DEINDUSTRIALIZATION OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries as a group have been deindustrializing for more than three decades. Logistic growth functions of the share of manufacturing value added in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) provide estimates of the rate at which the manufacturing sector has diffused into each SSA economy. Deindustrializers (industrializers) have negative (positive) manufacturing sector diffusion rates. Sixteen SSA countries experienced significant deindustrialization. Factors associated with deindustrialization trends are identified. Countries with low real per capita incomes and those unable to diversify their manufacturing base, expand production for export, or export sophisticated products more frequently experienced deindustrialization. These countries also had relatively low gross capital formation and educational expenditure shares of GDP. Starting with a small manufacturing base does not appear to constrain the industrialization process. Excessive reliance on minerals production did not encourage deindustrialization. Policies are identified that will help countries avoid deindustrialization.

Pertumbuhan dan Hasil Kacang Hijau (Vigna radiata, L.) pada Beberapa Dosis Pupuk Organik dan Kerapatan Tanam

<p>Mungbean is one of the strategic annual food crops that needed by Indonesian people because of the high protein and minerals. Production of mungbean in Indonesia always decreases. Cultural improvements are needed to increase productivity i.e by appropriate fertilization and plant density. The experiment objective was to find out the optimum dosage of organic fertilizer and plant density for the growth and yield of mungbean. The experiment was carried out using factorial completely randomized design (CRD). The first factor treatments were organic fertilizer which consisted of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 ton ha^-1, while the second-factor treatments were planted density which consisted of 1 and 2 plants in the hole. Organic fertilizer of 5 ton ha^-1 gave the best result for plant height, number of branches, flowering age, number of pods, fresh weight and dried straw, weight of 100 seeds, number and weight of seeds, small of seeds number and P nutrient uptake of the plant. The 2 plants per hole gave the best result for branches number, pods number and number of small seeds. Application of 5 ton ha^-1 organic fertilizer and 1 plant per hole gave better yield. No interaction of organic fertilizer and plant density to mungbean growth and yield.</p>

Interaction between microbes, iron and chlorine for the development of biotechnological approaches to stabilize corroded iron

Iron objects suffer inexorable oxidation and without any human intervention they would be completely damaged. This phenomenon occurs for iron surfaces, outdoor exposed structures as well as for archaeological iron objects. Several methods are currently available for the stabilisation of this type of metallic substrate, however, none of them is completely efficient, and several relay on the use of hazardous compounds. In addition, especially for outdoor iron and pipelines structure a permanent protective treatment does not exist. After few years these corroded surfaces have to be re-treated and in some cases replaced. This causes substantial maintenance costs having an important economic impact on our society. Regarding archaeological iron objects, an additional issue has to be considered. In fact, each object consists of a unique testimony of our past that should be preserved and studied. An archaeological object is usually unique and if the conservation interventions fail, all the information that the object could have revealed will be lost. Scientists agree with the fact that until now an efficient and durable stabilisation treatment for corroded iron does not exist. As a consequence, there is a pressing need to investigate new approaches. To this purpose, the present thesis investigated the potential of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) for the development of stabilisation methods for corroded iron. Since one of the main issues for this metal is chlorine, this study examined two different strategies of chlorine removal and conversion of the unstable iron compounds into more stable biogenic minerals. The first approach was an indirect chlorine extraction, consisting on the microbial removal of iron ions present in chlorinated corrosion compounds. For this purpose, microbial biogenic minerals production and fungal iron adsorption were investigated. In particular, exploiting biogenic minerals production of the strains TCE1 and LBE of the anaerobic bacterium Desulfitobacterium hafniense, it was possible to convert a part of the corrosion layer of corroded iron coupons, as well as of archaeological iron nails, into biogenic vivianite and magnetite. In addition, this study allowed definitely to assess that fungi are not the best candidates to develop stabilisation methods for corroded iron based on biogenic minerals production. In fact, even though Beauveria bassiana produced some biogenic crystals their amount was not sufficient for a precise characterisation, and none of the factors tested stimulated a higher production. Nevertheless, interesting results were obtained for fungal iron uptake. Indeed, iron uptake of the fungus Alternaria sp. was successfully used for a biocleaning of corroded iron coupons. In addition, another biotechnological application exploiting fungal iron uptake was investigated. In this study the ability of bacteria to use iron chelated in fungal dead biomass as a bioavailable source of iron was proved for Pseudomonas fluorescens. This could then be exploited to improve iron bioavailability, as well as availability of organic carbon in soil for other microbes and maybe also plants. A second approach regarding a direct method for the removal of chlorine was also studied. Uptake of potassium and chlorine was proved for B. bassiana that produced aggregates containing these elements onto its biomass when exposed to FeCl2. However this ability could not be further exploited, as chlorine uptake was not the main resistance mechanism used by this fungus against chlorine, and an efficient uptake of this ion was not measured. Finally, aiming to remove chlorine from corroded iron, volatiles organic compounds production was studied. Preliminary results showed that NaCl stimulates the production of particular compounds not present in absence of this substance. Overall it can be affirmed that this study allow to assess that microorganisms are a valuable alternative for the stabilisation of corroded iron. Bacteria could be employed to stabilize the corrosion layer by producing stable biogenic minerals, while fungi could be used for biocleaning of corroded iron.