Department of Computer Science and Engineering

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Accessibility and Usability of Government Websites in Tanzania
(The African Journal of Information Systems, 2017-09-28) Mtebe, Joel S.; Kondoro, Aron
The government of Tanzania has been embracing information systems specifically websites to enlarge access to government services, lower administrative costs, and to increase public participation in decision making. As a result, almost every ministry, department, and agency (MDA) has developed a unique website. However, most of existing websites were developed without sufficiently considering users’ needs which indicates that they do have some usability and accessibility problems. This study used the SortSite tool to evaluate accessibility and usability of government websites taking a sample of 22 websites. The report from the SortSite tool was then checked against the W3 WCAG accessibility standards and Section 508 guidelines, and usability issues based on the US Federal (Usability.gov) guidelines. The results show that most of websites have many accessibility and usability problems that hinder citizens from using them. This study provides recommendations on how to improve usability and accessibility of these websites.
Accessing water services in Dar es Salaam: Are we counting what counts?
(Habitat International, 2014-10) Nganyanyuka, Kapongola; Martnez, Javier; Wesselink, Anna; Lungo, Juma H.; Georgiadoua, Y.
A significant proportion of urban residents in developing countries has no access to public water supply and relies on unofficial, or even illegal, sources. They buy water from small scale water vendors or collect it from unimproved water sources. This paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with public officials, private water providers and citizens to document details of citizens' strategies for accessing water in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From these data, we develop a descriptive and evaluative framework to capture the complex mix of sources, uses, and intermediaries in planned and unplanned settings and by affluent and poor citizens. We assess to what extent these strategies solve access problems like quantity, quality, affordability and reliability. We conclude that statistics such as the Millennium Development Goals do not count the access to drinking water that counts for citizens. We discern a bias towards formal state or privatised city-wide systems, discounting the mostly informal, small-scale and unofficial strategies to access water.
Active Learning through Smart Grid Model Site in Challenge Based Learning Course
(Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, 2018-10) Kalinga, Ellen A.; Ibwe, Kwame S.; Mvungi, Nerey H.; Tenhunen, Hannu
Smart Grid is a new and growing technology to developing countries. Its implementation and sustainability rely on well trained experts. Sustainability of the smart grid need local experts, hence a project named iGRID: Smart Grid Capacity Development and Enhancement in Tanzania was started. The project is running at the College of Information and Communication Technologies, University of Dar es Salaam. It intends to generate the necessary technical and scientific skills to ensure sustainable implementation of smart grid. iGRID project introduced taught PhD and Masters programs focusing on society, innovation and entrepreneurship in iGRID aspects, as well as to facilitate implementation of automation of monitoring, evaluation, analysis, control and management of electrical power system (smart grid) in order to improve delivery efficiency and to optimize operational costs in the electrical power system in Tanzania. The project made use of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) methodology to engage students to work together with stakeholders in identifying challenges facing electrical power system in Tanzania. This paper presents the experience of using CBL methodology to achieve active learning to engineering students. The dynamicity of the teaching model, allowed students to acquire skills necessary to solve medium to high tech complex problems. The results build a continuous learning platform for students researching in electrical field.
Active Learning through Smart Grid Model Site in Challenge Based Learning Course
(2018-07) Kalinga, Ellen A.; Ibwe, Kwame S.; Mvungi, Nerey H.; Tenhunen, Hannu
Smart Grid is a new and growing technology to developing countries. Its implementation and sustainability rely on well trained experts. Sustainability of the smart grid need local experts, hence a project named iGRID: Smart Grid Capacity Development and Enhancement in Tanzania was started. The project is running at the College of Information and Communication Technologies, University of Dar es Salaam. It intends to generate the necessary technical and scientific skills to ensure sustainable implementation of smart grid. iGRID project introduced taught PhD and Masters programs focusing on society, innovation and entrepreneurship in iGRID aspects, as well as to facilitate implementation of automation of monitoring, evaluation, analysis, control and management of electrical power system (smart grid) in order to improve delivery efficiency and to optimize operational costs in the electrical power system in Tanzania. The project made use of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) methodology to engage students to work together with stakeholders in identifying challenges facing electrical power system in Tanzania. This paper presents the experience of using CBL methodology to achieve active learning to engineering students. The dynamicity of the teaching model, allowed students to acquire skills necessary to solve medium to high tech complex problems. The results build a continuous learning platform for students researching in electrical field. Keywords: Active Learning, Smart Grid, Challenge-Based Learning, Tanzania.
Adaptive Charbonnier Superresolution Method with Robust Edge Preservation Capabilities
(International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2013) Maiseli, Baraka J.; Liu, Qiang; Elisha, Ogada Achieng; Gao, Huijun
Superresolution (SR) is known to be an ill-posed inverse problem, which may be solved using some regularization techniques. We have proposed an adaptive regularization method, based on a Charbonnier nonlinear diffusion model to solve an SR problem. The proposed model is flexible because of its automatic capability to reap the strengths of either linear isotropic diffusion, Charbonnier model, or semi-Charbonnier model, depending on the local features of the image. On the contrary, the models proposed from other research works are fixed and hence less feature dependent. This makes such models insensitive to local structures of the images, thereby producing poor reconstruction results. Empirical results obtained from experiments, and presented here, show that the proposed method produces superresolved images which are more natural and contain well-preserved and clearly distinguishable image structures, such as edges. In comparison with other methods, the proposed method demonstrates higher performance in terms of the quality of images it generates
Adopting Renewable Energy in Tanzania: Opportunities and Challenges
(IFIP-WG8.9 Enterprise Information Systems, 2017-10-19) Shililiandumi, Naiman; Rwegasira, Diana; Kalinga, Ellen; Kondoro, Aron; Dhaou, Imed Ben; Kwame, Ibwe; Kelati, Amleset; Mvungi, Nerey H.; Tenhunen, Hannu
Abstract: Solar energy is one of the sources of power that is obtained in a natural way. Many countries, especially developing countries are making use of the renewable energy for the benefit of their communities, however, the issue of counting the benefit of using solar energy, mainly on cost bases remained undefined to many users/consumers at their premises. In this paper, the research on how thermal solar power can effectively be used in the house to minimize the cost, its requirements and the payback money upon investing on solar power is being addressed. The scenario was based on comparing the cost spends by the residential house with thermal solar power and another house without thermal solar power. The analysis shows that the electric energy saving per year when using solar power is about 51.52% for houses and flats, with payback for the investment cost within 3-4 years. The paper also discussed the building blocks for low-cost ICT infrastructures to deploy solar technologies.
Adoption of Free Open Source Geographic Information System Solution for Health Sector in Zanzibar Tanzania
(JHIDC, 2014) Bakar, Abubakar D.; Kimaro, Honest C.; Sultan, Abu Bakar; Hamiar, Sleiman
The study aims at developing in-depth understanding on how Open Source Geographic Information System technology is used to provide solutions for data visualization in the health sector of Zanzibar, Tanzania. The study focuses on implementing the health visualization solutions for the purpose of bridging the gap during the transition period from proprietary software to the Free Open-Source Software using Key Indicator Data System. The developed tool facilitates data integration between the two District Health Information Software versions and hence served as a gateway solution during the transition process. Implementation challenges that include outdated spatial data and the reluctance of the key users in coping with the new Geographical Information System technologies were also identified. Participatory action research and interviews were used in understanding the requirements for the new tool to facilitate the smooth system development for better health service delivery.
Algorithm for License Plate Localization and Recognition for Tanzania Car Plate Numbers
(International Journal of Science and Research, 2013-05) Bulugu, Isack
In this paper, License plate localization and recognition (LPLR) is presented. It uses image processing and character recognition technology in order to identify the license number plates of the vehicles automatically. This system is considerable interest because of its good application in traffic monitoring systems, surveillance devices and all kind of intelligent transport system. The objective of this work is to design algorithm for License Plate Localization and Recognition (LPLR) of Tanzanian License Plates. The plate numbers used are standard ones with black and yellow or black and white colors. Also, the letters and numbers are placed in the same row (identical vertical levels), resulting in frequent changes in the horizontal intensity. Due to that, the horizontal changes of the intensity have been easily detected, since the rows that contain the number plates are expected to exhibit many sharp variations. Hence, the edge finding method is exploited to find the location of the plate. To increase readability of the plate number, part of the image was enhanced, noise removal and smoothing median filter is used due to easy development. The algorithm described in this paper is implemented using MATLAB 7.11.0(R2010b).
Analysing the Hindrance to the Use of Information and Technology for Improving Efficiency of Health Care Delivery System in Tanzania
(2005-09) Kimaro, Honest C.; Twaakyondo, Hashim M.
Information Technologies (IT) have been described as offering tremendous opportunity to improve health services as well as in meeting broader developmental goals which have an impact on health. Through the use of IT, healthcare sectors can potentially plan, monitor and evaluate health services as well as communicate more effectively within and across organizational hierarchies. However, a number of studies suggest several hindrances where the use of IT to bring critical change in the health sector of Tanzania has been problematic. Despite the lack of appropriate use of the existing IT resources in the health sector, donors and government have continued helping the health sector to acquire up-to-date IT resources while however placing little emphasis on long term IT training, data management and effective utilization of information resulting into wasted of such resources hence little improvement in health services delivery. This study is based on the Health Information System Programme (HISP), an action research project aimed at improving health information system in developing countries with the use of IT and information for local action. Under the project, the district health information software which is customizable, open source and freely distributed has been implemented in five pilot districts in Tanzania. The lessons learned from HISP project and other levels of the health sector in general indicate the lack of skills for data interpretation and utilisation, policy guidelines on information and human capacity building as well as a lack of flexible system.
Analysis of MS Power Saving Scheme to BS with Finite Buffer in IEEE 802.16e Network
(IEEE, 2011) Mushi, Joseph C.; Tan, Guan Z.; Cheruiyot, Wilson; Musau, Felix
This paper analyzes effects of power saving of mobile station (MS) to Base Station with finite buffer in IEEE802.16e class type I network. IEEE802.16e standard accept MS to switch to sleep-mode to minimize power when MS processing load is reduced. However, when packets destined to MS appear into BS buffer, they should be stored until end of MS sleep window. Although the sleep-mode designed in effort to conserve environment but it risks loss of packets once BS buffer overloaded with accumulated packets. This paper designs numerical analytic model to measure risk of packet drop. Through asymptotic analysis the effect of packets destined to sleeping MS into BS finite buffer is measured and analysed.
ANALYSIS OF THE ACCEPTANCE PROCESS OF DISTRICT HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEMS (DHIS) FOR VERTICAL HEALTH PROGRAMMES
(Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2015) Kiwanuka, Achilles; Kimaro, Honest C.; Senyoni, Wilfred
District Health Information System (DHIS) is used in many parts of the world to report aggregated data at the district level. Tanzania is one of the countries where the ministry of health endorsed DHIS for such use. Although the system has been rolled out recently throughout the country, Vertical Health Programmes (VHPs) are on their way to fully adopting the system. The objective of this study was to analyse the acceptance process of DHIS by three VHPs so as to examine the facilitating conditions and the challenges that they face. Data was collected through interviews, document review and observation. Analysis of the data showed the facilitating conditions to be having a consensus on which VHP indicators to include in the DHIS, existence of infrastructure including the routine Health Information System (HIS), and support from development partners. Challenges of acceptance process of DHIS include inadequate human resource for HIS, data quality and information flow issues, and existence of separate monitoring and evaluation systems for the VHPs. The study recommends integration or interoperation of DHIS with VHP systems, creating a pool of resources for HIS, training and motivating human resource for HIS.
The Analysis Results of Lightning Overvoltages By Atp-Emtp for Lightning Protection Design of A Telephone Line
(IEEE, 2007-11) Damas, Jacqueline; Mvungi, Nerey H.
Metal Oxide Surge Arrester (MOSA) have been used for telecommunication and power lines transient protection. MOSA has dynamic characteristics that are significant for overvoltages coordination studies regarding fast front surges. Several models with acceptable accuracy have been proposed to study the frequency-dependent behaviour of MOSA. These models differ in calculation and adjustment of the model parameters, some models needs iterative procedure and other models the necessary data are not reported in the manufacturers’ data sheets. A simplified model by Pinceti has been used to study protection of overhead transmission line against direct lightning strike. In this paper, simulations have been performed using the Alternative Transients Program version of Electromagnetic Transient Program (ATP-EMTP) and the results were compared with the ones of manufacturer’s data sheet and found to be satisfactory. Pinceti model has a small relative error of 2.26% for fast transient surge (1/2μs) and of 1.05% for slow transient lightning surge (8/20μs) respectively when compared our results with the results from manufacturers’ data sheet. The simulations were performed for a 3kV TRANQUELL MOSA and its effective protection when applied to the end of 1km line and lightning strike of 0.11/20μs a typical subsequent return stroke current was injected at the middle of the line. It has been observed that, the significant dynamic characteristics of MOSA are that the peak of the voltage wave occurs before the peak of the current wave and that the residual voltage across the MOSA increases as the time to crest of the MOSA discharge current decreases.
Analyzing the Problem of Unsustainable Health Information Systems in Less-Developed Economies: Case Studies from Tanzania and Mozambique
(Wiley Online Library, 2005-01-29) Kimaro, Honest C.; Nhampossa, José L.
Most of donor-supported information technology (IT)–based projects developed or implemented in less-developed economies (LDEs) end up as complete or partial failures or unsustainable. Notably, a number of intra-organizational and external factors are associated with this problem, including inadequate infrastructure and human resource capacity, fragmented donor policy, and lack of policies to manage the sustainability problem. Accordingly, IT initiatives are often donor-driven, top-down, and hijacked by top managers who (normally) do not have adequate skills, but have enormous power to enforce such initiatives across organizational hierarchies. In analyzing the concepts from sustainability and institutionalization, key insights towards a better understanding of the problem of unsustainability are developed. It is argued that health information systems (HISs) become sustainable if they are institutionalized in the sense of being integrated into the everyday routine of the user organization. However, a sustainable HIS should also be flexible enough to allow changes as the user needs change. Moreover, introduction of a new HIS is not only a technical change, but requires the cultivation and institutionalization of a new kind of culture. Through a comparative case analysis of the HIS development and implementation processes in Tanzania and Mozambique, we have identified two sets of relationships, between the Ministry of Health (MoH) and donor agencies and between the MoH and software development agencies as critical and contributing factors to the unsustainability of a HIS. Given this setting, we highlight three key strategies for dealing with the problem of unsustainability in LDEs: (a) integration of a HIS, (b) local shaping of new cultures, and (c) cultivation approach to systems development.
Application and Network Level Arbitration for Development of Quality of Experience Metric
(2003) Mbise, Mercy
This paper examines an arbitration mechanism where redundant video packets are selectively removed, resulting in an improvement in the video quality whilst freeing up resources for other interactive traffic. The interaction between multimedia streams is investigated, where video and a still image are apparent simultaneously, and the effects of transmitting these media over the same channel examined. Network and application level arbitration policies are examined for a simulated and real network. The relationship between the objective quality of service metrics available from the network & application, and the subjective perception of quality of experience are considered, and used to develop the end-user's quality of experience metric. The findings are consolidated and used to derive policies for network and application level arbitration, to provide maximum quality of experience to the end-user.
Arbitration by Selective Removal of Temporally Dependent Redundancies
(Visual Information Engineering, 2003. VIE 2003. International Conference on, 2003) Mbise, Mercy; Woods, John C.
This paper examines the transmission of real-time video and still images over the same medium, and presents an arbitration mechanism for efficient transfer of bulky data in the presence of scarce resources, by intelligently compromising the video stream. The arbitration selectively removes video packets based on the observation that if an intra-coded packet is lost, its dependants will not enhance the video but actually degrade it. The identification of this event permits them to be discarded thus freeing up resources at the expense of reduced temporal rate. This principle is also true for packets exceeding the end-to-end delay requirement and it can also be applied towards the end of scenes where information content is low. The freeing of resources improves the mean buffer occupancy; therefore losses and delay are reduced. A series of simulations are conducted to illustrate these points
Are Animations Effective Tools for Teaching Computer Science Courses in Developing Countries ? The case of University of Dar es Salaam
(Curriculum and Instruction, 2012) Mtebe, Joel S.; Twaakyondo, Hashim M.
Teaching computer science courses is a big challenge to majority of teachers in developing countries institutions. Most of these courses consist of abstract concepts where traditional pedagogical methods such as lectures and textbooks cannot be suited to enable students understand them. It becomes even more challenge due to the fact that majority of these institutions are faced with large class sizes while teaching facilities are few. Although several solutions have been proposed to alleviate these problems such as increasing student-computer ratio, improving teaching pedagogy and increasing number of teaching staff, the problem still exists. In this paper, we propose the use of computer animations as instructional tools so as to enable students learn difficult concepts in developing countries institutions. We conducted a pilot study at University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to determine if the use of animations can enable students to learn difficult concepts easier and master course contents. The study revealed that 67% of respondents (of 108 students) indicated that animated courses enabled them to grasp difficult concepts more easily. The study also found that the process of developing animations improves the quality of course design. However, it is essential to incorporate pedagogical and instructional design principles in the whole process of development
Assessing Electronic Medical Record System Implementation at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, Tanzania
(2018) Mtebe, Joel; Nakaka, Ronald
Hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa countries have been investing heavily in electronic medical records (EMR) systems aiming at improving patient safety, healthcare quality, and transforming the healthcare industry. Similarly, the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) has been implementing various EMR systems in the past few years. However, the implementations of these systems have not been successful like in many hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa
Assessing Users’ Satisfaction with Tanzanians’ Public Health Supply Chain Electronic Logistic Management Information System
(Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries (JHIDC), 2017-08-20) Omary, Zuhura D.; Kalinga, Ellen A.
The Ministry of health Community Development Gender Elders and Children (MOHCDGEC) through MSD has been implementing eLMIS in order to streamline the flow of health commodities in the country. Approximately, there are more than 500 registered district pharmacists who use the system on daily basis. While the acceptance of the system is positive, long-term success depends on its continued use which is determined by users’ satisfaction with the system. This study examined factors affecting users’ satisfaction with eLMIS through developing a research model from the literature and adopting sequential explanatory mixed research design. A sample of 112 users out of 150 was collected from 4 regions and tested against the research model using regression analysis to identify factors that contribute toward users’ satisfaction. Finally, an interview was conducted to 10 users to find more information about these factors. The study found that four of the factors: information quality (β=0.28), system quality (β=-0.21), perceived usefulness (β=0.22) and facilitation conditions (β=0.26) had a significant effect on users’ satisfaction with the eLMIS. However, system support did not have a significant effect. Through interviews, many users indicated that they need more training on the system and proposed new features that needs to be added. Moreover, Internet access remained to be a big challenge. The strategies on how to enhance users’ satisfaction of the system and consequently increase systems’ success have been presented and discussed.
Assessment of Non Transmittable Codewords Enhancement to Viterbi Algorithm Decoding
(International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, 2014) Mrutu, Salehe; Sam, Anael; Mvungi, Nerey H.
Researchers have shown that practical mobile communication channels introduce errors that are concentrated in a certain locality rather than random errors. These are burst errors caused by deep fading of the wireless channel or a lightning strike. The existing Viterbi Algorithm (VA) capable of correcting random errors is inefficient in correcting burst errors and therefore resulting in unacceptable amount of residual errors. This paper presents an assessment of Non- Transmittable Codewords (NTCs) enhancement technique to VA in decoding the received signals subjected to burst errors that may occur in poor channels. A hard decision, 1/2 rate and constraint length K is equal to 3 Viterbi Algorithm decoding technique, Binary Phase- Shift Keying (BPSK) and Additional White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) are components used in MATLAB software based simulation when assessing the proposed technique. Applying 6NTCs to VA decoder enables the decoder to reduce 83.7 percent of its residual errors. However, the technique reduces the encoder’s data transmission rate from 1/2 to 1/6.
An Automatic and Cost-Effective Parasitemia Identification Framework for Low-End Microscopy Imaging Devices
(IEEE, 2014) Maiseli, Baraka J.; Mei, Jiangyuan; Gao, Huijun; Yin, Shen
In the detection of Malarial parasites from a patient, it is usually necessary to carefully examine the corresponding blood-slide smear and distinguish the infected and healthy Red Blood Cells (RBCs). If this process is done manually, as evidenced in common traditional approaches, the following challenges may be encountered: inaccuracy of the lab results, which originates from normal human errors or lack of experience of a person conducting diagnosis, and large processing times. Consequently, doctors and specialists are likely to provide improper prescriptions to patients. With the improvement of the computational power of computers, however, the whole diagnosis process can be automated. Several methods in literature have been proposed for this purpose. Most of these methods demand the availability of high-end microscopy imaging systems to generate reliable and accurate results. Such costly advanced devices may not be afforded by developing countries with sluggish economic growth. In this paper, therefore, we have developed a cost-effective framework which can address the mentioned challenge. Our approach introduces a Super Resolution (SR) model into the existing framework to enhance the resolution of the input images before letting them subjected to the subsequent detection stages. This provides a possibility for applying the low-end microscopy devices capable of capturing Low Resolution (LR) blood smear images for identifying the degree of Malaria in a patient. In the proposed framework, the SR component uses the nonlinear Charbonnier diffusion model in the regularization part because of its good regularity characteristics. Experimental results demonstrate strong correlation of our method and the manual one.

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