Articles, Conference and Workshop Papers Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://10.10.97.169:4000/handle/123456789/81

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 91

Digital technology and services for sustainable agriculture in Tanzania: A literature review
(MDPI, 2022) Mushi Gilbert E.; Di Marzo Giovanna Serugendo; Burgi Pierre-Yves
Digital technology has the potential to eradicate extreme poverty and food insecurity to the majority of smallholder farmers in the world. This paper aims to identify knowledge gaps on digital technology for sustainable agriculture and assess their availability to smallholder farmers worldwide. The particular case of Tanzania receives special attention. We conducted an extensive literature search from relevant databases for review. The advanced digital technology in agriculture, mostly used by large scale farmers, significantly contributes to sustainable agriculture. However, the existing digital services for smallholder farmers lack sustainability in the agriculture context and hardly meet the needs for a comprehensive set of services in a complete farming cycle. In most developing countries, Tanzania case included, digital technology and services respond to a challenge at a particular stage of the farming process or to a specific value chain. Based on this literature review, we identify inequalities among large and small farmers, as well as environmental challenges caused by ICT itself. To conclude we provide suggestions for improvements for smallholder farmers: developing a digital platform that addresses smallholder farmers’ challenges in a complete farming cycle, bringing together the stakeholders at a country level, in order to achieve sustainable agriculture and support adoption of cutting-edge digital technology. These suggestions will be the starting point for future research.
Serving the public: African academic libraries and outreach services
(National Information Workers Association of Namibia, 2021-10-06) Mushi Gilbert; Kingsley Egbukole
Academic libraries are sources of information and services, which serve not only the academic community but also the general public. The libraries serve as preservers and disseminators of information, adding value to the public as they give access to information through outreach services. As such, public users of different disciples including farmers, entrepreneurs, professionals, household members, industries and other similar groups in the public are the beneficiaries of the information held in the academic libraries. This paper discusses the issues, challenges and solutions of outreach services provided by the University Library of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) in Nigeria and Sokoine National Agricultural Library – the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. The paper generally discusses academic library services offered to the non-academic community for the aim of extending access to information resources held in the academic libraries.
Research data management and services: Resources for different data practitioners
(IASSIST Quarterly, 2021) Mushi Gilbert Exaud
The emergence of data-driven research and demands for Research Data Management (RDM) has created interest in global academic institutions and research organisations. Some of the libraries, especially in developed countries, have started offering RDM services to their communities. Although lagging, some academic libraries in developing countries are planning or implementing the service. However, the level of RDM awareness is deficient among researchers, librarians and other data practitioners. This paper aims to present available open resources for different data practitioners, particularly researchers and librarians. It includes training resources for researchers and librarians, Data Management Plan (DMP) tool for researchers, a data repository available for researchers to freely archive and shares their research data to the local and international communities. A case study with a survey was conducted at the University of Dodoma to identify relevant RDM services so that librarians could assist researchers in making their data accessible to the local and international community. The study findings revealed a low level of RDM awareness among researchers and librarians. Over 50% of the respondent indicated their perceived knowledge as poor in the following RDM knowledge areas; DMP, data repository, long term digital preservation, funders RDM mandates, metadata standards describing data and general awareness of RDM. Therefore, this paper presents available open resources for different data practitioners to improve RDM knowledge and boost the confidence of academic and research libraries in establishing the service.
The state of embedded librarianship in the university research processes in selected African academic libraries
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2023-07-28) Leonard Anna; Josiline Chigwada; Mushi Gilbert
Purpose – This study aims to examine the state of embedded librarianship in African academic libraries by exploring the extent of librarian embedment in research processes in selected academic libraries in Africa. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted to collect data using an online questionnaire. The study population was comprised of librarians who directly support researchers throughout the research process in the scholarly communication and information services sections. Purposive sampling was used to select librarians, and 63 responses were received from the target of 100. The collected data were analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, and content analysis was used to analyse open-ended questions. Findings – The study results showed that the extent and nature of librarians’ embeddedness in the research process vary across different university contexts in Africa. Challenges and areas of research skill gaps among librarians were identified, and propositions to address the research skill gaps were provided. Practical implications – The study findings can be used as a framework for libraries to embed librarians in the research process. The study made recommendations with practical implications for library practitioners in academia, and institutions offering library and information science education, and the library management responsible for the research process. Originality/value – A study brings a novel perspective by examining the state of embedded librarianship in the African context. Its contribution generates knowledge and insights that inform the development of effective embedded librarianship practices in African academic libraries to enhance research support services and advancement of scholarly research in the region.
State of agricultural e-government services to farmers in Tanzania: toward the participatory design of a Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS)
(MDPI, 2024-03-15) Mushi, Gilbert Exaud; Burgi, Pierre-Yves; Serugendo, Di Marzo Giovanna
The projected population increase and drastic climate changes are a great setback to food security through sustainable agriculture. However, governments need to play key roles in supporting the agriculture sector, which creates considerable employment and contributions to most countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) outcomes. In many countries, the governments already support the agriculture sector with services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to reach many stakeholders, including smallholder farmers. This paper investigated the status of e-Government services in the agriculture sector for farmers in order to understand the functions and scope of e-services, the challenges faced by farmers, both addressed and unaddressed, and the challenges of ICT-based services for farmers and other stakeholders in Tanzania. We used a qualitative research approach to interview the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, extension workers, and agriculture processing industries. The main finding reveals that e-government services play a major role in the agriculture sector in Tanzania. Our results show that the pre-existing ICT services identified for farmers cannot meet the needs of farmers in a complete farming cycle. Moreover, lack of awareness, digital illiteracy, and poor infrastructure are the major challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders when it comes to ICT-based services. These results justify the need for a comprehensive digital platform, particularly the proposed Farmers Digital Information System (FDIS) to enable farmers and other stakeholders to access essential services in a complete farming cycle for a more sustainable agriculture.
Data management system for sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in Tanzania: research-in-progress
(Taylor & Francis, 2023-05-31) Mushi Gilbert Exaud; Di Marzo Giovanna Serugendo; Burgi Pierre-Yves
Smallholder farmers produce about 70% of the world’s food and employ more than one billion people. They therefore have an important role to play in eradicating food insecurity and poverty among the world’s growing population. Although there are different digital services for smallholder farmers, the existing services lack sustainability in the agriculture context and hardly meet their needs. Data management and sharing among different agriculture stakeholders has the potential to make agriculture sustainable, but there is a need to enable access to digital services in an entire farming cycle under one roof. This paper aims to propose the design of a comprehensive data management digital framework to solve common challenges of smallholder farmers in Tanzania and other countries’ agricultural systems. We follow the design science research (DSR) method to develop an artifact that interacts with the problem context. To illustrate the framework’s applicability, we use different case studies in Tanzania.
Use of subscribed electronic eesources by undergraduate students at Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
(COTUL, 2022-11) Mwalukasa, Nicholaus
This study assessed the use of subscribed electronic resources by undergraduate students at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA). The study aims at determining the students’ awareness, access and use of subscribed electronic resources and to examine determinants of the use of subscribed electronic resources. The study used a cross-sectional research design to collect data from 120 respondents using structured questionnaire as the data collection tool. Data were coded on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The researchers calculated the frequencies, percentages and linear regression. Findings reveal that majority (90%) of respondents were aware of the availability of subscribed electronic resources. Furthermore, the most used e- resources were e-journal and e-books while the least used was e-dictionary. Furthermore, the results found that perceived usefulness and attitude significantly influenced students’ use of subscribed electronic resources. The study reveals that age and year of study influenced students’ use of subscribed electronic resources. The study concludes that usage of subscribed e-resources by undergraduate students was moderate. It is recommended that librarians in academic institutions should create regular creation of awareness on the subscribed e- resources to the library users. The study recommends that librarians, information science and educators who intend to promote electronic resources should ensure that they are useful. Moreover, creating awareness on the usefulness of electronic resources to change their attitude is another important factor. Marketing the electronic resources through outreach programmess and information literacy are necessary for all the students.
A novel qoe-aware sdn-enabled, nfv-based management architecture for future multimedia applications on 5g systems
(2019) Barakabitze,Alcardo Alex; Sun,Lingfen; Mkwawa,Is-Haka; Ifeachor,Emmanuel
This paper proposes a novel QoE-aware SDN enabled NFV architecture for controlling and managing Future Multimedia Applications on 5G systems. The aim is to improve the QoE of the delivered multimedia services through the fulfilment of personalized QoE application requirements. This novel approach provides some new features, functionalities, concepts and opportunities for overcoming the key QoE provisioning limitations in current 4G systems such as increased network management complexity and inability to adapt dynamically to changing application, network transmission/traffic or end-user’s demand
Early fire detection system in Tanzania market places
(2020-11-15) Philemon, Rotich; Rambo, Hilary; Geofrey, Anna; Sam, Anael
Application of wireless sensor networks (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT) used to provide real-time monitoring of fire outbreak in markets. The system integrates three subsystems namely; sensing subsystem which uses multiple sensors for detecting fire outbreaks. Data processing subsystem which collects data from the sensing subsystem through Xbee, analyses, and uploads data to the cloud. If values exceed sensor threshold, an alarm is triggered and notification is sent to stakeholders via mobile application subsystem. The integration between sensing, data processing, and mobile application subsystems pave a new way for the mitigation of fire outbreaks at its early stage. Keywords: wireless sensor networks; Internet of Things; real-time monitoring; Xbee; integration
A survey on indigenous knowledge systems databases for African traditional medicines
(2018-06) Mangare, Catherine Francis; LI, JIE
This study aimed at surveying the constructed Indigenous knowledge systems databases for African Traditional medicine; learning their diversity features, common challenges and develops the missing information when constructing indigenous knowledge system for Tanzanian Traditional Medicine. According to the research presented by different scholars, there are more than 10 databases for African traditional plants medicine. The translation of biodiversity towards the new therapy has been a challenge towards creating the database for traditional medicine in Africa. This has led to most of the available database lack enough information on ethnopharmacological data. The effort towards the introduction of bioinformatics in most of the undergraduate circular gives the best direction towards developments of computational in pharmaceutical fields. By concluding, the development of global data in a single indigenous knowledge system may be impossible in view of the culture and biodiversity differences; efforts have to be given to specific regional areas and African museum should act as a center to link all indigenous knowledge systems. The need of using the collaborative approach for defining a common standard in medicinal plant database for knowledge sharing and scientific advancement is inevitable in developing a unified indigenous knowledge systems Database for African Traditional Medicine.
Early fire detection system in Tanzania market places
(MDPI, 2020-11-15) Philemon, Rotich; Rambo, Hilary; Geofrey, Anna; Sam, Anael
Application of wireless sensor networks (WSN) and Internet of Things (IoT) used to provide real-time monitoring of fire outbreak in markets. The system integrates three subsystems namely; sensing subsystem which uses multiple sensors for detecting fire outbreaks. Data processing subsystem which collects data from the sensing subsystem through Xbee, analyses, and uploads data to the cloud. If values exceed sensor threshold, an alarm is triggered and notification is sent to stakeholders via mobile application subsystem. The integration between sensing, data processing, and mobile application subsystems pave a new way for the mitigation of fire outbreaks at its early stage.
Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding porcine cysticercosis control among smallholder pig farmers in Kongwa and Songwe districts, Tanzania: a cross-sectional study
(Elsevier, 2023) Wilson, C; Nonga, H.E; Mdegela, R.H; Churi, A.J; Mkupasi, E.M; Winkler, A.S; Ngowi, H.A
Taenia solium taeniasis/cysticercosis (TSTC) is a parasitic zoonotic disease that is endemic in several developing countries, causing serious public health and economic impacts. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to porcine cysticercosis (PCC) transmission, prevention and control among smallholder pig farmers in Kongwa and Songwe Districts in Tanzania. A semi-structured ques tionnaire was administered to 692 smallholder pig farmers from randomly selected households. STATA software version 17 was used to analyse quantitative data, summarize farmers’ KAP about PCC and calculate performance scores. Nearly half (42%) of the respondents had little knowledge regarding PCC, only 17% of the respondents had good practices towards prevention/control of PCC and 72% had a positive attitude towards PCC- prevention/ control measures. The majority (73%) of smallholder pig farmers admitted deworming their pigs regularly, whereas 76% reported deworming themselves and their family members regularly. Albendazole and ivermectin are the most commonly used medications for deworming people and pigs, respectively. According to the findings, the majority of smallholder pig farmers in Kongwa and Songwe Districts showed a good attitude towards PCC prevention/control measures but had limited knowledge of the PCC life cycle and control. In addition, only one in five farmers was engaged in good practices. The findings revealed further that farmers are engaged in risky behaviours that aid the spread and perpetuation of the T. solium parasite in the study area. It is recommended that farmers should be given proper health education on the T. solium transmission cycle and preventive/control practices to limit PCC transmission.
Blockchain-based secure storage management with edge computing for IoT
(MDPI, 2014) Nyamtiga, Baraka William; Sicato, Jose Costa Sapalo; Rathore, Shailendra; Sung, Yunsick; Park, Jong Hyuk
As a core technology to manage decentralized systems, blockchain is gaining much popularity to deploy such applications as smart grid and healthcare systems. However, its utilization in resource-constrained mobile devices is limited due to high demands of resources and poor scalability with frequent-intensive transactions. Edge computing can be integrated to facilitate mobile devices in offloading their mining tasks to cloud resources. This integration ensures reliable access, distributed computation and untampered storage for scalable and secure transactions. It is imperative therefore that crucial issues of security, scalability and resources management be addressed to achieve successful integration. Studies have been conducted to explore suitable architectural requirements, and some researchers have applied the integration to deploy some specific applications. Despite these efforts, however, issues of anonymity, adaptability and integrity still need to be investigated further to attain a practical, secure decentralized data storage. We based our study on peer-to-peer and blockchain to achieve an Internet of Things (IoT) design supported by edge computing to acquire security and scalability levels needed for the integration. We investigated existing blockchain and associated technologies to discover solutions that address anonymity, integrity and adaptability issues for successful integration of blockchain in IoT systems. The discovered solutions were then incorporated in our conceptual design of the decentralized application prototype presented for secure storage of IoT data and transactions.
Website development: The case of agricultural extension providers in Tanzania
(International journal of advances in scientific research and engineering (ijasre), 2022) Ngessa, Victor; Michael, Kisangiri F; Mtei, Kelvin Mark; Magesa, Mawazo Mwita
This study examined current practice in websites development among organizations in Tanzania that provide agricultural extension services to smallholder farmers. Google search was used to get a list of respondent organizations. A questionnaire, interviews, and a review of the websites owned by organizations under study were used to collect data. Other than websites, it was found that organizations use manual documents, physical visits, radios, SMSs, TVs, and social networks to disseminate information to smallholder farmers. Websites development was either done in-house or outsourced and the focus was to have websites that cater to the information needs of different stakeholders including smallholder farmers. Information on websites included contacts, announcements, specific information for farmers, with some of the information not directly relating to smallholder farmers. This led websites to contain lots of information which might affect the usability of those websites by smallholder farmers hence not benefiting from the information contained. This was the case for all websites. Also, the involvement of smallholder farmers during website development was low. Websites for agricultural extension providers were developed either in-house or outsourced. The government-owned agency (e-GA), commercial companies, and staff were among developers for the websites. Communication between stakeholders during the development process was easier for in-house development as compared to when websites were developed outside. Websites developed were either internally maintained or maintained outside organizations, with internal maintenance being cheaper compared to when maintenances were done outside organizations. To develop quality websites from smallholder farmers’ point of view their involvement should be high and the websites and the contained information should be easier to access with minimal information. Also, websites should be professionally designed and developed to focus more on the provision of agricultural extension services.
Urban growth dynamics and expansion forms in 11 Tanzanian cities from 1990 to 2020
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2023) Sumari, Neema Simon; Ujoh, Fanan; Swai, Calvin Samwel; Zheng, Muchen
With rapid urban expansion across Tanzania, there is a need to institute steps to address factors and forms as well as impacts and challenges associated with the observed trend. This study’s aim is to use spatial urban landscape indices to analyze the spatial changes in urban forms, patterns, and rates across 11 urban centers in Tanzania over a 30-year study period (1990–2020). During the past three decades, urban lands of 11 cities and town in Tanzania have grown by a total of 480 km 2 . Leapfrog growth was found as the most dominant form of urban expansion in Tanzania while Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania, had the highest rate of urban expansion when compared to all other individual cities. The most robust and significant interaction of the AWMLEI and MLEI was found in Kigoma, Arusha, Mtwara, Mafinga, and Tunduma cities. In contrast, Mbeya agricultural city, Arusha the tourist city, Tabora, and Geita Lake zone areas did show their own peculiarities revealing an interesting spatial temporal variation in rate and form of expansion. The outcome of this study reveals that the influence and management of economic and socio-cultural opportunities will be an effective tool for the determination of the rapidly expanding cities and towns of Tanzania.
Security perspectives for ussd versus sms in conducting mobile transactions: a case study of Tanzania
(International journal of technology enhancements and emerging engineering research, 2013) Nyamtiga, Baraka W; Sam, Anael; Laizer, Loserian S
Performing transactions using mobile devices is increasing rapidly in developing countries, Tanzania inclusive. USSD and SMS are among the technologies widely used in conducting mobile transactions. These two technologies have their strengths and weaknesses from perspectives of security of systems. They both utilize GSM Services and GSM Security is known to have inherent flaws in its encryption and au thentication algorithms. A description for these platforms is given in this paper of what they are, their modes of operations, and an evaluation of thei r security as related to mobile banking systems. From the evaluations made; this paper suggests a method that is more secure for use in mobile banking systems. As a solution we propose some security features being added to the existing systems in order to improve data confidentiality, message integrit y and user authenticity. The suggestions are based on the capabilities for the technology to accommodate these additional features to protect data that will supplement the protection offered by the GSM.
Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to taenia solium cysticercosis and taeniasis in Tanzania
(BMC, 2022) Nyangi, Chacha; Stelzle, Dominik; Mkupasi, Ernatus M; Ngowi, Helena A; Churi, Ayubu J; Schmidt, Veronika; Mahonge, Christopher; Winkler, Andrea S
Background: Taenia solium cysticercosis/taeniasis (TSCT) is reported to be endemic in pig producing areas around the world, causing significant disease burden and economic losses. Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed at assessing Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) regarding TSCT in four districts, namely Mbulu, Mpwapwa, Mbinga, and Rungwe in Tanzania. Data on KAP were collected through questionnaire-based interviews and household infrastructure observations. Results: Knowledge about porcine cysticercosis was good, particularly among pig keepers across the districts. Many participants had heard about the pork tapeworm (T. solium taeniasis), and the knowledge about signs/symptoms and treatment was fair, but the means of transmission and prevention measures were often unknown. Whilst most participants were familiar with epilepsy, no one knew anything about human cysticercosis and the link between cysticercosis and epileptic seizures. A similar trend is reflected through the attitudes toward the low risk perception of cysticercosis infection. Not surprisingly, the risk perception of the infection with the pork tapeworm was low too. Many participants reported not washing their hands before eating or after using the toilet which highlights potential risks for the development of human cysticercosis. Albeit nearly every participant reported using the toilet always, household observations revealed that toilets were either lacking or had no complete walls. Generally, household observations revealed a discrepancy between questionnaire answers on the one hand and the availability of toilet and handwashing facilities and the confinement of pigs on the other hand. Conclusion: This study demonstrates knowledge gaps and adverse practices which may hinder and/or slow down the control/elimination of T. solium in endemic countries. The study results are also useful for appropriate designing of TSCT health interventions that need to be planned carefully, taking into account the local context and designing TSCT in partnership with the local communities from the beginning to the end applying a One Health approach to allow the possible sustained and best impacts. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, Smallholder pig farming, Taenia solium, Cysticercosis, Taeniasis, Epilepsy, Neurocysticercosis, Cross-sectional study
Quality assessment of heterogeneous training data sets for classification of urban area with land sat imagery
(American society for photogrammetry and remote sensing, 2020) Lyimo, Neema Nicodemus; Luo, Fang; Cheng, Qimin; Peng, Hao
Quality assessment of training samples collected from hetero- geneous sources has received little attention in the existing literature. Inspired by Euclidean spectral distance metrics, this article derives three quality measures for modeling uncer- tainty in spectral information of open-source heterogeneous training samples for classification with Landsat imagery. We prepared eight test case data sets from volunteered geo- graphic information and open government data sources to assess the proposed measures. The data sets have significant variations in quality, quantity, and data type. A correlation analysis verifies that the proposed measures can successfully rank the quality of heterogeneous training data sets prior to the image classification task. In this era of big data, pre- classification quality assessment measures empower research scientists to select suitable data sets for classification tasks from available open data sources. Research findings prove the versatility of the Euclidean spectral distance function to de- velop quality metrics for assessing open-source training data sets with varying characteristics for urban area classification.
Adaptive cache server selection and resource allocation strategy in mobile edge computing
(International journal of information communication technologies and human development (ijicthd), 2023) Mahenge, Michael Pendo John; Kitindi, Edvin Jonathan
The enormous increase of data traffic generated by mobile devices emanate challenges for both internet service providers (ISP) and content service provider (CSP). The objective of this paper is to propose the cost-efficient design for content delivery that selects the best cache server to store repeatedly accessed contents. The proposed strategy considers both caching and transmission costs. To achieve the equilibrium of transmission cost and caching cost, a weighted cost model based on entropy-weighting- method (EWM) is proposed. Then, an adaptive cache server selection and resource allocation strategy based on deep-reinforcement-learning (DRL) is proposed to place the cache on best edge server closer to end-user. The proposed method reduces the cost of service delivery under the constraints of meeting server storage capacity constraints and deadlines. The simulation experiments show that the proposed strategy can effectively improve the cache-hit rate and reduce the cache-miss rate and content access costs.
Towards a framework for accessing agricultural market information
(The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2015) Magesa, Mawazo M; Michael, Kisangiri
Making markets work for the poor in rural communities involves different stakeholders. Management, development partners, private sector and NGOs are accustomed to ensure enabling infrastructure is provided. Access to markets requires good transport and low transaction cost accompanied with recent market information. To provide market information to rural community, stakeholders may initiate the program by providing funds and finding the means of ensuring the sustainability of the program. Delivering market information requires established ICT infrastructure and capable staffing. Thus, a framework to access agricultural market information requires management to provide infrastructure and funding, and also to ensure rural areas are equipped with the technology.

Browse

Recent Submissions