Urban Development Transitions and Their Implications for Poverty Reduction and Policy Planning in Uganda

Urbanization is one of the critical global trends shaping the future of humanity. At the same time, it has been argued that full development requires an urbanized environment. This paper attempts to examine and characterize the major phases of urbanization in Uganda and what this means for urban policy planning and poverty reduction in the country. Although the history of urbanization in Uganda is relatively young compared to other East African countries, dating as far back as 100 years, the rate of urban development (5.1% per annum) in the country is reported to be one of the highest in the world. However, little effort is being made to seize the opportunities and maximize the potential benefits of urban development, as well as reducing its potentially negative consequences. The urban development path of Uganda can be classified in terms of five phases: (1) the stage of initiation (before 1900); (2) the stage of settlement stabilization, fixation, and pseudo-planning (1900–1962); (3) the age of conflict and collapse (1962–1985); (4) the age of laissez faire development and urban informality (1986–2004); and (5) the urban renaissance (2005 to date). These phases, which this paper refers to as transitions, have shown characteristics of planning systems that are partly malfunctioning, partly wobbly and incomplete, and partly non-existent. Pertinent socioeconomic, environmental, and political problems that are insurmountable for urban planning and management are a feature of the urban areas in the country. Most importantly, welfare and poverty indicators have not shown marked improvements (in absolute terms) for the urban population over the last 50 years. This paper argues for a strong urban planning policy that takes into account the rate of urbanization being experienced in the country today, the failure of which will lead to increasing marginalization of city residents.     

Variations in the contents of heavy metals in arable soils of a major urban wetland inlet drainage system of Lake Victoria,Uganda

Little is known about the effects of urbanization on the chemical quality of soils in suburban wetland inlet drainage systems to the Uganda side of Lake Victoria, on which food crops are extensively grown. It is feared that pollution in the soils might eventually enter food chains through such crops being consumed by urban populations unaware of their occurrence. Soil samples were collected from cultivated areas of a major wetland drainage system (Nakivubo Channel), at Kampala, Ubanda, near Lake Victoria and from a rural control wetland site (Senge). The soil from this site had similar properties as those from the urban test site (i.e., soil texture; porosity; humus content). Analysis of heavy metals with atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) yielded the following soil concentration ranges: manganese (190–780), cadmium (<0.001–1.0), zinc (6.0–10.0) and lead (10–20 mg kg^?1) dry weight for the control site, and 450–900, 1.0–2.0, 131–185, 40–60 mg kg^?1 dry weight, respectively, for the urban wetland, indicative of relatively heavy metal pollution in the suburban drainage system. Heavy metal levels in cocoyam (Colocasia Esculenta) and sugarcane (Saccharum Officinarum) grown on both wetland soils also were evaluated via AAS with a modified wet‐acid‐digestion technique. The results highlighted high cadium and lead levels (P ≤ 0.0003) in the crops from urban wetland cultivation. Cadmium and lead concentrations in cocoyam from urban wetland soils exceeded those from the control site by 0.17 and 3.54 mg kg^?1, respectively. The corresponding results for sugarcane indicated a similar increase of 0.56 and 2.14 mg kg^?1 of juice extract. Cadmium and lead levels in both urban wetland crops were higher than the maximum permissible limits of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, indicating that these concentrations pose potential health risks to urban consumers, and call for early counter‐measures to combat urban pollution entering the lake.     

A new class of bookshelf bistable siloxane modified ferroelectric LC materials with electrical repairability in an LCoS configuration

Abstract— Investigation of siloxane‐based ferroelectric liquid crystals (Si‐FLCs) has revealed chevron‐free long‐term bistable behavior and, unusually, an easy regeneration of bistable performance after damage (e.g., by mechanical shock). The properties are intrinsically related to the chemical structure of the oligosiloxane materials. The phenomena result from the coupling of siloxane and organic moieties that causes nano‐phase segregation, which essentially reduces the correlation of tilting from adjacent layers and also generates weak anchoring by decoupling the bulk structure from the strong surface anchoring. A method of regenerating a condition with bistable performance by an electric field (without mechanical and heat treatment) is established. An in‐house Si‐FLC over a silicon (Si‐FLCoS) device is demonstrated, which exhibits good memory effects without chevron defects and a repair function for regenerating bistability in case of damage.     

Serotype distribution and prevalence of resistance to benzylpenicillin in three representative populations of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from the coast of Kenya

As surveillance data from sub-Saharan Africa are few, three representative populations of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were examined in Kenya for serotype distribution and Etest minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of benzylpenicillin: (1) 75 lung aspirate or blood culture isolates from 301 consecutive adult patients with pneumonia, (2) 112 invasive isolates from continuous pediatric inpatient surveillance over 4 years, and (3) 97 nasopharyngeal isolates from systematically selected sick children. The proportions with benzylpenicillin MICs of > or = 0.1 microgram/mL were 0.27, 0.29, and 0.47, respectively. Vaccine-related serotypes accounted for 96% of invasive isolates from children and 90% of those from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive adults. Serotype 1 accounted for 44% of pneumococci from HIV-seronegative patients but only 5% of those from HIV-seropositive patients (P = .0002). Of serotype 1 isolates, 98% were susceptible to benzylpenicillin, but serogroups 13, 14, 19, and 23 were strongly associated with an MIC of > or = 0.1 microgram/mL.