The Influence of Weather on Mortality in Rural Tanzania: A Time-Series Analysis 1999�-2010

Weather and climate changes are associated with a number of immediate and long-term impacts on human health that occur directly or indirectly, through mediating variables. Few studies to date have established the empirical relationship between monthly weather and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The objectives of this study were to assess the association between monthly weather (temperature and rainfall) on all-cause mortality by age in Rufiji, Tanzania, and to determine the differential susceptibility by age groups. We used mortality data from Rufiji Health and Demographic Surveillance System (RHDSS) for\ud the period 1999 to 2010. Time-series Poisson regression models were used to estimate the association between monthly weather and mortality adjusted for long-term trends. We used a distributed lag model to estimate the delayed association of monthly weather on mortality. We stratified the analyses per age group to assess susceptibility. In general, rainfall was found to have a stronger association in the age group 0_4 years (RR_1.001, 95% CI_0.961_1.041) in both short and long lag times, with an overall increase of 1.4% in mortality risk for a 10 mm rise in rainfall. On the other hand, monthly average temperature had a stronger association with death in all ages while mortality increased with falling monthly temperature. The association per age group was estimated as: age group 0_4 (RR_0.934, 95% CI_0.894_0.974), age group 5_59 (RR_0.956, 95% CI_ 0.928_0.985) and age group over 60 (RR_0.946, 95% CI_0.912_0.979). The age group 5_59 experienced more delayed lag associations. This suggests that children and older adults are most sensitive to weather related mortality. These results suggest that an early alert system based on monthly weather information may be useful for disease control management, to reduce and prevent fatal effects related to weather and monthly weather.\u

Growth Performance and Yield of Three Brachiaria Cultivars Subjected to Different Eco-Climatic Zones of Tanzania

Replacement of high quality (perennial forage) with low quality (annual forage) due to the effects of climate change has resulted into low milk production in Tanzania to 4.5L which is below the genetic potential of producing at least 15L of milk per cow per day. Though high yield fodder grasses such as Brachiaria have been recommended as climate smart fodder grass, little information has been documented in Tanzania particularly with respect to the growth performance of these grasses across different eco-climatic zones. The current study determine the performance and yield of three cultivars of Brachiaria (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piata, Brachiaria brizantha cv. Xaraes and Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk) in three different eco-climatic zones, namely Humid, Sub-humid and Semi-arid zones. The study used the Split-plots Design whereas eco-climatic zones were considered as the main factor and Brachiaria cultivars were treated as the minor factor. Data on growth attributes and biomass yield were subjected to two ways ANOVA using SAS (2014). Also, the Post Hoc tests were performed using the Least Square Difference (LSD) at 5% to separate mean values. The study revealed that the Sub-humid climate had significantly higher number of emerged seedlings and number of tiller per plants. Similarly, all three cultivars had significantly higher above ground biomass in sub-humid climate compared to both humid and semi-arid zone. Interestingly, B. decumbens cv. Basilisk was relatively shorter grass but scored the highest values for plant number and biomass. However, for valid recommendation on the best Brachiaria cultivars further studies on nutritive values and feeding trials are imperative

Impact of Female Teachers on Learning Outcomes of Girls in Rural Primary Schools in Malawi

This paper reports on the findings of a study that was conducted in four rural education districts in Malawi: namely, Ntchisi, Neno, Machinga and Mzimba, where a certain local Non-Governmental Organization built houses specifically for female teachers so as to ensure availability of female teachers in the rural primary schools. The study therefore intended to assess the impact of the female teachers on retention and performance of girls in the schools and targeted a total of twenty intervention primary schools and six non-intervention primary schools. The study further assessed whether the availability of female teachers in schools helps to reduce cases of violence against girls. The study used a mixed method research design and collected both quantitative and qualitative data that gave useful information about the impact of the female teachers in the schools. Both the quantitative and qualitative findings of the study affirmed that the availability of female teachers in rural schools helps to improve retention and performance of girls in the schools. The study further revealed that cases of violence against girls are also reduced when female teachers are available at the schools. Indicators of retention such as enrolment, dropout and attendance, all skewed towards the positive side in the intervention schools when compared to nonintervention schools. Similarly, performance of girls was better in intervention schools than nonintervention schools. The study concluded that female teachers make a difference for the girls in rural schools in as far as achievement of learning outcomes is concerned. As such the government and stakeholders in education should ensure availability of female teachers in schools. Initiatives that can help retain the female teachers in the rural schools need to be explored, implemented and supported.Group B: Quality of Education and Educational Polic

Universal behaviour of a wave chaos based electromagnetic reverberation chamber

In this article, we present a numerical investigation of three-dimensional electromagnetic Sinai-like cavities. We computed around 600 eigenmodes for two different geometries: a parallelepipedic cavity with one half- sphere on one wall and a parallelepipedic cavity with one half-sphere and two spherical caps on three adjacent walls. We show that the statistical requirements of a well operating reverberation chamber are better satisfied in the more complex geometry without a mechanical mode-stirrer/tuner. This is to the fact that our proposed cavities exhibit spatial and spectral statistical behaviours very close to those predicted by random matrix theory. More specifically, we show that in the range of frequency corresponding to the first few hundred modes, the suppression of non-generic modes (regarding their spatial statistics) can be achieved by reducing drastically the amount of parallel walls. Finally, we compare the influence of losses on the statistical complex response of the field inside a parallelepipedic and a chaotic cavity. We demonstrate that, in a chaotic cavity without any stirring process, the low frequency limit of a well operating reverberation chamber can be significantly reduced under the usual values obtained in mode-stirred reverberation chambers

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Classroom Assessment: Implications on the Implementation of School-Based Assessment in Malawi

The study investigated a sample of Malawi Secondary School teachers’ knowledge, attitude and practice of classroom assessment. A knowledge of classroom test and an attitude toward classroom test survey were administered to 51 qualified teachers from six randomly selected secondary schools. Focus group discussions were also conducted to get an in depth understanding of the problem under investigation. Two schools were national secondary schools; two were district boarding schools, and other two were district day secondary schools. The results of the study indicate that although the teachers had positive attitudes toward classroom assessment, they had very limited knowledge in this area. Problems that teachers face and how they could be improved are suggested. Recommendations and suggestions for future research studies are provided

Data Warehouse and BI to catalize information use in health sector for decision making: a case study

Health sector in most countries including Zanzibar lacks the single repository that integrates health management data produced by multitude of sources. The study proves cost effective but successful implementation of Data Warehouse (DW) plays useful role to influence informed decision making in the health sector. Successful DW needs to include necessary features such as Online Analytic Process (OLAP) which gives decision makers the freedom to analyses information into different format business intelligence (BI) tools, data mining and data presentation tools. In this study, we attempted to identify DW needs to consider culture of organization and what organization actual wants for decision making. The study proposed the cost effective DW and BI tools solution to catalyze informed decision making in health care industry. The study also aims to discuss challenges and sets out recommendations

An Application of the Corporate Virtue Scale to Assess Managers’ Perceptions of Ethical Behaviour in Public Organizations and Service Provision

A strong ethical culture is the key to any organization’s long-term success. The purpose of this research was to investigate the link between an organization’s ethical culture and its effect on workers’ well-being, as well as to test the construct validity of the Corporate Virtue Scale (CEV). In South Africa’s Buffalo Municipality, 277 managers from different government agencies made up the sample. The eight-factor CEV scale was validated through a confirmatory factor analysis. Employees’ stress and emotional exhaustion were linked to their views on the prevalence of an ethical culture in public agencies. The results of this study show that an organization’s ethical culture significantly affects its employees’ quality of life on the job. The CEV scale was found to have construct validity, proving its reliability and validity in practice. The government is urged to prioritize the streamlining of regulations and processes that foster an ethical culture in public institutions

Spatial and Temporal Vegetation Dynamics: Opportunities and Constraints behind Wildlife Migration in Eastern Africa Savanna Ecosystem

The Africa’s semi-arid savanna ecosystems are characterized by high spatial and temporal variation in forage resources that influence mobility of wildlife population. Rapid changes in vegetation composition in savanna have been documented. These have notably involved transformation of grasslands into denser bushes and infestation of undesirable weed plants accompanied by diminishing ecological carrying capacity of rangelands. The utilization of different landscape units is strongly correlated with the availability of forage species and their nutritional quality. Foraging animals normally respond to the decline in forage quality and availability by moving to other landscapes with relatively higher quality and abundant forage resources. Although, migration of wildlife outside protected areas is ecologically vital for breeding and survival, it foments human-wildlife conflicts. Limited ecological knowledge and nutritional requirements of wildlife coupled with rapid diminishing quality and availability of forage undermine biodiversity conservation efforts. The understanding of spatial–temporal variability of forage resources along with proper wildlife management practices as well as human-wildlife conflict management are highly needed to realize high productivity in livestock industry and wildlife conservation. This chapter reviews the opportunities and constraints of spatial and temporal variability of forage resources and wildlife mobility in Eastern Africa savanna ecosystem