Information Accessibility for Sunflower Growers in Tanzania

The role of information for the effectual functioning of businesses is a central concern for many economists. According to Bello and Obinne (2012) as cited by Ozawa (1999) and Adefuye and Adedoyin (1993), the extent to which people progress in as far as agriculture is concerned largely depends on the availability and access to accurate and reliable information. According to one survey conducted on Marketing and market access for  Tanzanian  financial institutions which included both agricultural marketing cooperative societies (AMCOs) and savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs), results clearly implicated that there were various  inadequacies to many variables (URT, February 2012). Many stakeholders acknowledged to lacking adequate knowledge on marketing skills and market information dissemination. Rebekah (2005) argues that communication plays a major role in nearly every aspect of life. Effective communication does not only help people solve problems but also improve life. Communication experts have further argued that poor communication is at the root of many problems and that effective communication is one solution to these problems. She defines communication as the processes of understanding and sharing meaning. Communication is considered a process because it is an activity, exchange or a set of behaviors that occur over time, its components include people, the message, channel, feedback, encoding and decoding. Key words: information flow, communication, agricultural value chain, sunflower, capability

A planar calculus for infinite index subfactors

We develop an analog of Jones' planar calculus for II_1-factor bimodules with arbitrary left and right von Neumann dimension. We generalize to bimodules Burns' results on rotations and extremality for infinite index subfactors. These results are obtained without Jones' basic construction and the resulting Jones projections.Comment: 56 pages, many figure

Fourier Duality as a Quantization Principle

The Weyl-Wigner prescription for quantization on Euclidean phase spaces makes essential use of Fourier duality. The extension of this property to more general phase spaces requires the use of Kac algebras, which provide the necessary background for the implementation of Fourier duality on general locally compact groups. Kac algebras -- and the duality they incorporate -- are consequently examined as candidates for a general quantization framework extending the usual formalism. Using as a test case the simplest non-trivial phase space, the half-plane, it is shown how the structures present in the complete-plane case must be modified. Traces, for example, must be replaced by their noncommutative generalizations - weights - and the correspondence embodied in the Weyl-Wigner formalism is no more complete. Provided the underlying algebraic structure is suitably adapted to each case, Fourier duality is shown to be indeed a very powerful guide to the quantization of general physical systems.Comment: LaTeX 2.09 with NFSS or AMSLaTeX 1.1. 97Kb, 43 pages, no figures. requires subeqnarray.sty, amssymb.sty, amsfonts.sty. Final version with (few) text and (crucial) typos correction

Tanzania

A questionnaire using a psychometric scale investigated how small-scale sunflower farmers perceive the role of building relationships based on demand-driven upgrades, such as knowledge, skills, technology, and support services within the value chain. The study focused on small-scale sunflower farmers in the Singida region of Tanzania. The survey was conducted in twelve Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives (AMCOs) with 229 respondents. The respondents had positive opinions about creating core competencies, concluding that adopting new capabilities, especially with tangible assets such as extension officers, financing, warehouses, and technology, can lead to improved productivity and quality. The information flow from sunflower buyers and consumers is crucial for creating a positive image and hence creating value for farmers. Farmers require negotiating skills that could be attained through improved associations or cooperatives. Respondents also indicated positive benefits if the secto

The Effects of Trust in the Development of Business Linkages and Relationships Between Sunflower Growers and Buyers: A Case 0f Small Scale Growers in Singida Region, Tanzania

Edible oilseeds, with their related industrial value chains of activities, represent growing components of the agricultural economy in Tanzania. Through its initiative of Kilimo kwanza (agriculture first) policy, among other things, the government of Tanzania intends to improve its agricultural sector by building strong domestic economic capacities of production and processing of agricultural produce for both the domestic and export markets. This paper provides a framework for analyzing the role of trust in the development of business linkages and relationships between sunflower growers and buyer firms in Singida region, Tanzania. The paper discusses key concepts of trust in light of value chains governance theory. Various studies have concluded that the essence of trust is to improve business performance of the participating parties. Trust is viewed as a lubricant or enabler of cooperation. It creates stability between business partners, facilitates cementation of their relationships and guarantees continuity in business relationships

MEDIATING EFFECTS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND WORD-OF-MOUTH ADVERTISING ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF QUALITY OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO LOYALTY

This study sought to determine  the mediating effects of satisfaction  and word-of-mouth advertising on the relationship of quality service and customer loyalty among selected fine dining restaurants in Paseo de Sta. Rosa.   The research made use of the descriptive correlational research design, an appropriate method to investigate and describe the nature of a situation as it exists at the time of the study. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to determine  the mediating effects of customer satisfaction and word of mouth advertising on the relationship of the quality of products and services to loyalty among restaurant customers in Paseo de Santa Rosa. Quality of products and services of the fine dining  restaurant was excellent, customers’ satisfaction towards their products and services was perceived to be high, word-of-mouth advertising was perceived to be often, and the loyalty of customers was perceived to be likely. Quality of products and  services was significantly related to word-of-mouth, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, customer satisfaction was significantly related to loyalty. However, word-of-mouth advertising was not significantly related to loyalty. Based on the findings, the best path generated by the AMOS was both customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth as predictors of loyalty.  Therefore, customer satisfaction and word- of-mouth had mediating effects on the relationship of quality of products and services and loyalty

Twisting and Rieffel's deformation of locally compact quantum groups. Deformation of the Haar measure

We develop the twisting construction for locally compact quantum groups. A new feature, in contrast to the previous work of M. Enock and the second author, is a non-trivial deformation of the Haar measure. Then we construct Rieffel's deformation of locally compact quantum groups and show that it is dual to the twisting. This allows to give new interesting concrete examples of locally compact quantum groups, in particular, deformations of the classical $az+b$ group and of the Woronowicz' quantum $az+b$ group

Projective Fourier Duality and Weyl Quantization

The Weyl-Wigner correspondence prescription, which makes large use of Fourier duality, is reexamined from the point of view of Kac algebras, the most general background for noncommutative Fourier analysis allowing for that property. It is shown how the standard Kac structure has to be extended in order to accommodate the physical requirements. An Abelian and a symmetric projective Kac algebras are shown to provide, in close parallel to the standard case, a new dual framework and a well-defined notion of projective Fourier duality for the group of translations on the plane. The Weyl formula arises naturally as an irreducible component of the duality mapping between these projective algebras.Comment: LaTeX 2.09 with NFSS or AMSLaTeX 1.1. 102Kb, 44 pages, no figures. requires subeqnarray.sty, amssymb.sty, amsfonts.sty. Final version with text improvements and crucial typos correction

Performance of Lipoarabinomannan Assay using Cerebrospinal fluid for the diagnosis of Tuberculous meningitis among HIV patients.

Background: The diagnostic utility of the Mycobacteria tuberculosis lipoarabinomannan (TB-LAM) antigen lateral flow assay on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) has not been extensively studied and the few published studies have conflicting results. Methods: Lumbar CSF from 59 HIV-positive patients with suspected TBM was tested with TB-LAM and Xpert MTB/Rif Ultra. The diagnostic performance of CSF TB-LAM was compared to positive CSF Xpert MTB/Rif Ultra (definite TBM) and a composite reference of probable or definite TBM according to the uniform case definition.  Results: Of 59 subjects, 12 (20%) had definite TBM and five (9%) had probable TBM. With reference to definite TBM, CSF TB-LAM assay had a diagnostic sensitivity of 33% and specificity of 96%. When compared to a composite reference of definite or probable TBM, the sensitivity was 24% and specificity was 95%. There were two false positive tests with TB-LAM (3+ grade). In-hospital mortality in CSF TB-LAM positive patients was 17% compared to 0% in those with definite TBM by Xpert MTB/Rif Ultra but negative LAM. Conclusions: Lumbar CSF TB-LAM has a poor performance in diagnosing TBM. Both urine TB-LAM and Xpert Ultra should be further investigated in the diagnosis of TBM

<i>Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense</i> transmitted by a single tsetse fly bite in vervet monkeys as a model of human African trypanosomiasis

Sleeping sickness is caused by a species of trypanosome blood parasite that is transmitted by tsetse flies. To understand better how infection with this parasite leads to disease, we provide here the most detailed description yet of the course of infection and disease onset in vervet monkeys. One infected tsetse fly was allowed to feed on each host individual, and in all cases infections were successful. The characteristics of infection and disease were similar in all hosts, but the rate of progression varied considerably. Parasites were first detected in the blood 4-10 days after infection, showing that migration of parasites from the site of fly bite was very rapid. Anaemia was a key feature of disease, with a reduction in the numbers and average size of red blood cells and associated decline in numbers of platelets and white blood cells. One to six weeks after infection, parasites were observed in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), indicating that they had moved from the blood into the brain; this was associated with a white cell infiltration. This study shows that fly-transmitted infection in vervets accurately mimics human disease and provides a robust model to understand better how sleeping sickness develops