The impact of HIV/AIDS on food security and household vulnerability in Swaziland

This study investigated the impact of HIV/AIDS on food security and household vulnerability in Swaziland. Personal interviews with 847 selected farming households revealed an increase in sales of crops and livestock to finance funerals and healthcare, a decrease in expenditure on agricultural inputs, and an increase in expenditure on medical bills and funerals. Most households were vulnerable to food insecurity. The affected households therefore need assistance in order to maintain food production and security, including support in the form of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and seeds through the markets and special arrangements to allow them access to affordable inputs. Therapeutic feeding and home based care will be needed for the chronically ill in vulnerable households.impact, HIV/AIDS, food security, household vulnerability, Food Security and Poverty,

Protection Over current Curve plotter with Fault locator application

Published Conference ProceedingsThe development of a software application to plot protection coordination curves and provide a distance to fault locator is presented in this paper. The purpose of the application is to aid fault location in power systems. Incorrect tripping of protection relay and fault location on power lines have a significant impact on power system performance. Often protection engineers and technicians need to verify grading of protection relays and to locate faults on power lines. The application developed will allow drawing of protection relay curves to observe coordination of relays. It also has a fault locator for non-homogenous medium voltage networks in distribution which estimates distance to fault given the network topology and measured fault current. The application was developed on Microsoft Excel® using the Visual Basic programming language. This will allow the application to be run on any device supporting Excel, originally planned to run on a smart phone, thus making the software easily accessible. The application allows up to four relay curves to be drawn with a variety of curve types to choose from. The fault locator allows up to four conductor types to be used in the network topology to accurately model the fault path. The fault locator was tested with data obtained from two medium voltage overhead lines and gave satisfactory results

Factors Influencing Farmers Participation in Smallholder Irrigation Schemes: The Case of Ntfonjeni Rural Development Area

Most Swazi households depend on rainfed agriculture for food production, which limits the output because of the unreliable rainfall in the country. To mitigate this, the government has invested in rehabilitation of irrigation schemes to reduce the dependence on rainfall. This study therefore determined the factors influencing participation of farmers in small holder irrigation schemes in Swaziland, using Ntfonjeni Rural Development Area (RDA), as a case study. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 96 farming households, 48 participants of local irrigation scheme and 48 non participants. Data was collected using questionnaires. Analysis involved descriptive statistics and probit model. The study revealed that the participation in small holder irrigation schemes is significantly influenced by households distance to the scheme, age and occupation of household head, farm size and access to credit and membership in other groups. Participation improves output and income for households.  Hence it is recommended that peasant farmers should be assisted with credit facilities as an incentive to participate in irrigation schemes. Key words: Participation, small scale irrigation schemes, Probit, Ntfonjeni, Swaziland

Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards genetically modified foods in Zimbabwe

Controversy regarding use of genetically modified (GM) foods still persists in both developing and developed worlds. Proponents of genetically engineered foods argue this is a sustainable solution to resource-limited settings where food insecurity continues to increase. However, in this pertinent debate, there is deficiency of knowledge on the opinion of the general public from resource-limited African communities. The aim of this paper is to describe the general public’s level of knowledge and perceptions towards use of GM foods in Zimbabwe. A descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among 301 participants attending a country-wide Traditional and Organic Foods Festival in Harare. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Poor level of knowledge on GM foods was demonstrated among most respondents (60%) and associated with level of education (p<0.05). More than a third of respondents (36%) believed that GM chicken was being sold on Zimbabwean local markets. Lack of understanding on the genetic engineering process in food production was common among respondents. Attitude towards GM foods was negative and intention to consume GM foods was low (38%). Genetic engineering on food production was viewed as driven by a few companies for profit maximization (72%) with consequences for GM foods complex and too risky for humans (70%). Consumers believed a total of 44 GM foods were available on the Zimbabwean market with chicken, maize and fruits being common foods reported as GM foods. More than half (54%) of respondents reported to have consumed GM foods in the past even though GM foods are not permitted in the country. People with increased knowledge on genetic engineering and GM foods were more receptive of GM foods in their diets. Although intention to consume GM foods was high among individuals with increased knowledge and positive perceptions towards GMOs, knowledge and understanding on GM foods among study participants was limited. Positive perceptions, increased knowledge on genetic engineering and GM foods makes people more receptive of GM foods in their diets. There is need to improve consumer awareness on genetic engineering in food production to empower consumers to make informed choices regarding GM food. Consumers in resource-limited settings are sceptical of genetic modification in food and should be consulted during policy formulations on GM foods. Mandatory labelling of GM foods could also improve confidence among consumers on the foods they consume.Keywords: Genetically-modified Foods, Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, Publicperceptions,Acceptance, Resource-limited Communities, ZimbabweAfr. J. Food Agric. Nutr. Dev. 2019; 19(3): 14752-1476

Heavy metals and radioactivity reduction from acid mine drainage lime neutralized sludge

Abstract: The worldwide known treatment processes of acid mine drainage result into the formation of hydrous ferric oxides that is amorphous, poorly crystalline and into the generation of hazardous voluminous sludge posing threat to the environment. Applicable treatment technologies to treat hazardous solid material and produce useful products are limited and in most cases nonexistence. A chemical treatment process utilizing different reagents was developed to treat hazardous acid mine drainage (AMD) sludge with the objectives to conduct radioactivity assessment of the sludge generated from lime treatment process and determine the reagent that provides the best results. Leaching with 0.5 M citric acid, 0.4 M oxalic acid, 0.5 M sodium carbonate and 0.5 M sodium bicarbonate was investigated. The leaching time applied was 24 hours at 25 oC. The characterization of the raw AMD revealed that the AMD sludge from lime treatment process is radioactive. The sludge was laden with radioactive elements namely, 238U, 214Pb, 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 214Bi. 0.5 M citric acid provided the best results and the hazardous contaminants were significantly reduced. The constituents in the sludge after treatment revealed that there is a great potential for the sludge to be used for other applications such as building and construction

A preliminary investigation of Nigerian Gmelina arborea and Bambusa vulgaris for pulp and paper production

Two common Nigerian-grown biomasses, gmelina (Gmelina arborea) and bamboo (Bambusaa vulgaris) have been pulped and their fibre characteristics and paper properties examined. The results of their chemical compositions showed some fair similarities. The amount of glucose in the pulps of bothbiomasses indicated their suitability as lignocellulosic materials for pulping. Their pulp yield ranged between 48,0-54,1%, which fell within the acceptable range for good pulpwoods. The analysis of their fibre dimensions revealed that bamboo fibre has a wider fibre length distribution and higher fine length content. Gmelina and bamboo had weighted mean fibre lengths of 0,93 and 2,07 mm and mean fibre widths of 24,1 and 16,9 μm, respectively. The Runkel ratios of the samples were 0,4 (gmelina) and 0,9(bamboo): this is indicative of their suitability for paper making. Mechanical properties of handsheets obtained from gmelina compared fairly well with South African pulpwoods (Eucalyptus grandis and Pinus paluta). Bamboo exhibited better tear index values than these woods but with lower sheet densityand tensile index. These properties were significantly improved in handsheets obtained from blends of gmelina and bamboo, raising the prospect of producing paper from blends of both raw materials inNigeria

Automated Classification of Airborne Laser Scanning Point Clouds

Making sense of the physical world has always been at the core of mapping. Up until recently, this has always dependent on using the human eye. Using airborne lasers, it has become possible to quickly "see" more of the world in many more dimensions. The resulting enormous point clouds serve as data sources for applications far beyond the original mapping purposes ranging from flooding protection and forestry to threat mitigation. In order to process these large quantities of data, novel methods are required. In this contribution, we develop models to automatically classify ground cover and soil types. Using the logic of machine learning, we critically review the advantages of supervised and unsupervised methods. Focusing on decision trees, we improve accuracy by including beam vector components and using a genetic algorithm. We find that our approach delivers consistently high quality classifications, surpassing classical methods

Pyrolysis oil composition and catalytic activity estimated by cumulative mass analysis using Py-GC/MS EGA-MS

Please read abstract in the article.The Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA)http://www.elsevier.com/locate/energy2021-11-28hj2021Chemical Engineerin

Insight on current advances in food science and technology for feeding the world population

While the world population is steadily increasing, the capacity of Earth to renew its resources is continuously declining. Consequently, the bioresources required for food production are diminishing and new approaches are needed to feed the current and future global population. In the last decades, scientists have developed novel strategies to reduce food loss and waste, improve food production, and find new ingredients, design and build new food structures, and introduce digitalization in the food system. In this work, we provide a general overview on circular economy, alternative technologies for food production such as cellular agriculture, and new sources of ingredients like microalgae, insects, and wood-derived fibers. We present a summary of the whole process of food design using creative problem-solving that fosters food innovation, and digitalization in the food sector such as artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and blockchain technology. Finally, we briefly discuss the effect of COVID-19 on the food system. This review has been written for a broad audience, covering a wide spectrum and giving insights on the most recent advances in the food science and technology area, presenting examples from both academic and industrial sides, in terms of concepts, technologies, and tools which will possibly help the world to achieve food security in the next 30 years.Peer reviewe