Browsing by Author "Mugisa, Dana J."

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    Anthropometric characteristics of female smallholder farmers of Uganda – Toward design of labor-saving tools
    (Applied Ergonomics, 2016) Mugisa, Dana J.; Katimbo, Abia; Sempiira, John E.; Kisaalita, William S.
    Sub-Saharan African women on small-acreage farms carry a disproportionately higher labor burden, which is one of the main reasons they are unable to produce for both home and the market and realize higher incomes. Labor-saving interventions such as hand-tools are needed to save time and/or increase productivity in, for example, land preparation for crop and animal agriculture, post-harvest processing, and meeting daily energy and water needs. Development of such tools requires comprehensive and content-specific anthropometric data or body dimensions and existing databases based on Western women may be less relevant. We conducted measurements on 89 women to provide preliminary results toward answering two questions. First, how well existing databases are applicable in the design of hand-tools for sub-Saharan African women. Second, how universal body dimension predictive models are among ethnic groups. Our results show that, body dimensions between Bantu and Nilotic ethnolinguistic groups are different and both are different from American women. These results strongly support the need for establishing anthropometric databases for sub-Saharan African women, toward hand-tool design.
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    Combining thermization and evaporative cooling toward milk freshness preservation at the smallholder farm level
    (Journal of Food Process Engineering, 2020) Sempiira, Edison J.; Mugisa, Dana J.; Galiwango, Joseph; Kisaalita, William S.
    Thermization and low‐cost evaporative cooling have been seamlessly combined (evakuuling process) to preserve milk freshness for next day market. For proper regulation, a more exact profile of thermized milk in the hands of smallholders is needed. The purpose of this paper was to establish the milk quality‐profile of “evakuuled” milk. Thermization was done using temperatures between 55 and 70°C. Evakuuled milk quality‐profile (total viable and psychotrophic microbial counts, fat, protein, and pH) was compared to chilled and fresh milk. A consumer sensory test was also performed to evaluate consumer preference. The results showed that the quality‐profile of milk thermized at 65°C, followed by evaporative cooling (evakuuled) was indistinguishable from chilled and fresh milk. A consumer preference test scored evakuuled, fresh and chilled milks on average equal in terms of taste, appearance, aroma, and general acceptability. Practical applications The finding of evakuuled milk having the same quality attributes as fresh or chilled milk and meeting consumer preference in terms of aroma, taste appearance and general acceptability has potential practical significance. These results provide evidence in support of inclusion of evakuuled milk in the East African raw milk standard.
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    Cultural Influences in Women-Friendly Labor- Saving Hand Tool Designs :
    (Human Factors, 2016) Kisaalita, William S.; Katimbo, Abia; Sempiira, Edison J.; Mugisa, Dana J.
    One of the reasons behind the gender asset gap among Sub-Saharan African women is the higher labor burden these women face, making it difficult for them to produce for the home and markets. Hand tools are the simplest form and therefore the best first step to address this problem. But designing women-friendly (sustainable) hand tools calls for better understanding of the low-resource settings where these women reside.