Search results for: African adolescents

Authors: Phumelele Kubheka, Pius Owolawi, Gbolahan Aiyetoro

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Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms where users can share their opinions on different subjects. As of 2010, The Twitter platform generates more than 12 Terabytes of data daily, ~ 4.3 petabytes in a single year. For this reason, Twitter is a great source for big mining data. Many industries such as Telecommunication companies can leverage the availability of Twitter data to better understand their markets and make an appropriate business decision. This study performs topic modeling on Twitter data using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The obtained results are benchmarked with another topic modeling technique, Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). The study aims to retrieve topics on a Twitter dataset containing user tweets on South African Telcos. Results from this study show that LSI is much faster than LDA. However, LDA yields better results with higher topic coherence by 8% for the best-performing model represented in Table 1. A higher topic coherence score indicates better performance of the model.

Keywords: big data, latent Dirichlet allocation, latent semantic indexing, telco, topic modeling, twitter

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Authors: Jean Pierre Kabue, Emma Meader, Afsatou Ndama Traore, Paul R. Hunter, Natasha Potgieter

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Norovirus is now considered the most common cause of outbreaks of nonbacterial gastroenteritis. Limited data are available for Norovirus strains in Africa, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. Despite the excessive burden of diarrhea disease in developing countries, Norovirus infections have been to date mostly reported in developed countries. There is a need to investigate intensively the role of viral agents associated with diarrhea in different settings in Africa continent. To determine the prevalence and genetic diversity of Norovirus strains circulating in the rural communities in the Limpopo Province, South Africa and investigate the genetic relationship between Norovirus strains, a cross-sectional study was performed on human stools collected from rural communities. Between July 2014 and April 2015, outpatient children under 5 years of age from rural communities of Vhembe District, South Africa, were recorded for the study. A total of 303 stool specimens were collected from those with diarrhea (n=253) and without (n=50) diarrhea. NoVs were identified using real-time one-step RT-PCR. Partial Sequence analyses were performed to genotype the strains. Phylogenetic analyses were performed to compare identified NoVs genotypes to the worldwide circulating strains. Norovirus detection rate was 41.1% (104/253) in children with diarrhea. There was no significant difference (OR=1.24; 95% CI 0.66-2.33) in Norovirus detection between symptomatic and asymptomatic children. Comparison of the median CT values for NoV in children with diarrhea and without diarrhea revealed significant statistical difference of estimated GII viral load from both groups, with a much higher viral burden in children with diarrhea. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting on the differences in estimated viral load of GII and GI NoV positive cases and controls. GII.Pe (n=9) were the predominant genotypes followed by GII.Pe/GII.4 Sydney 2012 (n=8) suspected recombinant and GII.4 Sydney 2012 variants(n=7). Two unassigned GII.4 variants and an unusual RdRp genotype GII.P15 were found. With note, the rare GIIP15 identified in this study has a common ancestor with GIIP15 strain from Japan previously reported as GII/untypeable recombinant strain implicated in a gastroenteritis outbreak. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this unusual genotype in the African continent. Though not confirmed predictive of diarrhea disease in this study, the high detection rate of NoV is an indication of subsequent exposure of children from rural communities to enteric pathogens due to poor sanitation and hygiene practices. The results reveal that the difference between asymptomatic and symptomatic children with NoV may possibly be related to the NoV genogroups involved. The findings emphasize NoV genetic diversity and predominance of GII.Pe/GII.4 Sydney 2012, indicative of increased NoV activity. An uncommon GII.P15 and two unassigned GII.4 variants were also identified from rural settings of the Vhembe District/South Africa. NoV surveillance is required to help to inform investigations into NoV evolution, and to support vaccine development programmes in Africa.

Keywords: asymptomatic, common, outpatients, norovirus genetic diversity, sporadic gastroenteritis, South African rural communities, symptomatic

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Authors: Mohammed Albakariyu Kabir

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There is a trend in development discourse to understand and explain the level of corruption in Nigeria, its anti-corruption crusade and why it is failing, as well as its level of compliance with International standards of United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) & African Union Convention on Converting and Preventing Corruption) to which Nigeria is a signatory. This paper discusses the legal and Constitutional provisions relating to corrupt practices and safeguards in Nigeria, as well as the obstacles to the implementation of these Conventions.The paper highlights the challenges posed to the Anti-Corruption crusade by analysing the loopholes that exist both in administrative structure and in scope of the relevant laws. The paper argues that Nigerian Constitution did not make adequate provisions for the implementation of the conventions, hence a proposal which will ensure adequate provision for implementing the conventions to better the lives of Nigerians. The paper concludes that there is the need to build institutional parameters, adequate constitutional and structural safeguards, as well as to synergise strategies, collaborations and alliances to facilitate the timely domestication and implementation of the conventions.

Keywords: anti-corruption, corruption, convention, domestication, poverty, state parties

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Authors: Hassan Attahiru Gwandu

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This study aims at surveying and analyzing the contribution of Sokoto scholars or Sokoto Caliphate in the development of science and technology in West Africa. Today, it is generally accepted that the 19^th century Islamic revivalism in Hausaland was a very important revolution in the history of Hausa society and beyond. It is therefore, as a result of this movement or Jihad; the Hausaland (West Africa in general) witnessed several changes and transformations. These changes were in different sectors of life from politics, economy to social and religious aspect. It is these changes especially on religion that will be given considerations in this paper. The jihad resulted is the establishment of an Islamic state of Sokoto Caliphate, the revival Islam and development of learning and scholarship. During the existence of this Caliphate, a great deal of scholarship on Islamic laws were revived, written and documented by mostly, the three Jihad leaders; Usmanu Danfodiyo, his brother Abdullahi Fodiyo and his son Muhammad Bello. The trio had written more than one thousand books and made several verdicts on Islamic medicine. This study therefore, seeks to find out the contributions of these scholars or the Sokoto caliphate in the development of science in West Africa.

Keywords: Sokoto caliphate, scholarship, science and technology, West Africa

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Authors: Mariana Goncalves, Marlene Matos

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Despite the scientific attention that it has received, the research on the victimization of women continues to neglect some factors that may enhance the risk of women to victimization. This study sought to identify the prevalence and the lifelong trajectories of multiply victimized women (childhood, adolescence, and adulthood), the co-occurrence of different types of victimization, the contexts of occurrence and emotional adjustment and resilience. We used a convenience sample of 120 women multiply victimized, including 35 Portuguese natives and 85 immigrant women (e.g., Brazilian, African) who were recruited from support institutions and shelters. The results documented the similarities and differences concerning victimization between these groups and the intersectional factors that may elucidate vulnerability to victimization. There was a high co-occurrence of types of victimization, particularly in adulthood. The victimization reported occurred frequently in different contexts: familiar, workplace and helping institutions. A higher number of victimization experiences was related with more emotional symptomatology, less familiar cohesion and less social resources. The implications of the results are discussed.

Keywords: multiple victimization, lifetime, natives, immigrants, prevalence, emotional adjustment

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Authors: Babatunde Femi Bakare

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Groundwater quality was evaluated at a site for three years after the site was used for entrenchment of Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) latrine sludge. Analysis performed on the soil characteristics at the entrenchment site indicated that, the soils at the entrenchment site are predominantly sandy. Depth of the water table at the entrenchment site was found to be approximately five meters. Five monitoring boreholes were dug along the perimeter of the sludge trenches and water samples taken from these monitoring boreholes were analyzed for pH, conductivity, sodium ions, chloride ions, phosphate, nitrate, ammonia, and bacteriological analysis. The results obtained from the analysis conducted were compared with the South African Bureau of Standards for drinking water and it was found that the parameters analyzed falls below the specified range. The data obtained from this study indicate that, given the relatively high sludge loading rates, poor soil quality, and the duration of the groundwater quality monitoring, it is unlikely that contamination of groundwater at the entrenchment site will be a major concern. However, caution is advised in extrapolating these results to other locations.

Keywords: boreholes, contamination, entrenchment, groundwater quality, VIP latrines

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Authors: M. Novak, J. Dufourmount, D. Wildi, A. Sutherland, L. Sosa, J. Zimmer, E. Szabo

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The circular economy has grounded itself amongst scholars and practitioners operating across governments and enterprises. The aim of this paper is to augment the circular economy concept by identifying common core and enabling circular business models. To this aim, we have analysed over 150 papers regarding circular activities and identified 8 clusters of business models and enablers. We have mapped and harmonised the most prominent frameworks conceptualising the circular economy. Our findings indicate that circular economy core business models include regenerative in addition to reduce, reuse and recycle activities. We further find enabling activities in design, digital technologies, knowledge development and sharing, multistakeholder collaborations, and extended corporate responsibility initiatives in various forms. We critically contrast the application of these business models across the European and African contexts. Overall, we find that seemingly varied circular economy definitions distill the same conceptual business models. We hope to contribute towards the coherence of the circular economy concept, and the continuous development of practical guidance to select and implement circular strategies.

Keywords: Circular economy, content analysis, business models, definitions, enablers, frameworks

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Authors: Lovro Štefan

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The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the associations between the overweight/obesity status and lifestyle factors. In this cross-sectional study, participants were 1950 urban secondary-school students (54.7% of female students) aged 17-18 years old. Dependent variable was body-mass index status derived from self-reported height and weight. The outcome was binarised, where participants with value <25 kg/m2 were collapsed into „normal“, while those ≥25 kg/m2 into „overweight/obesity“ category. Independent variables were gender, type of school, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, self-rated health, self-perceived socioeconomic status and psychological distress. The associations between the dependent and independent variables were analyzed by using multiple logistic regression analysis. In the univariate model, being overweight/obese was significantly associated with being a male student (OR 0.31; 95% CI 0.23 to 0.42), attending a vocational school (OR 1.87; 95% CI 1.42 to 2.48), not meeting the recommendations for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.22 to 0.88), more time spending in sedentary behaviour (OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.07 to 2.19), poor self-rated health (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.56) and lower socioeconomic status (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.48 to 0.84). In the multivariate model, the same associations occured between the dependent and independent variable. In both models, psychological distress was not associated with being overweight/obese. In conclusion, our findings suggest, that lifestyle factors are independently associated with body-mass index

Keywords: body mass index, secondary-school students, Croatia, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, logistic regression

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Authors: Shaira Karishma Sheriff, Zarinah Hamid

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The Arab Spring, which commenced during the end of 2010 and accelerated during 2011, was caused primarily due to poverty, unemployment and a general recession in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. The core motivation of this revolution could be said to be the need for political, economic and social reforms that the region desires to experience. Though GDP growth has been significant in the region, the income distribution mechanism in MENA countries has been ineffective. This results in low levels of education, substandard health care facilities, unemployment, and poverty. This paper argues that MENA countries have great potential for experiencing socioeconomic development by being less dependent on oil exports and enhancing their services sector through better education which would eventually lead to job creation. Furthermore, the region can encourage better trade and political integration by forming transparent and accountable governments. The notion of Nation-State needs to be addressed and the countries in the region need to look for ways to develop effective supra-national institutions for better political and economic integration that goes beyond geographical borders.

Keywords: political reforms, social reforms, economic development, nation-state, economic integration

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Authors: Christina Zourna, Ioanna Papavassiliou-Alexiou

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The purpose of this multi-phased action research PhD study in Greece was to investigate if and how Drama in Education (DiE) – used as an innovative group counselling method – may have positive effects on secondary education students’career self-efficacy and career decision-making skills development. Using both quantitative and qualitative research tools, high quality data were gathered at various stages of the research and were analysed through multivariate methods and open-source computer aided data analysis software such as R Studio, QualCoder, and SPSS packages. After a five-month-long educational intervention based on DiE method, it was found that 9th, 10th, and 11th gradersameliorated their self-efficacy and learned the process of making an informed career decision – through targeted information gathering about themselves and possible study paths – thus, developing career problem-solving and career management skills. Gender differences were non statistically important, while differences in grades showed a minor influence on some of the measured factorssuch as general career indecisiveness and self-evaluation. Students in the 11th grade scored significantly higher than younger students in the career self-efficacy scale and have stronger faith in their abilities e.g., choosing general over vocational school and major study orientation. The study has shown that DiE can be effective in group career guidance, especially concerning the pillars of self-awareness, self-efficacy, and career decision-making processes.

Keywords: career decision-making skills, career self-efficacy, CDDQ scale, CDMSE-SF scale, drama in education method

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Authors: Mary Okocha

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Over the past two decades, since it came into existence, the Nigerian film industry, also known as Nollywood, has taken a global phenomenon and is reckoned with by most Africans at home or in Diaspora. The themes portrayed in these movies are supposedly made to reflect the social, cultural, economic and religious situations prevalent in Nigeria as well as most African countries. Stories are especially effective in cultural processes because they involve audiences by entertaining them and by challenging them to make sense of the story's symbolic meaning. Using two Nigerian movies, Mammi and Arugba, this paper aims at critically examining the pressures that society places on the Nigerian female and how this same society fails to lend a helping hand in making this possible, but rather turns back to heap blames and question the virtues of the females if, on the long run, these expectations are not met inconsiderate of the circumstances that stood in their ways and how these pressures have stood against the progress of the Nigerian woman. Furthermore, female respondents will be randomly selected and their opinions will be sorted through questionnaires to see what they feel could be done to help in overcoming these challenges and how the movie industry can help in repositioning the Nigerian woman.

Keywords: Nollywood, Nigerian films, audiences, Nigerian woman, Nigerian society, female respondents, repositioning women, societal pressures

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Authors: Bulelani Ngamntwini, Liezel Cilliers

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South Africa has one of the highest prevalence of obese people on the African continent. Forty-six percent of the adults in South Africa are physically inactive. Fitness applications can be used to increase physical inactivity. However, the uptake of mobile fitness applications in South Africa has been found to be poor due to usability challenges with the technology. The study developed a usability framework to influence the intention to use mobile fitness applications in South Africa. The study made use of a positivistic approach to collect data. A questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 377 respondents that have used mobile fitness applications in the past. A response rate of 80.90% was recorded. To analyse the data, the Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationships between the various hypotheses. There are four usability factors, efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, and learnability, which contribute to the intention of users to make use of mobile fitness applications. The study, therefore, recommends that for a mobile fitness application to be successful, these four factors must be considered and incorporated by developers when designing the applications.

Keywords: obese, overweight, physical inactivity, mobile fitness application, usability factors

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Authors: Benyapa Thitimapong

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Teenage pregnancy and adolescent mothers have become a matter of increasing concern in Thailand. Since adolescent mothers have been a big problem for two main consequences; health outcomes and socio-economic impacts. Adolescent mothers often endure poor living conditions; limited financial resources while also experience high stress, family instability, and limited educational opportunities. These disadvantages are negative and have long-term effects on adolescent mothers, their families, and the community. The majority of pregnant students and adolescent mothers dropped out of school after becoming pregnant, and some of them return to study again after they gave birth. This research aimed to explain the meaning of adolescent mothers who had undergone with childrearing and studying simultaneously after childbirth. A phenomenological qualitative approach was undertaken to investigate this study. The participants were 20 adolescent mothers each of whom became a mother and a student concurrently within less than 2 years after giving birth to a healthy baby and had also undergone the experience of childrearing and studying in non-formal education. In-depth interview was carried out for data collection, and the data were analyzed using content analysis method. ‘Learning to move forward’ was the meaning of adolescent mothers who experienced with childrearing and studying simultaneously. Their expressions were classified into two categories 1) having more responsibility, and 2) conceding and going on. The result of this study can be used as evidence for health care providers, especially nurses to facilitate and support pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers to continue their education. Also, it can be used to guide policy to promote in all educational system to enable these groups to remain in school for their life-long success in the future.

Keywords: adolescent mothers, childrearing, studying, teenage pregnancy

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Authors: Camilla Trevor, Matthew K. Higgins, Andrea Gonzalez-Munoz, Mark Carrington

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Trypanosomiasis is a devastating disease affecting both humans and livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. The diseases are caused by infection with African trypanosomes, protozoa transmitted by tsetse flies. Treatment currently relies on the use of chemotherapeutics with ghastly side effects. Here, we describe the development of effective antibody-drug conjugates that target the T. brucei transferrin receptor. The receptor is essential for trypanosome growth in a mammalian host but there are approximately 12 variants of the transferrin receptor in the genome. Two of the most divergent variants were used to generate recombinant monoclonal immunoglobulin G using phage display and we identified cross-reactive antibodies that bind both variants using phage ELISA, fluorescence resonance energy transfer assays and surface plasmon resonance. Fluorescent antibodies were used to demonstrate uptake into trypanosomes in culture. Toxin-conjugated antibodies were effective at killing trypanosomes at sub-nanomolar concentrations. The approach of using antibody-drug conjugates has proven highly effective.

Keywords: antibody-drug conjugates, phage display, transferrin receptor, trypanosomes

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Authors: Christopher Manyamba

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Women in Malawi produce perform between 50-70 percent of all agricultural tasks and yet the majority remain food insecure. The aim of his paper is to build on existing mixed evidence that indicates that empowering women in agriculture is conducive to improving food security. The WEAI is used to provide evidence on the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and household food security. A multinomial logistic regression is applied to the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) components and the Household Hunger Scale. The overall results show that the WEAI can be used to determine household food insecurity; however it has to be contextually adapted. Assets ownership, credit, group membership and leisure time are positively associated with food security. Contrary to other literature, empowerment in having control and decisions on income indicate negative association with household food security. These results could potentially better inform public, private and civil society stakeholders’ dialogues in creating the most effective and sustainable interventions to help women attain long-term food security.

Keywords: food security, gender, empowerment, agriculture index, framework for African food security, household hunger scale

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Authors: Muhammad Isah Legbo

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The phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity of Nauclea lotifolia fruit, leaf and stem-bark extracts at various concentration of (20.0,10.0, 5.0, and 2.5 mg/ml) were evaluated against some pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The antimicrobial activity was assayed using agar well diffusion method. The result obtained show appreciable inhibitory effort of acetone, aqueous and methanolic extracts of Nauclea lotifolia. However, result obtained was less active compared to that of the control antibiotic (Ciprofloxacillin). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined using serial doubling dilution method and ranged from 5.0-10.0mg/ml, while the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was determined by plating various dilution of extracts without turbidity and the result ranged from 5.0-7.5mg/ml. The phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloid, anthraquinones, flavonoids, resin, steroid and saponin. The activities of the plant extract therefore justify their utilization in the treatment of various ailments associated with the test organism.

Keywords: Nauclea, lotifolia, antimicrobial, pathogens, saponin, extract

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Authors: Abongile Zweni

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As a post-apartheid strategy to redress the social imbalances of the past, local governments are tasked with the role of delivering crucial services to their constituents. Apart from political instability, evidence shows that managers in South African municipalities lack effective financial management skills and competencies. This resulted in a failure to fulfill its administrative obligations, particularly municipal financial management. Most municipalities have, however, failed in this role, which has led them to be placed under administration by the provincial government in terms of Section 139 of the constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Thus, this study proposed a leadership conceptual framework for effectively managing ever-eroding municipal finances in South Africa. The study adopted a desktop research approach to explore the key components of leadership and municipal financial management toward the development of the conceptual framework. The study fostered a better understanding of the need for transformation in relation to the current financial management practices and sustainability of a municipality. Moreover, the conceptual framework applies not only to municipalities but also to other government departments and public authorities in the country for financial management.

Keywords: leadership, municipal finance, financial performance, management skills, municipality

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Authors: Intissar Abbes, Yousra Hallem, Jean-michel Sahut

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The purpose of this research is to explore the legitimacy of a proximity mobile payment (PMP) system by taking into account the social aspects related to its use (social acceptability). We have chosen to focus on the acceptability process of a PMP application (‘Flashplay’) from the first testing to the adoption in a service context. This PMP solution is a pilot program developed as part of a global strategy of disintermediation in various sectors (retail, catering, and entertainment). This case is particularly interesting for two reasons: the context and environment are suitable to the adoption of innovation in payment like other African countries and the possibility to study different stages of the social acceptability process of that PMP system. The neo-institutional theory is mobilized to identify the three pillars of legitimacy: cognitive, normative and regulatory. A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted with 27 customers using the PMP service. Results highlighted the importance of the consumption system and the service provider as institutions. Recommendations are thus proposed to PMP service providers in order to rethink the design and implementation strategies of their PMP system to ensure their adoption and promote the institutionalization of this type of consumption practice.

Keywords: legitimacy, payment, acceptability, mobility

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Authors: Angel Mabudusha

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The impression created by the high volume of foreign nationals being deported by the South African Home Affairs and the police departments is that all undocumented foreign nationals insist on staying in South Africa and voluntary repatriation is open for every person. However, those foreign nationals whose request for deportation has been rejected are often not reported on especially their everyday survival as undocumented immigrant women and their encounter with the police on the street. As a result, this paper aims at exploring the everyday experiences of these women on the street and on why the number of undocumented immigrant women in this country will remain a challenge to the police department. The research was conducted in two cities in South Africa, namely: Johannesburg and Pretoria where the police, the undocumented immigrant women, the human rights lawyers and NGO officials were interviewed on this matter. Based on the idea that voluntary repatriation is open for every immigrant, this study has found that some women’ request for voluntary repatriation remain a dream that never came true. Furthermore, this article proposes more humanitarian ways of dealing with undocumented immigrant women.

Keywords: repatriation, refugee status, undocumented foreign nationals, humanitarian

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Authors: Mongezi Nene, Emma Ayesu-Koranteng, Christopher Amoah, Ayo Adeniran

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Although its use has been criticized over the years as being unencouraging, the green building concept is quickly overtaking other concepts, particularly in the construction of commercial properties. The goal of the study is to identify the variables influencing the use of green building practices when developing residential structures. A qualitative methodology, using interviews with semi-structured open-ended questions to 35 property practitioners operating residential apartments in Bloemfontein, South Africa, was used to collect primary data which was analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that while respondents have a good understanding of green building principles, they are not being used in the construction of residential buildings in South Africa due to issues with green building approval procedures, the potential for tenant rent increases, the cost of materials, technical issues, contractual issues, and a lack of awareness, among others. This paper recommends among others an urgent need to implement measures by stakeholders towards enhancing the adoption of green building concepts in the construction of residential buildings as well as incentivising its construction through lowered property rates.

Keywords: green building, residential apartments, construction, South Africa

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Authors: Tracy B. E. Omorogiuwa

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Human trafficking also known as modern-day slavery can be seen as an effort by some privileged and criminally minded persons to take advantage of vulnerable individuals for their economic gains. Some factors; poverty, unemployment, poor educational opportunities, ignorance and traditional attitudes are attributed as causes and psychological, sexual, moral and health problems as impacts of human trafficking. This study examines the phenomenon of human trafficking in Benin City, one of the cities in Nigeria, situated as a source of trafficked persons for exploitation in Europe and African countries. Even though the Nigerian government and Non-governmental organizations have made considerable efforts in the past to reduce the incidence of human trafficking, the result has been an adjustment in the personality of the trafficked persons rather than professional measures to combat the issue. Hence, the study adopts the focused group discussions as a method for data collection; to sort the opinions of community members towards the understanding of the phenomenon. In addition, this paper provides social work implications to address the issue of human trafficking in the Benin City, Nigeria.

Keywords: human trafficking, trafficking in persons, modern-day slavery, social work implication

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Authors: Rodriguez Diego, Del Valle Martin, Hargreaves Matias, Riveros Jose Luis

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Nutrient deficiencies due to a diet low in quantitative and qualitative terms, are prevalent throughout the developing world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Children and women of childbearing age are especially vulnerable. Limited availability, access and intake of animal foods at home and lack of knowledge about their value in the diet and the role they play in health, contribute to poor diet quality. Poor bioavailability of micronutrients in diets based on foods high in fiber and phytates, the low content of some micronutrients in these foods are further factors to consider. Goats are deeply embedded in almost every Sub-Saharan African rural culture, generally kept for their milk, meat, hair or leather. Goats have played an important role in African social life, especially in food security. Goat meat has good properties for human wellbeing, with a special role in lower income households. It has a high-quality protein (20 protein g/100 meat g) including all essential amino acids, good unsaturated/satured fatty acids relationship, and it is an important B-vitamin source with high micronutrients bioavailability. Mozambique has major food security problems, with poor food access and utilization, undiversified diets, chronic poverty and child malnutrition. Our objective was to design a nutritional intervention based on a dietary diversification, nutritional education, cultural beliefs and local resources, aimed to strengthen food security of children at Barrio Broma village (15°43'58.78"S; 32°46'7.27"E) in Chitima, Mozambique. Two surveys were conducted first of socio-productive local databases and then to 100 rural households about livelihoods, food diversity and anthropometric measurements in children under 5 years. Our results indicate that the main economic activity is goat production, based on a native breed with two deliveries per year in the absence of any management. Adult goats weighted 27.2±10.5 kg and raised a height of 63.5±3.8 cm. Data showed high levels of poverty, with a food diversity score of 2.3 (0-12 points), where only 30% of households consume protein and 13% iron, zinc, and B12 vitamin. The main constraints to food security were poor access to water and low income to buy food. Our dietary intervention was based on improving diet quality by increasing the access to dried goat meat, fresh vegetables, and legumes, and its utilization by a nutritional education program. This proposal was based on local culture and living conditions characterized by the absence of electricity power and drinkable water. The drying process proposed would secure the food maintenance under local conditions guaranteeing food safety for a longer period. Additionally, an ancient local drying technique was rescued and used. Moreover, this kind of dietary intervention would be the most efficient way to improve the infant nutrition by delivering macro and micronutrients on time to these vulnerable populations.

Keywords: child malnutrition, dietary diversification, food security, goat meat

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Authors: Dorothy Kagazi

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The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) remains one of the most crop-damaging species around Kibale National Park, western Uganda. Elephant crop raiding deprives communities of food and incomes, consequently impacting livelihoods, attitude, and support for conservation. It also attracts an aggressive reaction from local communities including the retaliatory killing of a species that is already endangered and listed under Appendix I of the Convention on Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). In order to mitigate against elephant crop raiding and minimize conflict, a number of interventions were devised by the government of Uganda such as physical guarding, scare-shooting, excavation of trenches, growing of unpalatable crops and fire lighting all of which have over the years been implemented around the park. These generated varying degrees of effectiveness but largely never solved the problem of elephants crossing into communities to destroy food and shelter which had a negative effect onto sustainable tourism of the communities who often resorted to killing these animals and hence contributing the falling numbers of these animals. It was until government discovered that there are far more effective ways of deterring these animals from crossing to communities that it commissioned a study to deploy the African honeybee (Apis mellifera scutellata) as a deterrent against elephant crop raiding and income enhancement for local people around the park. These efforts led to a number of projects around Kibale National Park where communities were facilitated to keep bees for human-elephant conflict mitigation and rural income enhancement through the sale of honey. These projects have registered tremendous success in reducing crop damage, enhance rural incomes, influence positive attitude change and ultimately secure community support for elephant and park conservation which is a clear manifestation of sustainable tourism development in the area. To address the issue of sustainability, the project was aligned with four major objectives that contributed to the overall goal of maintaining the areas around the parks and the national park itself in such a manner that it remains viable over an infinite period. Among these included determining deterrence effects of bees against elephant crop raiding, assessing the contribution of beekeeping towards rural income enhancement, determining the impact of community involvement of park conservation and management among others. The project deployed 500 improved hives by placing them at specific and previously identified and mapped out elephant crossing points along the park boundary. A control site was established without any intervention to facilitate comparison of findings and data was collected on elephant raiding frequency, patterns, honey harvested, and community attitude towards the park. A socio-economic assessment was also undertaken to ascertain the contribution of beekeeping to incomes and attitude change. In conclusion, human-wildlife conflicts have disturbed conservation and sustainable tourism development efforts. Such success stories like the beekeeping strategy should hence be extensively discussed and widely shared as a conservation technique for sustainable tourism.

Keywords: bees, communities, conservation, elephants

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Authors: K. Lekshmi

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Land becomes a predominant constituent of transitional justice paradigm subsequent to the apartheid inspired land grabs and conflict induced forceful evictions in South Africa effecting land encroachment, expropriation, and alienation. In this pretext, post-Apartheid regime initiated land reconciliation measures which presume to overcome the politically appropriated historical injustices in conjunction with reconstructing transitional justice. As land grabs became one of the quintessential repercussions followed by ethnic cleansing in South Africa, it is prominent to study how land reconciliation becomes necessary in imparting transitional justice to the victims. The study also looks into the nature of developmental pattern after re- territorialization process in a post-conflict country like South Africa and, tries to look how re-territorialization process construed the functional distribution of income vis-a-vis income inequality in particular. Further the paper attempts to study how far land distribution and equal access as part of the land reconciliation process juxtaposed the principle of restitution. Research methodology applied is empirical followed by analytical research.

Keywords: development, land reconciliation, transitional justice, income inequality and displacement, re-territorialization

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Authors: Omaymah AlAzhari

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Nomadic tribes have always had the need to relocate and build shelters, moving from one site to another in search of food, water, and natural resources. They are affected by weather and seasonal changes and consequently started innovating textiles to build better shelters. Their solutions came from the observation of their natural environment, material, and surroundings. The textile innovation of nomadic tribes has led designers to create environmentally responsive products, such as Ceginskas Lindström’s new self-shading tent membrane developed by her ‘smocking’ technique. ‘AlRahala’ Nomadic Bedouin tribes from the Middle East and North African region have used textiles as a fundamental architectural element in their tent structure, ‘Bayt AlShar’ (House of Hair). The nomadic tribe has innovated their textile to create a fabric that is more suited to change in climatic and weather conditions. Based on the research of existing literature and documents, as well as analysis of photographs and videos, to conclude that the traditional textiles and innovations done by nomadic tribes may be a rich source of information for designers, which can provide innovative solutions for manufacturing modern-day textiles.

Keywords: ‘AlRahala’ nomadic tribes, ‘Bayt AlShar’, tent structure, textile innovation

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Authors: Lindelwa Mngomezulu, Tonderai Muchenje

Abstract:

Over the decades, E-mails provide easy, fast and timely communication enabling businesses and state owned agencies to communicate with their stakeholders and with their own employees in real-time. Moreover, since the launch of Microsoft office 365 and many other clouds based E-mail services, many businesses have been migrating from the on premises E-mail services to the cloud and more precisely since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase of E-mails utilization, which then leads to the increase of cyber-attacks. In that regard, E-mail security has become very important in the E-mail transportation to ensure that the E-mail gets to the recipient without the data integrity being compromised. The classification of the features to enhance E-mail security for further from the enhanced cyber-attacks as we are aware that since the technology is advancing so at the cyber-attacks. Therefore, in order to maximize the data integrity we need to also maximize security of the E-mails such as enhanced E-mail authentication. The successful enhancement of E-mail security in the future may lessen the frequency of information thefts via E-mails, resulting in the data of South African State-owned agencies not being compromised.

Keywords: e-mail security, cyber-attacks, data integrity, authentication

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Authors: Kathleen Seers, Rachel Hogg

Abstract:

Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in women is increasing, prompting research into the presentation of female ASD and exploring why females are failing to meet the diagnostic threshold. One explanation is the use of masking behaviors, where traits of ASD are suppressed and gender-appropriate behaviors are mimicked to reduce the visibility and victimization of ASD girls. Current research explores ASD presentation and the lived experiences of ASD girls and adolescents; however, there is a paucity of literature in relation to the intra- and inter- psychic experiences of ASD women. Through a social constructionist framework, this qualitative study sought to understand how the construction of gender and the medicalisation of ASD influences women’s experiences of ASD. This study also explored the use and consequence of masking strategies and the impact this has on well-being. Eight women were interviewed, and three major themes were identified. The themes outline the influence of gender expectations and social norms on the women’s experiences, the significance of diagnosis to their identity, and the influence of the medicalization of ASD. Participants shared experiences of feeling different and internalizing blame for this difference. The feeling of difference was a major contributor to the women’s positive or negative mental well-being. The process of diagnosis allowed participants to create and confirm their identity. Diagnosis also led to improvements in well-being, however, the findings also explore the complexity of labeling individuals with a disorder and the difficulties that arise from the construct of ‘functionality’ for those with Autism. The study also explores the temporal nature of ASD and the changing experiences of women as they mature. It is hoped this study promotes discussion and provides clinicians and those connected to ASD women with insights into the support ASD women require to live authentic lives.

Keywords: female autism, gender, masking, social constructionism

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Authors: Abigail Amoako Kayser, Brian Kayser

Abstract:

This study aimed to examine Ghana's 6th-grade Basic School history curriculum to determine how Ghanaian history is taught. We used qualitative methods and document analysis. The document analysis served two primary purposes: (1) To gain insight into what the curriculum materials covered and from whom's perspectives, and (2) To triangulate with teacher interview data. Documents obtained included: (1) Textbooks used by 6th-grade students, (2) Teacher pacing guide provided by the Department of Education in Ghana, and (3) Student work samples. This study was guided through Post-colonial theory and criticisms to explore the remnants of colonial power and hegemony that persist in history curricula used in public schools in Ghana. We also applied African Feminist Thought and Black Feminist Thought to unpack the extent to which issues of patriarchy, race, traditions, underdevelopment, and sexuality impact how we see the experiences of people on the continent. The findings indicated that the remnant of colonial rule persisted in the contents of the history curriculum, and the atrocities of slavery were overlooked or eliminated from the curriculum. The findings also indicated that Ghana's history centered on men's experiences.

Keywords: history, curriculum, decolonialization, culturally relevant pedagogy

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Authors: M. van der Bank, C. M. van der Bank

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Alternative Dispute Resolution denotes all forms of dispute resolution other than litigation or adjudication through the courts. This definition of Alternative Dispute Resolution, however, makes no mention of a vital consideration. ADR is the generally accepted acronym for alternative dispute resolution. Despite the choice not to proceed before a court or statutory tribunal, ADR will still be regulated by law and by the Constitution. Fairness is one of the core values of the South African constitutional order. Environmental disputes occur frequently, but due to delays and costs, ADR is a mechanism to resolve this kind of disputes which is a resolution of non-judicial mechanism. ADR can be used as a mechanism in environmental disputes that are less expensive and also more expeditious than formal litigation. ADR covers a broad range of mechanisms and processes designed to assist parties in resolving disputes creatively and effectively. In so far as this may involve the selection or design of mechanisms and processes other than formal litigation, these mechanisms and processes are not intended to supplant court adjudication, but rather to supplement it. A variety of ADR methods have been developed to deal with numerous problems encountered during environmental disputes. The research questions are: How can ADR facilitate environmental disputes in South Africa? Are they appropriate? And what improvements should be made?

Keywords: alternative dispute, environmental disputes, non-judicial, resolution and settlement

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: A. Lakshya

Abstract:

The main aim of this paper is to interpret physical education for children from 5 to 18 years. Schools have the ability to promote positive mental health by developing physical education, which helps to build individual growth, goal setting, decision making, helps in muscular development, self-discipline, stresses relief, leadership qualities that can arise with new skills, prosocial behavior and problem-solving skills. But mostly the children at these early ages ought to hold the disorders as heart attack, diabetes and obesity disorders may increase in large number. The data of P.E has got a very least place, where children are with feeble minds and they acquired a state of inactiveness. Globally, 81% of adolescents aged 11-18 years were insufficiently physically active in the year 2016. Adolescent girls were less active than boys, with the percentage of 85% vs. 78% as well. A recent study of California schools found that students are sedentary most of the time during PE classes, with just four minutes of every half-hour spent in vigorous physical activity. Additionally, active PE time decreases with larger class sizes. Students in classes with more than forty-five students are half as active as students in smaller class sizes. The children in adolescence age they acquire more creative ideas hence they create new hairstyles, cooking styles and dressing styles. Instead, all the children are engaging themselves to TV (television) and video games. The development of physical quality not only improves students ’ physical fitness but is also conducive to the psychological development of the students. Physical education teaching should pay more attention to the training of physical quality in the future.

Keywords: physical education, prosocial behavior, leadership, goal setting

Procedia PDF Downloads 138