MACBenAbim: A Multi-platform Mobile Application for searching keyterms in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Computational biology and bioinformatics are gradually gaining grounds in Africa and other developing nations of the world. However, in these countries, some of the challenges of computational biology and bioinformatics education are inadequate infrastructures, and lack of readily-available complementary and motivational tools to support learning as well as research. This has lowered the morale of many promising undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers from aspiring to undertake future study in these fields. In this paper, we developed and described MACBenAbim (Multi-platform Mobile Application for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics), a flexible user-friendly tool to search for, define and describe the meanings of keyterms in computational biology and bioinformatics, thus expanding the frontiers of knowledge of the users. This tool also has the capability of achieving visualization of results on a mobile multi-platform context

High Speed FPGA Implementation of Cryptographic Hash Function

In this thesis, a new method for implementing cryptographic hash functions is proposed. This method seeks to improve the speed of the hash function particularly when a large set of messages with similar blocks such as documents with common headers are to be hashed. The method utilizes the peculiar run-time reconfigurability feature of FPGA. Essentially, when a block of message that is commonly hashed is identified, the hash value is stored in memory so that in subsequent occurrences of the message block, the hash value does not need to be recomputed; rather it is simply retrieved from memory, thus giving a significant increase in speed. The system is self-learning and able to dynamically build on its knowledge of frequently occurring message blocks without intervention from the user. The specific hash function to which this technique was applied is Blake, one of the SHA-3 finalists

B3: An Automated Cross-Platform Mobile Bible Application

The Bible is one of the best-selling books of all time. It is a historical text as well as a religious text, capturing some of the most remarkable stories of mankind and its relationship with God the creator. With the advancement of technology, the distribution and communication of this book has found its place in computers, both fixed and mobile. The problem with most Bible software is that it does not present the scriptures in a format that is easy to read and follow in the mobile context. It offers developers a lasting solution to the conflicts that arise over native and web application development. The main objective of this research is to develop a widget application titled the B3 application, which will increase the accessibility of the Bible and other Bible-related content using a mobile phone. In developing the application, HTML5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to design the structure and layout of the webpages; Javascript serves as a scripting language to perform client-side processing of data; extensible Markup Language acts as the data storage for the Bible combined with Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) for data retrieval. These software tools provide readers of the Bible with a mobile bible application with easy accessibility and simplicity for the end users

A transient presence: black visitors and sojourners in Imperial Germany, 1884-1914

The onset of German colonial rule in Africa brought increasing numbers of Black men and women to Germany. Pre-1914 the vast majority of these Africans can best be described as visitors or sojourners and the Black population as a whole was a transient one. This makes recovering their presence in the archival record exceptionally difficult and it is not surprising that the existing historiography almost exclusively focuses on individual biographies of well documented lives. Through utilising a number of newly digitised archival materials, particularly the Hamburg Passenger Lists, this article draws upon a database with information on 1092 individuals from sub-Saharan Africa who spent time in Germany over the period 1884-1914 in order to add considerable bread and depth to our understanding of the Black presence as a whole. It provides increasing empirical detail about the make-up and character of this fluid population - where visitors came from, why they came to Germany, their age on arrival - as well as more accurate detail on the temporal and, to a lesser extent, spatial distribution of visitors

Brucellosis as an Emerging Threat in Developing Economies:Lessons from Nigeria

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, has a large proportion of the world's poor livestock keepers, and is a hotspot for neglected zoonoses. A review of the 127 accessible publications on brucellosis in Nigeria reveals only scant and fragmented evidence on its spatial and temporal distribution in different epidemiological contexts. The few bacteriological studies conducted demonstrate the existence of Brucella abortus in cattle and sheep, but evidence for B. melitensis in small ruminants is dated and unclear. The bulk of the evidence consists of seroprevalence studies, but test standardization and validation are not always adequately described, and misinterpretations exist with regard to sensitivity and/or specificity and ability to identify the infecting Brucella species. Despite this, early studies suggest that although brucellosis was endemic in extensive nomadic systems, seroprevalence was low, and brucellosis was not perceived as a real burden; recent studies, however, may reflect a changing trend. Concerning human brucellosis, no studies have identified the Brucella species and most reports provide only serological evidence of contact with Brucella in the classical risk groups; some suggest brucellosis misdiagnoses as malaria or other febrile conditions. The investigation of a severe outbreak that occurred in the late 1970s describes the emergence of animal and human disease caused by the settling of previously nomadic populations during the Sahelian drought. There appears to be an increasing risk of re-emergence of brucellosis in sub-Saharan Africa, as a result of the co-existence of pastoralist movements and the increase of intensive management resulting from growing urbanization and food demand. Highly contagious zoonoses like brucellosis pose a threat with far-reaching social and political consequences

Brucellosis in Sub-Saharan Africa:Current challenges for management, diagnosis and control

Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonosis caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella and affecting domestic and wild mammals. In this paper, the bacteriological and serological evidence of brucellosis in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and its epidemiological characteristics are discussed. The tools available for the diagnosis and treatment of human brucellosis and for the diagnosis and control of animal brucellosis and their applicability in the context of SSA are presented and gaps identified. These gaps concern mostly the need for simpler and more affordable antimicrobial treatments against human brucellosis, the development of a B. melitensis vaccine that could circumvent the drawbacks of the currently available Rev 1 vaccine, and the investigation of serological diagnostic tests for camel brucellosis and wildlife. Strategies for the implementation of animal vaccination are also discussed.Publishe

Suppression of humoral immunity and lymphocyte responsiveness during experimental trypanosoma cruzi infections

C3H/He and C57B1/6 mice were inoculated with 500 Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes (Strain Y). During the acute phase infected mice presented parasitemia and enlargement of lymph nodes and spleens and intracellular parasites were observed in the heart. Examinations of cells derived from spleen and lymph nodes showed increased numbers of IgM and IgG-bearing cells. During the peak of splenomegaly, about day 17 post-infections, splenic lymphocytes showed a marked decrease in responsiveness to T and B-cell mitogens, parasite antigens and plaque forming cells (PFC) to sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Unfractionated or plastic adherent splenic cells from mice, obtained during the acute phase were able to suppress the response to mitogens by lymphocytes from uninfected mice. During the chronic phase. Disappearance of parasitemia and intracellular parasites in the hearts as well as a decrease in spleen size, was observed. These changes preceded the complete recovery of responsiveness to mitogens and T. cruzi antigens by C57B1/6 splenic lymphocytes. However, this recovery was only partial in the C3H/He mice, known to be more sensitive to T. cruzi infection. Partial recovery of humoral immune response also occurred in both strains of mice during the chronic phase

Adaptation of Botrytis species to certain fungicides

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Proposals for the Rational Control and Prevention of Bovine Brucellosis in Nigeria

In an earlier presentation and in relevant publications (Esuruoso, 1972; 1974), it was shown that Nigeria could be divided into free, moderately infected and heavily infected areas with regard to bovine brucellosis. In this paper, it is recommended that where there is little or no infection at the moment the disease could be prevented by annual serological and bacteriological surveillance and removal by culling of any positive reactors. In moderately infected areas the few reactors should be identified by branding after the appropriate tests have been performed. They should then be separated from clean animals and allowed to complete their reproductive life without contact with clean herds. Offsprings of the infected cattle which later turn out to be clean after necessary testing before they reach the breeding age, could then be mixed with the clean herd.Heifer calves in heavily infected herds should be inoculated with Brucella abortus strain 19 (S19) attenuated vaccine at the age of 3 to 6 months. Cows and mature heifers in these herds should be tested annually and separated into clean and infected groups. The infected group should be kept on separate pastures from the clean group. They should also be confined for calving and their manger beddings should be destroyed by incineration.At slaughter as well as during abortions and infective calvings, the Brucella abortus serotypes causing the disease should be isolated, identified completely and propagated for further study and vaccine production. Under no circumstance should indiscriminate vaccination be carried out on any herd in this country, as this will confuse the situation and confound any rational attempts at control or eradication