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Mentoring is instrumental in professional development and capacity building to enhance attitude, skills, and knowledge. It's need in Kenyan higher education institutions cannot be overstated. However, there exists gaps in mentoring implementation, thus its impact has not been felt. The study explores mentorship as a strategy for building capacity of young scholars in research, knowledge translation, and practice in universities. Specifically, the study assesses prevalences of mentoring skills and the environment that promotes mentoring culture. The results showed that while the majority of the mentees (88.3%) and 53% of mentors had adequate skills for mentoring, they needed to perfect the less developed functional mentoring skills. Combined, 56% of mentors and mentees shared very good functional mentoring skills relevant for effective mentoring. Also frequent communication, similar research interest, institutional support for mentoring, and mentoring guide an promote the culture of mentoring relationships. Practical implication for mentoring program leaders, mentors and mentees are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Stress is a widespread phenomenon that all organisms must endure. Common in nature is oxidative stress, which can interrupt cell homeostasis to cause cell damage and may be derived from respiration or from environmental exposure through diet. As a result of the routine exposure from respiration, many organisms can mitigate the effects of oxidative stress, but less is known about responses to oxidative stress from other sources. Helicoverpa armigera is a major agricultural pest moth that causes significant damage to crops worldwide. Here, we examined the effects of oxidative stress on H. armigera by chronically exposing individuals to paraquat—a free radical producer—and measuring changes in development (weight, developmental rate, lifespan), and gene expression. We found that oxidative stress strongly affected development in H. armigera, with stressed samples spending more time as caterpillars than control samples (>24 vs. ~15 days, respectively) and therefore living longer overall. We found 1,618 up‐ and 761 down‐regulated genes, respectively, in stressed versus control samples. In the up‐regulated gene set, was an over‐representation of biological processes related to cuticle and chitin development, glycine metabolism, and oxidation–reduction. Oxidative stress clearly impacts physiology and biochemistry in H. armigera and the interesting finding of an extended lifespan in stressed individuals could demonstrate hormesis, the phenomenon whereby toxic compounds can actually be beneficial at low doses. Collectively, our findings provide new insights into physiological and gene expression responses to oxidative stress in invertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an answer to a question of knowledge management best practices which can help share and capture critical tacit knowledge in the research and development organization.

Crops engineered to produce insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have revolutionised pest control in agriculture. However field-level resistance to Bt has developed in some targets. Utilising novel vegetative insecticidal proteins (Vips), also derived from Bt but genetically distinct from Cry toxins, is a possible solution that biotechnical companies intend to employ. Using data collected over two seasons we determined that, before deployment of Vip-expressing plants in Australia, resistance alleles exist in key targets as polymorphisms at frequencies of 0.027 (n = 273 lines, 95% CI = 0.019-0.038) in H. armigera and 0.008 (n = 248 lines, 0.004-0.015) in H. punctigera. These frequencies are above mutation rates normally encountered. Homozygous resistant neonates survived doses of Vip3A higher than those estimated in field-grown plants. Fortunately the resistance is largely, if not completely, recessive and does not confer resistance to the Bt toxins Cry1Ac or Cry2Ab already deployed in cotton crops. These later characteristics are favourable for resistance management; however the robustness of Vip3A inclusive varieties will depend on resistance frequencies to the Cry toxins when it is released (anticipated 2016) and the efficacy of Vip3A throughout the season. It is appropriate to preemptively screen key targets of Bt crops elsewhere, especially those such as H. zea in the USA, which is not only closely related to H. armigera but also will be exposed to Vip in several varieties of cotton and corn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a screening strategy incorporating resistant insect lines for discovery of new Bacillus thuringiensis toxins against a background of known genes that would normally mask the activity of additional genes and the application of that strategy. A line of Helicoverpa armigera with resistance to Cry1Ac (line ISOC) was used to screen Cry1Ac-expressing strains of B. thuringiensis for additional toxins with activity against H. armigera. Using this approach, a number of Cry1Ac-producing strains with significant toxicity toward Cry1Ac-resistant H. armigera were identified. When the insecticidal protein complement of one of these strains, C81, was examined in detail, a novel cry2 gene ( cry2Af1) was detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents questions and answers that were posted on the Industrial Research Institute's Community Forum, including the best method of capturing tacit knowledge, how to address speed-to-market challenges, and the allocation of research and development spending.

Schools for Special Needs 2005–2006 – a complete guide Gabbitas Educational Consultants Leadership and SEN: Meeting the Challenge in Special and Mainstream Settings Nick Burnett Supporting Mathematical Thinking Anne Watson, Jenny Houssart and Caroline Roaf (eds) Assessing and Developing Communication and Thinking Skills in People with Autism and Communication Difficulties Kate Silver and Autism Initiatives Listen to Us! Citizenship Education for Young People with Special Educational Needs. A resource for staff working with young people aged 11+ Nottingham City PTC et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A modified Vip3C protein has been developed that has a spectrum of activity that has the potential to be commercially useful for pest control, and shows good efficacy against Spodoptera frugiperda in insect bioassays and field trials. For the first time Vip3A and Vip3C proteins have been compared to Cry1 and Cry2 proteins in a complete set of experiments from insect bioassays to competition binding assays to field trials, and the results of these complementary experiments are in agreement with each other. Binding assays with radiolabelled toxins and brush border membrane vesicles from S. frugiperda and Helicoverpa armigera show that the modified Vip3C protein shares binding sites with Vip3A, and does not share sites with Cry1F or Cry2A. In agreement with the resulting binding site model, Vip3A-resistant insects were also cross-resistant to the modified Vip3C protein. Furthermore, maize plants expressing the modified Vip3C protein, but not those expressing Cry1F protein, were protected against Cry1F-resistant S. frugiperda in field trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers ways for business owners to save time. They include prioritising the most important time management tool, allocating time for responding to e-mail, allocating time to spend with the people to whom one delegates work, and learning to delegate properly. Another tips are using networking and build referrals.

Presents a letter to the editor that focuses on the role of educational counselors.