Assessment of the Extent and Causes of Fuelwood Collection in the Surrounding Communities of Kasewe Reserved Forest, Sierra Leone

Seven (7) communities living in and around the Kasewe forest reserved were sampled to assess the extent and causes of fuelwood collection from the reserved forest involving 50 individuals in stratified random technique with a view to evaluate the degree and reasons for fuelwood collection from the Kasewe reserved forest. Data obtained indicate a high frequency of fuelwood harvest in the forest throughout the year. The significant factors affecting such decisions were availability and accessibility, ensure fast cooking process, and cost-effective. In addition, fuelwood activities were intensive throughout the year but peaks late dry season. Hence 48 (96%) of respondents stated forest degradation as one of the significant threats posed by fuelwood collectors to the forest. The study indicates that 100% of the collector are unemployed this was mainly the reason why residents of those communities collect fuelwood from the reserved forest. However, this study concluded that fuelwood collectors were selective over the kind of species they harvest, but the preferred species were not replanted. Fuelwood in the study area is not restricted to domestic use as it is also sold to augment local income. The sale of fuelwood is probably the biggest threat to sustainable utilization of fuelwood and the forest. Therefore, this study recommends that alternatives sources of livelihood and energy be created, among other recommendations for resident communities that will reduce the frequency of harvest from the forest

Performance of Wireless Communication Systems with MRC over Nakagami-m Fading Channels

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Effect of Dynamic Voltage Restorer in Compensating for Voltage Sag and Controlling Harmonics in a Power Distribution System using Fumman Industry as a Case Study

Different power quality surveys done by researchers identify voltage sags as the most serious power quality problems for industrial customers. Voltage sag can cause serious problems to electric loads that cannot withstand variation in voltage such as adjustable speed drives, process control equipment and computers. This research work investigated the effect of Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) in compensating for voltage sag and controlling harmonics in a power distribution system. A DVR is a power electronic converter base device that is used to regulate the voltage at the load terminals from various power quality problems like sag, swell unbalance etc in the supply voltage. The mathematical equations representing voltage sag and it compensation are presented. To implement the effect of DVR on industrial load network, Fumman Industry was considered as a case study. The DVR was modeled by building the subsystem of each major component. The components are injection transformer, fuzzy logic controller, battery and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) inverter. Optimization technique was used to determine the appropriate battery size. Simulation was done without and with the DVR using Matlab/Simulink; under three and double phase line-to-ground faults.Simulation results showed that the modeled DVR can work very well against balanced and unbalanced voltage sag caused by fault in industrial distribution systemconsidering the harmonic limits

Overcoming Operational Challenges to Ebola Case Investigation in Sierra Leone.

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic that hit West Africa in 2013 was the worst outbreak of EVD in recorded history. While much has been published regarding the international and national-level EVD responses, there is a dearth of literature on district-level coordination and operational structures, successes, and failures. This article seeks to understand how the EVD response unfolded at the district level, namely the challenges to operationalizing EVD surveillance over the course of the outbreak in Port Loko and Kambia districts of Sierra Leone. We present here GOAL Global's understanding of the fundamental challenges to case investigation operations during the EVD response, including environmental and infrastructural, sociocultural, and political and organizational challenges, with insight complemented by a survey of 42 case investigators. Major challenges included deficiencies in transportation and communication resources, low morale and fatigue among case investigators, mismanagement of data, mistrust among communities, and leadership challenges. Without addressing these operational challenges, technical surveillance solutions are difficult to implement and hold limited relevance, due to the poor quality and quantity of data being collected. The low prioritization of operational needs came at a high cost. To mediate this, GOAL addressed these operational challenges by acquiring critical transportation and communication resources to facilitate case investigation, including vehicles, boats, fuel, drivers, phones, and closed user groups; addressing fatigue and low morale by hiring more case investigators, making timely payments, arranging for time off, and providing meals and personal protective equipment; improving data tracking efforts through standard operating procedures, training, and mentorship to build higher-quality case histories and make it easier to access information; strengthening trust in communities by ensuring familiarity and consistency of case investigators; and improving operational leadership challenges through meetings and regular coordination, establishing an active surveillance strategy in Port Loko, and conducting an after-action review. Resolving or addressing these challenges was of primary importance, and requisite for the implementation of technical epidemiological complements to EVD case investigation

Microfluidic flow injection immunoassay system for algal toxins determination: a case of study

A novel flow injection microfluidic immunoassay system for continuous monitoring of saxitoxin, a lethal biotoxin, in seawater samples is presented in this article. The system consists of a preimmobilized G protein immunoaffinity column connected in line with a lab-on-chip setup. The detection of saxitoxin in seawater was carried out in two steps: an offline incubation step (competition reaction) performed between the analyte of interest (saxitoxin or Ag, as standard or seawater sample) and a tracer (an enzyme-conjugated antigen or Ag*) toward a specific polyclonal antibody. Then, the mixture was injected through a "loop" of a few mu L using a six-way injection valve into a bioreactor, in line with the valve. The bioreactor consisted of a small glass column, manually filled with resin upon which G protein has been immobilized. When the mixture flowed through the bioreactor, all the antibody-antigen complex, formed during the competition step, is retained by the G protein. The tracer molecules that do not interact with the capture antibody and protein G are eluted out of the column, collected, and mixed with an enzymatic substrate directly within the microfluidic chip, via the use of two peristaltic pumps. When Ag* was present, a color change (absorbance variation, Delta Abs) of the solution is detected at a fixed wavelength (655 nm) by an optical chip docking system and registered by a computer. The amount of saxitoxin, present in the sample (or standard), that generates the variation of the intensity of the color, will be directly proportional to the concentration of the analyte in the analyzed solution. Indeed, the absorbance response increased proportionally to the enzymatic product and to the concentration of saxitoxin in the range of 3.5 x 10(-7)-2 x 10(-5) ng ml(-1) with a detection limit of 1 x 10(-7) ng ml(-1) (RSD% 15, S N-1 equal to 3). The immunoanalytical system has been characterized, optimized, and tested with seawater samples. This analytical approach, combined with the transportable and small-sized instrumentation, allows for easy in situ monitoring of marine water contaminations

Quantitative Outcomes of a One Health Approach to Investigate the First Outbreak of African Swine Fever in the Republic of Sierra Leone

African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks have been reported in Sub-Saharan countries, including West Africa states, but has never been notified in the Republic of Sierra Leone. This is the first report describing field epidemiological and laboratory investigations into the outbreak of fatal pig disease in western rural and urban districts, Freetown. A preliminary finding indicated that pigs exhibited clinical and necropsy signs suggestive of ASF. Serological (ELISA) and molecular (qRT-PCR) methods used to confirm and investigate the outbreak yielded three positive results for the ASF antibody and all negative for Swine flu; thus, confirming ASF as the etiology agent

A trial of intermittent preventive treatment and home-based management of malaria in a rural area of The Gambia

BACKGROUND: Individual malaria interventions provide only partial protection in most epidemiological situations. Thus, there is a need to investigate whether combining interventions provides added benefit in reducing mortality and morbidity from malaria. The potential benefits of combining IPT in children (IPTc) with home management of malaria (HMM) was investigated. METHODS: During the 2008 malaria transmission season, 1,277 children under five years of age resident in villages within the rural Farafenni demographic surveillance system (DSS) in North Bank Region, The Gambia were randomized to receive monthly IPTc with a single dose of sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) plus three doses of amodiaquine (AQ) or SP and AQ placebos given by village health workers (VHWs) on three occasions during the months of September, October and November, in a double-blind trial. Children in all study villages who developed an acute febrile illness suggestive of malaria were treated by VHWs who had been taught how to manage malaria with artemether-lumefantrine (Coartem™). The primary aims of the project were to determine whether IPTc added significant benefit to HMM and whether VHWs could effectively combine the delivery of both interventions. RESULTS: The incidence of clinical attacks of malaria was very low in both study groups. The incidence rate of malaria in children who received IPTc was 0.44 clinical attacks per 1,000 child months at risk while that for control children was 1.32 per 1,000 child months at risk, a protective efficacy of 66% (95% CI -23% to 96%; p = 0.35). The mean (standard deviation) haemoglobin concentration at the end of the malaria transmission season was similar in the two treatment groups: 10.2 (1.6) g/dL in the IPTc group compared to 10.3 (1.5) g/dL in the placebo group. Coverage with IPTc was high, with 94% of children receiving all three treatments during the study period. CONCLUSION: Due to the very low incidence of malaria, no firm conclusion can be drawn on the added benefit of IPTc in preventing clinical episodes of malaria among children who had access to HMM in The Gambia. However, the study showed that VHWs can successfully combine provision of HMM with provision of IPTc

ENHANCEMENT OF REAL-TIME SCAN MATCHING FOR UAV INDOOR NAVIGATION USING VEHICLE MODEL

Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have drawn great attention from different organizations, because of the various applications that save time, cost, effort, and human lives. The navigation of autonomous UAV mainly depends on the fusion between Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Inertial Measurement System (IMU). Navigation in indoor environments is a challenging task, because of the GNSS signal unavailability, especially when the utilized IMU is low-cost. Light Detection and Ranging Radar (LIDAR) is one of the mainly utilized sensors in the indoor environment for localization through scan matching of successive scans. The process of calculating the rotation and translation from successive scans can employ different approaches, such as Iterative Closest Point (ICP) with its variants, and Hector SLAM. ICP and Hector SLAM iterative fashion can greatly increase the matching time, and the convergence is not guaranteed in case of harsh maneuvers, moving objects, and short-range LIDAR as it may get stuck in local minima. This paper proposes enhanced real-time ICP and Hector SLAM algorithms based on vehicle model (VM) during sharp maneuvers. The vehicle model serves as initialization step (coarse alignment) then the ICP/Hector serve as fine alignment step. Test cases of quadcopter flight with harsh maneuvers were carried out with LIDAR to evaluate the proposed approach to enhance the ICP/Hector convergence time and accuracy. The proposed algorithm is convenient for UAVs where there are limitations regarding the size, weight, and power limitations, as it is a stand-alone algorithm that does not require any additional sensors

Establishing an antimicrobial stewardship program in Sierra Leone: a report of the experience of a low-income country in West Africa

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a growing global health challenge that threatens to undo gains in human and animal health. Prevention and control of AMR requires functional antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) program, which is complex and often difficult to implement in low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to describe the processes of establishing and implementing an AMS program at Connaught Hospital in Sierra Leone. The project involved the setting up of an AMS program, capacity building and performing a global point prevalence survey (GPPS) at Sierra Leone's national referral hospital. Connaught Hospital established a multidisciplinary AMS subcommittee in 2021 to provide AMS services such as awareness campaigns, education and training and review of guidelines. We performed a GPPS on 175 patients, of whom more than half (98, 56.0%) were prescribed an antibiotic: 63 (69.2%) in the surgical wards and 53 (51.2%) in the medical wards. Ceftriaxone (60, 34.3%) and metronidazole (53, 30.3%) were the most common antibiotics prescribed to patients. In conclusion, it is feasible to establish and implement an AMS program in low-income countries, where most hospitalized patients were prescribed an antibiotic

Effect of staking and non-staking systems on disease severity, yield and quality attributes of yams (Dioscorea alata)

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of staking and non-staking systems on disease severity, yield and quality attributes of yams. Methodology: High costs and lack of planting materials, labour, staking and inappropriate knowledge on production techniques are major constraints of yam production in Sierra Leone. A total of seven promising hybrid genotypes of yams from International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and one local cultivar, Pulli, were evaluated for yield, reaction to local pest and disease and desirable market traits during 2011 and 2012 in three agro-ecological zones of Sierra Leone. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block replicated thrice at the experimental sites of the Njala Agricultural Research Centre. Results: Results revealed higher disease pressure in non-staked plots compared to staked plots. Fresh tuber yields were significantly higher in staked plots than the non-staked plots. Five genotypes with yields ranging between 11.8 and 14.7 t.ha-1 significantly out-yielded Pulli (9.1 t.ha-1) in the staked plots, while only genotype TDa 02/00012 (11.9 t.ha-1) significantly out-yielded Pulli (7.1 t.ha-1) in the non-staked plots. Farmers’ preferences for all genotypes were similar to that of the local cultivar. Staking contributed 30.5% mean yield increase compared to non-staking. Makeni had the highest percent mean yield increase due to staking (38.5%) compared to Njala (29.7%) and Kenema (26.4%). Conclusion: Staking is beneficial in yam production contributing an average of 28.2% more fresh tuber yields than non-staking. Genotypes in staking system were more tolerant to in-field local diseases, thereby significantly out-yielding those in non-staking system. Genotypes TDa 98/01174, TDa 98/01176, TDa 02/00012, TDa 98/01168 and TDa 00/00194 had stable resistance to in-field diseases in the staking system and desired food quality traits compared to the check variety, Pulli. Findings have good implications for multiple disease resistance breeding for various production systems as the different genes controlling these traits could be pyramided into an ideotype. Similar technique could be used to breed for yield and other desired food quality traits