Livestock: An alternative mosquito control measure

A survey was conducted to investigate the indigenous methods or measures adopted by urban livestock owners in the control of mosquito in Sokoto metropolis. Fifty (50) respondents who were engaged in urban livestock production were conveniently sampled, In addition, five (5) locations (Sidi farm, Kara market, Sokoto Cinema, Gidan Ashana, U/Rogo) where animals were kept overnight in large flocks/herds were purposively selected. Data was collected on size and type of animal kept, methods of mosquito control, strategies for eliminating breeding sites, methods of protecting animals from mosquito bite etc. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test was used to analyse the data collected. Results showed that the majority of the respondents raised cattle, goats and sheep due to economic benefit obtained from them. Respondents were small scale cattle and average goat and sheep farmers that generally kept their animals tethered at night. It was observed that the population density of mosquitoes was higher in the animal pen than the human room and among the preventive measures employed by the respondents, most used smoke to repel mosquitoes from both animal pen and human room. It can therefore be concluded that there exists a link between human and livestock population particularly in diverting the vector host (mosquito) away from the humans. The livestock are prevented from mosquito bite by smoke, spray and clean environment

That's Not Fair: Tariff Structures for Electric Utilities with Rooftop Solar

(1) Problem definition: Utility regulators are grappling to devise compensation schemes for customers who sell rooftop solar generation back to the grid, balancing environmental interests and the financial interests of utilities, solar system installers, and retail customers. This is difficult: Regulatory changes made in Nevada in 2015 to protect Nevada's utility induced SolarCity, the market leader in solar systems, to suspend local operations. We show that the choice of tariff structure is crucial to achieving socially desirable objectives. (2) Academic/Practical Relevance: It is important for regulators to understand how tariff structure interacts with social objectives. This has implications for consumers, regulators and industry. (3) Methodology: We use a sequential game to analyze the regulator's social welfare maximization problem in a market with a regulated utility, an unregulated, price-setting, profit-maximizing solar system installer, and customers who endogenously determine whether to adopt solar or not, based on utility tariffs, solar prices and their heterogeneous usage profiles and generation potentials. (4) Results: We illustrate that the effectiveness of tariff structures is not governed simply by the number of free tariff parameters, but by the functions these parameters serve. In particular, an effective tariff must discriminate among customer usage tiers between customers with and without rooftop solar to achieve socially desirable outcomes. We present a tariff structure with these two characteristics and show how it can be implemented as a simple buy-all, sell-all tariff while retaining its favorable properties. We illustrate our findings numerically using data from Nevada and New Mexico, two states grappling with this issue. (5) Managerial Implications: Many utilities in the U.S. operate tariff structures that are missing at least one of the two identified features. Regulators must overhaul these tariff structures to adequately safeguard all stake-holders

On some aspects of initialization and forecasts in the Indian monsoon region.

Application of a dynamic initialization scheme for balancing initial wind and pressure fields for a one-level primitive equation model in the Indian region has been investigated. For this purpose, the model equations are integrated forward and backward around the initial time following the Euler backward time-difference scheme without restoration of any variable. For comparison, the initial wind-pressure balance has also been constructed from the observed horizontal motion field by a hierarchy of models of increasing complexity, using the geostrophic relation, the linear balance equation and the nonlinear balance equation. Furthermore, the 48 h forecasts are prepared using the balanced initial data derived from the static nonlinear balance equation and the dynamic initialization scheme. The forecast results from both initialization schemes are compared and discussed. The results obtained from the dynamic initialization scheme are found to be either slightly superior or comparable to those based on the static initialization scheme

A Portable System with 0.1-ppm RMSE Resolution for 1-10 MHz Resonant MEMS Frequency Measurement

This article presents a portable and programmable frequency measurement system (PrO-FMS) with 0.1-ppm RMSE resolution over a measurement time interval of 33.2 s for bulk-acoustic resonator applications. PrO-FMS has a feature of choosing a frequency estimation method and accordingly the sampling frequency, which is programmable. Five frequency estimation methods, Candan, Djukanovic, Prony, M-Pisarenko, and zero crossing interpolation methods, are reviewed for high-resolution frequency measurement. PrO-FMS can also be reconfigured to select a particular resonance mode over a range of 1-10 MHz. Measurement results are provided for two different commercial quartz crystals and a microfabricated in-plane bulk acoustic resonator in two different modes of resonance. The results of these estimation methods are compared with a standard commercial tabletop frequency counter. Measurement results show that PrO-FMS can achieve a resolution of 0.1 ppm RMSE. For the same gate time, PrO-FMS provides better resolution than standard tabletop frequency counter. This article also provides a study on the behavior of the five different frequency estimation methods for short-and long-term measurements for quartz crystals and bulk acoustic resonator in two different modes

Health-seeking behaviour of tuberculosis patients and related factors in the central region of Ghana

The health seeking behaviour of TB patients and health service related barriers have been cited to have an influence on the management of the disease in countries with high incidence of TB. Using close and open-ended questionnaires, an assessment of the health seeking behaviour of 302 TB patients selected from 24 DOTS centres in six districts in the Central  Region of Ghana was carried out. Under service-related barriers, distance from home to DOTS centre significantly impacted on the management of TB among sufferers (p=0.025). Though not significant, patients  acknowledged the good reception by staff at treatment centres with 99.3% of them being comfortable with staff and services provided at centres. Majority (46.7%) of patients perceived TB to be caused by the oral route while only 9.3% knew the causative agent to be bacteria. Compared with males, quite a number of women did not have adequate knowledge on TB (p<0.05). More than half of the respondents sought treatment elsewhere as first point of treatment before reporting to the DOTS centre. Health insurance played an important role in the health seeking behaviour of respondents; 45.9% of TB patients with health insurance visited the health facility as 1st provider whilst 49.4% without health insurance visited prayer camps (p=0.001). Our study has revealed that factors such as staff  attitude, distance to treatment centres, gender, employment and education are key factors that affect the health-seeking behaviour of TB patients in the Central Region of GhanaKeywords: Tuberculosis, Health, barriers, Central Regio

In vitro flowering in embryogenic cultures of Kinnow mandarin (Citrus nobilis Lour ´ C. deliciosa Tenora)

Embryogenic cultures of Kinnow mandarin (C. nobilis Lour × C. deliciosa Tenora) were raised from unfertilized ovules dissected from unopened flower buds of this plant inoculated on MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L kinetin (KN). In vitro flowering was induced in these cultures by usingdifferent concentrations of KN and sucrose as well as subjecting these cultures to different photoperiods. Maximum percentage (31.94%) of cultures producing flowers and maximum number (5.58) of flowers per culture was observed on MS medium supplemented with KN (2 mg/L) and sucrose40 g/L at 12-h photoperiod

Molecular diagnostics and phylogenetic analysis of ‘Candidatus phytoplasma asteris’ (16SrI- Aster yellow group) infecting banana (Musa spp.)

The presence of phytoplasma in diseased banana plants exhibiting acute stunting symptoms was detected by the polymerase chain reaction using a primer set specific for the 16SrRNA gene of phytoplasma. The amplified DNA fragments of 1500 bp were cloned in pGEMT-Easy plasmid cloningvector and sequenced. The BLASTN and phylogenetic analyses revealed the infecting agents to be the closely related members of the ‘Candidatus phytoplasma asteris’ (16Sr I-Aster yellow) group

Disease progression in Plasmodium knowlesi malaria is linked to variation in invasion gene family members.

Emerging pathogens undermine initiatives to control the global health impact of infectious diseases. Zoonotic malaria is no exception. Plasmodium knowlesi, a malaria parasite of Southeast Asian macaques, has entered the human population. P. knowlesi, like Plasmodium falciparum, can reach high parasitaemia in human infections, and the World Health Organization guidelines for severe malaria list hyperparasitaemia among the measures of severe malaria in both infections. Not all patients with P. knowlesi infections develop hyperparasitaemia, and it is important to determine why. Between isolate variability in erythrocyte invasion, efficiency seems key. Here we investigate the idea that particular alleles of two P. knowlesi erythrocyte invasion genes, P. knowlesi normocyte binding protein Pknbpxa and Pknbpxb, influence parasitaemia and human disease progression. Pknbpxa and Pknbpxb reference DNA sequences were generated from five geographically and temporally distinct P. knowlesi patient isolates. Polymorphic regions of each gene (approximately 800 bp) were identified by haplotyping 147 patient isolates at each locus. Parasitaemia in the study cohort was associated with markers of disease severity including liver and renal dysfunction, haemoglobin, platelets and lactate, (r = ≥ 0.34, p =  <0.0001 for all). Seventy-five and 51 Pknbpxa and Pknbpxb haplotypes were resolved in 138 (94%) and 134 (92%) patient isolates respectively. The haplotypes formed twelve Pknbpxa and two Pknbpxb allelic groups. Patients infected with parasites with particular Pknbpxa and Pknbpxb alleles within the groups had significantly higher parasitaemia and other markers of disease severity. Our study strongly suggests that P. knowlesi invasion gene variants contribute to parasite virulence. We focused on two invasion genes, and we anticipate that additional virulent loci will be identified in pathogen genome-wide studies. The multiple sustained entries of this diverse pathogen into the human population must give cause for concern to malaria elimination strategists in the Southeast Asian region