Effectiveness of botanical preparations for the control of rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) during rice seed storage and their impact on the rice seed viability : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Seed Technology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Food security and the maintenance of seed quality from harvest to planting are key issues for peasant farmers. In Sierra Leone, up to 28% of rice seed can be damaged by rice weevil in the six months storage period. The use of chemical insecticides to control this insect is not practical for traditional farmers. Some tribes use pepper powder (Capsicum spp.) as a seed protectant. In this study, I have compared the effects of neem (Azadirachta indica) oil, neem powder, pepper (Capsicum frutescens cv. "Habanero") powder and lentil (Lens culinaris cv. "Raja") powder on the survival of adult rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) and weevil offspring during rice (Oryza spp.) seed storage, and on the germination of the rice. Treatment of stored rice with neem oil, neem powder and lentil powder gave some protection from rice weevil damage. Neem oil at the rate of 0.005ml/kg rice seed effectively controlled weevil damage without reducing the seed germination. Lentil and neem powders at the rate of 0.02g/kg rice seed gave effective protection against rice weevil damage with no reduction in viability of the seeds. Pepper powder did not kill adult rice weevil. Neem oil reduced the development of weevil offspring in rice seed, but the powders of neem, lentil and pepper did not. Low relative humidity of 42.5% in seed storage environment and a reduction in seed moisture content below 10% enhanced the mortality of adult rice weevils on rice seed

Development, validation and clinical application of a method for the simultaneous quantification of lamivudine, emtricitabine and tenofovir in dried blood and dried breast milk spots using LC-MS/MS

Objectives To present the validation and clinical application of a LC–MS/MS method for the quantification of lamivudine (3TC), emtricitabine (FTC) and tenofovir (TFV) in dried blood spots (DBS) and dried breast milk spots (DBMS). Methods DBS and DBMS were prepared from 50 and 30 μL of drug-spiked whole blood and human breast milk, respectively. Following extraction with acetonitrile and water, chromatographic separation utilised a Synergi polar column with a gradient mobile phase program consisting of 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile. Detection and quantification was performed using a TSQ Quantum Ultra triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The analytical method was used to evaluate NRTI drug levels in HIV-positive nursing mothers-infant pairs. Results The assay was validated over the concentration range of 16.6–5000 ng/mL for 3TC, FTC and TFV in DBS and DBMS except for TFV in DBMS where linearity was established from 4.2–1250 ng/mL. Intra and inter-day precision (%CV) ranged from 3.5–8.7 and accuracy was within 15% for all analytes in both matrices. The mean recovery in DBS was >61% and in DBMS >43% for all three analytes. Matrix effect was insignificant. Median AUC0-8 values in maternal DBS and DBMS, respectively, were 4683 (4165–6057) and 6050 (5217–6417) ng h/mL for 3TC, 3312 (2259–4312) and 4853 (4124–6691) ng h/mL for FTC and 1559 (930–1915) and 56 (45–80) ng h/mL for TFV. 3TC and FTC were quantifiable (>16.6 ng/mL) in DBS from 2/6 and 1/6 infants respectively whereas TFV was undetectable in all infants. Conclusions DBS and DBMS sampling for bioanalysis of 3TC, FTC and TFV is straightforward, robust, accurate and precise, and ideal for use in low-resource settings

THE ARAB SPRING AND CHANGES IN QATAR FOREIGN AID ARCHITECTURE: THE CASE OF QATAR FOREIGN AID TO AFRICA

It is uneasy to lose sight of the critical role foreign aid plays in Qatar's engagement with the wider world. Since 1995, Qatar has occupied an enviable reputation as emerging donor in the Middle East region. It relations with Africa is sophistically managed through foreign aid. However, big changes are already afoot in the Middle East in general. The outbreak of the Arab Spring has forced countries like Qatar to remodel their foreign policies through the use of foreign aid in a quest to optimize their gains from this turbulent political environment. To this end, this thesis examines changes in Qatar foreign aid in the span of four years, 2010 to 2013. Specifically it investigates the extent to which the eruption of the Arab Spring in 2011 has shaped Qatar foreign aid and the reflection of this on the flow of Qatar external aid to Africa. Through a thorough analysis of Qatar Foreign Aid Reports of 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, it is found that changes in the overall architecture of Qatar foreign aid- in terms of volume and the recipient countries- are determined by the Arab Spring. Nevertheless, the extent to which the Arab Spring has remodeled Qatar foreign aid to Africa is generally imprecise and sketchy. The volume and the recipient of Qatar development assistance to Africa remained stable and consistent in the last past five years, and the insignificant changes in the recipients of Qatar foreign aid to Africa is connected to factors associated with political and economic developments in different African countries. The stability in Qatar foreign aid flow to Africa, despite the dynamic of Qatar foreign policy, discloses that Africa occupies footnote position in Qatar foreign policy priorities; and it also reveals that Qatar could not realize the importance of the Africa in the context of its struggle to optimize its gain from the Arab Spring. As Qatar lacks alternative and meaningful foreign policy to engage with Africa than foreign aid, it should relax its dependence on its NGOs to carry out this task. This should allow Qatar to strategically us its aid to Africa in a quest to advance its national interests in the continent

Operation Crossroads Africa: Building Bridges of Friendship with Africa in the Post- Colonial Africa

Black/African Americans have been disconnected from their African ancestry for centuries. This presentation examines how prominent an African American Minister, Dr. James H. Robinson, founded Operation Crossroads Africa, the organization President John F Kennedy modeled to start the US Peace Corps program. Operation Crossroads Africa Founded in 1958 continues to connect and build bridges between North America and Africa. Dr. Robinson’s goal is to complement and help the new African nations build infrastructure and improve education. Over the years, OCA volunteers built water systems, healthcare centers, schools, orphanages and communities centers for villages throughout Africa. Our aim is to share the continuous impact of over ten thousand OCA volunteers who participated in various parts and projects in Africa since 1958, explore the benefits and the need for more students to join us as there is a much need today than ever

Ethnicity, Issue Voting, and Regime Change in The Gambia; Why Did Yahya Jammeh Lose the 2016 Presidential Election? The Dawning of Dawning Democracy in the Gambia.

ABSTRACT In the 2016 presidential election in The Gambia, the opposition coalition party had successfully managed to overthrow an authoritarian government, which has ruled the country for 22 years. Contrary to the notion of the prevalence of ethnic voting in African elections, this study found that ethnicity is not the only issue influencing the voting behavior of Gambian voters. The concerns voters have on human rights abuses by the Jammeh’s admistration has resulted in a regime change. The election was issue-based, even though Gambian voters were split on the question of the economy, their dissatisfaction on Jammeh handling of human rights during the 22 years regime lasted led to his lost to opposition coalition leader Mr. Barrow, in the 2016 presidential election. Using similar approach to investigating issue voting, this dissertation also examines the local government election of mayors in the Banjul City Council (BCC) and Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC). In both sets of elections, Gambian voters have demonstrated that they were more concerned with issues than with the ethnicities of the candidates in elections. Just as concluded that Jammeh lost the election based on issues of human rights, more than ethnocentric voting, the study of local government elections indicates that decisions were primarily based on issues that people care about more so then the ethnic identities of mayoral candidates. In their determination of the second and third most important issues, differences emerged between the voters in Banjul and those in the KMC. While voters in the KMC have stated that their second and third preferences were waste collection and building road networks within the city, the voters in the mayoral election in Banjul have repeatedly noted the importance they attached on fixing the road infrastructure of the city as their second and third most considered issue when they voted in the local government election. Although, ethnicity was important for some of the voters, but it wasn’t the main factor that influenced the regime change than the concerns Gambian voters have on Jammeh’s handling of human rights in the country

The Impact of Exchange Rate on Inflation: A Case Study of The Gambia(1978-2016)

This paper focuses on developing stylized facts about the inflationary process in The Gambia, focusing particularly on the relationship between the exchange rate regime and the sources of inflation. It also examines several variables which policymakers believed have affected the level of inflation in The Gambia. The type of data used in this paper includes the time series data set which is collected from the period 1978-2016. Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test is used to examine whether a variable is integrated of which was proposed by Dickey and Fuller (1979). This paper employed the order of integration to test for stationarity and it was found out that both inflation and interest rates were stationary at levels. On the other hand, exchange rate and GDP were non-stationary at levels. In addition, Johansen co-integration test is used to explore the presence of a long-run relationship among the series. Findings show that there is no long-run relationship between the variable exchange rate and Inflation. Using annual data from 1978-2016, it was found that money growth and exchange rate change factors typically related to fiscal influences are far more important in countries with floating exchange rate regimes than in those with fixed exchange rates. Mitigating inflation has been a top agenda for every country that wants to achieve sustainable economic growth in which The Gambia is no exception. More especially, The Gambia being a small open economy exposed to other countries and price shifts in the world economy have a direct impact on The Gambian economy

Low heat high performance concrete for glass fiber reinforced polymer reinforcement

Low heat high performance concrete (LHHPC) is concrete with low cement content, a consequent low heat of hydration and a relatively low alkalinity. The research program described in this thesis was designed to study LHHPC in terms of mechanical properties, structural behaviour and durability under freezing and thawing. The durability of reinforcement (steel and GFRP) in the low alkaline environment of LHHPC is also investigated. Use of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) as a replacement for conventional steel reinforcement has increased rapidly for the last ten years. The non-corrosive characteristics and high strength-to-weight ratio of GFRP might significantly increase the service life of structures. However, the chemical composition of glass is known to be unstable in the high alkaline environment of concrete pore water. The low alkalinity of LHHPC might have beneficial effects in the use of GFRP as reinforcement for this new concrete. The low alkalinity might, on the other hand accelerate corrosion of steel reinforcement. Over sixty standard size cylinders were cast and tested to study the mechanical properties of LHHPC and the results indicate compressive strengths of over 70 MPa at 28 days for LHHPC. Eight beams of rectangular section were cast and tested to study the behaviour of the reinforced LHHPC. The results indicate a higher strength and ductility for LHHPC than the control normal conventional concrete (NCC) beams. The results from the air-entrained concrete indicate that LHHPC has an excellent durability factor against freezing and thawing while maintaining high compressive strengths for an air content of 4.6 percent. The tensile strength of GFRP bars embedded in both LHHPC and NCC, at 60\sp\circC, are identical after one month