Participatory impact assessment of ticks on cattle milk production in pastoral and agro-pastoral production systems of Borana Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southern Ethiopia

Participatory impact assessment of ticks on Borana cattle milk production was conducted from January 2010 to July 2010. The objectives of this study were to assess the status of tick infestation in relation to climate change, teats blinding and milk production and to estimate the economic losses caused as a result of the effect of ticks on dairy cattle and its implications on food security in Yabello, Moyale and Meo districts of Borana zone. Multi-stage sampling technique was employed and the data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and matrix triangulation. Thus, about six villages “Ollas” were systematically identified and a total of 86 households were interviewed employing questionnaires comprising 6-12 pastoralists and agropastoralists per ten PAs which in sum contained 60-120 individuals who provided information pertaining to the objectives set; in which increase of ticks population at an alarming rate was perceived having several factors affecting and its real impact of blinding on teats which signal loss of milk production which in fact revealed economic loss and implicated food insecurity on vulnerable social groups, specifically children and elders >80 years old within the settings. Tick resistance to currently available acaricides was complained by communities. It was observed that acaricides were sold in open market and there was no strong control on illegal veterinary drug vendors. Communities also purchase these acaricides and misuse them which, contributed to the increase of acaricide resistance. This is a good indication for policy makers and local authorities to take strict action on illegal drug vendors

Effect of processing method on the Proximate composition, mineral content and antinutritional factors of Taro (Colocasia esculenta, L.) growth in Ethiopia

Although taro is widely grown in Ethiopia, it is an underutilized crop and little is known about its proximate and micro-element composition and the antinutritional factors of the raw, boiled and fermented products. Boiling and fermentation processing techniques are widely used in the country, especially within the rural community of the Southern region where the crop grows widely. A cultivar of taro grown in the country was analyzed for proximate and mineral composition and antinutritional factors. An investigation was also made on the effects of boiling and fermentation on the nutritional contents. Protein, fat, fiber, total ash and utilizable carbohydrates, respectively were found to be 6.43, 0.47, 2.63, 4.82 and 85.65%, while the Gross Energy was 372.55 Kcal/100g. The contents of the micronutrients namely: Fe, Zn, Mg, Ca, Na, P and Mn were 5.86, 43.08, 7.24, 45.23, 13.81, 7.77 and 3.61 mg/100g, respectively. Phytate for the raw product was 115.43 while oxalate and tannin were 243.06 and 47.69 mg/100g, respectively. Cyanide was not detected in all the samples. There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the contents of the proximate and mineral composition and antinutritional factors during boiling and fermentation. The protein content was lower by 9.37% and 8.46%, respectively, in the boiled and fermented products, under the sampling and processing conditions used in the study. The crude fat content was significantly different (p < 0.05) from the crude fat content of the boiled product which was 0.87%. On the other hand, analysis of variance conducted showed that the fiber content of raw sample was significantly different from the fermented samples. Fermentation resulted in a lower level of fiber which was 6.44% and phytates of about 84.75%. Boiling of taro resulted in a higher value of oxalate (70.9%). The data presented in this paper provide an evidence of the potential of Boloso I (which is one variety of taro) to serve as a nutrient dense product for the Ethiopian population provided that the techniques of its processing are optimized.Keywords: Ethiopia, Taro, Oxalates, PhytatesAfrican Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Volume 13 No. 2 April 201

Novel multipath mitigation methods using a dual-polarization antenna

There are many methods for mitigating GNSS multipath errors. However, none of them completely eliminate the effects of multipath or suit all GNSS applications. A new class of multipath mitigation methods exploit new dual-polarization antenna technology. GNSS signals received direct from the satellites have right-handed circular polarization (RHCP), whereas (singly) reflected signals have left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) or an elliptical polarization that may be expressed as the sum of RHCP and LHCP components. Conventional GNSS user antennas are more sensitive to signals with RHCP, attenuating LHCP signals and reducing, but not eliminating, the multipath errors in the receiver. An antenna with the opposite polarization sensitivity will attenuate the direct signals more than the reflected signals. This can be used to characterizing the reflected signals and thus mitigate the effects of multipath interference.Experimental work using an Antcom dual-polarization antenna and dual geodetic receivers is presented. This verifies that carrier power to noise density, C/N-0, measurements obtained by separately correlating the RHCP and LHCP antenna outputs can be used to distinguish between a low-multipath and moderate-multipath environment. This may be used as the basis of a multipath detection technique.Three different multipath mitigation techniques that use a dual-polarization antenna are proposed. Measurement weighting estimates the code and carrier multipath error standard deviation from the RHCP-LHCP C/N-0 difference and elevation angle. This is used by the navigation processor to discard and reweight measurements. Range-domain multipath correction, uses the pseudo-range, carrier-phase and C/N-0 differences between the outputs of RHCP and LHCP receiver tracking channels, together with antenna calibration data, to estimate corrections to the code and carrier measurements. In tracking-domain multipath mitigation, the RHCP and LHCP correlator outputs are input to common acquisition and tracking algorithms which attempt to separate the direct line of sight and reflected signalsThe design of a novel dual-input GNSS front end, based on direct RF sampling, is presented This will be used, in conjunction with a software GNSS receiver, for future development and testing of multipath mitigation using a dual-polarization antenna

COVID-19 and acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and ventricular thrombus in a young ethiopian man without known cardiac risk factors: A case report

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can present with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome but rarely with acute myocardial infarction, especially in the absence of known cardiovascular disease risk factors. We present the case of a previously healthy young Ethiopian man with COVID-19 and no known cardiovascular risk factors who was diagnosed with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction and left ventricular thrombu

Extraction of bioactives from brown seaweed using sub and supercritical fluids: Influence of the extract on the storage stability of fish oil enrich mayonnaise

This study aimed at extracting lipophilic and hydrophilic compounds from Nordic brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus and to evaluate the extract’s ability to maintain the physical and oxidative stability of fish oil-enriched mayonnaise (80% fat, 1:4 fish oil: rapeseed oil) during storage (dark, up to 28 days). Three different types of extracts were obtained, one using supercritical carbon dioxide (lipophilic extract) and two using subcritical water extraction (hydrophilic extracts)—one on dry seaweed (Subcritical water extract (SCWE) and one on the residue from supercritical carbon dioxide extraction after extracting the lipophilic compounds (Subcritical water extract (SCWER). The extracts were characterized with respect to their antioxidant composition and in vitro antioxidant properties. Moreover, the extracts were added in concentrations of 2 g/kg mayonnaise, both individually or in combination to study synergistic effects between antioxidants with different polarity and locations in the mayonnaise system. Results showed that both types of extractsdelayed the oxidation of lipids; The hydrophilic extracts (SCWE and SCWER) were able toretard the formation of hydroperoxides, and subsequent formation of secondary oxidation products. However, no synergetic effect was found for the hydrophilic and hydrophobic extracts when they were applied in different phases of the mayonnaise. The metal chelating ability is suggested to be responsible for the observed better performance of the hydrophilic extracts. However, further studies are required to understand which specific components in the extract have contributed to metal chelating ability. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggest hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds from the Nordic seaweed F. vesiculosus can retard lipid oxidation in mayonnaise

The NIKA instrument: results and perspectives towards a permanent KID based camera for the Pico Veleta observatory

The New IRAM KIDs Array (NIKA) is a pathfinder instrument devoted to millimetric astronomy. In 2009 it was the first multiplexed KID camera on the sky; currently it is installed at the focal plane of the IRAM 30-meters telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). We present preliminary data from the last observational run and the ongoing developments devoted to the next NIKA-2 kilopixels camera, to be commissioned in 2015. We also report on the latest laboratory measurements, and recent improvements in detector cosmetics and read-out electronics. Furthermore, we describe a new acquisition strategy allowing us to improve the photometric accuracy, and the related automatic tuning procedure.Comment: 24th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology, ISSTT 2013, April 8 to 10, 2013, Groningen, the Netherland

Latest NIKA results and the NIKA-2 project

NIKA (New IRAM KID Arrays) is a dual-band imaging instrument installed at the IRAM (Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimetrique) 30-meter telescope at Pico Veleta (Spain). Two distinct Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID) focal planes allow the camera to simultaneously image a field-of-view of about 2 arc-min in the bands 125 to 175 GHz (150 GHz) and 200 to 280 GHz (240 GHz). The sensitivity and stability achieved during the last commissioning Run in June 2013 allows opening the instrument to general observers. We report here the latest results, in particular in terms of sensitivity, now comparable to the state-of-the-art Transition Edge Sensors (TES) bolometers, relative and absolute photometry. We describe briefly the next generation NIKA-2 instrument, selected by IRAM to occupy, from 2015, the continuum imager/polarimeter slot at the 30-m telescope.Comment: Proceedings of Low Temperature Detectors 15 (LTD-15), Pasadena, June 201

High angular resolution Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations of MACS J1423.8+2404 with NIKA: Multiwavelength analysis

The prototype of the NIKA2 camera, NIKA, is an instrument operating at the IRAM 30-m telescope, which can observe simultaneously at 150 and 260GHz. One of the main goals of NIKA2 is to measure the pressure distribution in galaxy clusters at high resolution using the thermal SZ (tSZ) effect. Such observations have already proved to be an excellent probe of cluster pressure distributions even at high redshifts. However, an important fraction of clusters host submm and/or radio point sources, which can significantly affect the reconstructed signal. Here we report on <20" resolution observations at 150 and 260GHz of the cluster MACSJ1424, which hosts both radio and submm point sources. We examine the morphology of the tSZ signal and compare it to other datasets. The NIKA data are combined with Herschel satellite data to study the SED of the submm point source contaminants. We then perform a joint reconstruction of the intracluster medium (ICM) electronic pressure and density by combining NIKA, Planck, XMM-Newton, and Chandra data, focusing on the impact of the radio and submm sources on the reconstructed pressure profile. We find that large-scale pressure distribution is unaffected by the point sources because of the resolved nature of the NIKA observations. The reconstructed pressure in the inner region is slightly higher when the contribution of point sources are removed. We show that it is not possible to set strong constraints on the central pressure distribution without accurately removing these contaminants. The comparison with X-ray only data shows good agreement for the pressure, temperature, and entropy profiles, which all indicate that MACSJ1424 is a dynamically relaxed cool core system. The present observations illustrate the possibility of measuring these quantities with a relatively small integration time, even at high redshift and without X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, submitted to A&

High resolution SZ observations at the IRAM 30-m telescope with NIKA

High resolution observations of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect are necessary to allow the use of clusters of galaxies as a probe for large scale structures at high redshifts. With its high resolution and dual-band capability at millimeter wavelengths, the NIKA camera can play a significant role in this context. NIKA is based on newly developed Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) and operates at the IRAM 30m telescope, Pico Veleta, Spain. In this paper, we give the status of the NIKA camera, focussing on the KID technology. We then present observations of three galaxy clusters: RX J1347.5-1145 as a demonstrator of the NIKA capabilities and the recent observations of CL J1226.9+3332 (z = 0.89) and MACS J0717.5+3745 (z = 0.55). We also discuss prospects for the final NIKA2 camera, which will have a 6.5 arcminute field of view with about 5000 detectors in two bands at 150 and 260 GHz

Detection of the tSZ effect with the NIKA camera

We present the first detection of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect from a cluster of galaxies performed with a KIDs (Kinetic Inductance Detectors) based instrument. The tSZ effect is a distortion of the black body CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) spectrum produced by the inverse Compton interaction of CMB photons with the hot electrons of the ionized intra-cluster medium. The massive, intermediate redshift cluster RX J1347.5-1145 has been observed using NIKA (New IRAM KIDs arrays), a dual-band (140 and 240 GHz) mm-wave imaging camera, which exploits two arrays of hundreds of KIDs: the resonant frequencies of the superconducting resonators are shifted by mm-wave photons absorption. This tSZ cluster observation demonstrates the potential of the next generation NIKA2 instrument, being developed for the 30m telescope of IRAM, at Pico Veleta (Spain). NIKA2 will have 1000 detectors at 140GHz and 2x2000 detectors at 240GHz, providing in that band also a measurement of the linear polarization. NIKA2 will be commissioned in 2015.Comment: SF2A Proceedings 201