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Radioactivity and dose assessment of naturally occurring radionuclides in terrestrial environments and foodstuffs: a review of Bahi district, Tanzania
Get PDFThis Research Article was published in International Journal of Environmental Health Research, 2023.In this review, the online searchable research articles were scrutinized for the data presented in line with radioactivity and dose estimates from both terrestrial environments and foodstuffs from Bahi district and other parts of Tanzania. The data on natural gamma ray dose rates from Bahi localities were observed with variations among researchers. The observed ranges of radioactivity concentrations (Bq kg−1) in soil were 226Ra (28.5–57.4), 232Th (38.1–521.3), and 40K (562.9–665.0). Deep closed water wells with installed pumps from Ilindi and Bahi Mission reported radioactivity concentration of 238U 3.08 Bq L−1 and Ilindi swamps reported radioactivity concentrations of 226Ra 15.35 Bq L−1, whereas radioactivity concentrations of 238U in cereals were within the annual tolerable limits of 0.001–0.02 Bq kg−1. The quantity and accessibility of published studies, as well as the diversity of the data, point to the necessity for additional studies to be carried out in order to obtain comprehensive baseline data
Integrating a community-based continuous mass dog vaccination delivery strategy into the veterinary system of Tanzania: A process evaluation using normalization process theory
Get PDFThis research article was published in the One Health Volume 17, June 2023Abstract: Sustained vaccination coverage of domestic dog populations can interrupt rabies transmission. How-
ever, challenges remain including low dog owner participation, high operational costs associated with current
(centralized and annually delivered (pulse)) approaches and high dog population turnover. To address these
challenges an alternative (community-based continuous mass dog vaccination (CBC-MDV)) approach was
designed. We investigated the potential for successful normalization of CBC-MDV into routine practice within the
context of local communities and the veterinary system of Tanzania
Methods: In a process evaluation of a pilot implementation of CBC-MDV, we conducted in-depth interviews with
implementers and community leaders (n = 24), focus group discussion with implementers and community
members (n = 12), and non-participant observation (n = 157 h) of delivery of the intervention components. We
analyzed these data thematically drawing on the normalization process theory, to assess factors affecting
implementation and integration.
Main findings: Implementers and community members clearly understood the values and benefits of the CBC-
MDV, regarding it as an improvement over the pulse strategy. They had a clear understanding of what was
required to enact CBC-MDV and considered their own involvement to be legitimate. The approach fitted well into
routine schedules of implementers and the context (infrastructure, skill sets and policy). Implementers and
community members positively appraised CBC-MDV in terms of its perceived impact on rabies and recommended
its use across the country. Implementers and community members further believed that vaccinating dogs free of
charge was critical and made community mobilization easier. However, providing feedback to communities and
involving them in evaluating outcomes of vaccination campaigns were reported to have not been done. Local
politics was cited as a barrier to collaboration between implementers and community leaders
Constraints to utilization of the African nightshades and the effects of lactic acid fermentation on its nutritional and sensory qualities
Get PDFA Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Life Sciences of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyAfrican nightshades (ANS, Solanum nigrum complex) are among the most widely distributed
and consumed indigenous vegetables in Tanzania. Several challenges hamper the utilization of
ANS. This study sought to assess trends and constraints to ANS utilization in Kilimanjaro and
Morogoro regions, Tanzania and also, to assess the effect of lactic acid fermentation on the
nutritional and sensory quality of ANS. About 627 farmers' households were involved in the
study. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to collect information. Semi structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and Key informants’ interviews were the
methods of data collection. Solanum villosum and Solanum scabrum were fermented naturally
and controlled fermentation using Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides.
The results showed that ANS is mainly used as food (96.1%), animal feed (41.3%), and
medicine (38%). On average, only 5% of ANS sales contributed to family income. The main
constraints to ANS utilization include; pests and diseases (92.9%), lack of knowledge (58%),
shortages of fertilizer (51%), shortages of pesticides (50%), inadequate means of transport
(50.4%), lack of extension services (48%), improper postharvest handling (41.4%) and
inadequate storage facilities (34%). Postharvest losses accounted for a 78.4% loss of ANS.
There was minimal value addition on ANS, e.g., drying (5.3%) and fermentation (1.1%).
Fermentation significantly reduced pH and increased titratable acidity. Fermentation increased
β-carotene 2-5 times for both pickles. Vitamin C, chlorophyll and polyphenol were
significantly reduced. Fermentation increased bioavailability of minerals (P, Ca, Fe and Zn).
Knowledge should be given on good agricultural practices i.e., the proper use of pesticides,
fertilizers, and quality seeds. Knowledge of the processing and preservation of ANS is
necessary for farmers to improve utilization, reduce losses and ensure ANS availability.
Fermentation can preserve ANS, with an increase in β-carotene and reducing antinutrients.
Fermentation can be recommended to small-scale farmers, processors and households to
improve their nutrition and livelihood
Adsorption and desorption ability of divalent mercury from an interactive bicomponent sorption system using hybrid granular activated carbon
Get PDFThis research article was published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, Volume 195, 2023.The sequestration of heavy metals from multicomponent sorption media has become critical due to the noxious effects of heavy metals on the natural environment and subsequently on human health as well as all life forms. The abatement of heavy metals using bio-adsorbents is one of the efficient and affordable approaches for treating water and wastewater. Therefore, the interactive effect of arsenic [As(III)] ions on the sorption and desorption ability of mercury [Hg(II)] from a binary sorption system was conducted. More so, the impact of reaction time, solution pH, bio-adsorbent particle size, bio-adsorbent dose, initial mono-metal, and binary-metal concentration as well as reaction temperature on the individual and competitive sorption of Hg(II) was explored. The study showed that Hg(II) could be removed effectively from the single-component system and competitively from the aqueous phases by the bio-adsorbent in the coexistence of As(III) species in the bicomponent medium. The adsorptive detoxification of Hg(II) from the monocomponent and bicomponent sorption media showed dependence on all the studied adsorption parameters. The occurrence of As(III) species in the bicomponent sorption medium affected the decontamination of Hg(II) by the bio-adsorbent and the major interactive mechanism was found to be antagonism. The spent bio-adsorbent was effectively recycled using 0.10 M nitric (HNO3) and hydrochloric (HCl) acids solutions and the multi-regeneration cycles showed a high removal efficiency in each cycle. The first regeneration cycle was found to have the highest Hg(II) ions removal efficiencies of 92.31 and 86.88% for the monocomponent and bicomponent systems, respectively. Thus, the bio-adsorbent was found to be mechanically stable and reusable up to the 6.00 regeneration cycle. Therefore, this study concludes that the bio-adsorbent not only has a higher adsorption capacity but also a good recycling performance pointing to good industrial applications and economic prospects
Smallholder farmers’ awareness and aflatoxins contamination of sesame seeds grown in Southern Tanzania
Get PDFA Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master’s in Life Sciences of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyConsumption of aflatoxins contaminated foods has led to detrimental health effects worldwide,
with even more severe cases in African countries including Tanzania. A cross-sectional study
was conducted in Lindi and Mtwara regions to assess awareness and aflatoxins contamination of
sesame seeds. Subsequently, a total of 70 sesame seed samples were randomly purchased from
the local markets for assessing aflatoxin levels using HighPerformance Liquid Chromatography
(HPLC). Qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 for descriptive and correlation
analysis. Results show that the majority of the respondents (82.4%) were not aware of aflatoxin
contamination of agricultural produce. Awareness was negatively correlated to the levels of
education (p = -0.309**) and positively correlated with gender, whereby men were more aware
than women (p=0.03). On the other hand, 37 out of 70 sesame seeds samples were contaminated
with total aflatoxins at a range of 0.009 ng/g to 5.557 ng/g although none of these samples
exceeded the East Africa’s (EAS) maximumlimit of 10 ng/gfor total aflatoxins. Furthermore,
Aflatoxin AFB1 was detected in 13 samples, moreover, the concentration was below the EAS
maximum limit of 5 ng/g. Though the contamination was below the maximum limits and limited
to one agro-ecological zone and season, these findings provide useful insights on aflatoxins
contamination of sesame seeds from the two main growing regions in Tanzania
The Potential of Underutilized Plant Resources and Agricultural Wastes for Enhancing Biodiesel Stability: The Role of Phenolic- Rich Natural Antioxidants
Get PDFThis research articles was published in Journals International Journal of Energy Research Volume,2023Growing concerns about energy security and environmental sustainability have fueled demand for sustainable and renewable energy sources in recent years. Biodiesel, a renewable alternative to conventional fuels, has gained significant attention as a potential source of energy. However, the stability of biodiesel during storage and its susceptibility to oxidation remain major challenges. To address these issues, researchers have turned their focus to the utilization of natural antioxidants. Studies on sources of natural antioxidants, particularly those made from waste, such as food, have been extensively conducted. However, there are still some restrictions, such as inconsistency in quality, the development of microbes, and difficulties with regulations, all of which have an impact on sustainability and the phenolic contents. Phenolic compounds are known for their excellent antioxidant properties and ability to inhibit the oxidation process. The review provides an overview of various underutilized plant resources and agricultural wastes that are rich in phenolic contents and demonstrate higher antioxidant activities, such as Vitex doniana, Uapaca kirkiana, Parinari curatellifolia, Tamarindus indica L, fruit peels, and crop residues. It discusses the extraction methods employed to obtain phenolic antioxidants from these sources and highlights their antioxidant activities. Additionally, the review examines the effects of phenolic antioxidants on key parameters, including induction period, peroxide value, acid value, and viscosity. The review concluded by highlighting the potential of underutilized plant resources and agricultural wastes as sustainable sources of phenolic-rich natural antioxidants for enhancing biodiesel stability. According to the literatures, phenolic antioxidants present in underutilized plant resources and agricultural wastes can chelate metal ions, scavenge free radicals, and break oxidation chain reactions, thereby preventing the degradation of biodiesel. Moreover, the limitation of the use of natural antioxidants in the stabilization of biodiesel like instability at high temperatures has been highlighte
A monitoring system for transboundary foot and mouth disease considering livestock keepers demographic characteristics
Get PDFA Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Communication Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyFoot and Mouth disease (FMD) is a transboundary disease caused by a virus that affects domestic
and wild cloven-hooved animals such as sheep, goats, pigs, and buffalos. FMD is transmitted from
one animal to another through direct or indirect contact. Apart from other animal diseases, FMD has
been given great attention due to its unique behaviour, such as being potentially dangerous, rapidly
spreading disease, and it has no cure. Therefore, immediate information flow among livestock
stakeholders could help to mitigate FMD. Realizing the importance of animal disease surveillance,
many agencies developed systems for monitoring animal health (fast disease reporting and
response). The challenge is that they were developed using advanced technologies like web-based
and android, requiring skills, internet connectivity, computers, and smartphones to access them.
However, most livestock keepers lack these facilities, especially in developing countries. In that
case, they deny access to livestock keepers positioned at the grass-root of animals’ disease reporting
chain since illnesses always begin with their animals. Therefore, their lack of participation in
reporting or receiving animal disease information through the electronic-based animal disease
surveillance system causes a delay in identifying and reporting disease cases and provides
insufficient information for controlling contiguous diseases like FMD, which require more
precautionary measures through timely information sharing.
This study aims to bridge the gap between livestock keepers and top-level stakeholders by
developing an animal diseases surveillance system named “Monitoring System for Transboundary
Foot and Mouth Disease Considering Livestock Keepers Demographic Characteristics (AMoS4T-
FMD)”. The system provides a standard platform for sharing FMD-related information between top-
level stakeholders and livestock keepers in time using various mobile technologies based on their
demographic characteristics.
Gairo district in the Morogoro region was selected as a study area. Therefore, the surveillance system
was developed and tested in Gairo district settings. However, it has flexible settings to work
elsewhere. In Gairo, livestock keepers’ mobile phone usage and demographic data were collected to
determine the appropriate mobile technologies to communicate animal disease surveillance
information among themselves and top-level stakeholders through AMoS4T-FMD. After that, an
algorithm (FMD communication algorithm) which enables livestock keepers to communicate with
AMoS4T-FMD using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Short Message Service
(SMS) and Robot calls (Robocalls) based on their demographic data was developed. Also, a Model
for predicting and alerting FMD outbreaks in the Gairo district using an Agent-Based Simulation
modelling technique was developed. Lastly, the FMD communication algorithm and the Agent-
ii
Based Simulation model were combined into the software using the waterfall model for system
development. Finally, the system was tested using verification and validation techniques
Gs-mac: A scalable and energy-efficient mac protocol for greenhouse monitoring and control using wireless sensor networks
Get PDFA Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master’s in Wireless and Mobile Computing of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyIn recent years, wireless sensor networks have been widely applied in agricultural greenhouses
to monitor and control farming-related parameters. These networks are composed of multiple
sensor nodes, usually deployed in an ad hoc fashion. This form of farming attains the best
quality and crop yield. However, the sensor nodes are energy constrained. So it is essential to
reduce node power consumption to extend the network lifetime. An extensive analysis of
weather conducted at Tanzanian locations show that weather parameters do not vary frequently.
These characteristics motivate a duty cycling strategy, to minimize node power usage and
increase the network lifetime. Therefore, this work proposes Greenhouse Sensor MAC (GS-
MAC), a medium-access-control (MAC) protocol designed for greenhouse monitoring and
control: energy conservation and scalability are the primary objectives, with latency being less
crucial. To minimize idle listening, nodes implement a Time Division Multiple Access
(TDMA) scheme and periodically sleep. Nodes in close proximity organize into clusters.
Unlike traditional duty cycling techniques, GS-MAC avoids periodic node synchronizations.
Instead, nodes communicate by maintaining strict schedules provided by cluster heads, to avoid
collisions, over-emitting and minimize the duty cycle. GS-MAC also uses short node addresses
to reduce packet overheads. Finally, GS-MAC adopts a contention approach on reserved time
slots allocated between communication rounds to maintain scalability. GS-MAC has been
implemented on MATLAB software, with simulation parameters (i.e., sensor nodes' current
consumption characteristics) obtained from actual hardware. The experiment results show that
GS-MAC extends the network lifetime by at least 2.7 times more than previous research, with
traffic loads sent every 1-60 second
The utilisation of open research data repositories for storing and sharing research data in higher learning institutions in Tanzania
Get PDFThis research article was published in the Journals of Library Management Vol. 44 No. 8/9, 2023Purpose – The study aims to investigate the utilisation of open research data repositories (RDRs) for storing
and sharing research data in higher learning institutions (HLIs) in Tanzania.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey research design was employed to collect data from
postgraduate students at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in
Arusha, Tanzania. The data were collected and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. A census sampling
technique was employed to select the sample size for this study. The quantitative data were analysed using the
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), whilst the qualitative data were analysed thematically.
Findings – Less than half of the respondents were aware of and were using open RDRs, including Zenodo,
DataVerse, Dryad, OMERO, GitHub and Mendeley data repositories. More than half of the respondents were
not willing to share research data and cited a lack of ownership after storing their research data in most of the
open RDRs and data security. HILs need to conduct training on using trusted repositories and motivate
postgraduate students to utilise open repositories (ORs). The challenges for underutilisation of open RDRs were
a lack of policies governing the storage and sharing of research data and grant constraints.
Originality/value – Research data storage and sharing are of great interest to researchers in HILs to inform
them to implement open RDRs to support these researchers. Open RDRs increase visibility within HILs and
reduce research data loss, and research works will be cited and used publicly. This paper identifies the potential
for additional studies focussed on this area
IoT-based on boiler fuel monitoring system: a case of Raha beverages company limited, Arusha-Tanzania
Get PDFA Project Report Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Embedded and Mobile Systems of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyRAHA Beverages Company (RABEC) is the one of banana wine production companies that
utilizes fuel in steam production in Arusha-Tanzania. Fuel usage and conditions monitoring in
RABEC become a challenge due to inaccurate and unreliable current monitoring systems.
Currently, RABEC uses a dropping stick into the fuel tank to investigate fuel level,
temperature, and usage, which are time-consuming, give inaccurate readings, inefficiency, and
provoked accidents. This study aimed to develop an IoT-based fuel monitoring system that can
provide real-time fuel conditions to prevent plant breakdown and accidents. The flow meter,
ultrasonic, fuel temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors were used to gather fuel data
conditions. The GSM was employed to send fuel data messages to the operator’s phone. An
AT mega 328 microcontroller was used to process and analyze the fuel data. Thing Speak IoT
platform was also used to visualize and aggregate fuel data using Wi-Fi connectivity. The
results showed that when fuel level was less than the threshold value, an operator was alerted
by refilling messages via GSM technology. At 0.1Psi pressure, fuel temperature of 120℃, and
80% of humidity, the system notifies the operator by an alert to check injector pressure and if
fuel-air mixture is perfect. In addition, these data were observed on LCD and ThingSpeak
webpage. To conclude, the developed system proves a high accuracy, security, and efficiency
rates compared to the current monitoring system. Future work is recommended by deploying
SCADA with HMI systems to monitor and control fuel usage