High and low lines resulting from 30 generations of bidirectional selection for open-field activity have nonoverlapping distributions and more than a thirtyfold difference in mean activity. Open-field defecation scores of low-active lines are approximately 7 times higher than those of high-active lines, substantiating earlier reports of a large, negative genetic correlation between these characters. Since the selection experiment is replicated, other variables which are found to be reliably different among the high, control, and low lines are likely to be causally related to open-field activity; thus these selected lines of mice may be of use to other investigators.
BackgroundIn environmental health interventions addressing water and indoor air quality, multiple determinants contribute to adoption. These may include technology selection, technology distribution and education methods, community engagement with behavior change, and duration and magnitude of implementer engagement. In Rwanda, while the country has the fastest annual reduction in child mortality in the world, the population is still exposed to a disease burden associated with environmental health challenges. Rwanda relies both on direct donor funding and coordination of programs managed by international non-profits and health sector businesses working on these challenges.Methods and FindingsThis paper describes the design, implementation and outcomes of a pilot program in 1,943 households across 15 villages in the western province of Rwanda to distribute and monitor the use of household water filters and improved cookstoves. Three key program design criteria include a.) an investment in behavior change messaging and monitoring through community health workers, b.) free distributions to encourage community-wide engagement, and c.) a private-public partnership incentivized by a business model designed to encourage “pay for performance”. Over a 5-month period of rigorous monitoring, reported uptake was maintained at greater than 90% for both technologies, although exclusive use of the stove was reported in only 28.5% of households and reported water volume was 1.27 liters per person per day. On-going qualitative monitoring suggest maintenance of comparable adoption rates through at least 16 months after the intervention.ConclusionHigh uptake and sustained adoption of a water filter and improved cookstove was measured over a five-month period with indications of continued comparable adoption 16 months after the intervention. The design attributes applied by the implementers may be sufficient in a longer term. In particular, sustained and comprehensive engagement by the program implementer is enabled by a pay-for-performance business model that rewards sustained behavior change.
Increasingly, satellite-derived rainfall data is used for climate research and action in Africa. In this study, we use six years of rain gauge data from 596 stations operated by the Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) to validate three gauge-calibrated satellite rainfall products – CHIRPS, TAMSAT and GSMaP_wGauge – and one satellite-only rainfall product – GSMaP. Validations are stratified to evaluate performance across the continent and in East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa at daily, pentadal, and monthly timescales. For daily mean rainfall over Africa, CHIRPS has the highest bias at 15.5 % (0.5 mm) whereas GSMaP_wGauge has the lowest bias at 0.02 mm (0.7 %). We find higher daily rainfall event detection scores in the GSMaP products than in CHIRPS or TAMSAT. Generally, for every two rainfall events predicted by CHIRPS and TAMSAT, the GSMaP products predict three or more events. The highest mean monthly biases are produced by CHIRPS in East Africa (29 %; 26.3 mm wet bias), TAMSAT in Southern Africa (13 %; 10.4 mm dry bias) and GSMaP in West Africa (23 %; 19.6 mm wet bias). Considerable biases in seasonal rainfall are observed in all sub-regions for every satellite product. There is an increase of 0.6–1.3 mm in satellite rainfall RMSE for a 1 km increase in elevation revealing the influence of elevation on rainfall estimation by satellite models. Overall, satellite-derived rainfall products have notable errors, while GSMaP products produce comparable or better results at multiple timescales relative to CHIRPS and TAMSAT.
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