Trees for development? Articulating the ambiguities of power, authority and legitimacy in governing Ghana’s mineral rich forests

The growth of mining activities in Africa in the last decade has coincided with increased attention on the fate of the continent’s forests, specifically in the contexts of livelihoods and climate change. Although mining has serious environmental impacts, scant attention has been paid to the processes which shape decision-making in contexts where minerals and forests overlap. Focussing on the illustrative case of Ghana, this paper articulates the dynamics of power, authority and legitimacy of private companies, traditional authorities and key state institutions in governing mining activities in forests. The analysis highlights how mining companies and donors promote a neoliberal model of resource management which entrenches their ability to benefit from mineral exploitation and marginalises the role of state institutions and traditional authorities in decision-making. This subsequently erodes state authority and legitimacy and compounds the contested nature of traditional authorities’ legitimacy. A more nuanced examination of foundational governance questions concerning the relative role of the state, traditional authorities and private interests is needed.

The role of lipid composition on the interaction between a tryptophan-rich protein and model bacterial membranes

The interaction between tryptophan-rich puroindoline proteins and model bacterial membranes at the air-liquid interface has been investigated by FTIR spectroscopy, surface pressure measurements and Brewster angle microscopy. The role of different lipid constituents on the interactions between lipid membrane and protein was studied using wild type (Pin-b) and mutant (Trp44 to Arg44 mutant, Pin-bs) puroindoline proteins. The results show differences in the lipid selectivity of the two proteins in terms of preferential binding to specific lipid head groups in mixed lipid systems. Pin-b wild type was able to penetrate mixed layers of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) head groups more deeply compared to the mutant Pin-bs. Increasing saturation of the lipid tails increased penetration and adsorption of Pin-b wild type, but again the response of the mutant form differed. The results provide insight as to the role of membrane architecture, lipid composition and fluidity, on antimicrobial activity of proteins. Data show distinct differences in the lipid binding behavior of Pin-b as a result of a single residue mutation, highlighting the importance of hydrophobic and charged amino acids in antimicrobial protein and peptide activity.

Formulation of fermentation media from flour-rich waste streams for microbial lipid production by Lipomyces starkeyi

Flour-rich waste (FRW) and by-product streams generated by bakery, confectionery and wheat milling plants could be employed as the sole raw materials for generic fermentation media production, suitable for microbial oil synthesis. Wheat milling by-products were used in solid state fermentations (SSF) of Aspergillus awamori for the production of crude enzymes, mainly glucoamylase and protease. Enzyme-rich SSF solids were subsequently employed for hydrolysis of FRW streams into nutrient-rich fermentation media. Batch hydrolytic experiments using FRW concentrations up to 205 g/L resulted in higher than 90%(w/w) starch to glucose conversion yields and 40% (w/w) total Kjeldahl nitrogen to free amino nitro-gen conversion yields. Starch to glucose conversion yields of 98.2, 86.1 and 73.4% (w/w) were achieved when initial FRW concentrations of 235, 300 and 350 g/L were employed in fed-batch hydrolytic experiments, respectively. Crude hydrolysates were used as fermentation media in shake flask cultures with the oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starkeyi DSM 70296 reaching a total dry weight of 30.5 g/L with a microbial oil content of 40.4% (w/w), higher than that achieved in synthetic media. Fed-batch bioreactor cultures led to a total dry weight of 109.8 g/L with a microbial oil content of 57.8% (w/w) and productivity of 0.4 g/L/h.

How much flower-rich habitat is enough for wild pollinators? Answering a key policy question with incomplete knowledge

In 2013, an opportunity arose in England to develop an agri-environment package for wild pollinators, as part of the new Countryside Stewardship scheme launched in 2015. It can be understood as a 'policy window', a rare and time-limited opportunity to change policy, supported by a narrative about pollinator decline and widely supported mitigating actions. An agri-environment package is a bundle of management options that together supply sufficient resources to support a target group of species. This paper documents information that was available at the time to develop such a package for wild pollinators. Four questions needed answering: (1) Which pollinator species should be targeted? (2) Which resources limit these species in farmland? (3) Which management options provide these resources? (4) What area of each option is needed to support populations of the target species? Focussing on wild bees, we provide tentative answers that were used to inform development of the package. There is strong evidence that floral resources can limit wild bee populations, and several sources of evidence identify a set of agri-environment options that provide flowers and other resources for pollinators. The final question could only be answered for floral resources, with a wide range of uncertainty. We show that the areas of some floral resource options in the basic Wild Pollinator and Farmland Wildlife Package (2% flower-rich habitat and 1 km flowering hedgerow), are sufficient to supply a set of six common pollinator species with enough pollen to feed their larvae at lowest estimates, using minimum values for estimated parameters where a range was available. We identify key sources of uncertainty, and stress the importance of keeping the Package flexible, so it can be revised as new evidence emerges about how to achieve the policy aim of supporting pollinators on farmland.

Urinary metabolomic profiling to identify biomarkers of a flavonoid-rich and flavonoid-poor fruits and vegetables diet: the FLAVURS trial in adults: the FLAVURS trial

The present study aims to investigate the dose dependent effects of consuming diets enriched in flavonoid-rich and flavonoid-poor fruits and vegetables on the urine metabolome of adults who had a C1.5 fold increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. A single-blind, dose-dependent, parallel randomized controlled dietary intervention was conducted where volunteers (n = 126) were randomly assigned to one of three diets: high flavonoid diet, low flavonoid diet or habitual diet as a control for 18 weeks. High resolution LC– MS untargeted metabolomics with minimal sample cleanup was performed using an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Putative biomarkers which characterize diets with high and low flavonoid content were selected by state-of-the-art data analysis strategies and identified by HR-MS and HR-MS/MS assays. Discrimination between diets was observed by application of two linear mixedmodels: one including a diet-time interaction effect and the second containing only a time effect. Valerolactones, phenolic acids and their derivatives were among sixteen biomarkers related to the high flavonoid dietary exposure. Four biomarkers related to the low flavonoid diet belonged to the family of phenolic acids. For the first time abscisic acid glucuronide was reported as a biomarker after a dietary intake, however its origins have to be examined by future hypothesis driven experiments using a more targeted approach. This metabolomic analysis has identified a number of dose dependent urinary biomarkers (i.e. proline betaine or iberin-N-acetyl cysteine), which can be used in future observation and intervention studies to assess flavonoids and nonflavonoid phenolic intakes and compliance to fruit and vegetable intervention.