State of Internet of Things Deployment in Africa and its Future: The Nigerian Scenario

Internet of things (IoT) refers to an intelligent network of connected objects for the purpose of communication, actuation,data aggregation and information processing. Currently in Africa there is a slow rate of adoption of IoT compared with other continents. Nigeria, as the biggest mobile market and most populous African country, has enormous prospects in IoT, which if effectively implemented, is likely to bring about increased productivity across all economic sectors and an improved standard of living for the people. This paper looks at the current state of IoT deployment in Nigeria, the challenges faced and the opportunities that abound

Toxic metal implications on agricultural soils, plants, animals, aquatic life and human health

Abstract:Theproblemofenvironmentalpollutionisaglobalconcernasitaffectstheentireecosystem. There is a cyclic revolution of pollutants from industrial waste or anthropogenic sources into the environment, farmlands, plants, livestock and subsequently humans through the food chain. Most of the toxic metal cases in Africa and other developing nations are a result of industrialization coupled with poor effluent disposal and management. Due to widespread mining activities in South Africa, pollution is a common site with devastating consequences on the health of animals and humans likewise. In recent years, talks on toxic metal pollution had taken center stage in most scientific symposiums as a serious health concern. Very high levels of toxic metals have been reported in most parts of South African soils, plants, animals and water bodies due to pollution. Toxic metals such as Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb), Aluminium (Al), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn) and Arsenic (As) are major mining effluents from tailings which contaminate both the surface and underground water, soil and food, thus affecting biological function, endocrine systems and growth. Environmental toxicity in livestock is traceable to pesticides, agrochemicals and toxic metals. In this review, concerted efforts were made to condense the information contained in literature regarding toxic metal pollution and its implications in soil,water,plants,animals,marine life and human health

Evaluation of Trace Elemental Levels as Pollution Indicators in an Abandoned Gold Mine Dump in Ekurhuleni Area, South Africa

In the Blesbokspruit area of Ekuhurleni, South Africa, previous gold mining activities resulted in many tailings dump sites. 20 representative soil samples were used in describing the distribution of metals. The soils were very strongly acidic ranging from 3.86 to 4.34 with a low cation exchange capacity (CEC). Based on X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, elemental composition of the soils revealed average values of major elements such as Na2O (0.18%), MgO (0.63%), Al2O3 (6.51%), SiO2 (81.83%), P2O5 (0.04%), SO3 (3.40%), K2O (1.98%), CaO (0.45%), TiO2 (0.51%), Cr2O3 (0.17%), MnO (0.04%), Fe2O3 (3.59%), NiO (0.04%), As2O3 (0.02%), with Rb2O and SrO falling below 0.01%. Trace metals (TM) contamination levels in the soils were evaluated using various pollution indices which revealed that over 60% of the soils were between the high degree and the ultra-high degree of contamination classes. The concentration of various trace metals varies from 860.3–862.6 mg/kg for Cr; 324.9–328.4 mg/kg for Al; 200.9–203.4 mg/kg for As; 130.1–136.2 mg/kg for Fe; 121.9–125.8 mg/kg for Pb; 27.3–30.2 mg/kg for Co; 23.8–26.8 mg/kg for Ni; 7.2–9.2 mg/kg for Ti; 7.1–9.2 mg/kg for Cd; 4.0–5.6 mg/kg for Zn and 0.1–0.6 mg/kg for Cu

Dying neurons in thalamus of asphyxiated term newborns and rats are autophagic.

OBJECTIVE: Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) still carries a high burden by its mortality and long-term neurological morbidity in survivors. Apart from hypothermia, there is no acknowledged therapy for HIE, reflecting the lack of mechanistic understanding of its pathophysiology. (Macro)autophagy, a physiological intracellular process of lysosomal degradation, has been proposed to be excessively activated in excitotoxic conditions such as HIE. The present study examines whether neuronal autophagy in the thalamus of asphyxiated human newborns or P7 rats is enhanced and related to neuronal death processes. METHODS: Neuronal autophagy and cell death were evaluated in the thalamus (frequently injured in severe HIE) of both human newborns who died after severe HIE (n = 5) and P7 hypoxic-ischemic rats (Rice-Vannuci model). Autophagic (LC3, p62), lysosomal (LAMP1, cathepsins), and cell death (TUNEL, caspase-3) markers were studied by immunohistochemistry in human and rat brain sections, and by additional methods in rats (immunoblotting, histochemistry, and electron microscopy). RESULTS: Following severe perinatal asphyxia in both humans and rats, thalamic neurons displayed up to 10-fold (p < 0.001) higher numbers of autophagosomes and lysosomes, implying an enhanced autophagic flux. The highly autophagic neurons presented strong features of apoptosis. These findings were confirmed and elucidated in more detail in rats. INTERPRETATION: These results show for the first time that autophagy is enhanced in severe HIE in dying thalamic neurons of human newborns, as in rats. Experimental neuroprotective strategies targeting autophagy could thus be a promising lead to follow for the development of future therapeutic approaches. Ann Neurol 2014;76:695-711

Mobility of Trace Element Contaminants from Abandoned Gold Mine Dump to Stream Waters in an Agricultural Active Area

In this study, the selected streams within the Blesbokspruit located in South Africa were characterised in this study. Because of prolonged mining activities coupled with ineffective management practices, several mine tailing (MT) dumps are widely distributed in this area. Metals and metalloid contamination from these tailing facilities have been reported to be major contributors to environmental hazards such as acid mine drainage (AMD). With increased agricultural activities in this area, an assessment of the general quality of water being utilised for irrigation purposes and feeding of farm animals becomes inevitable. A procedural method was implemented in a bid to identify relations between tailing and stream water contamination. Representative gold tailing sediments and water samples were collected, respectively. With the aid of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), the mineralogical characterisation of the tailing sediments was successfully carried out, while acid digestion using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was utilised in the determination of trace metal contents. Samples of different water sources were also characterised. There was a clear description of the link between tailings, water contamination and possible implications to animals and humans in the long run

Gold mine tailings : a potential source of silica sand for glass making

Abstract:Mining of minerals such as gold, copper, and platinum has been one of several activities sustaining the economy of South Africa. However, the mining sector has contributed significantly to environmental contamination through the improper disposal of mine tailings which covers vast areas of land. Therefore, this study utilised a vitrification process to manufacture glass from gold mine tailings. X-ray fluorescence was used to determine the chemical composition of the tailings while X-ray diffraction was adopted for the mineralogy. The tailings were of granitic composition enriched in potentially toxic elements such as copper, cadmium, zinc, lead, arsenic, and chromium. A representative sample of gold mine wastes of sandy grain size was used in making the glass. Based on composition, the glass was formulated by adding an average 10.0 mass% of CaCO3 and 5.0mass%ofNa2CO3 to35.0mass%ofSiO2,whichresultedintheproductionofagreen-colouredglass

The Role of Psychological Distance in Influencing Consumer’s Future Behavioural Intention in A Digital Service Encounter: A Cross-National Investigation of Motor Insurance – UK And Nigeria

In recent years, rapid digital transformation has brought about profound changes in service settings, prompting a central focus in contemporary service marketing literature on understanding how technology reshapes service encounters and interactions. This digital transformation in the financial services sector has driven firms to transition from traditional brick-and-mortar establishments to technology-driven environments. Digital service encounters, as a cornerstone of this digitalization, have become widely accepted and integral to customers’ lives due to its benefits, such as round-the-clock availability, ease of transactions, and queue avoidance. However, the adoption of digital service encounters in financial services presents unique complexities, as they often involve long-term relational exchanges between customers and service providers. While significant attention has been given to understanding the factors influencing initial adoption decisions around digital financial services, the subsequent future behaviour phase, which encompasses continuance intention and recommendation intention, has received comparatively less scrutiny. Yet, customers may only begin utilising more functional digital features in this phase, shaping the success of financial services, particularly within sectors like insurance, where customer retention and loyalty are paramount. A pragmatism stance guides the methodological design using mixed methods backed by a comprehensive literature review phase. The employed method includes two rounds of data collection: 20 semi-structured in-depth interviews and 624 online self-administrated surveys. The interpretive qualitative analysis extends ECM model by identifying eight distinctive factors, namely perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, perceived enjoyment, trust, satisfaction, familiarity, and social influence as antecedents of continuance intention and recommendation intention. Furthermore, relevant cues of the mediating role of psychological distance particularly, temporal, social and physical/spatial distance dimensions was established, as well as the moderator including Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism are identified. Overall, the findings demonstrate all three dimensions of psychological distance affect policyholder’s future behavioural intention, among which consumers perceived temporal closeness have the most influential impact. Significant differences are found among policyholders’ future behavioural intentions in developed and emerging market. 1. Unlike Nigeria policyholders, UK policyholders are not affected by social closeness towards the DSE/service provider. 2. UK policyholders tend to consider recommendation intentions of their DSE/service provider, based on their perceived physical proximity to the service provider, which is a similar trait in Nigeria policyholders, mostly due to how consumers respond more positively to a digital channel, as it allows for access to service ubiquitously, on the move and a sense of telepresence, this creates physical proximity and reduces consumer’s perception of distance related to location of the service provider. 3. Nigerian policyholders are in favour of social closeness influencing their future behavioural intentions, which supports the findings of the qualitative approach as well as past studies that have shown that importance of closer social group being influential in their purchase decision for motor insurance linking well with past studies on collectivist culture trusting their in- group more. Additional results indicated the partial moderating effects of individualism/collectivism on the proposed set of relationships in the model, particularly in the UK, the interaction between perceived enjoyment and individualism/collectivism on recommendation intentions, and Specifically in Nigeria, the interactions between individualism/collectivism and perceived risk, perceived enjoyment, and perceived trust on continuance intentions, as well as perceived enjoyment and perceived trust on recommendation intentions, which were all statistically significant, evidencing differential influences on future behavioural intentions based on the cultural differences. In conclusion, this research contributes significantly by extending the literature on future behaviour and an extended-ECM that are context-specific to motor insurance industry. In addition, the study provides the first thorough examination of psychological distance within the motor insurance, and future behavioural intention context, as well as the role of individualism/collectivism as a moderation of the proposed relations. Given the scale of the insurance industry, particularly the motor insurance in UK and Nigeria which have in the past been marketed differently (purely face to face), and in recent times have made a shift to digital channels for both search and purchase of motor insurance, the findings are of significant academic and commercial interest as well as spanning across the different countries, giving both a developed and emerging economy outlook

Anticancer activity and metabolite profiling data of Penicillium janthinellum KTMT5

Abstract:Fungi are ubiquitous, they proliferate even in environments with toxic pollutants that are otherwise harmful to other eukaryotes. This article presents data of fungi which were isolated from gold mine tailings and identified by DNA sequencing of their inter transcribed spacer regions 1 and 2. Five fungal isolates were identified, among which the crude extract of Penicillium janthinellum KTMT5 was investigated for anticancer activity on A549 (lung carcinoma) and UMG87 (glioblastoma) cell lines. Untargeted metabolite profiling of the crude extract of P. janthinellum KTMT5 was performed using liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS/MS) and a molecular network generated using the online workflow on the Global Natural Product Social molecular networking (GNPS) website. DNA sequencing showed that all fungal isolates belonged to phylum Ascomycota with the genus Penicillium representing 75% of the fungal isolates. P. janthinellum KTMT5 which was selected for further experiments showed significant anticancer activity against UMG87 cells with a calculated IC50 value of 44.23 μg/mL in the MTS assay, while the real time xCELLigence assay showed dose-dependent anticancer activity at 50 and 100 μg/mL. Metabolite profiling revealed the presence of several known metabolites in the crude extract of P. janthinellum KTMT5 and molecular networking showed the relationships among these metabolites

Dataset on assessment of pollution level of selected trace metals in farming area within the proximity of a gold mine dump, Ekuhurleni, South Africa

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstract

Cytotoxic activity of crude extracts from Datura stramonium’s fungal endophytes against A549 lung carcinoma and UMG87 glioblastoma cell lines and LC-QTOF-MS/MS based metabolite profiling

Abstract : Background: Endophytic fungi are a proven source of bioactive secondary metabolites that may provide lead compounds for novel drug discovery. In this study, crude extracts from fungal endophytes isolated from Datura stramonium were evaluated for cytotoxic activity on two human cancer cell lines. Methods: Fungal endophytes were isolated from surface sterilized aerial parts of D. stramonium and identified using molecular, morphological and phylogenetic methods. Ethyl acetate crude extracts from these isolates were evaluated for cytotoxic activity on A549 lung carcinoma and UMG87 glioblastoma cell lines. Metabolite profiling was then performed by liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS/MS) for the cytotoxic crude extract. Results: Eleven fungal endophytes were identified from D. stramonium. Significant cytotoxicity was only observed from the crude extract of Alternaria sp. KTDL7 on UMG87 glioblastoma cells (IC50 = 21.49 μg/ml). Metabolite profiling of this crude extract tentatively revealed the presence of the following secondary metabolites: 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene (1), anserinone B (2), phelligridin B (3), metacytofilin (4), phomopsidin (5) and vermixocin A (6). Compounds 2 and 3 have been shown to be cytotoxic in literature. Conclusion: The findings in this study suggest that the crude extract of Alternaria sp. KTDL7 possesses compound(s) cytotoxic to glioblastoma multiforme cells. Future studies to isolate and characterize the cytotoxic compound(s) from this fungus could result in lead development of a fungal-based drug for glioblastoma multiforme treatment