Determinants of access to forest products in southern Burkina Faso

There is an increasing understanding that forests and the forestry sector are key elements in poverty reduction strategies in Africa. However, issues of equity between various forest users are becoming a major challenge to environmental development, forest management and poverty reduction. This paper presents an analysis of household representatives' socio-economic determinants and other constraints on accessing forest products, based on data collected through a questionnaire survey of 1865 respondents in seven districts of the Sissili province, southern Burkina Faso. Three logistic regression models were developed to examine determinants of access to the forest for collecting fuelwood, grazing livestock and collecting non-timber forest products (NTFPs). The results showed that access to forest products is associated with individual characteristics. Age, ethnicity, occupation and sources of income were significant determinants of access to all types of forest products. Access to the forest for grazing livestock was further influenced by gender and household size, while access to NTFPs was influenced by gender, household size and education level of the respondents. The formal forest law that precludes grazing in the forest, and customary rules and regulations pertaining to land tenure, were reported to be serious constraints to forest access for women and migrant people. Understanding the factors influencing access to products from commonly-owned forest resources could form the basis for developing, modifying and targeting policy instruments that promote equitable access. Policies should particularly encourage the direct involvement of vulnerable and marginalized groups (women and migrants) in forest management activities.     

Plasticity of animal genome architecture unmasked by rapid evolution of a pelagic tunicate

Genomes of animals as different as sponges and humans show conservation of global architecture. Here we show that multiple genomic features including transposon diversity, developmental gene repertoire, physical gene order, and intron-exon organization are shattered in the tunicate Oikopleura, belonging to the sister group of vertebrates and retaining chordate morphology. Ancestral architecture of animal genomes can be deeply modified and may therefore be largely nonadaptive. This rapidly evolving animal lineage thus offers unique perspectives on the level of genome plasticity. It also illuminates issues as fundamental as the mechanisms of intron gain.     

Research note: Installation of videorecording equipment had minimal effect on behavioral measurements in 14 kenneled military dogs

We quantified the behavioral perturbation induced in kenneled dogs using a classical procedure of video equipment installation. Using 14-minute sessions of videorecording, 136 hours of recordings were collected from 14 healthy, individually housed Malinois shepherds. Our results show that dogs trotted, jumped, and ran more during the first 2 minutes of recording. These behaviors suggest an intense but brief agitation following installation of the video equipment. These results lead us to advise researchers, when studying the behavior of kenneled dogs by videotaping, to evaluate the duration of perturbations stemming from their particular experimental procedure and to carefully examine it.     

Release and evaporation of volatiles during boiling of unhopped wort

The release and evaporation of volatile compounds was studied during boiling of wort. The observed parameters were boiling time, boiling intensity, wort pH, and wort density. The effect of every parameter was discussed and approached chemically, with an eye on beer-aging processes. The results indicated that pH highly influenced the release of flavor compounds and that the formation of Strecker aldehydes was linear with boiling time. However, because of evaporation of volatiles, information about the applied thermal load on wort is lost when using a volatile heat load indicator. The thiobarbituric acid (TBA) method, which includes the nonvolatile precursors of volatile aging compounds, proved to be a more reliable method to determine all kinds of heat load on wort. Finally, it was discussed how the obtained insights could help to understand the mechanism of beer aging.     

The influence of respiratory disease on the energy envelope dynamics of pig cough sounds

The objective of this paper is to assess if the dynamics in the energy envelope of pig cough sounds are related to pathological conditions of the respiratory system. Two groups of pigs are compared. The first group, the sick pigs, is suffering from pneumonia by infection of Pasteurella Multocida. The second group, the control group, consists of healthy pigs which produced induced coughs by nebulisation of citric acid. The cough sounds of both groups were used to calculate the energy envelope, after which two signals are derived for further modelling. The first signal is an artificial step input, the second signal is part of the energy envelope of the cough signal that starts at the maximum level and decays in time. Using an autoregressive model estimation technique, the decay of the energy envelope is modelled as an input–output system. Based on the Young Identification Criterion (YIC) and R², the optimal model is proven to be a first order model with a first order denominator. Using this first order transfer function structure to model all cough sounds, the time constant of the simulated output is estimated based on the model parameters. The time constant shows significant higher values for the decay of the cough signals from pigs which are infected with Pasteurella Multocida compared to non-infected pigs (P < 0.0001). The results are in accordance with previous work in which pathological conditions have shown to influence cough sound duration. This modelling technique gives more insight in the effect of changes in lung condition on cough sound generation and might be incorporated in techniques for automatic cough evaluation.     

Selection of Al-resistant plants from a sensitive rice cultivar, using somaclonal variation, in vitro and hydroponic cultures

A selection procedure is described that isolated Al-resistant individuals from a sensitive rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotype. Somaclonal variation was used as the only source of variability and selection pressures were applied at both callus and regenerated plant levels. When 10 week-old, embryo-derived calli were submitted to different Al stresses for a period of 20 weeks. After this in vitro stress period, selected calli were grown during 18 weeks, without selection pressure, on regeneration media. Selection pressures were applied on regenerated plants (R0), and 9 R0 plants which produced seeds were selected. The transmission of the Al-resistant character to the R1, R2, R3 and R4 generations was then investigated, and three plant lines which had an increased percentage of Al-resistant plants till the fourth generation of self-pollination, were identified. One was from a callus maintained on an Al-free medium. The efficiency of in vitro selection pressures was therefore debated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Release of isoamyl acetate from starch pastes of various structures: thermodynamic and kinetic parameters

The release of isoamyl acetate from starch-based matrices was studied on the basis of a cumulative dynamic headspace analysis. Two corn starches were compared, which are known to yield pastes and gels differing in their structures and properties. These properties were assessed by viscometry and viscoelastic measurements. Aroma release was discussed as a function of the structure and texture parameters of the matrix.The release curves obtained from water and from the various starch-based matrices at 25 degrees C showed similar patterns but differed in their initial slopes and in the final plateau values. The lowest initial slopes were obtained for the normal starch dispersions that formed gels due to amylose gelation. The aroma compound was entirely released from water and from the waxy starch pastes. A significant amount of isoamyl acetate remained trapped in the normal starch dispersions.     

Spelt (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta) as a source of breadmaking flours and bran naturally enriched in oleic acid and minerals but not phytic acid

The nutritional value of breadmaking cereal spelt (Triticum aestivum ssp. spelta) is said to be higher than that of common wheat (Triticum aestivum ssp. vulgare), but this traditional view is not substantiated by scientific evidence. In an attempt to clarify this issue, wholemeal and milling fractions (sieved flour, fine bran, and coarse bran) from nine dehulled spelt and five soft winter wheat samples were compared with regard to their lipid, fatty acid, and mineral contents. In addition, tocopherol (a biochemical marker of germ) was measured in all wholemeals, whereas phytic acid and phosphorus levels were determined in fine bran and coarse bran samples after 1 month of storage. Results showed that, on average, spelt wholemeals and milling fractions were higher in lipids and unsaturated fatty acids as compared to wheat, whereas tocopherol content was lower in spelt, suggesting that the higher lipid content of spelt may not be related to a higher germ proportion. Although milling fractionation produced similar proportions of flour and brans in spelt and wheat, it was found that ash, copper, iron, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus contents were higher in spelt samples, especially in aleurone-rich fine bran and in coarse bran. Even though phosphorus content was higher in spelt than in wheat brans, phytic acid content showed the opposite trend and was 40% lower in spelt versus wheat fine bran, which may suggest that spelt has either a higher endogenous phytase activity or a lower phytic acid content than wheat. The results of this study give important indications on the real nutritional value of spelt compared to wheat. Moreover, they show that the Ca/Fe ratio, combined with that of oleate/palmitate, provides a highly discriminating tool to authenticate spelt from wheat flours and to face the growing issue of spelt flour adulteration. Finally, they suggest that aleurone differences, the nature of which still needs to be investigated, may account for the differential nutrient composition of spelt and wheat.     

Cutaneous and systemic granulomatous disease associated with hairy vetch toxicosis in a French Holstein dairy herd

This report describes an outbreak of hairy vetch toxicosis afflicting a herd of cattle with a fatal cutaneous and systemic granulomatous disease. It highlights how this condition remains poorly recognized by cattle production professionals in Europe and the need for communication about vetch-associated diseases.