TAHADHARI: Facebook na Twitter Zinatengeza Kizazi cha Watu Wanaoishi Dunia ya Kufikirika

Mitandao ya jamii ya Facebook na Twitter imetengeneza kizazi kinachoendekeza umimi kupita kiasi kiasi kwamba watu hawajali masuala mengine huku wakiwa na tamaa kama watoto wadogo kuona watu wanasema mazuri kuhusu wao,picha zao,wanayoandika kwenye mitandao hiyo,nk.

Kuendelea kuwepo kwenye mitandao hiyo kwa muda mrefu kunamwacha mtumiaji akiwa na mgogoro wa kujitambua (identity crisis),tamaa ya kutambulika katika namna ileile mtoto mdogo anamwambia mzazi wake, "Mama,nimefanya hivi."

Baroness Greenfield,profesa wa taaluma ya madawa (pharmacology) katika Chuo Kikuu cha Oxford,anaamini kuwa kukua kwa urafiki wa mtandaoni-sambamba na matumizi makubwa ya michezo ya kompyuta-vinaweza kupelekea kuuchanganya ubongo.

Hii inaweza kusababisha upungufu kwenye kukazani mambo ya muhimu,hitaji la kutamani kusifiwa na uwezo mdogo wa mawasiliano yasiyohitaji kutumia maneno (non-verbal communication) kwa mfano kumwangalia mtu usoni wakati wa maongezi.

Zaidi ya watu milini 750 duniani wanatumia mtandao wa Facebook kuonyeshana picha na video na mara kwa mara hubandika maelezo kuhusu mienendo na mawazo yao.

Mamilioni pia wamejiunga na mtandao wa Twitter ambao huwawezesha watumiaji kusambaza ujumbe mfupi na picha kuhusu wao wenyewe.

Baroness Greenfield,mkurugenzi wa zamani wa taasisi ya utafiti ya Royal Institution alisema, "kinachonipa wasiwasi ni ile hali ambapo unaweza kutarajia mtu atawaza au kusema nini ambayo ni hali ya kawaida huko Twitter."

"Kwanini mtu ahitaji kujua umekula nini wakati wa kifungua kinywa?Inanikumbusha jinsi mtoto mdogo anavyosema, 'mama angalia ninachofanya' "

"Ni kama mgogoro wa kujitambua.Kimsingi,hali hii inaufunga ubongo kwenye kuhusisha wakati/muda"

Mwanataaluma huyo alidai kuwa baadhi ya watumiaji wa Facebook wanajisikia wanapaswa kuwa "watu maarufu wadogo wadogo" (mini celebrities) ambao wanaangaliwa na kunyenyekewa na watu wengine kila siku.

"Wanafanya vitu vinavyoendana na Facebook kwani njia pekee wanayoweza kutumia kujitambulisha kwa umma ni kwa kuwafahamisha watu wengine kuhusu kinachoendelea kwenye maisha yao."

"Ni kana kwamba watu wanaishi katika dunia isiyo halisi bali dunia ambayo kinachomata ni nini watu wanafikiria kuhusu wewe au kama wanaweza kubonyeza kwenye picha au ulichoandika," alisema Profesa huyo.

"Fikiria kuhusu madhara kwa jamii ikiwa watu wanajali zaidi kuhusu nini watu wengine wanafikiria kuhusu wao kuliko nini wanachofokiria kuhusu wao wenyewe."

Mawazo ya mwanazuoni huyo yaliungwa mkono na Sue Palmer,mtaalam wa fasihi andishi na mtunzi wa vitabu,ambaye alisema kuwa wasichana hususan wanaamini wao ni bidhaa ambayo lazima iuzwe kwenye Facebook.

Alisema: 'Watu walizowea kuwa na picha ya kuchora (zinazowaonyesha wao) lakini sasa tunaweza kujichora wenyewe mtandaoni.Ni kama kuwa mshiriki kwenye shoo yako mwenyewe ya TV ambayo umeiunda na kuiweka hadharani kwa dunia kuiona.'

CHANZO: Habari hii imetafsiriwa kutoka gazeti la Daily Mail

Read More

Oxford University Researchers Discover Suicide-Bomber Bacteria

Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria on an agar plate. (Center for Disease Control)

No matter how jaded you become, there is always room to be awed by the little shimmers of magic nature deals us on a regular basis. There's something just plain cool about a world that offers up coral shaped like organ pipes, peppermint shrimp, and monkeys feasting on fermented leaves. A handful of unrelated studies this week added a few more life forms to Earth's roster of biological weirdness. 

The smallest — but easily the most dramatic — of the new critters are the suicide-bomber bacteria discovered by researchers at the University of Oxford and ETH Zürich (think Switzerland's MIT) and reported in a paper in The American Naturalist. Known by the misleadingly unremarkable name Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the little bugs have a nasty habit of blowing themselves up and releasing a spray of toxins when too many of their fellow Pseudomonas aeruginosa are in the vicinity. The detonation kills some of the bystanders and reduces competition for food among the survivors. 

This seems like an awfully egalitarian act, especially for a bacterium, but the paradoxical reason behind the suicide is to increase the deceased's chances of leaving descendants. That ought to be pretty hard when you've just blasted yourself to bits, but according to ETH team-leader Fredrik Inglis, the behavior is likeliest to occur in “clonal” bacterial communities, in which all individuals share the same genes. In this situation, it doesn't much matter who survives to divide and who doesn't, since the whole reason all creatures — ourselves included — are impelled to reproduce in the first place is to pass on their genes. If everyone's got the same DNA blueprint, the next guy's descendants are as good as your own. The Inglis team admits that they can't say what causes any single bacterium to be the one that takes a bullet for the team, but the research is already pointing in other, more practical directions. Studying how bacterial toxins work and interact could help explain how bacteria themselves cause disease. 

A better — and decidedly less messy — way to ensure that you pass on your genes has been perfected by the self-fertilizing female scale insects, as reported in a study in The American Naturalist, also by researchers at Oxford. Hermaphroditism – in which the same individual produces both male and female gametes – is hardly unknown, but it is rare, occurring in less than 6% of all animal species. The scale insects, take it to a new, and arguably ickier, level. Instead of producing two kinds of gametes and simply allowing the male variety to fertilize the female variety within the body, these bugs produce eggs that are fertilized by a parasitic tissue derived from leftover sperm from the female's father. That's an odd family arrangement that could get a lot odder before too long: According to a mathematical model developed by study author Laura Ross and her team, once the parasitic “fathers” become widespread within a population, the need for males in that population may be eliminated entirely. 

Prolific reproduction can mean high-speed evolution, with every generation offering a chance to introduce upgrades to the product line, and no one's doing that better than the rapidly evolving fanged frog known as Limnonectes, which, according to a study by evolutionary geneticist Ben Evans of McMaster University, is flourishing in nine different varieties on the Philippines island of Sulawesi — each variety different enough to qualify as a separate species. All of the species have their own unique body size, amount of foot-webbing, and method of raising their young. The reason for this explosion of species is that the island is relatively free of frog competition — unlike the Philippine archipelago at large, in which the Limnonectes must fight for resources alongside the Platymantis species. Sulawesi Limnonectes are thus free to experiment with all kinds of adaptive innovations, as opposed to coming up with just one sturdy model that can go toe to toe with the competition. 

All this clever R&D is an enduring feature of evolutionary biology, which is good for the planet, good for biodiversity — and really good for the scientists who go hunting for new critters. Nature is one manufacturer, after all, that never runs out of ideas.

Tara Thean is a TIME contributor. Find her on Twitter at @TaraThean. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

Read More

Utafiti UDSM/TAKUKURU: CCM Kinara wa Rushwa.

CCM kinara wa rushwa

Yahya Charahani

WAKATI vita dhidi ya ufisadi ikionekana kupoteza mwelekeo, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ndicho kinachoongoza kwa rushwa nchini, kwa mujibu wa utafiti uliofanywa na Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam na Taasisi ya Kuzuia na Kupambana na Rushwa (Takukuru).

Matokeo ya utafiti huo, unaojulikana kama 'Mapambano ya Rushwa kwenye Serikali za Mitaa' ambazo unalenga ngazi za vitongoji, vijiji, mitaa na kata', yalitangazwa jana jijini Dar es Salaam na mtafiti kiongozi wa jopo la utafiti, Profesa Suleyman Ngware wa Taasisi ya Taaluma na Maendeleo ya Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam (IDS).

Watafiti wengine waliokuwapo katika jopo hilo ni pamoja na Peter Tumaini-Mungu, Mhadhiri wa Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam (IDS), Anthony Kiberiti wa Takukuru na Stephen Ndaki wa Takukuru.Kwa mujibu wa utafiti huo, CCM inaongoza katika kujihusisha na vitendo vya rushwa kwenye uchaguzi kwa kuzoa asilimia 49.5, ikifuatiwa na Chadema 7.0, CUF 2.7, NCCR 0.5 na TLP iliyoambulia asilimia 0.5.

Hata hivyo, utafiti huo umeonyesha kuwa CCM, ambayo ilitingishwa na vita dhidi ya ufisadi iliyoendeshwa kijasiri na kikundi cha wabunge kabla ya jitihada hizo kupunguzwa kasi, imetambulika kama chama kilichoamka zaidi katika mapambano na rushwa baada ya kujinyakulia asilimia 45.1, ikifuatiwa na Chadema kilicho na asilimia 16.0 na CUF yenye asilimia 6.8.

Ngware aliwaambia wadau mbalimbali kutoka Tamisemi, baadhi ya wakurugenzi wa miji, manispaa na jiji, mameya, wenyeviti wa halmashauri, Tume ya Uchaguzi ya Taifa, wanaharakati, wanasiasa na wanahabari jana kuwa utafiti huo uliofanyika kwa miezi sita, kati ya Mei na Novemba 2009, ulihusisha katika 41 zilizo kwenye wilaya 11 zilizo ndani ya mikoa saba.

Alisema kuwa jumla ya watu 380 walihojiwa (233 wakiwa wanaume na 167 wanawake) kutoka kada mbalimbali za jamii, wakiwamo wakuu wa mikoa, makatibu tawala wa mikoa, maafisa wa Tamisemi, makamanda wa Takukuru, mameya na wenyeviti wa halmashauri za wilaya.

Wengine ni wakurugenzi wa halmashauri, viongozi wa dini, wanasheria, madiwani, viongozi wa vyama, wabunge, wanaharakati, wakuu wa shule na wananchi wa kawaida.

Alitaja mikoa hiyo kuwa ni Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Morogoro, Dodoma, na Tanga.

"Utafiti huu tumeufanya katika ngazi ya chini kabisa, ambayo ni pamoja na kata, vijiji na wilaya. Umewajumuisha watu wa rika zote ambao tulikuwa tukiwauliza maswali mbalimbali kuhusu rushwa," alisema Profesa Ngware.

"Lengo la utafiti huu ni kuweka msingi wa majadiliano baina ya wananchi na serikali kwa sababu njia hii pekee ndio inaweza kuleta majadiliano na siku zote majadiliano ni mwanzo wa kutatua matatizo."

Kwa mujibu wa Profesa Ngware, wananchi wanatambua uwapo wa Takukuru na mapambano yake dhidi ya rushwa kwa asilimia 79.5, ikifuatiwa na polisi asilimia 31.1, Tume ya Uchaguzi asilimia 18.6, Mamlaka za mikoa na manispaa asilimia 12.4 na waangalizi wa uchaguzi asilimia 7.5, lakini hawaridhiki na ufanisi wao katika mapambano na rushwa.

Alifafanua kuwa lengo kuu la utafiti huo lilikuwa kujifunza hali ya rushwa katika uchaguzi wa serikali za mitaa 2009. Kiwango cha tatizo hilo, mbinu zitumiwazo kutenda kosa hilo, wahusika wakuu, mitazamo ya wananchi kuhusu suala la uongozi na rushwa na mbinu na mikakati inayofaa kutekelezwa kupambana na janga hilo.

Kuhusu swali lililouliza kama uchaguzi wa serikali za mitaa wa mwaka 2004 ulikuwa huru na wa haki, asilimia ya jumla ilionyesha 63 kuwa ulikuwa huru na wa haki huku asilimia nyingine 24.7 zilizosalia zikionyesha kuwa haukuwa huru wala wa hali na asilimia nyingine 11.8 hazikujibiwa.

Hata hivyo kwa mkoa mmoja mmoja, Tanga imeongoza kwa asilimia za kukubali kuwa ulikuwa huru na wa haki kwa asilimia 79.2, Manyara (74.3), Morogoro (73.1), Kilimanjaro (72.4), Dodoma (56.0), Arusha (51.4) na Dar es Salaam ikishika nafasi ya mwisho kwa kupata sifuri.

Kwenye utekelezaji wa ahadi zilizotolewa na viongozi wa serikali za mitaa katika uchaguzi wa mwaka 2004 maoni ya wananchi kutoka ngazi mbalimbali yalionyesha kuwa asilimia 67.5 hazikutekelezwa na asilimia 32.5 ndiyo waliokubali kuwa ahadi hizo zilitekelezeka.

"Utafiti huu unaonyesha wazi kuwa rushwa bado ipo na imeanzia katika ngazi za chini kabisa. Kutokana na ukweli huo moja ya mapendekezo yetu ni kuitaka serikali kuanzisha kitengo maalumu cha kupambana na rushwa wakati wa uchaguzi," alisema.

Pia alipendekeza kuongezwa nguvu zaidi kwa mapambano ya rushwa na si kutegemea Takukuru peke yao kwani utafiti umeonyesha kuwa uwapo wa sheria pekee siyo suluhisho la mapambano dhidi ya rushwa.

Pia alitaka kuwapo kwa kamati maalumu za vijiji kwa ajili ya kupambana na rushwa na kwamba watu wengi walioulizwa walisema kuwa chanzo cha rushwa ni kutotekelezwa kwa sheria zilizopo.

Alisema kuwa asilimia kubwa ya watu waliokuwa wakiulizwa chanzo cha rushwa katika maeneo yao walieleza kuwa inachangiwa zaidi na ubinafsi na ulafi.

Alisisitiza kuwa moja ya umuhimu wa utafiti huo ni kuwafanya wadau mbalimbali nchini na nje ya nchi kujua nini kinafanyika mara baada ya kutoa misaada kwa ajili ya maendeleo ya sekta mbalimbali.

Alieleza kuwa asilimia 37.6 ya watu waliohojiwa walionyesha kujua maana ya rushwa wakiihusisha na fedha, ngono au chochote kinachowanywa kwa malengo binafsi huku asilimia 24.8 wakiitambua kama utoaji wa vitu vyovyote visivyokuwa halali.

Akizungumza wakati akifungua warsha ya utangazaji wa matokeo ya uchaguzi huo, Mkurugenzi Mkuu wa Takukuru, Dk Edward Hosea alisema wamefanya utafiti huo ili kubaini nini vyanzo vya rushwa na mbinu zitumiwazo kutenda kosa hilo ili iweze kuwasaidia wadau mbalimbali wakiwamo serikali, vyama vya siasa na hata Takukuru kukabiliana nayo.

Pia alisema utafiti huo umefanyika kwa lengo la kuondokana na kufanya kazi kwa hisia na kuondokana na utamaduni wa kulaumu bila ya kuwapo taarifa sahihi ambazo mara nyingi hutokana na utafiti.

CHANZO: Mwananchi

Read More

PROFESSOR KEVIN SPACEY!

Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has given his inaugural speech as a visiting professor to students at Oxford University.

The Hollywood star delivered his 5pm lecture at St Catherine's College on Monday, a spokeswoman for the University said.

It was the first time Spacey, 48, had spoken in his role as the new Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at the college.

The one-year post will require him to give lectures, workshops and seminars at the university.

He officially took over the role from Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart when the new academic year started this month.

Previous visiting professors have included composer Stephen Sondheim, playwright Alan Ayckbourn and lyricist Sir Tim Rice.

Spacey won acting Oscars for his roles in American Beauty and The Usual Suspects and has also appeared in hit films such as LA Confidential and Superman Returns.

He is also the artistic director of The Old Vic Theatre Company in London.

He earlier told the BBC he was looking forward to working with the students in his new role, which promotes interest in contemporary theatre.

He added: "If my mother was still alive she would be smiling because she was a great Anglophile. She loved Britain and this would make her quite pleased."

SOURCE: MSN ENTERTAINMENT

Read More