EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVE MICROORGANISMS (EM) TECHNOLOGY IN MAIZE (Zea mays L.) GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND YIELD IN MOROGORO TANZANIA

The field experiment was conducted at Tushikamane Centre Kilakala, Morogoro Tanzania to investigate the effect of EM technology on maize (Zea mays L.) growth, development and yield. Maize is a major cereal consumed; over 80% of population depends on maize for food in Tanzania. Low soil fertility, insect pests and diseases are among the primary constraints in maize production. This is due to continuous cultivation without fertilizing the soil, poor and lack of proper measures to control pest and diseases. Most farmers in both rural and urban areas of Tanzania are not aware with the use of organic fertilizers especially the EM (Effective Microorganism) technology in agriculture to increase crop yield without the use of agricultural chemicals or artificial fertilizers, the method of farming is inexpensive, capable of producing high-quality products, high yield produces and preserving the environment. Therefore, this research work mainly aimed at studying the efficiency of EM technology on maize (Zea mays L.) crop performance in the field. Five treatments comprising of EM technology EM-Bokashi, Bokashi and EM-A, EM-FPE and EM-5, combination of Bokashi, EM-A, EMFPE and EM5, and absolute control were compared in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Bokashi leaves (3.7%N) at 1851.9kg/ha, 200 mls of EMA mixed with water to make a 2L solution, EMFPE and EM5 were mixed with water at 200mls to get a 2L solution which was sprayed thrice a week scheduled for application. Three weeks were scheduled for application of EM. Application of EM-Bokashi produced an average yield of 3.06 tonha-1, EM-Bokashi and EM-A produced grain yield of 3.24 tonha-1, EMFPE and EM-5 produced 3.11 tonha-1 and, application of all EM-Bokashi, EM-A, EMFPE and EM-5 produced grain yield of 3.51 tonha-1, while absolute control produced 2.12 tonha-1. Application of EM improved maize crop yield

Comparing Service Delivery Models for Children with Developmental Delays in Canada: Adaptive and Maladaptive Behaviours, Parental Perceptions of Stress and of Care

This study compares two service delivery models (community-based and centre-based), examining them in light of children’s adaptive and maladaptive behaviours, and parental perceptions of stress and of care. More specifically, parents of 96 children with developmental delays assessed their children’s adaptive and maladaptive behaviours and rated their own perceived levels of stress as well as their perceptions of care from service providers. Findings indicated that children from the community-based sites were perceived as having less severe social skill deficits than those from centre-based sites. Regarding parental stress, mothers from community-based settings reported more challenges with their child’s father than did the mothers from centre-based settings; and fathers from the community-based settings reported more challenges related to their health than did the fathers from the centre-based settings. Regarding care, parents from the centre-based settings had more positive perceptions of care than did parents from the community-based settings. Therefore, in general, parents receiving services within community-based settings reported fewer positive perceptions of care and more challenges than those from centre-based settings. Overall, the results of this investigation can inform future programming for community- and centre-based service delivery systems. More specifically, the findings highlight the important role that family-centred care can play in supporting the needs of children with developmental delays and their families; particularly for families using community-based services

SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS' UTILIZATION OF INDIGENOUS INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES IN TEACHING BASIC TECHNOLOGY IN KWARA STATE

Indigenous instructional resources are the local or native resources which the teachers use to make abstract lessons more meaningful and understandable. However, lack of instructional resources and inappropriate utilization could contribute to poor performance of students. Therefore, this study investigated (i) the types of indigenous instructional resources that are available for basic technology (ii) if basic technology teachers use indigenous instructional resources (iii) influence of gender in using indigenous instructional resources by teacher in secondary school in Kwara State. The survey method was adopted, and data was collected using a researcher-design questionnaire to gather necessary information which inference was drawn from. The sample of this study was selected using the simple random sampling techniques. 312 respondents. The finding revealed that the available indigenous instructional resources are being utilized by basic technology teachers and there was no significant difference between male and female teacher utilization of indigenous instructional resources for teaching basic technology. The study concluded that indigenous instructional resources are being utilized by basic technology teachers in secondary school in Kwara State. This implies that lessons taught with the guide of indigenous instructional material arouse learners’ interest to understand what is been taught. It was therefore recommended that need to evolve policy actions that will increase access to indigenous instructional resources and actions to improve its quality

Development of a Village-Scale, Solar-Powered Reverse Osmosis System

This paper details the development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis water desalination system for a groundwater well in Bercy, Haiti. The well was constructed to provide potable drinking and agricultural water for the 300-person community. However, its water has a salinity level of 5,290 ppm, rendering it harmful for both human consumption and soil fertility. This reverse osmosis system is designed to be low-cost and operational off-grid while providing 900 gallons per day of desalinated water for the community. The system is composed of a photovoltaic power system, a submersible solar pump, and three reverse osmosis membranes. The system is designed to have a material cost significantly below that of any commercially-available system of similar scale. Furthermore, it has an average water production cost of $1.21/m3 and an average specific energy of 1.2 kWh/m3. Its performance was tested in the laboratory by connecting the desalination module to a DC power supply, demonstrating good agreement with its modeled performance. The installation of the full system with the PV module will take place on-site in the summer of 2016. Following implementation, the system will be monitored and compared against predicted performance. The first attempt is meant to serve as a verification and validation of the system as a whole. However, successful operation within the given cost target could pave the way for wider use of off-grid reverse osmosis systems at many remote locations with limited freshwater access around the world.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Tata Center for Technology and Desig

Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes-Palliative Care in Africa Program: Improving Access to Quality Palliative Care

Purpose: There is limited access to quality palliative care (PC) for patients with advanced cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. Our aim was to describe the development of the Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes- Palliative Care in Africa (ECHO-PACA) program and describe a preliminary evaluation of attitudes and knowledge of participants regarding the ability of the program to deliver quality PC. Methods: An interdisciplinary team at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, guided by experts in PC in sub-Saharan Africa, adapted a standardized curriculum based on PC needs in the region. Participants were then recruited, and monthly telementoring sessions were held for 16 months. The monthly telementoring sessions consisted of case presentations, discussions, and didactic lectures. Program participants came from 14 clinics and teaching hospitals in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Zambia. Participants were surveyed at the beginning, midpoint, and end of the 16-month program to evaluate changes in attitudes and knowledge of PC. Results: The median number of participants per session was 30. Thirty-three (83%) of 40 initial participants completed the feedback survey. Health care providers’ self-reported confidence in providing PC increased with participation in the Project ECHO-PACA clinic. There was significant improvement in the participants’ attitudes and knowledge, especially in titrating opioids for pain control (P = .042), appropriate use of non-opioid analgesics (P = .012), and identifying and addressing communication issues related to end-of-life care (P = .014). Conclusion: Project ECHO-PACA was a successful approach for disseminating knowledge about PC. The participants were adherent to ECHO PACA clinics and the completion of feedback surveys. Future studies should evaluate the impact of Project ECHO-PACA on changes in provider practice as well as patient outcomes

Moving forward through consensus: a national Delphi approach to determine the top research priorities in prostate cancer in Uganda

OBJECTIVE: To identify key areas for research in prostate cancer (PC) in the Ugandan context by establishing the major health system, socioeconomic and clinical barriers to seeking, reaching and receiving high-quality cancer care. DESIGN: Modified Delphi Technique. SETTING: Government and private-not-for-profit hospitals. METHODS: We applied a two-stage modified Delphi technique to identify the consensus view across cancer experts. In round 1, experts received a questionnaire containing 21 statements drawn from a systematic review identifying the reason for the delay in accessing cancer care. Each statement was scored out of 20. Statements scoring ≥15 from over 70% of participants were prioritised for inclusion while statements for which <30% of participants gave a score of ≥15 were excluded. Sixteen statements were included in round 2 as they did not receive consensus for inclusion or exclusion. RESULTS: We found that the top six research priority areas arise from challenges including: (1) lack of diagnostic services-ultrasound, laboratory tests and biopsy facilities; (2) high costs of services, for example, surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy are unaffordable to most patients, (3) lack of essential medicines, (4) limited radiotherapy capacity, (5) lack of awareness of cancer as a disease and low recognition of symptoms, (6) low healthcare literacy. The lack of critical surgical supplies, high diagnostic and treatment costs were ranked highest in order of importance in round 1. Round 2 also revealed lack of diagnostic services, unavailability of critical medicines, lack of radiotherapy options, high costs of treatments and lack of critical surgical supplies as the top priorities. CONCLUSION: These research priority areas ought to be addressed in future research to improve prompt PC diagnosis and care in Uganda. There is need to improve the supply of high-quality affordable anticancer medicines for PC patients so as to improve the survivorship from the cancer

EDIFY (Eating disorders: delineating illness and recovery trajectories to inform personalised prevention and early intervention in young people):Project outline

EDIFY (Eating Disorders: Delineating Illness and Recovery Trajectories to Inform Personalised Prevention and Early Intervention in Young People) is an ambitious research project aiming to revolutionise how eating disorders are perceived, prevented and treated. Six integrated workstreams will address key questions, including: What are young people's experiences of eating disorders and recovery? What are the unique and shared risk factors in different groups? What helps or hinders recovery? How do the brain and behaviour change from early- to later-stage illness? How can we intervene earlier, quicker and in a more personalised way? This 4-year project, involving over 1000 participants, integrates arts, design and humanities with advanced neurobiological, psychosocial and bioinformatics approaches. Young people with lived experience of eating disorders are at the heart of EDIFY, serving as advisors and co-producers throughout. Ultimately, this work will expand public and professional perceptions of eating disorders, uplift under-represented voices and stimulate much-needed advances in policy and practice

Surgical Patterns of Care in Patients with Invasive Breast Cancer Treated with Neoadjuvant Systemic Therapy and Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Results of a Secondary Analysis of TBCRC 017

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) down-stages advanced primary tumors, with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) being the most sensitive imaging predictor of response. However, the impact of MRI evaluation on surgical treatment decisions in the neoadjuvant setting has not been well described. We report surgical patterns of care across 8 National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer centers in women receiving both NCT and MRI to evaluate the impact of MRI findings on surgical planning

Validity of Recall of Tobacco Use in Two Prospective Cohorts

This project studied the convergent validity of current recall of tobacco-related health behaviors, compared with prospective self-report collected earlier at two sites. Cohorts were from the Oregon Research Institute at Eugene (N = 346, collected 19.5 years earlier) and the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (N = 294, collected 3.9 years earlier). Current recall was examined through computer-assisted interviews with the Lifetime Tobacco Use Questionnaire from 2005 through 2008. Convergent validity estimates demonstrated variability. Validity estimates of some tobacco use measures were significant for Oregon subjects (age at first cigarette, number of cigarettes/day, quit attempts yes/no and number of attempts, and abstinence symptoms at quitting; all P < 0.03). Validity estimates of Pittsburgh subjects’ self-reports of tobacco use and abstinence symptoms were significant (P < 0.001) for all tobacco use and abstinence symptoms and for responses to initial use of tobacco. These findings support the utility of collecting recalled self-report information for reconstructing salient lifetime health behaviors and underscore the need for careful interpretation