pre-slaughter and subsequently meat with a higher ultimate pH (pHu). Purchas et al (1990) reported a quadratic relationship between pHu and tenderness with highest shear force values recorded between pHu 5.8 to 6.2. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fasting and mixing of steers prior to slaughter on the meat eating quality of longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle.

Visual and near infrared reflectance (VisNIR) has been identified as a possible on-line method that could discriminate some eating quality attributes of lamb (Andres et al. 2007). However, the accuracy and repeatability of this method for predicting eating quality depends on the development of an optimal sampling protocol (Shackelford et al., 2004) and of an optimal formula for the prediction model. The aims of this experiment were to identify if factors such as abattoir, carcass suspension method, ageing time and anatomical position along the Longissimus dorsi muscle can affect the characteristic of the VisNIR spectra. The information obtained from this study will allow the development an optimal protocol and prediction model.

Tenderness can be considered as a function of three components: connective tissue content/composition, sarcomere length and proteolysis of the myofibrillar proteins (ageing) (Koohmaraie, 2002). Improvement of sarcomere length and proteolysis can be achieved through optimal processing (e.g. hanging and aging; Thompson, 2006). The main technique that improves the sarcomere length is tenderstretch hanging. This technique increases the tension of the hindlimb and loin muscles avoiding the contraction of the fibers at rigor (Bouton, 1973). In this experiment the aim was, under commercial conditions, to compare two methods of tenderstretch hanging and to examine the potential to improve the tenderness of lamb muscles.

The proportion of beef cattle originating from the suckler herd is projected to decrease, relative to the proportion from the dairy herd. Sinclair et al., (2001) found no difference between eating quality of Holstein and Charolais when hung tenderstretch. Most genotype comparisons in relation to meat quality have used the longissimus dorsi muscle and very few have considered more than one particular post slaughter process (ie hanging technique, aging period). The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of genotype and post slaughter processing (hanging technique and aging time) on the eating quality of a range of hindquarter muscles.

Recent data on meat quality indicates that dairy genotypes produce more tender meat than beef genotypes. The relationships between carcass parameters and instrumental measures of meat quality depend on the method of hanging (Lively et al., 2005). The present study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of some carcass parameters on meat eating quality of two genotypes when two carcass hanging methods are used.

The passive film stability of several Fe-based amorphous metal formulations have been found to be comparable to that of high-performance Ni-based alloys, and superior to that of stainless steels, based on electrochemical measurements of the passive film breakdown potential and general corrosion rates. Chromium (Cr), molybdenum (Mo) and tungsten (W) provide corrosion resistance; boron (B) enables glass formation; and rare earths such as yttrium (Y) lower critical cooling rate (CCR). The high boron content of this particular amorphous metal also makes it an effective neutron absorber, and suitable for criticality control applications, as discussed in companion publications. Corrosion data for SAM2X5 (Fe49.7Cr17.7Mn1.9Mo7.4W1.6B15.2C3.8Si2.4) is discussed here.