Assessing population performance of hunted impala and wildebeest in Simanjiro Plains, Northern Tanzania

Human exploitation of wildlife is driving some species to severe population decline but, few studies examine the combined effect of hunting, environmental variability and demographic traits on population dynamics of hunted species, making it difficult to design sustainable hunting practices. In this study forty-five model scenarios defined by varying levels of hunting, female breeding and mortality rates, were used under Vortex population viability modelling program to assess performance of impala and wildebeest populations and to explore the management options to improve their population persistence. The resident impala population was predicted to suffer severe decline under most hunting scenarios when >2% per year of its population is killed, resulting in local population extinction within 15 years. In contrast, the wildebeest population did not decline at 5% current hunting rates due perhaps to its migratory behaviour that buffers the hunting impact but could go extinct within just 40 years when hunting rate in increased. Further, <10% environmental variability associated with the female breeding and mortality rates had considerable impacts on the population change and size under most hunting scenarios. Improving habitats and reducing hunting could improve female breeding rates thus ensuring the long-term survival of the ungulates in the Simanjiro plains, Tanzania

Climate Data Tools Training at AGRHYMET

For more than three years, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) has collaborated with the AGRHYMET Regional Centre to improve of quality, accessibility and availability of climate data in West Africa. A training workshop on quality control methods for climate data and combination ground stations data with satellite rainfall estimates products using the earlier version of Climate Data Tools (CDT) was conducted for AGRHYMET staff in Niamey in July 2013. Since 2013, several improvements have been made on CDT and new features were added to facilitate the manipulation and visualization of data and generation of merged data. The present training came as the continuity of activities aimed at increasing the technical capacity of AGRHYMET staff to generate merged rainfall and temperature products with the new version of CDT. The main purpose of the training was to expose the participants to the new features of CDT, in order to strengthen capacity to conduct a quality control procedure for climate data at the level of their database, and combine ground stations data with global proxies (satellite rainfall estimates data and reanalysis product)

Training on IRI Climate Data Tools and developing a method for integrating climate data in Kigali, Rwanda

For more than five years, the Rwanda Meteorological Agency (Météo Rwanda) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) have been working together to implement the IRI’s Enhancing National Climate Services initiative (ENACTS) in Rwanda. The ENACTS initiative brings climate knowledge into national decision- making by improving availability, access and use of climate information. Météo Rwanda staff have received a number of trainings on the different aspects of generating the datasets and developing climate information products. However, the tools used to generate ENACTS datasets have been evolving through addition of several new features. As a result, it is necessary to revise the training and to expose the staff to the new version of the tools. On the other hand, Météo Rwanda has started operating a network of automatic weather stations (AWS) and a weather radar. The integration of these datasets to ENACTS datasets is very important to improve the quality of climate data in Rwanda. Thus, the current training activities had three major components: (1) make a full use of the IRI Climate Data Tools (CDT) to create and analyze ENACTS datasets; (2) develop quality control procedures and create scripts to integrate data from the AWS network into ENACTS datasets; and (3) create scripts to process and adjust the radar-based precipitation estimates with data from the AWS network and integrate the processed data into ENACTS datasets

STUDI KASUS TERHADAP PUTUSAN PENGADILAN NEGERI JANTHO NOMOR 214/PID.B/2014/PN-JTH TENTANGTINDAK PIDANA ASAL USUL PERKAWINAN

Tindak pidana asal usul perkawinan adalah suatu perbuatan melakukan perkawinan padahal diketahuinya bahwa perkawinan yang telah ada menjadi penghalang yang sah untuk itu, dan melakukan perkawinan padahal diketahuinya bahwa perkawinan dari pihak lain yang sebelumnya merupakan halangan yang sah bagi pihak lain tersebut untuk melakukan perkawinan lagi. Tindak pidana ini diatur dalam Pasal 279 ayat KUHP dengan ancaman hukuman penjara maksimal 5 tahun, namun pada kasus ini Majelis Hakim hanya menjatuhkan pidana kepada terdakwa selama 15 hari.Penulisan studi kasus ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis secara proposional fungsi utama dari penjatuhan pidana, menganalisis penerapan pemidanaan yang diterapkan Majelis Hakim berdasarkan pasal 279 KUHP, menjelaskan pertimbangan non yuridis Majelis Hakim terhadap penjatuhan pidana kepada terdakwa, menganalisis putusan Majelis Hakim yang tidak sesuai dengan asas keadilan dan asas kemanfaatan hukum.Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode penelitian yuridis normatif. Sumber data dari penelitian ini meliputi sumber data primer yaitu putusan Pengadilan Negeri Jantho Nomor 214/Pid.B/2014/PN-JTH, dan sumber data sekunder yaitu hasil pemikiran para ahli, buku, dan jurnal hukum.Dari hasil analisis yang telah dilakukan, penjatuhan pidana yang diberikan Majelis Hakim dalam putusannya tidak sesuai dengan tujuan dan fungsi utama dari penjatuhan pidana. Putusan tersebut telah menimbulkan unsur ketidakpastian hukum dengan menerapakan pasal yang tidak sesuai dengan perbuatan pelaku terdakwa. Majelis Hakim pada kasus ini tidak menjelaskan pertimbangannya secara non yuridis. Berdasarkan Pasal 5 ayat (1) Undang-Undang No. 48 Tahun 2009 tentang Kekuasaan Kehakiman menyebutkan bahwa Hakim wajib menggali, mengikuti, dan memahami nilai-nilai hukum dan rasa keadilan yang hidup dalam masyarakat. Penjatuhan pidana kepada terdakwa selama 15 hari penjara, vonis tersebut tidak sesuai dengan asas keadilan dan asas kemanfaatan hukum.Berdasarkan analisis yang telah dilakukan, Majelis Hakim diharapkan dapat bekerja lebih teliti, secara profesional, jujur dalam melaksanakan tugas dan fungsinya serta dapat menerapkan pemidanaan sesuai dengan fungsi dan tujuan dari penjatuhan pidana itu sendiri. Agar setiap pelaku tindak pidana merasakan efek jera atas perbuatannya dan dengan menjalani hukuman pidana dapat membuat pelaku tindak pidana takut untuk melakukan tindak pidana yang lainnya serta dapat memperbaiki pribadi dirinya

PENGARUH PEMBERIAN PUPUK TULANG SAPI SEBAGAI SUMBER FOSFOR PADA TANAMAN JAGUNG MANIS(Zea mays Saccharata Sturt.)

Tanaman jagung manis memerlukan unsur hara macronutrient dan micronutrient yang cukup untuk proses pertumbuhan dan perkembangan yang baik serta untuk mendukung produktivitas yang optimal. Salah satu unsur yang paling banyak dibutuhkan oleh tanaman jagung manis adalah unsur fosfor (P). Pupuk tulang sapi merupakan salah satu sumber pupuk P alternatif yang potensial untuk pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman jagung manis. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh unsur fosfor dari tulang sapi untuk pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman jagung manis dan mengetahui dosis pupuk tulang sapi yang tepat untuk pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman jagung manis. Penelitian ini telah dilakukan pada bulan Maret – Juni 2019 di Kampung Muaro, Kototinggi, Kecamatan Gunuang Omeh. Penelitian ini disusun dalam Rancangan Acak Kelompok dengan 5 perlakuan : 3 gram/tanaman pupuk SP-36, 3, 4, 6, dan 9 gram/tanaman pupuk tulang sapi. Setiap satuan percobaan terdiri dari 4 ulangan dengan 5 sampel tanaman yang diamati. Variabel pengamatan yaitu tinggi tanaman, jumlah daun, panjang tongkol, diameter tongkol, jumlah baris biji per tongkol, bobot tongkol dengan kelobot dan tanpa kelobot, bobot tongkol per petakan dan per hektar. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pemberian pupuk tulang sapi memberikan pengaruh yang sama dengan pemberian pupuk SP-36 terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman jagung manis. Dosis pupuk tulang sapi yang dapat digunakan yaitu 3-6 gram/tanaman yang dapat meningkatkan pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman jagung manis. Kata kunci : jagung manis, pupuk tulang sapi, sumber, fosfo

Spatial Pattern of Illegal Activities and the Impact on Wildlife Populations in Protected Areas in the Serengeti Ecosystem

Illegal activities in protected areas (PAs) are a major conservation problem linked to biodiversity loss. However, the scale of the problem at a global and local scale is unclear. There is a lack of understanding of the factors driving illegal activities and how law enforcement is targeted to reduce the impact of illegal activities. These information gaps limit the improvement of conservation, making tackling the problem difficult. I use an analytical approach, quantitative field surveys and field experiments in the Serengeti ecosystem to improve our understanding of this problem and how it could be reduced in protected areas. At a global scale, I found that illegal activities are present in more PAs than previously thought. Population of large wild mammals are more likely to decline in less-strict PAs in countries with limited conservation resources and where illegal hunting is conducted for commercial benefits rather than for subsistence. The probability of the mammal decline increases in countries where land use change is driven by illegal plant exploitation. At a local scale, in the Serengeti ecosystem, illegal activities are wide-spread, suggesting the problem is bigger than previously perceived. These are driven by poaching decisions made at various scales influenced by local habitats and environmental characteristics. I estimate there could be 137000 wire snares set at any one point across the Serengeti ecosystem, resulting in killing of approximately 14% of the animal population available each year. Despite this, I found current anti-poaching strategies ineffective at detecting and removing wire snares, increasing the risks of animal mortality and potential population declines, and fuelling the illegal wildlife trade. Any comprehensive strategy towards curbing poaching and other illegal activities in PAs must improve the deterrent effects of law- enforcement patrols through increasing conservation resources and improving their ability to detect and remove existing threats

Digital Filter Design Using Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithms

Digital filters are often used in digital signal processing applications. The design objective of a digital filter is to find the optimal set of filter coefficients, which satisfies the desired specifications of magnitude and group delay responses. Evolutionary algorithms are population-based meta-heuristic algorithms inspired by the biological behaviors of species. Compared to gradient-based optimization algorithms such as steepest descent and Newton’s like methods, these bio-inspired algorithms have the advantages of not getting stuck at local optima and being independent of the starting point in the solution space. The limitations of evolutionary algorithms include the presence of control parameters, problem specific tuning procedure, premature convergence and slower convergence rate. The artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is a swarm-based search meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the foraging behaviors of honey bee colonies, with the benefit of a relatively fewer control parameters. In its original form, the ABC algorithm has certain limitations such as low convergence rate, and insufficient balance between exploration and exploitation in the search equations. In this dissertation, an ABC-AMR algorithm is proposed by incorporating an adaptive modification rate (AMR) into the original ABC algorithm to increase convergence rate by adjusting the balance between exploration and exploitation in the search equations through an adaptive determination of the number of parameters to be updated in every iteration. A constrained ABC-AMR algorithm is also developed for solving constrained optimization problems.There are many real-world problems requiring simultaneous optimizations of more than one conflicting objectives. Multiobjective (MO) optimization produces a set of feasible solutions called the Pareto front instead of a single optimum solution. For multiobjective optimization, if a decision maker’s preferences can be incorporated during the optimization process, the search process can be confined to the region of interest instead of searching the entire region. In this dissertation, two algorithms are developed for such incorporation. The first one is a reference-point-based MOABC algorithm in which a decision maker’s preferences are included in the optimization process as the reference point. The second one is a physical-programming-based MOABC algorithm in which physical programming is used for setting the region of interest of a decision maker. In this dissertation, the four developed algorithms are applied to solve digital filter design problems. The ABC-AMR algorithm is used to design Types 3 and 4 linear phase FIR differentiators, and the results are compared to those obtained by the original ABC algorithm, three improved ABC algorithms, and the Parks-McClellan algorithm. The constrained ABC-AMR algorithm is applied to the design of sparse Type 1 linear phase FIR filters of filter orders 60, 70 and 80, and the results are compared to three state-of-the-art design methods. The reference-point-based multiobjective ABC algorithm is used to design of asymmetric lowpass, highpass, bandpass and bandstop FIR filters, and the results are compared to those obtained by the preference-based multiobjective differential evolution algorithm. The physical-programming-based multiobjective ABC algorithm is used to design IIR lowpass, highpass and bandpass filters, and the results are compared to three state-of-the-art design methods. Based on the obtained design results, the four design algorithms are shown to be competitive as compared to the state-of-the-art design methods

The Long-term Impacts of Hunting on Population Viability of Wild Ungulates in Tarangire, Northern Tanzania

Hunting through illegal and legal means is increasingly recognised as a threat to the sustainability of wildlife populations in reserves throughout Africa. Despite this, in Tanzania, legal hunting has persisted and serves as a source of revenue for conserving these species. Poaching remains a major threat to wildlife populations in many parks and reserves of Tanzania and wildlife habitats are diminishing due to human activities. I examined the impacts of hunting on the long-term persistence of four wild ungulates; impala (Aepyceros melampus Matschie), Thomson's gazelle (Gazella thomsonii Gunther), wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus Thomas) and zebra (Equus burchellii Matschie) around Tarangire National Park, in northern Tanzania. I investigated the population sizes of these species using Distance sampling method and determined there were 4534 plus or minus 1393 impala 1398 plus or minus 491 Thomson's gazelle, 5199 plus or minus 2670 wildebeest, and 11223 plus or minus 4216 zebra, in the study area. I obtained an estimate of the legal offtake over a five year period from data provided by hunting companies and districts offices in charge of hunting in the area to establish an average size of annual legal offtake of the area. I estimated the poaching levels for each species using random response method by interviewing 298 household respondents within communities living around the area. This established that illegal kill were 2-3 times higher than legal offtake for all four animal species except zebra. The total annual harvests were 6.6% for impala, 18.2% for Thomson's gazelle, 5.2% for wildebeest and 2% for zebra, of population sizes. Using literature review I obtained vital life-history parameters for each species either from within Tarangire, or elsewhere in East Africa. The long-term viability of the four species was then examined under a computer program-VORTEX by constructing a series of models to test the effects of different hunting regimes. The models integrated mortality and fecundity rates, species population sizes and harvest (legal and illegal) rates. Of the four species, impala and Thomson's gazelle fared badly under all simulations, with up to 76% and 68% respectively of the modelled populations going extinct within 100 years under present 3 hunting levels. Wildebeest and zebra were more resilient to hunting. Zebra populations remained robust under current hunting rates. However, its population will slowly decline towards extinction when the hunting exceeds the current rate of 2%. The population of wildebeest will decline towards extinction if the current offtake of 5% persists. The impacts of illegal hunting are severe. This study is the first attempt to characterise the dynamics of the harvested ungulate populations in Tarangire, Tanzania. Poor understanding of this ecosystem especially on the demographic variables of these species, limit firm conclusions. Nevertheless, the findings presented here suggest that VORTEX modelling may be a useful tool for managing hunting at Tarangire and for highlighting research priorities

PENGARUH RENDAM AIR HANGAT PADA KAKI TERHADAP INSOMNIA PADA LANSIA DI DESA TENGAH KECAMATAN PANTAI LABU KABUPATEN DELI SERDANG TAHUN 2018

Insomnia is a symptom experienced by clients when they experience chronic sleep difficulties, often waking up from sleep, and or short sleep or non-restorative sleep. Handling of insomnia in the elderly can be done with pharmacological and non pharmacological. One type of treatment of non-pharmacological insomnia in the elderly is soaking the feet with warm water. Soaking warm water on the feet is a sleep stimulation technique that is done by soaking the feet in warm water with a temperature of 37 ° C-39ºC. This study aims to determine the effect of warm water soak on the feet against insomnia in the elderly in Desa Tengah District Labu Beach, Deli Serdang Regency. This study uses a quasi-experimental type using one group pretest and posttest desaign methods. The population in this study were all elderly people in the Middle Village of hamlet I and hamlet II with ages above 60-74 years. The population obtained was 53 elderly. The sampling technique is done by using non-probability sampling method with purposive sampling technique obtained as many as 20 people. Analysis of the data used in this study is paired t-test. Hypothesis test results indicated by using paired t-test is a sig value of 0.000 (<0.05). This shows that there is an effect of warm water soak on the feet against insomnia in the elderly in Central Village Pantai Labu Subdistrict Deli Serdang Regency in 2018. The conclusion in this study is that there is an effect of warm water soak on the feet against insomnia in the elderly in the Central Village Pantai Labu District Deli Serdang 2018. Soaking feet with warm water can be used as an alternative measure to reduce insomnia and as a reference in efforts to improve the health of the elderly