Land degradation and declining productivity in the Ethiopian Highlands are primarily caused by soil fertility decline due to erosion, nutrient depletion, and soil acidity. An integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) project operating over a six-year period aimed to combat this and boost yields through participatory demonstrations. Despite high levels of yield variability expected from a farmer-managed observational study over a wide area, results show that crop yields increased with increased use of ISFM. Detailed statistical analysis using multiple linear regression models explained the contribution of individual practices. Use of improved varieties and line-seeding rather than broadcasting were consistently and highly significant. The contribution of inorganic blended fertiliser was less clear, probably due to low soil organic matter and use on acidic soils, although response to nitrogen was highly significant. The contribution of organic fertilisers was less than expected, possibly due to soil disturbance from farmer practices of multiple ploughing. Responses to crop residue management and agroforestry practices were significant on most crops reflecting their importance in improving soil water management, soil organic matter and recycling nutrients. Response to lime application on acid soils was highly significant confirming the importance of correcting acidity. Unexplained differences are attributed to the additive effects of using several ISFM treatments as well as unrecorded beneficial farmer management practices. It can be concluded that ISFM can play an essential role in improving productivity, addressing food insecurity and the challenges of climate change. Further expansion will require advocacy, awareness-raising, field-level extension and involvement of the private sector.

From the safety inside vehicles, Knowsley Safari offers visitors a close-up encounter with captive olive baboons. As exiting vehicles may be contaminated with baboon stool, a comprehensive coprological inspection was conducted to address public health concerns. Baboon stools were obtained from vehicles, and sleeping areas, inclusive of video analysis of baboon–vehicle interactions. A purposely selected 4-day sampling period enabled comparative inspections of 2662 vehicles, with a total of 669 baboon stools examined (371 from vehicles and 298 from sleeping areas). As informed by our pilot study, front-line diagnostic methods were: QUIK-CHEK rapid diagnostic test (RDT) (Giardia and Cryptosporidium), Kato–Katz coproscopy (Trichuris) and charcoal culture (Strongyloides). Some 13.9% of vehicles were contaminated with baboon stool. Prevalence of giardiasis was 37.4% while cryptosporidiosis was <0.01%, however, an absence of faecal cysts by quality control coproscopy, alongside lower than the expected levels of Giardia-specific DNA, judged RDT results as misleading, grossly overestimating prevalence. Prevalence of trichuriasis was 48.0% and strongyloidiasis was 13.7%, a first report of Strongyloides fuelleborni in UK. We advise regular blanket administration(s) of anthelminthics to the colony, exploring pour-on formulations, thereafter, smaller-scale indicator surveys would be adequate.

Environmental sensors are crucial for monitoring weather conditions and the impacts of climate change. However, it is challenging to place sensors in a way that maximises the informativeness of their measurements, particularly in remote regions like Antarctica. Probabilistic machine learning models can suggest informative sensor placements by finding sites that maximally reduce prediction uncertainty. Gaussian process (GP) models are widely used for this purpose, but they struggle with capturing complex non-stationary behaviour and scaling to large datasets. This paper proposes using a convolutional Gaussian neural process (ConvGNP) to address these issues. A ConvGNP uses neural networks to parameterise a joint Gaussian distribution at arbitrary target locations, enabling flexibility and scalability. Using simulated surface air temperature anomaly over Antarctica as training data, the ConvGNP learns spatial and seasonal non-stationarities, outperforming a non-stationary GP baseline. In a simulated sensor placement experiment, the ConvGNP better predicts the performance boost obtained from new observations than GP baselines, leading to more informative sensor placements. We contrast our approach with physics-based sensor placement methods and propose future steps towards an operational sensor placement recommendation system. Our work could help to realise environmental digital twins that actively direct measurement sampling to improve the digital representation of reality.

Recent studies have revealed remarkable interactions between language and emotion. Here, we show that such interactions influence judgments made regarding cultural information. Balanced Welsh–English bilinguals categorized statements about their native Welsh culture as true or false. Whilst participants categorized positive statements as true when they were true, they were biased towards categorizing them as true also when they were false, irrespective of the language in which they read them. Surprisingly, participants were unbiased when categorizing negative statements presented in their native language Welsh, but showed a reverse bias - categorizing sentences as false, even when they were true - for negative statements when they read them in English. The locus of this behavior originated from online semantic evaluation of the statements, shown in corresponding modulations of the N400 peak of event-related brain potentials. These findings suggest that bilinguals perceive and react to cultural information in a language-dependent fashion.

Cogongrass is a serious weed in small-scale farms in the lowland humid zone of West Africa. This study evaluated the response of cogongrass to herbicides and the legume cover crop velvetbean in cassava and white Guinea yam. In 2001/2002, cassava tuber yields and gross returns in treatments that received glyphosate alone were higher than in plots that received fluazifop-P-butyl once. In 2002/2003, treatments that received fluazifop-P-butyl once, glyphosate alone, glyphosate integrated with sowing velvetbean, or hoeing only, had higher cassava tuber yields than other treatments. Gross returns were higher in treatments that received glyphosate followed by sowing velvetbean or those hoed only than in other treatments. Fluazifop-P-butyl applied twice, glyphosate alone, or glyphosate followed by sowing velvetbean reduced cogongrass shoot biomass more than other treatments. Rhizome biomass was lower in plots that received glyphosate alone than in all fluazifop-P-butyl treatments. In 2002, white Guinea yam tuber yields were highest in plots that received glyphosate alone and lowest in plots where fluazifop-P-butyl was applied alone or followed by sowing velvetbean. The highest gross return was obtained in plots that received glyphosate alone while the lowest was obtained in plots that received fluazifop-P-butyl once followed by sowing velvetbean. In 2003, the highest tuber yields and gross returns were from plots that received glyphosate alone, fluazifop-P-butyl alone, or those hoed only. The hoed-only plots had 14 times higher cogongrass shoot biomass and 7 times higher rhizome biomass than other treatments. In both crops, hoeing alone or followed by sowing velvetbean was more costly than chemical control. The highest margin over hoeing was obtained from plots that received glyphosate alone. Sensitivity analysis showed that using glyphosate was more cost effective than fluazifop-P-butyl, even if the cost of the herbicide increased by 100% or the cost of labor decreased by 30%.

In traditional simulated herbicide drift research, dose response is evaluated using a constant carrier volume. The influence of carrier volume was evaluated in field experiments with drift rates representing 12.5 and 6.3% of the use rates of 1,120 g ai/ha glyphosate (140 and 70 g/ha, respectively) and 420 g ai/ha glufosinate (53 and 26 g/ha, respectively). Corn and soybean were exposed to herbicide rates applied in constant carrier volume of 234 L/ha and in proportional carrier volumes of 30 L/ha for the 12.5% rate and 15 L/ha for the 6.3% rate. Averaged across herbicides, corn height reduction 14 d after treatment (DAT) was greater for the 12.5% rate when applied in proportional 30 L/ha carrier volume (45%) compared with constant 234 L/ha carrier volume (28%). The 6.3% rate reduced corn height 38% when applied in proportional 15 L/ha carrier volume but not when applied in 234 L/ha carrier volume. When carrier volume was changed from constant to proportional, corn injury 14 DAT increased from 33 to 51% for the 12.5% rate and 18 to 38% for the 6.3% rate. Compared with constant spray volume, corn yield reduction was 1.5 times greater for the 12.5% rate but 4 times greater for the 6.3% rate when spray volume was varied proportionally to the herbicide rates. Differential response due to carrier volume was not observed when herbicides were applied to soybean. Soybean was injured more by glyphosate than by glufosinate, but recovery was rapid and yield was not negatively affected. Results suggest that drift research using constant spray volume may underestimate the yield reduction expected for sensitive crops exposed to glyphosate or glufosinate.

Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) radical anions will react with tetrahydrofuran and generate ethylene, enolates, and a partially hydrogenated nanotube backbone. The experimental evidence suggests that there are sp3 C–H binding interactions. The total gravimetric content of hydrogen on a sample averages from 3.5% to 3.9% w/w, about four times the total amount observed for nanotubes hydrogenated via traditional Birch reduction reactions. Furthermore, the hydrogen desorbs at temperatures up to 400 °C less than those observed for the hydrogenated SWNTs formed after the Birch reduction. Finally, the first room temperature electron spin resonance spectrum of a nanotube radical ion is also reported.

Sustaining the regular flow of water from mountain forests is important for downstream stakeholders in seasonally dry tropical countries, and a watershed payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme that links rural ecosystem service providers to urban water users through economic transfers may help to maintain water supply and forest habitat. A CARE/WWF project in the Uluguru Mountains of Tanzania has established a pilot watershed PES scheme. We trace the development of this scheme and outline its initial impacts. Memoranda of Understanding between companies in Dar es Salaam (the downstream water users) and farmers in the mountains provide the framework to deliver tangible financial benefits to local people, help change patterns of land use and potentially improve water quality. A number of lessons learned from this project are relevant for similar schemes elsewhere in the region. Overcoming the various challenges is essential for expanding the current pilot project to a scale where it delivers measurable changes in water quality for downstream users.

This study investigated fast mapping in late-talking (LT) toddlers and toddlers with normal language (NL) development matched on age, nonverbal cognition, and maternal education. The fast-mapping task included novel object labels and familiar words. The LT group scored significantly lower than the NL group on novel word comprehension and production, as well as familiar word production. For both groups, fast-mapping performance was associated with concurrent language ability and later language outcomes. A post hoc analysis of phonotactic probability (PP) and neighborhood density (ND) suggested that the majority of NL toddlers displayed optimal learning of the nonword with low PP/ND. The LT group did not display the same sensitivity to PP/ND characteristics as the NL group.

Twelve sheathbills, Chionis alba, 12 South Georgian diving petrels, Pelecanoides georgicus, and 5 common diving petrels, P. urinatrix, collected at Bird Island, South Georgia, were examined for helminth parasites. These appear to be the first helminthological examinations of birds from South Georgia. Eleven of the 12 sheathbills were infected with helminth parasites and the pattern of infection of adult male and female birds was similar. Five species of helminths were found in sheathbills, namely Gymnophallus dellciosus, Notocotylus chionis, Paramonostomum signiensis, Lateriporus australis and Corynosoma hammani. Two species, namely Tetrabothrius sp. and Stegophorus heardi, were found in both Pelecanoides georgicus and P. urinatrix.

The helminth parasites of whales and seals in the Antarctic and Subantarctic have been extensively studied, while in comparison those of birds from these regions have been neglected. As far as we are aware there are no previous reports on helminth parasites from the sheathbill, Chionis alba (Gmelin), the South Georgian diving petrel, Pelecanoides georgicus (Murphy and Harper), and the common diving petrel, P. urinatrix (Gmelin), from South Georgia.

Pretreatment of moist seeds at certain temperatures can reduce seed dormancy, but such observations represent the net effect of pretreatment. Seeds of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis [Bong.] Carr.) were raised to 30% moisture content and pretreated at five different temperatures between 5 and 30°C for up to 24 weeks (168 d). Subsequent ability to germinate at 10°C and viability were then determined in order to investigate the effects of pretreatment on seed dormancy and survival. There was a curvilinear, negative semi-logarithmic relationship between seed longevity and pretreatment temperature, such that Q10 for loss in viability increased from 2.6 between 10 and 20°C to 2.8 between 20 and 30°C. Simple multiplicative models combining cumulative normal frequency distributions for each of loss in viability and loss in dormancy were able to describe the changes in ability to germinate at 10°C, after pretreatment at 5, 10 and 30°C. However, in order to quantify the changes in ability to germinate observed at 10°C after pretreatment at 15°C, it was necessary also to invoke a model of dormancy reimposition, while for the results at 20°C it was necessary to postulate both dormancy reimposition and the further loss of this reimposed dormancy. It is concluded that moist seeds of Sitka spruce held at 15 and 20°C cycle between the dormant and non-dormant condition.

Prechilling seeds of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis [Bong.] Carr.) at 4°C with 30% moisture content for 12–14 weeks (84–98 d) removed conditional dormancy (i.e. they were then able to germinate at 10°C). The non-dormant status was preserved after redrying to 6% moisture content. However, conditional dormancy was gradually reimposed during subsequent air-dry storage at 4°C and 6% seed moisture content in all five seed lots tested. Further investigations with one seed lot showed that reimposition was reversed by a second prechill treatment, but was reimposed again during subsequent air-dry storage. The trend of dormancy reimposition within seed lots over time was quantified by negative exponential relations between ability to germinate at 10°C and duration of air-dry storage. The progress of dormancy reimposition was influenced by seed storage moisture content and was most rapid at 4–10%. At higher moisture contents (15 and 20%) the rate of the reimposition of conditional dormancy was much reduced, while at moisture contents of 25 and 30% further loss in dormancy occurred. Thus it is clear that dormancy reimposition occurred during storage at low water potential rather than solely during desiccation from high to low water potential.

Striga hermonthica is a parasitic weed that attacks maize, sorghum and other staple cereal crops and has long been considered one of the greatest biotic constraints to cereal production in Africa. Use of resistant or tolerant maize varieties, a maize–legume rotation using trap crops that stimulate suicidal germination of Striga and the application of nitrogen fertilizer are all effective in reducing infestation and damage. This paper reports on the use of a participatory research and extension approach in assessing the performance and scaling-up of integrated Striga control packages in three agro-ecological zones in Borno State, Nigeria. The participatory process which encourages close interaction between research, extension and farmers, involved 30 local communities and 228 farmers representing 193 farmer groups in identifying their own problems and seeking solutions to them. Results showed not only effective Striga control but productivity increases of over 200%. The involvement of local farmers and groups in the evaluation process, firstly, helped to confirm that Striga control can best be achieved using soyabean followed by Striga-resistant maize together with productivity-increasing management practices and, secondly, promoted farmer-to-farmer extension. A participatory adoption assessment exercise indicated widespread adoption of new varieties and management practices, despite the need for increased labour. Great potential exists to scale out the results to similar areas of Guinea and Sudan savannas in the West Africa region.