Permanent Draft Genome Sequence of Rhizobium sp. Strain LCM 4573, a Salt-Tolerant, Nitrogen-Fixing Bacterium Isolated from Senegalese Soils

The genus Rhizobium contains many species that are able to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on plants of the legume family. Here, we report the 5.5-Mb draft genome sequence of the salt-tolerant Rhizobium sp. strain LCM 4573, which has a G+C content of 61.2% and 5,356 candidate protein-encoding genes

Permanent draft genome sequence of Ensifer sp. strain LCM 4579, a salt-tolerant, nitrogen-fixing bacterium isolated from Senegalese soil

The genus Ensifer (formerly Sinorhizobium) contains many species able to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on plants of the legume family. Here, we report the 6.1-Mb draft genome sequence of Ensifer sp. strain LCM 4579, with a G+C content of 62.4% and 5,613 candidate protein-encoding genes

Permanent Draft Genome Sequences for Mesorhizobium sp. Strains LCM 4576, LCM 4577, and ORS3428, Salt-Tolerant, Nitrogen-Fixing Bacteria Isolated from Senegalese Soils

The genus Mesorhizobium contains many species that are able to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on plants of the legume family. Here, we report the draft genome sequences for three Mesorhizobium strains. The genome sizes of strains LCM 4576, LCM 4577, and ORS3428 were 7.24, 7.02, and 6.55 Mbp, respectively

Impacts of FMNR on the agricultural performance of smallholder farming systems at landscape scale in Senegal

Management of isolated trees as an integrated part of smallholder farming systems has long been a key food security strategy in Africa. Current knowledge on the impact of parklands structuring on agrosystems productivity is limited. Combining multisources remote sensing, landscape ecology and statistical modelling, this study aims at evidencing the contribution of FMNR to the agricultural performance of smallholder farming systems at landscape scale in Senegal. Agronomical surveys were conducted in 2017 and 2018 on 70 farmers' fields with heterogeneous trees composition. We assessed groundnut aboveground biomass (AGB) and millet grain yield (GY). Proxies for parklands composition and vegetation productivity were derived from remote sensing. Regression models were calibrated and model parameters were optimized using a random sample consensus method accounting for measurement uncertainties. For 2017, Green chlorophyll index over millet flowering phase and whole groundnut cropping cycle allowed estimating GY and AGB with R² of 0.76 and 0.67 respectively. Integrating information on tree cover structure (fraction of soil covered by trees) increased assessment accuracy by 7% for millet GY (R2=0.83) and 22% for groundnut AGB (R2-0.89). These promising results have to be strengthened with data from ongoing cropping season but they already indicate the need to integrate information on trees at landscape scale to better assess agricultural performance of smallholder farming systems

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Spark Plasma Sintered tungsten-copper– zinc composites

Tungsten/Copper (W/Cu) composites, generally used for applications whereby the combination of high heat resistance, high electrical and thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion is required, are suitable for hard working conditions such as intensive electrical sparks, gouging spark erosion, surface melting, welding, material transfer etc. However, the large disparity between the melting point of tungsten (3410 °C) and that of copper (1083 °C) make their production through traditional processes very difficult. Furthermore the difficulty of approaching near theoretical densities even by using liquid phase sintering, due to the negligible mutual solubility of the constituents and high wetting angle of liquid copper on tungsten is quite challenging. In the present work, the densification mechanisms during spark plasma sintering of tungsten/copper and the effect of the addition of zinc on both microstructural and mechanical properties were investigated. Commercially pure tungsten powders were dry mixed with varied amounts of copper (25, 30 and 50 wt.%) with the addition of different weight fractions of zinc (Zn) (5, 10, 15 and 20 wt.%) using a T2F Turbular mixer for 8 h and at a speed of 49 rpm. The blended composite powders were then sintered using spark plasma sintering system (model HHPD-25 from FCT Germany) with varying dwell times, sintering temperatures, pressures and a constant heating rate of 100oC min-1. The sintering of W/Cu was used as a base study prior to the addition of Zn for a better understanding of the interplaying mechanisms. Densification was monitored through the analysis of the recorded punch displacement and the measured density of the sintered samples using Archimedes method. Microstructural evolutions and phase changes were investigated using scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction techniques. The effect of Zn addition on the mechanical properties was investigated through hardness, three point bending flexural test and fracture toughness measurements as well as the analysis of fracture surfaces

Ins and outs of the cultural polis: informality, culture and governance in the global South

This paper provides an epistemological critique of informality by focusing on cultural governance in two cities of the global South, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Dakar, Senegal. Aiming to enrich debates about urban creativity and urban cultural policy, which are still mainly focused on and articulated from the global North, we consider the broad field of ‘informality’ research as an entry point for such a discussion. Using case studies from African and Latin American contexts, we focus on the interstices of cultural policy and the borderlands of (in)formality, examining how governmental institutions are entangled in informal processes, and how grassroots cultural interventions become part of mainstream cultural circuits. The analysis sheds light on how these creative spaces of cultural production, located in Southern contexts of urban extremes, contribute to the vitality of informal urbanisms and unsettle predominant views that see them merely as sites ofinfrastructural poverty and social exclusion. The paper suggests that a creative remapping of informality, through an inquiry of the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of the cultural polis, could improve our translating capacity of academic discourse into institutional/policy-related operations