Managing sustainable rural water supply in EthiopiaLength: pp.103-112

Water supplyModelsEnergyAppropriate technology

Reversible optical to microwave quantum interface

We describe a reversible quantum interface between an optical and a microwave field using a hybrid device based on their common interaction with a micro-mechanical resonator in a superconducting circuit. We show that, by employing state-of-the-art opto-electro-mechanical devices, one can realise an effective source of (bright) two-mode squeezing with an optical idler (signal) and a microwave signal, which can be used for high-fidelity transfer of quantum states between optical and microwave fields by means of continuous variable teleportation.Comment: 5 + 3 pages, 5 figure

Valuation of Soil Conservation Practices in Adwa Woreda, Ethiopia: A Contingent Valuation Study

Soil degradation is one of the most serious environmental problems in the high­lands of Ethiopia. The prevalence of traditional agricultural land use and the absence of appropriate resource management often result in the degradation of natural soil fertility in the country. Thus, in this study we have attempted to investigate the value that the farmers have attached to soil conservation practices and the determinants of willingness to pay for it using a Contingent Valuation Method. In the CVM survey, Double Bounded Dichotomous Choice format with an open ended follow up was used to elicit the households’ willingness to pay. Based on data collected from 218 respondents, probit model was employed to assess the determinants of willingness to pay. The model shows that age, sex, education level, family size, perception, tenure, Total Livestock Units and initial bid were the important variables in determining willingness to pay for soil conservation practices in the study area. Our study also shows that the mean willingness to pay (WTP) estimated from the Double Bounded Dichotomous Choice format was computed at 56.65 person days per household per annum. The respective total aggregate value of soil conservation in the study area (Adwa Woreda) was computed to be 1 373 592 person days per annum, which is equivalent to 16 483 104 Ethiopian Birr. Therefore, if new intervention program for soil conservation is to be implemented, policy makers should consider those factors for better results. In Our study, we found very few protest zeros only (1.8%) which shows CVM is suitable method for valuing non marketed goods in less developing countries like Ethiopia. Keywords: Contingent Valuation Method, Willingness to Pay, Soil Conservation, Double Bounded Dichotomous Choic

A systematic review and meta-analysis of trypanosome prevalence in tsetse flies

Background: The optimisation of trypanosomosis control programs warrants a good knowledge of the main vector of animal and human trypanosomes in sub-Saharan Africa, the tsetse fly. An important aspect of the tsetse fly population is its trypanosome infection prevalence, as it determines the intensity of the transmission of the parasite by the vector. We therefore conducted a systematic review of published studies documenting trypanosome infection prevalence from field surveys or from laboratory experiments under controlled conditions. Publications were screened in the Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Using the four-stage (identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion) process in the PRISMA statement the initial screened total of 605 studies were reduced to 72 studies. The microscopic examination of dissected flies (dissection method) remains the most used method to detect trypanosomes and thus constituted the main focus of this analysis. Meta-regression was performed to identify factors responsible for high trypanosome prevalence in the vectors and a random effects meta-analysis was used to report the sensitivity of molecular and serological tests using the dissection method as gold standard. Results: The overall pooled prevalence was 10.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.1%, 12.4%) and 31.0% (95% CI = 20. 0%, 42.0%) for the field survey and laboratory experiment data respectively. The country and the year of publication were found to be significantly factors associated with the prevalence of trypanosome infection in tsetse flies. The alternative diagnostic tools applied to dissection positive samples were characterised by low sensitivity, and no information on the specificity was available at all. Conclusion: Both temporal and spatial variation in trypanosome infection prevalence of field collected tsetse flies exists, but further investigation on real risk factors is needed how this variation can be explained. Improving the sensitivity and determining the specificity of these alternative diagnostic tools should be a priority and will allow to estimate the prevalence of trypanosome infection in tsetse flies in high-throughput

Deep Learning using K-space Based Data Augmentation for Automated Cardiac MR Motion Artefact Detection

Quality assessment of medical images is essential for complete automation of image processing pipelines. For large population studies such as the UK Biobank, artefacts such as those caused by heart motion are problematic and manual identification is tedious and time-consuming. Therefore, there is an urgent need for automatic image quality assessment techniques. In this paper, we propose a method to automatically detect the presence of motion-related artefacts in cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images. As this is a highly imbalanced classification problem (due to the high number of good quality images compared to the low number of images with motion artefacts), we propose a novel k-space based training data augmentation approach in order to address this problem. Our method is based on 3D spatio-temporal Convolutional Neural Networks, and is able to detect 2D+time short axis images with motion artefacts in less than 1ms. We test our algorithm on a subset of the UK Biobank dataset consisting of 3465 CMR images and achieve not only high accuracy in detection of motion artefacts, but also high precision and recall. We compare our approach to a range of state-of-the-art quality assessment methods.Comment: Accepted for MICCAI2018 Conferenc

ANALISA KADAR CEMARAN MERKURI (Hg) PADA IKAN TUNA (Thunnus sp.) KEMASAN KALENG SECARA SPEKTROFOTOMETRI SERAPAN ATOM (SSA)

Mercury is a heavy metal that can have a toxic effect on the body so that it can cause death. Mercury metal contamination in food is regulated in SNI number 7387 of 2009 regarding the Maximum Heavy Metal Limit. Some metal waste disposal ends up in river, lake, or sea waters so that metal pollution can occur in the ecosystem. This study aims to determine the levels of mercury metal contamination in canned tuna. Sample preparation was carried out using the wet digestion method with a microwave digestion device. The results of the analysis showed that from the six samples of canned tuna fish according to the maximum limit and meet the standard maximum limit of 1.0 mg/kg SNI. Mercury analysis was carried out using the AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry) method. The wavelength used is at 253.7 nm. The results showed that the mercury in tuna brand A was 0.9030±0 mg/kg tuna brand B 0.1029±0 mg/kg, tuna brand C 0.4524±0 mg/kg, tuna brand C D 0.0967±0 mg/kg, tuna brand E 0.9567 ± 0 mg/kg, and tuna brand F 0.8034±0 mg/kg

Analisis Penentuan Zonasi Risiko Bencana Tanah Longsor Berbasis Sistem Informasi Geografis (Studi Kasus : Kabupaten Banjarnegara)

Banjarnegara Regency is located in the province of Central Java which has high risk to landslide. There were 134 cases of landslide occur from 2012- 2014. Therefore, mapping of the risks of landslide is required as disaster mitigation efforts in the Banjarnegara Regency. Mapping of landslide risks based on Geographic Information System created with GIS software by scoring and weighting, and overlays between constituent parameters. In this research, using two methods namely SNI (Indonesian National Standard) and AHP (Analythical Hierarchy Process) then will be known which method is closer to the real situation on the fieldFrom the result of mapping of the risks of landslide using SNI method obtained high-risk areas by 69,961%, medium 25,868%, dan low risk level 4,171%. Whereas from AHP method result obtained high-risk areas by 73,244%, medium 23,592%, dan low risk level 3,165% that scattered in the Banjarnegara Regency. From the field validation obtained conformity to SNI by 65% and 45% for the result of AHP. GIS software can be used as media of making map by the method of weighting and scoring