The Cipher 256 Team L-R: Joshua Okello, Josiah Kavuma, Joseph Kaizzi (their mentor) and Aaron Tushabe after winning the Microsoft Imagine Cup competition with their WinSenga Mobile App.
For the fifth year running, students from the School of Computing and Informatics Technology (CIT) have won the Microsoft East and Southern Africa Imagine Cup competition and will go on to compete in the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals to be held in Sydney, Australia in July, 2012.
The Team, Cipher 256 designed an application codenamed WinSenga that focuses on how to detect ectopic pregnancies in women as well as monitor baby movements and position in the womb during pregnancy. The team, comprising of Aaron Tushabe, Joshua Okello, and Josiah Kavuma was also voted the best by facebook and twitter users who were following the competition online. In total, 14 teams from different universities participated in the finals held in Nairobi last weekend. The competition is aimed at inspiring the youth to use their imagination, creativity and technology to help solve the world’s toughest problem.
According to Aaron Tushabe, their application addresses the UN Millennium Development Goal 5 – Reducing Maternal Mortality by 2015. “Our inspiration to develop this application was drawn from prior visits to the Mulago Hospital Pediatric Ward. Mulago being a national referral hospital, has an ultrasound machine, but what about the midwives in the villages? They use a Pinard Horn but in some instances some might lack the adequate skills to appropriately interpret the sounds,” said Tushabe.
System Architecture of the WinSenga Mobile App developed by the Cipher 256 Team of Students from the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS).
In this system, the Pinard Horn is connected it to a smart phone through an external microphone placed at the flat end of the Horn. The phone contains an application that has a sound recording module and sound analysis module which will produce a report detailing the position of the baby during the different trimesters, the age of the baby and the fetal heart rate.
This system, according to Tushabe gives a more accurate diagnosis compared to using only a Pinard Horn. “WinSenga is effective, faster and affordable and can even be used at home by a pregnant woman.”
WinSenga is being developed with the help of Dr. Davis Musinguzi from Mulago Hospital and a former finalist in the Project Inspire Africa session 1. The students are mentored by Joseph Kaizzi, a former CIT student and previous participant in Microsoft Imagine Cup competitions. More support is drawn from the Microsoft Innovation Center – Uganda.
By July, the application will be able to display cardiograph information and also employ cloud technology to make the patients’ records more accessible by different medical practitioners.
Makerere University College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) is the main ICT Training, Research and Consultancy Centre in Makerere University. The College has six Academic departments comprising of the Department of Computer Science, Department of Networks, Department of Information Technology, Department of Information Systems, Department of Library and Information Sciences, and the Department of Records and Archives management.
In addition to the mainstream degree programmes, CoCIS has a specialized Centre for Innovations and Professional Skills Development CIPSD) which delivers state-of-the-art training in ICT e.g. the Cisco Networking Academy for Cisco related courses, the Microsoft IT Academy Program for Microsoft related courses, International Computer Driving License course, Oracle Certified Training centre for Oracle, Linux and Unix Training centre. The College is also an authorized Testing centre, operating under PearsonVUE and Kryterion.
Online courses offer a flexible way to learn new skills or gain knowledge from anywhere with an internet connection. Listed in the download below are the online courses currently offered at the Centre with their start dates, duration, and cost.
Makerere University College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS) is the main ICT Training, Research and Consultancy Centre in Makerere University. In addition to the mainstream degree programmes, CoCIS has a specialized Center for Innovations and Professional Skills Development (CIPSD) which delivers state-of-art training in ICT e.g. the Cisco Networking Academy for Cisco related courses, the Microsoft IT Academy Program for Microsoft related courses, International Computer Driving License course, Oracle Certified Training center for Oracle, Linux and Unix Training center. The College is also an authorized Testing center, operating under PearsonVUE and Kryterion.
The CIPSD Tech Bootcamp is open to all University STEM Students, IT Professionals and anyone who is passionate about Tech and Practical Computer Training.