Maternal health information handouts are used by midwives to facilitate health education of pregnant women during their antenatal care (ANC) period. South Africa's Saving Mothers Report 2014 showed ...that delay in accessing medical help, as a patient-related avoidable factor, accounted for 27% of maternal and neonatal mortality.
To ascertain the perceptions of pregnant women attending ANC in the Msunduzi sub-district in uMgungundlovu District, towards the maternal health information handouts.
The study was conducted at three primary health care (PHC) clinics (two PHC and one CHC Community Health Care) that provided ANC in the Msunduzi sub-district KwaZulu-Natal, in 2019.
Using a qualitative approach, focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 10 participants from each clinic. Data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.
The themes explored included: availability and access of handouts, usefulness, review of handouts, alternative methods available, and family involvement.
The authors concluded that although the maternal information handouts were given to the mothers during their maternal health visits, few of them were aware of these handouts. New strategies should be employed to deliver this vital information, as suggested by mothers.Contribution: The awareness of pregnant mothers about the information handouts contributes to the positive perinatal outcomes at clinic levels.
The impacts of wildfires on ecosystems and the factors contributing to their occurrence are increasingly receiving global attention. Advances in satellite remote sensing and information technology ...provide an opportunity to study these complex interrelationships. A Bayesian belief network (BBN) model was developed from a set of 12 biotic, abiotic and human variables to determine factors that influence wildfire activity in Swaziland using wildfire data from the Terra and Aqua satellites' Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for the period 2001–2007. These were geospatially integrated in the geographic information system (GIS) software ArcView and input into the software Netica for BBN analyses. Land cover, elevation, and climate (mean annual rainfall and mean annual temperature) were found to be strong predictors of wildfire occurrence, while aspect had the least influence on the wildfire occurrence. The model had a high predictive accuracy with an error rate of 9.62%, and an area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.961. The study demonstrates how domain or field knowledge and limited empirical and GIS data can be combined within a BBN model to assist in determining key fire management interventions and lays the foundation for the future development of advanced and dynamic models.
Editorial: Soil-microbial interactions Dlamini, Phesheya; Sekhohola-Dlamini, Lerato M; Cowan, A Keith
Frontiers in microbiology,
05/2023, Letnik:
14
Journal Article
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This research describes the use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates based on colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) produced by laser ablation of silver granules ...in pure water that are inexpensive, easy to make, and chemically stable. Here, the effects of the laser power, pulse repetition frequency, and ablation duration on the Surface Plasmon Resonance peak of AgNPs solutions, were used to determine the optimal parameters. Also, the effects of the laser ablation time on both ablation efficiency and SERS enhancement were studied. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV–Vis spectrophotometer, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Raman spectrometer. The Surface Plasmon Resonance peak of AgNP solutions was centered at 404 nm confirming their synthesis and they were noted to be spherical with 34 nm in diameter. Using Raman spectroscopy, they had main bands centered at 196 cm−1 (O = Ag2/Ag-N stretching vibrations), 568 cm−1 (NH out of plane bending); 824 cm−1 (symmetric deformation of the NO2); 1060 cm−1 (NH out of plane bending); 1312 cm−1 (symmetric stretching of NO2); 1538 cm−1 (NH in-plane bending); and 2350 cm−1 (N2 vibrations). Their Raman spectral profiles remained constant within the first few days of storage at room temperature implying chemical stability. The Raman signals from blood were enhanced when mixed with AgNPs and this depended on colloidal AgNPs concentration. Using those generated by 12 h ablation time, an enhancement of 14.95 was achieved. Additionally, these substrates had an insignificant impact on the Raman profiles of samples of rat blood when mixed with them. The Raman peaks noted were attributed to CC stretching of glucose (932 cm−1); CC stretching of Tryptophan (1064 cm−1); CC stretching of β Carotene (1190 cm−1); CH2 wagging of proteins (1338 and 1410 cm−1); carbonyl stretch for proteins (1650 cm−1); CN vibrations for glycoproteins (2122 cm−1). These SERS substrates can be applied to areas such as forensics to distinguish between human and other animal blood, monitoring of the efficacy of drugs, disease diagnostics such as diabetes, and pathogen detection. All this can be achieved by comparing the Raman spectra of the biological samples mixed with the synthesized SERS substrates for different samples. Thus, the results on the use of inexpensive, simple-to-prepare Raman substrates have the possibility of making surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy available to laboratories with scarce resources in developing nations.
Halving snakebite morbidity and mortality by 2030 requires countries to develop both prevention and treatment strategies. The paucity of data on the global incidence and severity of snakebite ...envenoming causes challenges in prioritizing and mobilising resources for snakebite prevention and treatment. In line with the World Health Organisation's 2019 Snakebite Strategy, this study sought to investigate Eswatini's snakebite epidemiology and outcomes, and identify the socio-geographical factors associated with snakebite risk.
Programmatic data from the Ministry of Health, Government of Eswatini 2019-2021, was used to assess the epidemiology and outcomes of snakebite in Eswatini. We developed a snake species richness map from the occurrence data of all venomous snakes of medical importance in Eswatini that was subjected to niche modelling. We formulated four risk indices using snake species richness, various geospatial datasets and reported snakebites. A multivariate cluster modelling approach using these indices was developed to estimate risk of snakebite and the outcomes of snakebite in Eswatini.
An average of 466 snakebites was recorded annually in Eswatini. Bites were recorded across the entire country and peaked in the evening during summer months. Two cluster risk maps indicated areas of the country with a high probability of snakebite and a high probability of poor snakebite outcomes. The areas with the highest rate of snakebite risk were primarily in the rural and agricultural regions of the country.
These models can be used to inform better snakebite prevention and treatment measures to enable Eswatini to meet the global goal of reducing snakebite morbidity and mortality by 50% by 2030. The supply chain challenges of antivenom affecting southern Africa and the high rates of snakebite identified in our study highlight the need for improved snakebite prevention and treatment tools that can be employed by health care workers stationed at rural, community clinics.
The construction industry is negatively affected by cost and time overruns which further negatively impacts the contractual stakeholders. Construction delays and cost overruns are a global phenomenon ...since one of the major problems in the construction industry involves unexpected incurred costs and late delivery of projects. The success and failure of any project depends upon many factors and the Project Manager is considered to be the key contributor to the success of any project, as well as to guide the team members to achieve the client satisfaction. In addition, the roles, responsibilities, duties, and competencies of Project Managers have a direct impact on successfully completing construction projects on time and within budgeted cost. The study aimed to find the key competency skills that the Project Manager must possess to mitigate time and cost overruns. A quantitative research approach was adopted to determine the key competency skills of a Project Manager with respect to cost and time delays. A web-based questionnaire was published in the Eastern Cape Masters Builders Association (MBA) bulletin aimed at contractors registered with the association. The results revealed that the key competencies required to mitigate for cost overruns are comparable to those required to mitigate against time overruns. The study investigated the need for project managers to better equip themselves with key competency skills to perfom optimally to reduce the occurrence of cost and time delays on construction projects. The aim of this research was to assist Construction Managers to choose the right candidate as a Project Manager. It would also assist inspiring Project Managers to acquire the key competency skills. The paper responds to the conference theme given that the reduction of cost and time overruns promotes the sustainability of the Built Environment.
Information security has evolved from addressing minor and harmless security breaches to managing those with a huge impact on organisations' economic growth. This paper investigates the evolution of ...information security; where it came from, where it is today and the direction in which it is moving. It is argued that information security is not about looking at the past in anger of an attack once faced; neither is it about looking at the present in fear of being attacked; nor about looking at the future with uncertainty about what might befall us. The message is that organisations and individuals must be alert at all times. Research conducted for this paper explored literature on past security issues to set the scene. This is followed by the assessment and analysis of information security publications in conjunction with surveys conducted in industry. Results obtained are compared and analysed, enabling the development of a comprehensive view regarding the current status of the information security landscape. Furthermore, this paper also highlights critical information security issues that are being overlooked or not being addressed by research efforts currently undertaken. New research efforts are required that minimise the gap between regulatory issues and technical implementations.
For businesses to benefit from the many opportunities of cloud computing, they must first address a number of security challenges, such as the potential leakage of confidential data to unintended ...third parties. An inter‐VM (where VM is virtual machine) attack, also known as cross‐VM attack, is one threat through which cloud‐hosted confidential data could be leaked to unintended third parties. An inter‐VM attack exploits vulnerabilities between co‐resident guest VMs that share the same cloud infrastructure. In an attempt to stop such an attack, this paper uses the principles of logical analysis to model a solution that provides physical separation of VMs belonging to conflicting tenants based on their levels of conflict. The derived mathematical model is founded on scientific principles and implemented using four conflict‐aware VM placement algorithms. The resultant algorithms consider a tenant's risk appetite and cost implications. The model offers guidance to VM placement and is validated using a proof of concept. A cloud simulation tool was used to test and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the model. The findings reflect that the introduction of the proposed model introduced a time lag in the time it took to place VM instances. On top of this, it was also discovered that the number and size of the VM instances has an effect on the VM placement performance. The findings further illustrate that the conflict tolerance level of a VM has a direct impact on the time it took to place.
Humans are dependent upon soil which supplies food, fuel, chemicals, medicine, sequesters pollutants, purifies and conveys water, and supports the built environment. In short, we need soil, but it ...has little or no need of us. Agriculture, mining, urbanization and other human activities result in temporary land-use and once complete, used and degraded land should be rehabilitated and restored to minimize loss of soil carbon. It is generally accepted that the most effective strategy is phyto-remediation. Typically, phytoremediation involves re-invigoration of soil fertility, physicochemical properties, and its microbiome to facilitate establishment of appropriate climax cover vegetation. A myco-phytoremediation technology called Fungcoal was developed in South Africa to achieve these outcomes for land disturbed by coal mining. Here we outline the contemporary and expanded rationale that underpins Fungcoal, which relies on in situ bio-conversion of carbonaceous waste coal or discard, in order to explore the probable origin of humic substances (HS) and soil organic matter (SOM). To achieve this, microbial processing of low-grade coal and discard, including bio-liquefaction and bio-conversion, is examined in some detail. The significance, origin, structure, and mode of action of coal-derived humics are recounted to emphasize the dynamic equilibrium, that is, humification and the derivation of soil organic matter (SOM). The contribution of plant exudate, extracellular vesicles (EV), extra polymeric substances (EPS), and other small molecules as components of the dynamic equilibrium that sustains SOM is highlighted. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), saprophytic ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are considered essential microbial biocatalysts that provide mutualistic support to sustain plant growth following soil reclamation and restoration. Finally, we posit that de novo synthesis of SOM is by specialized microbial consortia (or ‘humifiers’) which use molecular components from the root metabolome; and, that combinations of functional biocatalyst act to re-establish and maintain the soil dynamic. It is concluded that a bio-scaffold is necessary for functional phytoremediation including maintenance of the SOM dynamic and overall biogeochemistry of organic carbon in the global ecosystem
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