Baseline study: nutritional status, food security and fish consumption among people living with HIV/AIDS in Zambia

Under the regional programme Fisheries and HIV/AIDS in Africa, the University of Zambia, in collaboration with the WorldFish Center, has undertaken a baseline survey of the nutritional status and fish consumption of people living with HIV/AIDS in Zambia. Factors examined include household composition, education level, livelihood strategies, household food security, asset ownership, common ailments, sources of medication, the reason why children died, consumption of fish and other animal source foods, and level of nutrition education.

The Chambo restoration strategic plan

The Chambo (Oreochromis karongae, O. squamipinnis and O. lidole) fisheries are essential to the food security of the majority of Malawians and a lifeline for rural and urban economies. The chambo fisheries, however, have collapsed and urgent restoration is required. Successful restoration of the important chambo fisheries demands a careful analysis of the problem and formulation of a strategic plan to implement relevant activities that will result in effective interventions in the fisheries. These proceedings give information on the process of developing a strategic plan for the restoration of the chambo fisheries. The papers contained in these proceedings cover topics ranging from governance, policy, biology, ecology and socio-economics and, therefore, inform the reader of the scope of knowledge on the chambo, the socio-economic and livelihoods context within which the people exploiting the resource operate, and past constraints to the management of the chambo fisheries. The proceedings also contain recommendations on how to overcome the problems and a strategic plan for the restoration of the fisheries. It is hoped that the proceedings will emphasize to researchers in the natural and social sciences and development practitioners that a multidisciplinary approach is needed that puts the people utilizing the resource at the center of all activities involved if the chambo fisheries are to be successfully restoredFisheries, Fish culture, Fishery management, Resource conservation, Resource management, Malawi, Oreochromis karongae, Oreochromis squamipinnis, Oreochromis lidole

The Impact of Decentralization Policy on the Performance of Colleges of Education in Zambia: The Case of Kitwe, Mufulira and Copperbelt College of Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of decentralization on the performance of public Colleges of Education after the introduction of decentralization policy. The study was conducted on three colleges of education, namely; Kitwe College of Education (KICE), Mufulira College of Education (MUCE) and Copperbelt College of Education (CBCE), now Mukuba University. The three selected institutions are all public teacher training institutions located on the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The sample consisted of thirty (30) respondents, comprising academic staff and administrators. Ten (10) participants were drawn from each college. In order to evaluate the impact of decentralization on the performance of public colleges of Education, the researcher decided to use some performance variables (indicators) of decentralization; quality assurance, efficiency and effectiveness, service delivery, transparency and accountability, responsiveness and staff motivation to guide the study in the investigation of the topic at hand. The methods used to collect data for this study were questionnaires, unstructured interviews and desk research. The research design used for this study was a mixed survey method. Data obtained were analyzed using simple statistics, and the Pearson’s correlation model. The findings of the study were that colleges of educations had failed to take advantage of the decentralization policy as they have continued to depend for instructions and other important things from government. The performance variables showed that nothing significant has taken place in the three sampled public Colleges of Education. Despite this general picture however, the results from individual institution showed significant contrasts among the three institutions sampled on each of the performance indicators

Shift-Symmetric Configurations in Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata: Irreversibility, Insolvability, and Enumeration

The search for symmetry as an unusual yet profoundly appealing phenomenon, and the origin of regular, repeating configuration patterns have long been a central focus of complexity science and physics. To better grasp and understand symmetry of configurations in decentralized toroidal architectures, we employ group-theoretic methods, which allow us to identify and enumerate these inputs, and argue about irreversible system behaviors with undesired effects on many computational problems. The concept of so-called configuration shift-symmetry is applied to two-dimensional cellular automata as an ideal model of computation. Regardless of the transition function, the results show the universal insolvability of crucial distributed tasks, such as leader election, pattern recognition, hashing, and encryption. By using compact enumeration formulas and bounding the number of shift-symmetric configurations for a given lattice size, we efficiently calculate the probability of a configuration being shift-symmetric for a uniform or density-uniform distribution. Further, we devise an algorithm detecting the presence of shift-symmetry in a configuration. Given the resource constraints, the enumeration and probability formulas can directly help to lower the minimal expected error and provide recommendations for system's size and initialization. Besides cellular automata, the shift-symmetry analysis can be used to study the non-linear behavior in various synchronous rule-based systems that include inference engines, Boolean networks, neural networks, and systolic arrays.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 appendice

Case Report: A forgotten Dermatological Disease

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FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI TINGKAT KEPATUHAN PEMILIK KOS DALAM MEMBAYAR PAJAK RUMAH KOS: Studi Kasus Pada Pemilik Usaha Kos-Kosan di Kota Kupang

This study aims to determine the effect of taxpayer awareness, taxpayer knowledge, tax sanctions and tax service services on tax compliance. This research was conducted in the city of Kupang, descriptive statistical research method through a quantitative approach. The population in this study are taxpayers who carry out business activities for boarding houses in Kupang City. Sampling is in accordance with the provisions of the sample from a certain population that is the easiest to reach or obtain, for example the one closest to the place where the researcher is domiciled. The results of this study prove that a) Taxpayer awareness has no effect on tax compliance of boarding house owners in the city of Kupang. It is proven by a significance value of 0.841 > from a value of 0.05, b) Taxpayer knowledge has an effect on tax compliance of boarding house owners in the city of Kupang. It is proven by a significance value of 0.000 < from the value of sig 0.05, c) Tax sanctions have no effect on tax compliance of boarding house owners in the city of Kupang. It is proven by a significance value of 0.430 > from the value of sig 0.05 and d) Fiscal Services does not affect the tax compliance of boarding house owners in the city of Kupang. It is proven by a significance value of 0.430 > from the value of sig 0.05.