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Development of radio frequency identification based library management and anti-theft system: a case of east African community region
Get PDFA Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Embedded and Mobile Systems of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyRadio Frequency Identification Systems are becoming very useful and helpful in our daily life
due to their advantages such as reduction of human error, theft prevention, time-consuming
reduction, the auto-identification of targeted objects and data collection, find easily misplaced
items as well as automating the processes business. Radio Frequency Identification systems
have been applied in different areas including in library to manage items and library operations.
Different approaches have been adopted to increase the efficiency of library management
system in the East African region unfortunately, some challenges including theft of library
item, pages removal, non-customer satisfaction, high cost of used system are persisting. To
address the challenges an RFID system has been developed for East African Community
Library. It used Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID readers and tags capable to send and
receive data at a read range of 6m. The aim of this system is to speed up all library transactions,
improve customer’s satisfaction and keep a track of all library items. It enabled also librarians
to have videos records of all library operations which were used to identify page removing
actors and other unwanted behavior. The developed system will facilitate users borrowing and
returning library items with the help of RFID-enabled modules without more human
intervention and issue an alert if a non-issued item is detected when user cross the library
entrance or exit. The Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) camera and time-stamped access of
library books provided with this developed system, will help to have video records of all library
operations and facilitate to detect the actioner of the pages removal
Online platform for linking farmers and agro-vet services in Tanzania. case study: poultry
Get PDFA Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s in Information and Communication Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyPoultry farming is a rapidly, growing livestock sector in Tanzania that supports rural and urban
households on income and source of information. In addition to poultry being a source of food, it
provides manure which is used for improving crop farming. Currently, there is still a high demand
of poultry in Tanzania. However, there are challenges that lead to low productivity in the sector.
The uneven distribution of the Agro-vet shops/ Veterinary centers that provide poultry farming
inputs such as feeds, drugs, vaccines, and other poultry equipment is a challenge to poultry
farmers. The inadequate and lack of extension officers who are the potential information providers
to the poultry farmers is another challenge. The objective of this paper is to help improvement of
poultry production by linking poultry farmers to these poultry services. A sample size of 200
respondents comprised of poultry farmers, agro-vet owners and extension officers were selected
using Cochran’s Formula from three regions in Tanzania. We found that there are areas where
these poultry services are not found at all and others are very far from the poultry farmer’s locality.
Thus, poultry farmers walk long distance accessing products and services from agro-vet shops and
at times fail to get extension services rather they use their experience in husbandry and through
word of mouth to improve production. However, poultry farmers try to address their problems
either by asking their friends or neighbors due to inaccessibility of the poultry services within their
locality. Therefore, in order to address these challenges, this study contributes a mobile and web
based application that provides poultry farmers’ insight on the locations of the agro-vet services
within their locality. Furthermore, the application facilitates the provision of extension services in
addition to the agro-vet services. The contacts of the extension workers and the veterinarians
within the location are provided on the application. The information provides direction for decision
makers and investors about the areas where there are lack of Agro-vet shops/ Vet centers and to
the need for Extension services. . The study concludes that through the proposed system, it can be
a panacea to improving and accessing poultry services through linking the poultry farmers to the
poultry services using both mobile application and web based application
A Battery Voltage Level Monitoring System for Telecommunication Towers
Get PDFThis research article was published by Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, Vol. 11, No. 6, 2021Voltage fluctuations in batteries form a major challenge the telecommunication towers face. These fluctuations mostly occur due to poor management and the lack of a battery voltage level monitoring system. The current paper presents a battery voltage-level monitoring system to be used in telecommunication towers. The proposed solution is incorporated with a centralized mobile application dashboard for accessing the live data of the installed battery, integrated with voltage-level, current, temperature, fire, and gas sensors. An Arduino Uno microcontroller board is used to process and analyze the collected data from the sensors. The Global Service Message (GSM) module is used to monitor and store data to the cloud. Users are alerted in the case of low voltage, fire, and increase in harmful gases in the tower through Short Message Service (SMS). The experiment was conducted at Ngorongoro and Manyara telecommunication towers. The developed system can be used in accessing battery information remotely while allowing real-time continuous monitoring of battery usage. The proposed battery voltage-level monitoring system contributes to the elimination of battery hazards in towers. Therefore, the proposed battery voltage level monitoring system can be adopted by telecommunication tower engineers for the reduction of voltage fluctuation risks
Modeling and optimization of clean water distribution networks
Get PDFA Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s in Mathematical and Computer Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyIn this study, a model has been developed to find the minimum cost in distributing clean
water. Linear Programming (LP) technique was used to formulate the model for Dodoma
city. The developed model consists of both hydraulic and water treatment parameters. The
model was then tested with real data collected from Ihumwa water network of Dodoma city
and other treatment cost data from the literature to test the workability of the model.
Hydraulic parameters such as head loss of the pipes, flow velocity and pipe pressure are
calculated using water flow software. The resulted model was solved using lingo software by
testing different intermediate values of pressure and velocity to obtain the minimum cost of
distributing clean water. As a result, the values 650 N/m
2
and 700 N/m
2
as a maximum and
minimum pressure and 0.5m/s and 2m/s as minimum and maximum velocity give the
minimum cost of distributing clean water. Consequently, the objective value of resulted
optimization model shows that the original cost of distributing clean water was reduced by
3.48%
Evaluation of the Direct Health Facility Financing Program in Improving Maternal Health Services in Pangani District, Tanzania
Get PDFThis research article was published by Dovepress, 2021Background: Maternal morbidity and mortality remain significant public health concerns
globally, with Tanzania reporting 398 deaths per 100,000 live births annually. While national
level data provide some insights into the issue, a focus on sub-national levels is required
because of differences in contexts such as rural-urban disparities in maternal mortality. This
study examined Direct Health Facility Financing (DHFF) and its effects on the quality of
maternal health services in Pangani, a rural district in Tanzania.
Methods: This study was conducted in Pangani district of Tanga region in Tanzania. The
study used both qualitative and quantitative methods, including 16 in-depth interviews with
the council health management teams, facility in charges, maternity nurse in charge, and 5
focus group discussions with community health governing committee members. The number
of deliveries that occurred in health facilities, as well as medical supplies, equipment, and
reagents purchased by the facilities, were compared using descriptive statistics before and
after the DHFF implementation.
Results: Direct disbursement of funds from the central government through the Ministry of
Finance and Planning to the primary health facilities reduced delays in procurement, improved
community outreach services, and improved community leaders’ engagements. Deliveries
occurring at health facilities increased by 33.6% (p < 0.001) one year after the HDFF imple mentation. Various medicines, delivery kits, and some reagents increased significantly (p < 0.05).
However, the lack of computers and poor internet connectivity, an insufficient supply of medical
equipment and unstable stock of the Medical Stores Department increased the difficulty of
obtaining the missed items from the selected prime vendor.
Conclusion: Overall, this study shows a positive impact of the DHFF on maternal health service
delivery in Pangani district. Specifically, an increase in the number of medical supplies, equipment,
and reagents necessary to provide maternal health services contributed to the observed increase in
facility deliveries by 33.6%. Moreover, the system minimizes unnecessary delays in the procure ment processes of required drugs, supplies, and other facility reagents. To maximize the impact of
the HDFF system, lack of computers, unstable internet, limited knowledge of the staff about the
system, and inadequate health workforce should be addressed. Therefore, strengthening the DHFF
system and staff training in-service and on the job is essential for smooth implementation.
Keywords: health financing, direct health facility financing, health governing committee,
maternal health, quality of care, Tanzani
Natural Pest Regulation and Its Compatibility with Other Crop Protection Practices in Smallholder Bean Farming Systems
Get PDFThis research article was published by MDPI in 2021Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) production and storage are limited by numerous con-
straints. Insect pests are often the most destructive. However, resource-constrained smallholders in
sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) often do little to manage pests. Where farmers do use a control strategy, it
typically relies on chemical pesticides, which have adverse effects on the wildlife, crop pollinators,
natural enemies, mammals, and the development of resistance by pests. Nature-based solutions —in
particular, using biological control agents with sustainable approaches that include biopesticides,
resistant varieties, and cultural tools—are alternatives to chemical control. However, significant
barriers to their adoption in SSA include a lack of field data and knowledge on the natural enemies
of pests, safety, efficacy, the spectrum of activities, the availability and costs of biopesticides, the lack
of sources of resistance for different cultivars, and spatial and temporal inconsistencies for cultural
methods. Here, we critically review the control options for bean pests, particularly the black bean
aphid (Aphis fabae) and pod borers (Maruca vitrata). We identified natural pest regulation as the
option with the greatest potential for this farming system. We recommend that farmers adapt to
using biological control due to its compatibility with other sustainable approaches, such as cultural
tools, resistant varieties, and biopesticides for effective management, especially in SSA
Genomics of Adaptations in Ungulates
Get PDFThis research article was published in the Journals Animals Volume 11, Issue 6, 2021Ungulates are a group of hoofed animals that have long interacted with humans as essential sources of food, labor, clothing, and transportation. These consist of domesticated, feral, and wild species raised in a wide range of habitats and biomes. Given the diverse and extreme environments inhabited by ungulates, unique adaptive traits are fundamental for fitness. The documentation of genes that underlie their genomic signatures of selection is crucial in this regard. The increasing availability of advanced sequencing technologies has seen the rapid growth of ungulate genomic resources, which offers an exceptional opportunity to understand their adaptive evolution. Here, we summarize the current knowledge on evolutionary genetic signatures underlying the adaptations of ungulates to different habitats
Nihilism and Postproverbials in Euphrase Kezilahabi’s Poetry Anthology 'Dhifa' ('Feast')
Get PDFThis Research Artilce was published by the Mwanga wa Lugha Vol. 6 No. I ssue 2 ,2021This paper discusses nihilism and postproverbials as exhibited, and how occasionally
they occur
pari passu, in a postmodern Swahili anthology of
Dhifa, published in 2008 and
authored by Euphrase Kezilahabi. Nihilism is “the radical repudiation of value, meaning
and desirability” (Nietzsche Friedrich 7). It is a doctrine of skepticism that negates
among others, idealism, mythology, arbitrary morality, and sacred values while
maintaining that established institutions based on these beliefs must be destroyed. It is a
populist notion and a philosophical orientation that interrogates the meaning of life and
sees life as being hopeless and meaningless. On the other hand, postproverbials are
“radicalized proverbial utterances which subvert the logic and the pattern of
conventional proverbs, and aim to supplement an essentially traditionalist imagination
with an iconographic and modernist consciousness” (Raji-Oyelade Aderemi 49). Both
forms aim to repudiate or subvert the established mantra or ethos. Justification for our
contention of the proposed point of convergence between these strands is demonstrated
in the innovative manipulation of Swahili proverbial logics and symbolism by Kezilahabi
in his many works, and in particular,
Dhifa. We present evidence of how Kezilahabi turns
the conventional form of Swahili proverbs which normally serves as a vital medium to
prescribe and proscribe the code of conduct of the people around to postproverbials,
which are in essence, structured in a more unconventional form. Kezilahabi uses the
same path to advocate his new beliefs, and values them through postproverbials or anti-
proverbs1.We are determined to show in this paper that the use of postproverbials is a key
weapon that Kezilahabi harbours in his anti-platitudinous maneuvering to precisely drive
his agenda. Our rationale is derived from parallelism we noted between
Dhifa andThus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885) by Friedrich Nietzsche (2006
Shauri et al. BMC Infect Dis (2021) 21:911 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06549-y RESEARCH Seroprevalence of Dengue and Chikungunya antibodies among blood donors in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania: a cross-sectional study
Get PDFThis research article was published by BMC Infectious Medical in 2021Background: The potential shift of major causes of febrile illnesses from malaria to non-malarial febrile illnesses,
including arboviral diseases such as chikungunya and dengue, is of concern. The last outbreaks of these infections
were reported in 2018 and 2019 for chikungunya in Zanzibar and dengue in Dar es Salaam. We conducted a cross-
sectional study that involved serological testing of stored blood samples from the blood banks in Temeke Referral
Hospital in Dar es Salaam and the National Blood Bank Unit in Zanzibar. The samples were collected from Zanzibar
and Dar es Salaam donors in May and June 2020, respectively. A total of 281 samples were included in the study, and
their demographic information extracted from the registers. The samples were then transported to Muhimbili Univer-
sity of Health and Allied Sciences at the Microbiology Laboratory. They were subjected to an indirect ELISA to detect
IgG and IgM against dengue and chikungunya viruses.
Results: Seropositive IgM samples from Dar es Salaam were 3/101 (2.97%) for chikungunya and 1/101 (0.9%) for
dengue, while samples from Zanzibar were all IgM negative for both viruses. Chikungunya IgG seropositivity was
significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in Dar es Salaam 21/101 (21.2%) than Zanzibar 22/180 (12.2%). There was no difference
in dengue IgG seropositivity between Dar es Salaam 44/101 (43.5%) and Zanzibar 68/180 (37.8%). Similarly, dual IgG
seropositivity for both dengue and chikungunya viruses were not different between Dar es Salaam 13/101 (12.9%)
and Zanzibar 11/180 (6.1%).
Conclusion: Detection of IgM for dengue and chikungunya in Dar es Salaam indicates recent or ongoing transmis-
sion of the two viruses in the absence of a reported outbreak. These findings suggest the possibility of transmission of
the two infections through blood transfusion. Detection of IgG antibodies for dengue and chikungunya viruses might
be contributed by both; the ongoing infections and residual responses caused by preceding infections in the country.
Results from blood banks may represent the tip of the iceberg. Further studies are needed to gain insight into the
actual burden of the two diseases in Tanzania
Effects of Restoration Techniques on Plant Diversity and Forage Biomass in Areas Invaded by Prosopis juliflora
Get PDFThis research article is published by International Journal of Advances in Scientific Research and Engineering , Vol 7 (12), December -2021Prosopis juliflora, an invasive plant worldwide causes major threats by destructing natural ecosystem and limits provisioning of ecosystem services in the invaded areas. Attempts to manage the species and restore invaded lands have landed countries to adopt and implement different restoration options.This study tested three restoration options namely Diveting, Mulching and Seeding and their combination to assess their effectiveness in enhancing plant diversity and forage biomass. The study cleared invaded lands in Kahe Ward, Northern Tanzania and laid two blocks, each designated to address livestock pasture and conservationchallenges. Experimental blocks were laid in a complete randomized design in 10mx10m plots.Data on plant species and forage biomass were collected in each 10mx10m whereby plants were identified with the support of a botanist; their number recorded, and grass samples green and dry weight determined. The Shannon–Wiener Diversity Index was used to estimate diversity of plant species and the average values in each restoration treatment.One way ANOVA showed that, diversity of native plants was higher in control (Mean±SE =1.239±0.937)than diveting (Mean±SE =1.105±0.56) and diveting-mulching (Mean±SE =0.7703±0.55). Forage biomass was higher in control (Mean±SE =65.917±10.083)than in diveting(Mean±SE =52.425±11.15), diverting-mulching(Mean±SE =42.067±8.751) and diveting-seeding-mulching (Mean±SE =57.625±10.02)implying that restoration interventions have no positive influence on forage biomass.It is recommended that, clearing the land and leave it without restoration is enough because the restoration options do not have positive influence on plant diversity and forage biomas