Modelling the oceanic circulation in the Delagoa Bight

The ROMS is used to investigate the oceanic circulation in the Delagoa Bight region, near the southwestern end of the Mozambique Channel. The model is initially configured at a horizontal resolution of 1/10° (9.9km) over the domain 30.1-43°E,22.13-30.8° S. Subsequent configurations nested an inner grid of resolution 1/30° (3.3km) over the region 32.43-36.43°E,24.09-27.71°S Several sensitivity experiments were performed with and without the inner grid or with or without tidal forcing. Using only the outer coarse resolution grid, the first experiment (DELAGI) does not include tidal forcing whereas tides are included in the second (DELAG-II) experiment. DELAG-III and DELAG-IV both use the inner higher resolution grid but exclude and include tidal forcing respectively. The model was evaluated against observations, namely the WOA, Pathfinder SST and AVISO SSH. The results showed that ROMS adequately resolves the oceanic features in the region, namely the pathways of the anticyclonic eddies from the northern Mozambique Channel and from Madagascar, and the instances when the DBLE is present or absent. The model is also able to reproduce the main water masses and their sources in the region. Water masses found in the centre of the Bight enter through the northeastern sector, either by intrusion of pulses or instabilities of the southwards flowing current. When the DBLE is well established, upwelling is likely to contribute to the water masses in the lower layers. The transport of water towards the Bight from the east was found to be less than that from the north. The model also succeeds in representing the thermocline structure of the DBLE but it fails to capture the local salinity maximum. When tidal forcing is included, the speed of the flow close to the coast increases. The model also revealed the influence of the Inhambane Cyclone on the Delagoa Bight as well as on the region to its south. This cyclone, which is generated in the flow near Inhambane, is similar to Natal Pulses which occur in the Agulhas Current. An eddy detecting and tracking system was used with both the model outputs and VISO SSH to determine the statistics of the DBLE, namely its dimensions, amplitudes and life-times. A maximum radius of 59.52 km, life span of 126 days and an amplitude of 27.27 cm were found. It was also demonstrated that this feature is generated northeast of the Bight. When the inner grid was included in the simulations, anticyclonic features were generated within the Bight with a maximum diameter of 85.4 km and life span of 12 day. These anticyclonic features dominate the circulation when the DBLE is absent (less than 30 percent of the total period of the simulation). The possibility of several cyclonic cores existing simultaneously in the Bight was also demonstrated. Two cores were found with life spans of more than 12 days. When the number of cores is greater than two, they tend to be short lived. Analysis of energy conversion rates showed that the generation of both the DBLE and the Inhambane cyclones is mainly by barotropic instabilities, although in both regions of their generation, weak baroclinic instabilities were also found

Behavioural factors in the financial decisions of young Mozambicans

This paper seeks to analyse how behavioural factors influence the financial decisions of young Mozambican investors. The standard theory of finance assumes investors make rational financial decisions, seeking to minimise risk and maximise their expected utility. However, several studies have been conducted criticizing the assumption that investors are rational, opening the way to behavioural finance theory. According to the behavioural finance approach, financial decisions made by individuals are not based on rational thinking and their risk taking behaviour depends on their beliefs or feelings. Our analysis reveals that young Mozambicans are risk averse towards certain gains and risk lovers when faced with certain losses; they are excessively optimistic about the future; they use the information available as an anchor for their estimates; and they are so overconfident that they believe estimates in uncertain situations to be more accurate than they really are

Obstructive sleep apnoea: a cause of chronic cough

Chronic cough is a common reason for presentation to both general practice and respiratory clinics. In up to 25% of cases, the cause remains unclear after extensive investigations. We report 4 patients presenting with an isolated chronic cough who were subsequently found to have obstructive sleep apnoea. The cough improved rapidly with nocturnal continuous positive airway pressure therapy. Further studies are required to investigate the prevalence of coexistence of these common conditions

Balancing act : competition and cooperation in US Asia-Pacific regionalism

While the United States is an important Asia-Pacific actor, its engagement with the region is complex and often difficult. Not only must US regionalism balance the diverse requirements of an ambitious policy agenda, but also US policy norms and priorities often clash with those of other regional actors. This has important implications for the capacity of the United States to provide regional leadership. Recent years have seen growing policy convergence between the United States and other Asia-Pacific actors, particularly in economic terms, but US regionalism continues to feature competition alongside collaboration

Norovirus Genetic Diversity in Children under Five Years Old with Acute Diarrhea in Mozambique (2014–2015)

Funding Information: This study was supported by the European Initiative for Research in Neglected Tropical Diseases (EFINTD), World Health Organization (WHO), The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations—Health System Strengthening (GAVI—HSS), Fundo Nacional de Investigação (FNI) and the National Research Foundation, South Africa (M.B.T., Grant specific reference number (UID 85799). Any opinion, finding, conclusion or recommendation expressed in this material is that of the author(s), and the NRF does not accept any liability in this regard. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.Norovirus (NoV) is the second most important cause of viral diarrheal disease in children worldwide after rotavirus and is estimated to be responsible for 17% of acute diarrhea in low-income countries. This study aimed to identify and report NoV genotypes in Mozambican children under the age of five years with acute diarrhea. Between May 2014 and December 2015, stool specimens were collected within the Mozambique Diarrhea National Surveillance (ViNaDia) and tested for NoV genogroups I (GI) and II (GII) using conventional reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Partial capsid and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) nucleotide sequences were aligned using the Muscle tool, and phylogenetic analyses were performed using MEGA X. A total of 204 stool specimens were tested for NoV. The detection rate of NoV was 14.2% (29/204). The presence of NoV was confirmed, by real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR), in 24/29 (82.8%) specimens, and NoV GII predominated (70.8%; 17/24). NoV GII.4 Sydney 2012[P31] was the predominant genotype/P-type combination detected (30.4%; 7/23). This is the first study which highlights the high genetic diversity of NoV in Mozambican children and the need to establish a continuous NoV surveillance system.publishersversionpublishe

Health impact assessment and health equity in sub-Saharan Africa : a scoping review

Background:Naturalresourceextractionprojectscanhavepositivebutalsonegativeeffectsonthehealthofaffectedcommunities, governed by demographic, economic, environmental, physical and social changes. Negative effectsoftenprevailandthesemightwidenexistinghealthinequities.Healthimpactassessment(HIA)isadecision-supporttool that aims at maximizing benefits and minimizing negative impacts on people's health. A core value of HIA isequity; yet, little is known about health equity in the frame of HIA, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.Methodology:Weconducteda scopingreview todetermine whetherand towhat extent HIAin sub-Saharan Africaaddresses health equity. We included peer-reviewed publications and guidelines pertaining to HIA, environmentalimpact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA). Health equity was investigated by identifying (i) howhealth considerations were addressed and (ii) whether health was stratified by subgroups of the community.Results:Out of 1′640 raw hits, we identified 62 articles (16 HIA, 36 EIA, one SIA and nine integrated assess-ments),32ofwhichspecificallyaddressedhealth.While20articlesfocusedonaspecifichealthtopic,12articlesusedamorecomprehensiveapproachtoaddresshealth.In15articlestherewerespecificsubgroupanalyses(e.g.mothers, children or marginalized groups) as a measure of health equity. Another 12 papers referred to thecommunity in a more general way (e.g. affected). Without exception, health was an integral part of the nineincluded guidelines. HIA guidelines addressed health systematically through environmental health areas, riskassessment matrix or key performance indicators.Conclusions:We found evidence that previously conducted HIA in sub-Saharan Africa and current guidelinesaddresshealthequity.However,thereisaneedtostratifycommunitysubgroupsmoresystematicallyinordertodeterminehealthdifferentialsbetter.FutureHIAshouldconsidercommunityheterogeneityinanefforttoreducehealth inequities by "leaving no one behind", as suggested by the Sustainable Development Goal