Author: IGIHE

Ensuring Road Safety: Police conducts massive campaign in schools

{The Rwanda National Police (RNP) department of Traffic and Road Safety conducted a massive sensitization in schools as part of the campaign to prevent road carnage and promote road safety.}

According to Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Kabanda, the spokesperson for Traffic and Road Safety Department, since the campaign was launched on May 21, they focused on pedestrians including students, motorcyclists and cyclists.

“We have since sensitized about 100, 000 in one hundred schools countrywide, especially those near highways and hotspots. This is because they are one of the vulnerable pedestrian groups as road users on daily basis, but also due to their age that needs to be guided,” said CIP Kabanda.

On Monday alone, police reached out to over 41, 000 students in 33 schools in different parts of the country.

“The sensitization package was both theoretical and practical. We taught them the meaning of different traffic signposts, how safe to cross the road and particularly how to use a zebra crossing, to always use pedestrian pathways, how dangerous to play in the middle of the road, and how one of them can play the traffic personnel role to help others cross the road by halting movement of automobiles,” CIP Kabanda said.

He further said that the road safety campaigns were also extended to motorcyclists and cyclists in their associations and cooperatives in different parts of the country.

Statistics indicate that at least 71 percent of the total road accidents registered since the beginning of the year were either caused or involved pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists.

Source:Police

May 31, 2017
Harnessing energy from glass walls

{A Korean research team has developed semi-transparent perovskite solar cells that could be great candidates for solar windows.}

Scientists are exploring ways to develop transparent or semi-transparent solar cells as a substitute for glass walls in modern buildings with the aim of harnessing solar energy. But this has proven challenging, because transparency in solar cells reduces their efficiency in absorbing the sunlight they need to generate electricity.

Typical solar cells today are made of crystalline silicon, which is difficult to make translucent. By contrast, semi-transparent solar cells use, for example, organic or dye-sensitized materials. But compared to crystalline silicon-based cells, their power-conversion efficiencies are relatively low. Perovskites are hybrid organic-inorganic photovoltaic materials, which are cheap to produce and easy to manufacture. They have recently received much attention, as the efficiency of perovskite solar cells has rapidly increased to the level of silicon technologies in the past few years.

Using perovskites, a Korean research team, led by Professor Seunghyup Yoo of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Professor Nam-Gyu Park of Sungkyunkwan University, has developed a semi-transparent solar cell that is highly efficient and functions very effectively as a thermal mirror.

One key to achieving efficient semitransparent solar cells is to develop a transparent electrode for the cell’s uppermost layer that is compatible with the photoactive material. The Korean team developed a ‘top transparent electrode’ (TTE) that works well with perovskite solar cells. The TTE is based on a multilayer stack consisting of a metal film sandwiched between a high refractive index layer and an interfacial buffer layer. This TTE, placed as a solar cell’s top-most layer, can be prepared without damaging ingredients used in the development f perovskite solar cells. Unlike conventional transparent electrodes that only transmit visible light, the team’s TTE plays the dual role of allowing visible light to pass through while at the same time reflecting infrared rays.

The semi-transparent solar cells made with the TTEs exhibited an average power conversion efficiency as high as 13.3%, reflecting 85.5% of incoming infrared light. Currently available crystalline silicon solar cells have up to 25% efficiency but are opaque.

The team believes that if the semi-transparent perovskite solar cells are scaled up for practical applications, they can be used in solar windows for buildings and automobiles, which not only generate electrical energy but also allow smart heat management in indoor environments, thereby utilizing solar energy more efficiently and effectively.

Source:Science Daily

May 31, 2017
9 ways to be a better boss

{Being a good leader isn’t about the position you hold; you can hold a leadership position and be terrible at it.}

For you to be a better boss, you must first understand the concept of followership; when you understand how to follow, then you wouldn’t find it difficult to understand how to lead, because they are both intertwined.

These are some tips to being a better boss:

{{1. Set achievable objectives }}

A good boss must be visionary, a good boss must have goals and targets, but it would be unwise to set unrealistic goals. This will only scare your subordinates and make work a burden. Be visionary, but move step by step till you achieve the desired height.

{{2. A good boss works }}

The only way to earn the respect of your subordinate is when you not only work as hard as your followers but when you even work harder than them. A good boss inspires the subordinates by being a hard worker.

{{3. A good boss recognizes the strength of the employees }}

Everyone has his strengths and weaknesses, and it’s up to a good boss to recognise those strengths and weaknesses in the employees and assign tasks accordingly, while also helping them work on their weakness.

{{4. A good boss motivates }}

A good boss doesn’t frighten the employees; a good boss motivates and spurs them to be better. A good boss leads by example and motivates; good bosses don’t command and order people about.

{{5. Communication }}

A good boss ought to communicate well and provide the employees with clear directions and expectations.

Also, a good boss knows how to talk to the employees. Many bosses tend to dress down their employees with their mouths, but a good boss wouldn’t.

{{6. A good boss protects the interest of the employees }}

A good boss isn’t selfish but is interested in the welfare of the employees and protects their interest as well; a good boss practices empathy.

{{7. A good boss listens }}

A good boss is a good listener. No man is an island and no man knows it all. A good boss understands that a subordinate could know something that they don’t know and learn from the subordinate.

{{8. A good boss trusts }}

A good boss trusts employees who are due to be trusted and delegate certain tasks to them. This will spur that employee to strive for more.

{{9. A good boss scrutinizes own performance}}

A good boss analyses and scrutinises own performance and makes improvement where needed. Good bosses understand that they aren’t perfect and keep assessing their performances and make relevant improvement.

Being a good boss isn’t by the title you bear, but by the qualities you portray.

Source:Elcrema

May 31, 2017
The rules of baboons: Biologists study the principles underlying the collective movement of baboons

{How do baboons succeed in coordinating the movements of their group? Biologists at the University of Konstanz study these organisms in the wild to find out which behavioural rules baboons use when interacting with others. Konstanz researchers have found out that the animals only need a few simple rules to coordinate their group movements, enabling them to organise themselves, and to make decisions, without splitting. In four recent research publications — published in the journals Science, Scientific Reports, eLife and the Proceedings of the Royal Society B — the Konstanz scientists paint a new picture of group dynamics among baboons with unprecedented detail by tracking how individuals make decisions within a group. Research partners were the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama as well as Princeton University, the University of California, Davis, and the University of Illinois at Chicago (all USA).}

Baboons have long been studied because they have a highly complex social structure, forming groups from 20 to over 100 individuals. Such social structure suggested to early biologists that baboons must employ high levels of cognition to be able to coordinate their behaviour with so many group mates. For example, classical theories on group coordination among baboons suggested that the larger, grown-up individuals should stay at the periphery of the group to protect younger and weaker animals in the centre. However, to constantly keep up this positioning, each baboon would need to know, at all times, where the other members of the group are. Konstanz biologists have now demonstrated that this is not necessarily the case — neither is there a need for it. “Actually, coordinating their movement with only a few neighbouring individuals can generally be enough for animals to keep their group together, and what we see in the baboons is consistent with this idea,” explains biologist Dr. Ariana Strandburg-Peshkin. Mathematics can further explain how individuals maintain specific positions within the group (either close to the center, at the front, back, or at the periphery) as her colleague Dr. Damien Farine explains: “If a baboon tries to stay together with only a slightly larger number of neighbouring individuals, this baboon will automatically move closer to the centre of the group. By contrast, individuals that coordinate their positions with a smaller number of fellow group members will end up at the group’s periphery.”

This means that the neighbourhood size, i.e. the number of members in the neighbourhood an animal stays together with, is decisive for maintaining the group structure. “This simple rule makes it possible to consistently describe the movements of the baboons. Consequently, the group structure results from local behavioural principles of individual animals and not from a joint decision taken by the entire group,” says Professor Iain Couzin (University of Konstanz and Max Planck Institute for Ornithology), adding: “We also observe that the movement rules of baboons, and how they make decisions, very much resembles the decision processes found in schools of fish and flocks of birds.”

For their research the biologists studied a group of 25 baboons living in the wild in Kenya — a complex project headed by Professor Margaret Crofoot (University of California, Davis). A GPS transmitter provided locations of the individual animals, second-by-second, for two weeks. The scientists combined the movement data of the animals with remote images of the three-dimensional environment and vegetation structure recorded by a drone to obtain an overall picture of the surrounding conditions.

The evaluation of these data provides new insights into the collective behaviour of the baboons. In a series of publications, the researchers have also examined group dynamics and factors that influence the movements of individual animals of the group, and ultimately determine the entire group structure. The inclination to follow other group members is the strongest factor driving the decision-making behaviour of baboons. For example, baboons prefer paths that other group members have taken shortly before. The more baboons use a certain path, the more attractive it becomes for the others. In situations where they need to decide in which direction to move, if several members of the group head in different directions, baboons are inclined to follow the majority (i.e. the direction where most of their group mates are headed).

“Together, these studies capture new insights into how baboons make decisions. No longer do we believe that a single dominant male leads the troop, deciding on behalf of everyone,” says Damien Farine. Instead, University of Konstanz researchers have revealed that baboon life is much more democratic, and that many of the complex behaviours they exhibit might actually be the outcome of simple behavioural rules, potentially allowing individuals to spend more time thinking about other things — such as looking out for predators.

Source:Science Daily

May 31, 2017
Just how old are animals?

{The origin of animals was one of the most important events in the history of Earth. Beautifully preserved fossil embryos suggest that our oldest ancestors might have existed a little more than half a billion years ago.}

Yet, fossils are rare, difficult to interpret, and new, older fossils are constantly discovered.

An alternative approach to date the ‘tree of life’ is the molecular clock, introduced in the early 1960s by twice Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling, which uses genetic information.

Early molecular clock studies assumed that mutation accumulated at a fixed rate across all species and concluded that our oldest ancestor might have existed around 1.5 billions of years ago, a date that is almost three-times as old as the oldest fossil evidence of animal life.

These results sparked heated, scientific debates that only eased off in the last decade when a new generation of more realistic “relaxed” clock methods, that do not assume constancy of the mutation rate, started to close the gap between molecules and fossils indicating that animals are unlikely to be older than around 850 million of years.

However, using a recently developed relaxed molecular clock method called RelTime, a team of scientists at Oakland (Michigan) and Temple (Philadelphia) dated the origin of animals at approximately 1.2 billion years ago reviving the debate on the age of the animals.

Puzzled by the results of the American team, researchers from the University of Bristol and Queen Mary University of London decided to take a closer look at RelTime and found that it failed to relax the clock. Their findings are published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.

Professor Philip Donoghue from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, said: “What caught our attention was that results obtained using RelTime were in strong disagreement with a diversity of different studies, from different research groups and that used different software and data, all of which broadly agreed that animals are unlikely to be older than approximately 850 million years.”

Dr Mario dos Reis, a co-author from London, added: “Generally scientists use Bayesian methods to relax the clock. These methods use explicit probability models to account for the uncertainty in the fossil record and in the mutation rate.

“Bayesian methods borrow tools from financial mathematics to model variation in mutation rate in a way that is similar to that used to model the stochastic variation in stock prices with time.

“By applying these sophisticated mathematical tools, Bayesian methods relax the clock and estimate divergence times. However, RelTime is not a Bayesian method.”

Dr Jesus Lozano-Fernandez, also from the University of Bristol, added: “Estimating divergence times is difficult and different relaxed molecular clock methods use different approaches to do so. However, we discovered that the RelTime algorithm failed to relax the clock along the deepest branches of the animal tree of life.”

Bristol’s Professor Davide Pisani concluded: “Current Bayesian methods date the last common animal ancestor to less than approximately 850 millions of years ago, in relatively good agreement with the fossil record.

“RelTime suggested that animals are much older but it turned out that it suffers from the same problems of the early clock methods.

“This clearly indicates that older ideas suggesting that animals might be twice or three times as old as the oldest animal fossil are erroneous and only emerge when changes in mutation rate are incorrectly estimated.

“RelTime results sounded like a blast from the past, but their provably erroneous nature ended up blasting these same old ideas that they were trying to revive.”

Source:Science Daily

May 31, 2017
Over 300 graduate from literacy programs in Kamonyi

{A total of 308 adults have graduated from a seven-month literacy program in the second intake which was provided free of charge. Apart from literacy, the graduates were also trained in improving agriculture, hygiene and social wellbeing.}

The programs were offered by Global Civic Sharing Rwanda (GCS-Rwanda), a South Korean project which started in 2010 offering literacy programs to Rwandans to usher them into self-development.

During the graduation which took place over the weekend in Kamonyi district, Southern Province, the Director of GCS Rwanda, Seunghoon Woo lauded graduates for joining literacy programs and requested them to apply acquired knowledge in their daily lives.

“You can now read, count and write. I would like to remind you that acquired knowledge can be forgotten if you don’t practice,” he advised.

Seunghoon reiterated that fighting illiteracy must be individual motivation other than waiting for partners.

Nkurikiyimfura Appolinaire who spoke on behalf of literacy graduates said the acquired knowledge will help them transform their lives, use mobile technology and make budget planning in their households.

“We have acquired a lot from literacy programs. We can read the Bible and use telephone. We thank you for having planned to train more residents in the third intake enabling those who missed previous courses to benefit from literacy programs,” he said.

The executive secretary of Nyarubaka sector, Mugambira Etienne reminded graduates that learning must be a continuous journey.

“Graduating is a good step inducing delight for everyone but this is one phase completed. Learning never ends. You have to take your education further,” he said.

The majority of 30% illiterate Rwandans are adults but the government is relentlessly working with partners to eradicate illiteracy.

May 31, 2017
ADEPR gets new leadership

{Members of ADEPR general assembly yesterday convened an extra ordinary meeting where they elected Rev. Karuranga Ephraim as ADEPR spokesperson following the arrest of the former holder of the office Bishop Sibomana over misappropriation of the church’s resources.}

Rev. Karangwa John was elected deputy spokesperson, while pastorRuzibizaViateur became the general secretary in charge of youth in the evangelization.

Christian Umuhoza Aulerie has been elected finance and administration officer while pastor Nsengiyumva Patrick has been elected advisor. The latter was leader of ADEPR youth at national level.

The new leaders will serve a six-month term. Rev. Karuranga Ephraim said they are going to work closely with Christians to get the church back to its normal evangelization mission.

“We will strive to restore unity in the church because we are supposed to address challenges that annoyed them. Our Christians are mature and know that the church doesn’t belong to one person. We assure them that the recent church’s crisis will be addressed,” he said.

He explained that the committee will soon sit to discuss how to recover embezzled funds.

The arrested former ADEPR leaders’ case is before the courts of law where they are accused of misallocating Rwf 2.5 billion.

The arrested include, the deputy ADEPR spokesperson, Bishop Tom Rwagasana, ADEPR general secretary Rev. Sebagabo Bernard, Eng. SindayigayaTheophile, head of finance department Gasana Valens and head of administration and finance,Mutuyemariya Christine.

May 31, 2017
Lifelong ordeal as children born of raped mothers during genocide become of age, Bamporiki promises advocacy

{Member of Parliament Bamporiki Edouard has vowed to sound alarm advocating for children born to raped mothers during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi especially those who failed to get funding for education. }

Bamporiki made the promise over the weekend during a press briefing following the launch of his book dubbed ‘My Son It Is A Long Story’ which has testimonies from perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi from different prisons in Rwanda.

Bamporiki explained that the establishment of Genocide Survivors Fund (FARG) disregarded children born of raped mothers.

“I consider it as oppression. As a parliamentarian on a human rights commission, I am going to raise the voice, speaking on behalf of such people,” he said.

Bamporiki explained that such children should be taken as most victims and hopes his ambitions will bring positive results.

“I undoubtedly hope that such children will find support especially those who failed to access education. This child born of parents who never engaged in love should be under government’s umbrella,” he said.

Some children born of raped mothers during the genocide who attended the launch of the book expressed concerns over daily hurdles experienced emanating from poverty and societal abuse.

Mugwaneza Jean Claude, a rape-result child, having completed secondary school education unveiled how her mom’s family nicknamed him ‘Rwibutso’ (memorial) because he reminds them of perpetrators who killed relatives.

“I knew the truth when I was in primary four. I was even challenged to get both parents’ names while making registration to sit for P6 exams. My mother was raped by three men. So I don’t know my father. We are always hurt because she doesn’t tell me whether he is jailed or escaped justice,” he said.

Nizomfura Josiane, another child whose mother was raped by three men, narrated the ordeal of how the mother tried to abort but failed and later persecuted her after birth saying the child always reminds her(mother) the dark past.

Nizomfura said she hardly gets money for school fees. She is now studying in second year at the university.

Mukabayire Valerie,the president of Avega Agahozo, an umbrella organization of women Genocide survivors told IGIHE last year that they have recorded 1,112 children born of raped mothers during genocide.

May 30, 2017
Kigali Marriott’s Saray Spa Open Day brings service discounts

Kigali residents and visitors can now enjoy fitness, health and beauty treatments from a reputable service provider as Kigali Marriott Hotel holds its first-ever Saray Spa Open Day, offering discounts on almost all of the spa’s services.

Saray Spa Open Day at the Kigali Marriott is scheduled on Saturday, June 3 from 10am to 4pm.

Attendees will have access to the pool, sauna, steam room, and fitness center for 50% off the daily rate that stands at Rwf15,000, according to Elina Bamulanje, the hotel’s recreation leader.

“We are very excited to invite Kigali to try the Saray Spa,” said Bamulanje. “Along with some great discounts, attendees can also enjoy a selection of healthy drinks and snacks and try taster fitness dance sessions led by our fitness instructors. Summer is a wonderful time to start healthy habits.”

Attendees will also receive 20% off individual annual gym membership or 10% off family annual gym membership.

Those who sign up on Saturday will even receive a free spa treatment. An annual gym membership carries a 20% discount on food and beverage, 15% on laundry,10% on spa treatments, bonus weekly guided fitness sessions, and even more discounts.

Kigali Marriott also has a Sunday Brunch at its Soko Restaurant, an open air international cuisine restaurant, Cucina Restaurant that serves authentic Italian cuisine as well as Iriba Bar and Terrace where most of the hotel’s ongoing promotions take place.

By Jean d’Amour Mugabo

May 30, 2017
Increase in unemployment explained

{The Director of the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR),Yusuf Murangwa has explained that the more the number of people get education in Rwanda, the more the increase in unemployment tendency. }

Murangwa has revealed this today in a consultative meeting held at the parliamentary building bringing together all bodies concerned with promoting employment in Rwanda.

It was also attended by government officials, parliamentarians, and representatives of civil societies, National Youth Council, women and disabled people among others.

The discussion kicked off with analysis of current policies to promote labor and challenges.

Murangwa presented international labor transformations related to the new definition of employment and unemployment which clearly highlights the extent of unemployment.

He explained that International Labor Organization(ILO) changed the definition of unemployment along with statistics of those registered as business people.

Murangwa shared that whoever worked at least one hour per week earning means of survival was in the past considered as employed person but it was amended where criteria qualifying someone as employed defines him/her as ‘ someone receiving salary for the job or having enough agricultural harvests enabling the individual reserve some for the market.’

This means unpaid farmers who don’t make enough harvests to reserve for the market are considered as unemployed but people having occupation.

“Serving with the new definition we find national unemployment rate standing at 13.2% as of February 2016 but the old definition rates unemployment at 2.8%. Our previous researches applied the old definition that is why we would see unemployment rate standing at 2% or 3%,”he said.

“This explanation on new measurements indicates that we are properly respecting measures. It doesn’t mean unemployment increased,it essentially means that new parameters capture the situation better. This was a pilot study. However, by the end of this year we will be publishing regular and detailed statistics on employment,” he added.

Urban unemployment stands at 16% and 12.6% in rural areas. The rate of people having occupation stands at 42.8% under new definition while the old one rated the latter at approximately 80%.

“The rate of unemployment stands at 13% for men and 14% for women. Considering unemployment rate by level of education attainment in Rwanda, the rate of unemployed people who are not educated stands at 10%, unemployment among secondary school graduates stands at 23% while unemployment among university graduates is extremely high. They want to find good jobs in offices, with good salary and abandon it if he/she doesn’t find a job meeting such desires, “said Murangwa.

Murangwa explained that people at Rwanda’s labor market are not highly educated because university graduates representation stands at 5% while the rate is 30% in developed countries.

Today, 50% people work less than 30 hours per week compared to the required nine hours a day.

The Senate president Bernard Makuza said that unemployment rate is currently measured twice a year in February and August and plans are underway to measure it quarterly by 2019.

Rwanda targets creation of 200,000 per annum by 2020 from the current 140,000.

May 30, 2017