The symptom and genetic diversity of cassava brown streak viruses infecting cassava in East Africa

The genetic and symptom diversity of six virus isolates causing cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) in the endemic (Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania) and the recently affected epidemic areas (Uganda) of eastern Africa was studied. Five cassava varieties; Albert, Colombian, Ebwanateraka, TMS60444 (all susceptible) and Kiroba (tolerant) were graft inoculated with each isolate. Based on a number of parameters including the severity of leaf and root symptoms, and the extent of virus transmission by grafting, the viruses were classified as either severe or relatively mild. These results were further confirmed by the mechanical inoculation of 13 herbaceous hosts in which the virulent isolates caused plant death in Nicotiana clevelandii and N. benthamiana whereas the milder isolates did not. Phylogenetic analysis of complete coat protein gene sequences of these isolates together with sequences obtained from 14 other field-collected samples from Kenya and Zanzibar, and reference sequences grouped them into two distinct clusters, representing the two species of cassava brown streak viruses. Put together, these results did not suggest the association of a hypervirulent form of the virus with the current CBSD epidemic in Uganda. Identification of the severe and milder isolates, however, has further implications for disease management and quarantine requirements

Bandwidth Efficient Wireless Digital Modem Developed

NASA Lewis Research Center has developed a digital approach for broadcasting highfidelity audio (nearly compact disk (CD) quality sound) in the commercial frequencymodulated (FM) broadcast band. This digital approach provides a means of achieving high data transmission rates with low hardware complexity--including low mass, size, and power consumption. Lewis has completed the design and prototype development of a bandwidth-efficient digital modem (modulator and demodulator) that uses a spectrally efficient modulation scheme: 16-ary rectangular quadrature amplitude modulation, or 16- ary QAM. The digital implementation is based strictly on inexpensive, commercial off-theshelf digital signal processing (DSP) hardware to perform up and down conversions and pulse shaping. The digital modem transmits data at rates up to 76 kilobits per second (kbps), which is almost 3 times faster than standard 28.8-kbps telephone modems. In addition, the modem offers improved power and spectral performance, flexible operation, and low-cost implementation

Mobiiliterveyspeliin liittyvät tarpeet, toiveet ja ideat

Terveyssuuntautuneisuus on vahvistumassa, mikä edellyttää uudenlaisia keinoja terveyden edistämiseksi. Väestön koulutustason nousu mahdollistaa tiedon paremman hyväksikäytön sekä uudenlaisen tiedonvälityksen ja terveysneuvonnan. Opinnäytetyö liittyy InnoHealth- projektiin, jonka tarkoituksena on valmentaa terveys- ja hyvinvointiteknologian toimijoita monipuoliseen yhteistyöhön opetuksen ja työelämäkäytäntöjen kehittämiseksi. Yhteistyöyrityksenä on Dato Systems Ay, jonka tavoitteena on kehittää sovellus, joka vastaa asiakkaiden tarpeita terveyden edistämisen näkökulmasta. Nyt kehitteillä olevassa sovelluksessa keskitytään ravitsemukseen ja liikuntaan. Opinnäytetyön tarkoitus on ottaa selvää mitä tarpeita, toiveita ja ideoita 18–50 –vuotiailla älypuhelimen käyttäjillä on mobiiliterveyspelistä. Opinnäytetyön tavoitteena on tuottaa tietoa, joka auttaa yhteistyöyritystä kehittämään mobiiliterveyspeliä asiakaslähtöisesti. Opinnäytetyö on laadullinen tutkimus, jonka aineistonkeruumenetelmänä käytettiin teemahaastattelua. Teemahaastattelu toteutettiin haastattelemalla opinnäytetyön tekijöiden lähipiirin henkilöitä (n = 12), jotka olivat älypuhelimen käyttäjiä. Haastattelemalla saatu aineisto analysoitiin aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysiä käyttäen. Opinnäytetyön tulokset osoittivat, että kaikki haastateltavat kaipasivat tietoa ravitsemuksesta ja liikunnasta. Motivoitumiskeinoista tärkeimpinä pidettiin tulosten seurantaa, tavoitteita sekä niiden saavuttamista. Haastatteluista selvisi motivoitumisen olevan lähtöisin omista tarpeista ja taistelusta itseään vastaan. Sovelluksen helppokäyttöisyys, yksilöllisyys ja saatavuus olivat toiveita, joita haastateltavat korostivat vastauksissaan. Lisälaitteiksi toivottiin ainakin GPS-mahdollisuutta, sykemittaria, kalorilaskuria ja askelmittaria. Mobiililaite koettiin nopea- ja helppokäyttöiseksi. Selkeä hyötyä koettiin myös siitä, että mobiililaite kulkee aina mukana. Haastatteluvastauksissa korostui sovellukseen liittyvänä ideana se, että sovelluksen tulisi olla helppo ja yksinkertainen käyttää, mutta käyttöominaisuuksiltaan monipuolinen, jotta se vastaisi mahdollisimman laajan kohderyhmän tarpeisiin. Haastateltavat kokivat erityisesti kokonaisvaltaisen liikunnan ja ravitsemuksen yhdistävän sovelluksen tarpeelliseksi. Yhteistyöyritys on ollut tyytyväinen opinnäytetyön tuloksiin ja he ovat ottaneet ne huomioon tuotekehityksessään.Finnish people are becoming more health oriented and that requires new tools to promote health. The educational level is rising and it gives an opportunity to exploit more information in new ways. This thesis is based on InnoHealth project which aims to train healthcare and welfare technology operators in diverse collaboration to develop education and working life practices. Co-operation company is Dato Systems Ay. The company’s goal is to create a mobile phone application that is responding to clients’ needs in health promotion point of view. In this application the focus will be on nutrition and physical activity. The aim of the thesis is to provide information that helps co-operation company to develop customer-oriented mobile phone game for health. The goal is to find out what kind of needs, hopes and ideas 18 – 50 year old smartphone users have related to mobile phone game for health. In this thesis qualitative research was used and the data was collected by theme interviews. The interviews were accomplishing by interviewing smartphone users (n = 12) who belong to researcher’s inner circle. The collected data was analyzed by data-oriented content analysis. The results of the thesis pointed out that all interviewees need information concerning nutrition and physical activity. The most important motivating ways were setting goals, monitoring and accomplishing results. Most participants mentioned that they are motivated the best by their own needs and by competing against themselves. User friendliness, individuality and availability were hopes that the interviewees highlighted in their answers concerning the application. Additional devices like heart rate monitor, GPS, caloric counter and pedometer would be valuable qualities according the participants. Mobile phone was experienced as quick and easy to use. The mobile phone has the advantage of time and location independent training. The results pointed out that the application should be easy and simple to use but have versatile performance so that it would have potential to respond as many customer-oriented needs as possible. The interviewees experienced a comprehensive application that combines nutrition and physical activity especially necessary. The co-operation company has been satisfied with results and they have already used them in their product development

Quality of life amongst young adults with stroke living in Kenya

BACKGROUND: The world has been experiencing an increase of stroke among young adults. Occurrence of stroke in young adults dramatically affects the quality of life of the individuals. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the quality of life amongst young adults who experienced a stroke living in Kenya. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on a conveniently selected sample of 161 young adults with stroke drawn from three tertiary hospitals in Kenya. The Short-Form 36-item second version (SF-36v2) was used to collect the data. Descriptive and association statistical analysis using Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal Wallis tests were calculated on the data using SPSS. RESULTS: In relation to a total score of 100, when expressed as a percentage the mean quality of life scores, ranged from 30% to 48% for each of the SF-36v2 domains. The results showed that males scored higher than females in all the domains except in physical functioning and that the scores decline with advance in age in most domains. CONCLUSION: The quality of life scores for this group were low meaning that that they were experiencing more challenges with physical functioning, psychological and emotional functioning and fulfilling previous roles.Web of Scienc

Penilaian Stok Karbon Tanah Organik pada Beberapa Tipe Penggunaan Lahan di Kutai Timur, Kalimantan Timur

Penilaian stok karbon tidak hanya pada vegetasi hutan, tetapi juga pada tanah termasuk tanah pertanian atau kebun, karena secara global stok SOC (soil organic carbon) ternyata merupakan teresterial terbesar cadangan karbon organik. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui stok karbon tanah organik di kebun lada, kebun campuran, kebun karet, kebun jati dan lahan semak. Metode pengambilan sampel tanah ditentukan secara purposive sampling, kemudian untuk analisis stok karbon tanah organik berdasarkan kerapatan lindak, C-organik dan kedalaman tanah mengacu pada penilaian oleh Badan Standarisasi Nasional.Total SOC di berbagai tempat tergantung dari karakteristik tanah, curah hujan, manajemen pengolahan tanah, topografi, organisme tanah, dan faktor lingkungan lainnya. Berdasarkan penilaian SOC di kebun campuran dan kebun karet lebih tinggi, yaitu 160 dan 121 ton/ha. Kedua lahan tersebut memiliki kelerengan datar, sehingga potensi kehilangan bahan organik di tanah permukaan akibat erosi tergolong rendah. Sedangkan di kebun lada, jati dan semak masing-masing 60. 25 dan 24 ton/ha. Penilaian total SOC berdasarkan kandungan C-organik, kerapatan lindak (Bulk Density) dan kedalaman tanah tertentu pada tiap satuan unit lahan dianggap cukup signifikan, sehingga penelitian seperti ini lebih banyak lagi dilakukan dalam rangka menguatkan informasi untuk estimasi total SOC untuk daerah yang lebih luas atau secara global

Learning Community dalam Pembelajaran Keterampilan Berbicara Bahasa Inggris Siswa Kelas XII SMA Lpp Umi Makassar

. Learning Community in Learning English Speaking Skills High School Class XII LPP Umi Makassar. One of the methods that can be applied in an effort to develop students' ability to speak is learning community (community learning and studying together). Learning community is a concept of creating shared learning in school, the learning process between teachers and teachers, teachers and students, students with students, and even among the school community with the community outside the school. This study aimed to describe the extent to which the effectiveness of the learning community in learning English speaking skills high school students of class XII LPP UMI Makassar measured using desaian research that is experimental type of pretest-posttest control group design experiments. Furthermore, data were collected using observation and oral tests were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results showed that the learning community is effectively used in improving the skills of English speaking high school students of class XII LPP UMI Makassar. It is based on the results of data analysis showed that the average test speaking skills of students who take classes that implement the learning in the learning community is higher than the results of the test speaking skills of students who take the learning in the classroom learning community that does not apply

Implementation of Scaffolded Writing Models to Increase Students in Writing Narrative

This research is based on the low ability of students in writing, especially writing narrative essay low students in pouring ideas or ideas into a paper. From these data, the researcher uses Scaffolded Writing model in narrative writing study. This study aims 1) To obtain a description of a series of narrative writing lessons using Scaffolded Writing model in the fourth grade of Cimekar State Elementary School. 2) To get an overview of the process / activity of students in writing narrative essay in class IV SD Negeri Cimekar. 3) To get an idea of ​​the students' ability to write narrative essay using Scaffolded Writing model in fourth grade of SD Negeri Ciekar. The research method used is action research class (PTK) Mc model. Kemmis Tagart. The data analysis technique is qualitative, quantitative and triangulation. Research subjects in this study are class IV consisting of 13 female students and 16 male students and observer partners are teachers in the class. From the research results can be concluded that there is an increase in the average value of process / activity writing in class IV Cimekar State Element is the cycle I 53,62; Cycle II ie 65; Cycles III is 79,59 and the average value of writing ability narrative with the application of Scaffolded Writing model in the first cycle is 57,07; In cycle II that is 64,48 and at cycle III 77,24. Thus the application of Scaffolded Writing model can improve students' ability in writing narrative essay in class IV Cimekar State Elementary School