Imaging and photogrammetry models of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A high-resolution digital database for research and conservation of Early Stone Age sites

This paper presents the first aerial mapping of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and photogrammetric techniques, to provide a detailed digital cartographic basis for this world-renowned paleoanthropological site. The survey covered an area of 32 km2 of Olduvai Gorge, and through the use of aerial photos and ground control points from Global Navigation Satellite Systems, an orthomosaic and Digital Surface Model, with a higher than 5 cm/pixel ground resolution, were produced. The Digital Surface Model was then denoised to calculate a Digital Elevation Model, and a high-resolution imaging model of Olduvai Gorge was generated. A preliminary morphometric characterization using Geographic Information Systems shows the potential of this approach when analysing multiple topographic variables in large areas of paleoanthropological relevance, including production of a new map template for Olduvai Gorge and new data for the investigation of sedimentary and tectonic processes. These results constitute one of the first attempts to obtain high quality imagery from large geographic areas amenable to Early Stone Age research, and introduce new workflows for the creation of Digital Elevation Models. Overall, the digital dataset produced is intended to support archaeological and geological investigation in this area, and provide new monitoring tools for the conservation of cultural heritage

Striding towards self sustainability using Aluminium from Tanzanian kaolin for combination Tanning system

Content: Sustainability is a key factor which control future leather manufacture. Developing several new technologies is one of the primary agenda for sustainability. However, developing countries are facing several challenges which not only limited to best practice technologies but also finding self sustainability in maximizing the available resources. In the present study, an attempt has been made to explore the potential resource of aluminium from kaolin of Pugu hills, Tanzania for combination tanning. Though, extraction of aluminium from several resources are available, there is limited literature pertaining to Tanzania resources. Moreover, the extracted aluminium is basified and studied for its tanning efficiency. Diffraction and vibrational spectroscopic studies were carried out to assess the confirmation of extracted aluminium. Combination tanning has been carried out with vegetable tannins and dialdehyde starch tanning chemicals, which are from natural resources. Leathers tanned with aluminum and wattle resulted with a shrinkage temperature of 118ºC as compared to Al-Dialdehyde starch leathers showed around 90-100ºC. Physical strength characteristics such as tensile, tear and grain crack strength met the standard norms. Grain surface of leathers are found to be smooth which has been confirmed through microscopic studies. The study provides a new insight on accomplishing self sustainability through available resources and manufacture of eco-friendly system. Take-Away: 1. Tanzania is endowed with massive kaolin rich in aluminium, which is potential for application in leather industry for sustainable development of leather industry 2. The combination tanning system using aluminium from Tanzania kaolin with wattle tannins or Dialdehyde starch imparts leather with both physical and organoleptic properties that meet the stipulated norms 3. This new tanning system provides new insight on ecofriendly tanning system for the sustainability of leather industry

Genetic diversity study of Kenyan cassava germplasm using simple sequence repeats

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Cranzt) is an important food security crop for resource poor rural communities particularly in Africa. Little is however known about molecular diversity of Kenyan cassava germplasm. This led to a study whose objective was to identify genetic constitution of cassava accessions from different regions of Kenya using molecular tools. Seven pairs of micro satellite (SSR) primers previously developed from cassava were used to detect polymorphic 21 alleles in a sample of 69 accessions. The cluster analysis of similarity matrix obtained at 68% with SSR data showed that the 69 accessions were grouped into five marker based groups. This study proved that SSRs could be used to identify cassava accessions as well as in the assessment of level of genetic relatedness among accessions.Keywords: Cassava, simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, genetic diversity

Estimating Conveyance Efficiency and Maize Productivity of Traditional Irrigation Systems in Usa River Catchment, Tanzania

This research article published by Hindawi, 2020Estimating the conveyance efficiency of traditional irrigation schemes systems is very important. It is because of understanding the volume of water lost along with the transportation facility, enhancing water usage and productivity, hence making better decisions about the utilization of water resources. (e objective of the study was to determine water abstraction permit compliances and estimate conveyance efficiency and crop and water productivity of traditional irrigation systems in northern Tanzania. (e task involved measurement of irrigation water flows to determine the amount of water abstraction, inflow (head) and outflow (tail) between the canals to determine the conveyance efficiency of the main, secondary, and tertiary canals of the traditional irrigation systems. Moreover, water and yield obtained at the farm level were determined. Results indicate that approximately 72% of water transported reaches the destined farm which produced maize (Zea mays L) yields of 1054.5 kg/ha, 892.4 kg/ha, and 875.156 kg/ha at downstream, midstream, and upstream which equals 0.41 kg/m3, 0.15 kg/m3, and 0.09 kg/m3, respectively, while about 28% of water is lost along the canals through evaporation, seepage, and deep percolation and overtopping. Consequently, water measured at furrow intakes in total was 3, 500 L/s, equal to 23% more than the permitted amount of 2856.14 L/s at Usa River Catchment. Interventions to minimize water losses starting at the furrow’s intakes are urgently required in the current trend of the increasing demand for water resources for food production and schemes performance. Subsequently, more effective conveyance technologies and water management strategies other than canal lining are required

High-Throughput Next-Generation Sequencing Respiratory Viral Panel: A Diagnostic and Epidemiologic Tool for SARS-CoV-2 and Other Viruses

Two serious public health challenges have emerged in the current COVID-19 pandemic namely, deficits in SARS-CoV-2 variant monitoring and neglect of other co-circulating respiratory viruses. Additionally, accurate assessment of the evolution, extent, and dynamics of the outbreak is required to understand the transmission of the virus. To address these challenges, we evaluated 533 samples using a high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) respiratory viral panel (RVP) that includes 40 viral pathogens. The performance metrics revealed a PPA, NPA, and accuracy of 95.98%, 85.96%, and 94.4%, respectively. The clade for pangolin lineage B that contains certain distant variants, including P4715L in ORF1ab, Q57H in ORF3a, and S84L in ORF8 covarying with the D614G spike protein mutation, were the most prevalent early in the pandemic in Georgia, USA. The isolates from the same county formed paraphyletic groups, indicating virus transmission between counties. The study demonstrates the clinical and public health utility of the NGS-RVP to identify novel variants that can provide actionable information to prevent or mitigate emerging viral threats and models that provide insights into viral transmission patterns and predict transmission/resurgence of regional outbreaks as well as providing critical information on co-circulating respiratory viruses that might be independent factors contributing to the global disease burden

First report of Rice yellow mottle virus on rice in Burundi

International audienceFirst Report of Rice yellow mottle virus on Rice in Burund

Influence of Alternative Financing on the Relationship between Managerial Competency and Efficiency of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

Worldwide, Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) exhibit inimitable financial needs. While SMEs remain fundamental to economic growth, their mortality rate in Kenya approaches 90% by the second year, mainly owing to lack of credit. However, scholarly endeavors exploring the impact of alternative finance (AF) on managerial competency - efficiency nexus for manufacturing SMEs have received little attention in Kenya. To resolve this conundrum, a thorough study to investigate how AF impacts managerial competency - efficiency nexus is necessary. The study used a cross-sectional research design, employing both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The target population was 171 SMEs registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers. The accessible population was 136 SMEs owners/managers. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary and secondary data. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure efficiency, multiple regression modeling used to analyze the direct relationships while hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis employed to test moderation. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to test robustness of our results. The findings of this study demonstrate that managerial competency positively influences efficiency (? = 0.150, t-value =10.246, P<0.05), and that alternative finance does moderate managerial competency relationships with efficiency (R-Square change of 21.7%). We suggest trainings for manufacturing SME owners/managers in Kenya on the pivotal role of alternative finance to facilitate SMEs achieve higher efficiencies and accelerate economic growth

Influence of Alternative Financing on the Relationship between Firm Size and Efficiency of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

Globally, small and medium-size enterprises(SMEs) hold great economic growth potential, however their mortality rate is high, due to lack of credit. The SMEs mortality rate in Kenya is 90% by the second year. Scholarly endeavors to explore the influence of alternative finance (AF) on operational characteristics - efficiency nexus have received little attention, more so for SMEs who have unique financial needs. Although AF appears to be the preferred mode of financing and maintaining start-ups, its impact on the survival, growth and success of manufacturing SMEs is not well documented in Kenya. This study focused on establishing the influence of alternative financing on the relationship between firm-size and efficiency of SMEs in Kenya. The study used a cross-sectional research design. The target population was SMEs registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). The accessible population was 136 SMEs owner/managers. The study used a self-administered semi structured questionnaire to collect primary and secondary data. Data envelopment analysis was used to measure efficiency of SMEs, multiple regression modeling to analyze relationships and hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis was used to assess the influence of the moderator. The findings revealed that firm-size positively (? = 0.214, t-value =4.983, P<0.05.) influences efficiency and that alternative finance does moderate (R-Square change 11.1 %) firm size relationships with efficiency. The study recommends that owner/managers of manufacturing SMEs in Kenya should give attention to opportunities for sustainable increase in firm size to improve their efficiency

Clinical validation of a multiplex PCR-based detection assay using saliva or nasopharyngeal samples for SARS-Cov-2, influenza A and B

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant diversion of human and material resources to COVID-19 diagnostics, to the extent that influenza viruses and co-infection in COVID-19 patients remains undocumented and pose serious public-health consequences. We optimized and validated a highly sensitive RT-PCR based multiplex-assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B viruses in a single-test. This study evaluated clinical specimens (n = 1411), 1019 saliva and 392 nasopharyngeal swab (NPS), tested using two-assays: FDA-EUA approved SARS-CoV-2 assay that targets N and ORF1ab gene, and the PKamp-RT-PCR based assay that targets SARS-CoV-2, influenza viruses A and B. Of the 1019 saliva samples, 17.0% (174/1019) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using either assay. The detection rate for SARS-CoV-2 was higher with the multiplex assay compared to SARS-specific assay [91.9% (160/174) vs. 87.9% (153/174)], respectively. Of the 392 NPS samples, 10.4% (41/392) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using either assay. The detection rate for SARS-CoV-2 was higher with the multiplex assay compared to SARS-specific assay [97.5% (40/41) vs. 92.1% (39/41)], respectively. This study presents clinical validation of a multiplex-PCR assay for testing SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B viruses, using NPS and saliva samples, and demonstrates the feasibility of implementing the assay without disrupting the existing laboratory workflow

MALT QUALITY AND STEM RUST RESISTANCE OF SELECTED BARLEY GENOTYPES IN KENYA

ABSTRACT Stem rust, caused by (Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici) is a major disease of wheat in Kenya. The disease was previously contained by the rpg1, sr31, 24 and 36 genes for resistance that were incorporated in the genotypes of barley and wheat grown in Kenya. In 1999, a new race Ug99 was detected in tritici. The germplasms showed varying levels of resistance to stem rust. At seedling stage, the infection levels ranged from 0 to 2, except in ICARDA-09 and ICARDA-11 that showed infection types 3 and 3,4 respectively. At adult plant stage, genotypes ICARDA-01, Nguzo and Karne were moderately resistant while the rest were susceptible or moderately susceptible. In the field, the new line 1512-5 showed the highest severity of 93% in season 1, with Sabini having the highest severity of 30% in the second season; Nguzo had the lowest disease severity of 16% and 5% in season 1 and 2 respectively. The highest reduction in percent germination (54.1% and 38.3%) was recorded in 1385-13 and ICARDA-10 in season 1and 2 respectively. The highest loss (9.00 %) in protein content was observed in Sabini in season 1 and a loss of 4.0 and 16.3% in zeleny content was noted in season 1 and 2 respectively. From the results in this experiment most of the Kenyan grown cultivars were susceptible to the new race of stem rust. This emphasizes the need for regular monitoring of the stem rust pathogen, in particular isolates in the variable Ug99 lineage, as well as continued resistance breeding. The study has demonstrated the pathogenicity of PgtUg99 to barley despite the fact that it poses a great threat to wheat production in the world