ICT Adoption and Use in Tanzania SMEs

The purpose of this paper was to establish the status of ICTs adoption and use in Tanzania SMEs. Previously, it was shown that there is a shortage of comprehensive, accurate and up to date data on many aspects of the SMEs sector including the level of ICT adoption and use. This has affected government efforts aimed at development of this important sector in the economic development of the country. Results show that: (i) By year 2014, adoption of ICTs in SMEs had grown from almost non-existence in year 2004 to 80.1% computer technology use, and over 56.6% for use of internet technologies; (ii) More than 53% of the SMEs were using ICTs as a strategic communication and marketing tool; (iii) 47% of the SMEs were competitive due to use of ICTs. Given these results, the government and key stakeholders can formulate more effective policies and incentives aimed at developing the SME sector. Further research is recommended to address post adoption competitiveness issues

Active and driven hydrodynamic crystals

Motivated by the experimental ability to produce monodisperse particles in microfluidic devices, we study theoretically the hydrodynamic stability of driven and active crystals. We first recall the theoretical tools allowing to quantify the dynamics of elongated particles in a confined fluid. In this regime hydrodynamic interactions between particles arise from a superposition of potential dipolar singularities. We exploit this feature to derive the equations of motion for the particle positions and orientations. After showing that all five planar Bravais lattices are stationary solutions of the equations of motion, we consider separately the case where the particles are passively driven by an external force, and the situation where they are self-propelling. We first demonstrate that phonon modes propagate in driven crystals, which are always marginally stable. The spatial structure of the eigenmodes depend solely on the symmetries of the lattices, and on the orientation of the driving force. For active crystals, the stability of the particle positions and orientations depends not only on the symmetry of the crystals but also on the perturbation wavelengths and on the crystal density. Unlike unconfined fluids, the stability of active crystals is independent of the nature of the propulsion mechanism at the single particle level. The square and rectangular lattices are found to be linearly unstable at short wavelengths provided the volume fraction of the crystals is high enough. Differently, hexagonal, oblique, and face-centered crystals are always unstable. Our work provides a theoretical basis for future experimental work on flowing microfluidic crystals.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure

Notch signaling during human T cell development

Notch signaling is critical during multiple stages of T cell development in both mouse and human. Evidence has emerged in recent years that this pathway might regulate T-lineage differentiation differently between both species. Here, we review our current understanding of how Notch signaling is activated and used during human T cell development. First, we set the stage by describing the developmental steps that make up human T cell development before describing the expression profiles of Notch receptors, ligands, and target genes during this process. To delineate stage-specific roles for Notch signaling during human T cell development, we subsequently try to interpret the functional Notch studies that have been performed in light of these expression profiles and compare this to its suggested role in the mouse

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Forage Technologies under Smallholder Dairy Production Systems in Tanzania

70% of the world’s bovines belongs to LDCs, but they only produce 29% of the global meat and 23% of the global milk output (Jahnke et al. 1988). Current demand for dairy products in Africa largely outweigh their production (Smith 2015; Lukuyu et al. 2009). A comparative study showed a 4.0% demand growth rate against a 3.1% production growth rate of dairy products in SSA between 1990 and 2004 (Ndambi et al. 2007), While, at the same period, Africa’s dairy imports grew at a rate of 2.1% per annum. Numbers demonstrate that SSA’s dairy production potential is yet to be reached

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Forage Technologies in Smallholder Dairy Production Systems in Lushoto, Tanzania

Despite population pressure and the urgent need for dairy production to be doubled by 2050, there is still a significant deficit in milk production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Lack of quantity and quality feed is one of the major factors causing unsatisfactory milk yields. This Working Paper assessed the adoption potential of forage technologies in Lushoto, Tanga district, Tanzania. We carried out an extensive literature review of past work on smallholder dairy production in SSA and Tanzania, and the adoption rate of forage technologies; visited and observed farmers’ fields in Lushoto; carried out interviews with farmers; and used a Qualitative participatory expert-based Assessment Tool for Forage Technology adoption (QATo-FT) in a multi-stakeholder workshop. Results showed that the adoption rate of improved forage technologies in Lushoto is still in the early stages following classical diffusion theories. The farmers’ interviews revealed that while the triggering factors for adoption were related to the shortage of feed and soil conservation problems, the potential economic advantages were not as dominant as expected. Farmers reported the reasons for sustaining the practices of growing improved forages as the year-round availability of fodder, increased fodder demand and accumulated benefits. The low actual adoption rates contrasted with results from the QATo-FT assessment that revealed a high overall adoption potential for Lushoto. The following factors all exerted a positive influence on adoption potential: the general receptive nature of the community towards the technology; the expectations of improved forages on ecological benefits; and the role of promoting institutions. Factors exerting a weaker influence included the political and institutional framework at regional level, and products and input markets conditions for forage and overall livestock farming. Most important barriers to adoption were related to the whole farming system and the wider environment. The opportunity cost for labor was low due to lack of off-farm income possibilities, hence making it favorable for farmers to collect fodder from distant places instead of saving labor through growing forages closer to the homestead. Further, several other livestock management factors confounded potential gains in milk production through improved forages: current breeds were often not sufficiently high yielding to respond to improved feeding; providing water to zero grazing animals was not always achievable for labor-constrained farms; many farmers let forages overgrow for use in times of scarcity (dry season) which led to lower-than-necessary forage being fed to animals; sufficient planting material and extension advice on forage management and harvesting was not always available; milk prices were low and would not be increased if the volume of milk production did not increase (the collection center was operating at < 50% capacity). To increase future forage adoption rates, it is recommended to invest in knowledge transfer, more effective local authority and extension structures, stronger multi-stakeholder partnerships, access to loan and credit facilities, improvement of off-farm income possibilities, better access to input markets including AI and forage planting material, and more favorable output markets. By doing this, the performance of existing heads of cattle for the region would be improved, milk yields would increase and eventually farmers’ income levels would be enhanced. This could improve nutrition, and eventually contribute to poverty alleviation in SSA

Phonons in a one-dimensional microfluidic crystal

The development of a general theoretical framework for describing the behaviour of a crystal driven far from equilibrium has proved difficult1. Microfluidic crystals, formed by the introduction of droplets of immiscible fluid into a liquid-filled channel, provide a convenient means to explore and develop models to describe non-equilibrium dynamics2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Owing to the fact that these systems operate at low Reynolds number (Re), in which viscous dissipation of energy dominates inertial effects, vibrations are expected to be over-damped and contribute little to their dynamics12, 13, 14. Against such expectations, we report the emergence of collective normal vibrational modes (equivalent to acoustic 'phonons') in a one-dimensional microfluidic crystal of water-in-oil droplets at Reapprox10-4. These phonons propagate at an ultra-low sound velocity of approx100 mum s-1 and frequencies of a few hertz, exhibit unusual dispersion relations markedly different to those of harmonic crystals, and give rise to a variety of crystal instabilities that could have implications for the design of commercial microfluidic systems. First-principles theory shows that these phonons are an outcome of the symmetry-breaking flow field that induces long-range inter-droplet interactions, similar in nature to those observed in many other systems including dusty plasma crystals15, 16, vortices in superconductors17, 18, active membranes19 and nucleoprotein filaments20.Comment: https://www.weizmann.ac.il/complex/tlusty/papers/NaturePhys2006.pd

A Randomized Trial of Prophylactic Antibiotics for Miscarriage Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Surgical intervention is needed in some cases of spontaneous abortion to remove retained products of conception. Antibiotic prophylaxis may reduce the risk of pelvic infection, which is an important complication of this surgery, particularly in low-resource countries. METHODS: We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial investigating whether antibiotic prophylaxis before surgery to complete a spontaneous abortion would reduce pelvic infection among women and adolescents in low-resource countries. We randomly assigned patients to a single preoperative dose of 400 mg of oral doxycycline and 400 mg of oral metronidazole or identical placebos. The primary outcome was pelvic infection within 14 days after surgery. Pelvic infection was defined by the presence of two or more of four clinical features (purulent vaginal discharge, pyrexia, uterine tenderness, and leukocytosis) or by the presence of one of these features and the clinically identified need to administer antibiotics. The definition of pelvic infection was changed before the unblinding of the data; the original strict definition was two or more of the clinical features, without reference to the administration of antibiotics. RESULTS: We enrolled 3412 patients in Malawi, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda. A total of 1705 patients were assigned to receive antibiotics and 1707 to receive placebo. The risk of pelvic infection was 4.1% (68 of 1676 pregnancies) in the antibiotics group and 5.3% (90 of 1684 pregnancies) in the placebo group (risk ratio, 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.56 to 1.04; P = 0.09). Pelvic infection according to original strict criteria was diagnosed in 1.5% (26 of 1700 pregnancies) and 2.6% (44 of 1704 pregnancies), respectively (risk ratio, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.96). There were no significant between-group differences in adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotic prophylaxis before miscarriage surgery did not result in a significantly lower risk of pelvic infection, as defined by pragmatic broad criteria, than placebo. (Funded by the Medical Research Council and others; AIMS Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN97143849.)