Transition from provider to facilitator

Transition from provider to facilitato

Pump and engine maintenance scheme

Pump and engine maintenance schem

Change in soy and nutrition knowledge and perceptions of smallholder South African farmers after attending a single one day soy nutrition training workshop: A pilot study

The main aim of this pilot study was to assess smallholder soy farmers’ knowledge and perceptions of soy immediately before and after participating in a one-day soy nutrition training workshop. A pre-post study design was used among a convenience sample of 78soy smallholder farmers from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (SA). A total of 78 men and five women participated in the training, but  because only five women attended, gender comparison analysis was not carried out. A soy nutrition training workshop, including soy cooking demonstrations, tasting, recipe development, that is based on the Social Cognitive Theory, was implemented for eight  consecutive hours with one break of 30 minutes. Pre- and post-quantitative data measuring,soy knowledge and perceptions werecollected using a modified version of a survey, tested for face and content validity and reliability, and used previously in other research study projects by the same authors among low-resource communities in SA. The data from the pre and post questionnaires indicated that only 41% of the soy smallholder farmers used soy in the household and mainly in meat dishes. The rest of the harvested soy was either sold or used for animal feed. The mean±standard deviation (SD) score of taste preference changed significantly (p=0.002) from 4.60±0.84 before, to 4.93±0.13 after the training (p=0.002) and the majority of the participants perceived it was easy to prepare soy foods; 82.1% and 88.5% before and after the training, respectively (p=0.013). Participants’ soy knowledge improved significantly (p<0.001) from a mean± (SD) score of 26.33±4.06 before to 32.00±9.46 after the intervention, indicating a significant improvement of 5.67±9.11 [13.83%] in the total score. The results from this study indicate that there is a need for nutrition education programs for smallholder farmers. Thus, improvement in both soy knowledge and preference should result in more soy being consumed first for household nutritional needs before giving it to either animals or sell it on the market. Since smallholder farmers’ nutrition education can impact both food insecurity and nutritional status improvement in one setting, more interventions of this kind are needed to further advance the frontier of this niche area of research. Key words: nutrition education, smallholder famers, soy training, South Africa emerging farmers, Knowledge perceptio

In Search of an Alternative to Fire for Manipulating Bush Encroachment in the Arid Karoo Region of South Africa

Burning of natural rangeland in order to rejuvenate and increase palatability of grazing is a common practice in parts of South Africa. Concern about the long-term effects on biodiversity and the depletion of much-needed soil car-bon led to this investigation

Socio-demographic, household food security and nutritional status of older (> 50 y) women from rural Zambian communities: A descriptive study

Socio-demographic factors and household food insecurity are considered to influence the nutritional status of older women. The rapidly growing  elderly population in Africa is a concern particularly in sustaining their health and nutritional status. In spite of this, there is a scarcity of information  in older Zambian women and this study aimed to assess the socio-demographic factors, nutritional status and household food  insecurity status of older women in rural Zambian communities. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Twatasha compound of Kitwe and  Ndeke community of Ndola. The socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, dietary intakes and household food security  were evaluated in a convenience sample of 153 older women (≥ 50 years) through the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). IBM SPSS  version 26 was used for descriptive (frequencies, means and standard deviations, and medians with interquartile frequencies) and inferential  (bivariate and Spearman correlations) statistical analyses. The socio-demographic characteristics showed that almost all (98.7%) of the participants  had other members of the family residing with them. Most participants (57%) had attained primary school education, 19% had secondary education  and 5% had college education. Almost half (49%) of the participants did not report their employment status and 36% reported to be unemployed.  Over-nutrition was most prevalent (37.3% overweight and 39.8% obese) while 20.9 % and 2.0% of the respondents were normal weight and  underweight respectively. The median (25th percentile; 75th percentile) dietary intakes showed inadequate intakes for most nutrients, except for  carbohydrates (170 g [133;225]). The total fat intake represented 14% of total energy intake. The majority (86.0%) of the participants were identified  as severely food insecure while only 6.0% were food secure. The majority of the participants (80-90%) used at least seven out of the nine behavioural  responses to food insecurity. The findings show resource-poor and severely food insecure communities. We recommended urgent  interventions to improve access to healthy foods (such as home gardening projects) and promote healthy dietary habits (including nutrition  education).&nbsp

Recovery of sulphur and calcium carbonate from waste gypsum

Gypsum is produced as a waste product by various industries, e.g. the fertiliser industry, the mining industry and power stations. Gypsum waste disposal sites are responsible for the leaching of saline water into surface and underground water. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate a process for converting waste gypsum into sulphur and calcium carbonate. The process evaluated consisted of the following stages: reduction of gypsum to calcium sulphide; H2S-stripping and sulphur production. Thermal reduction showed that gypsum could be reduced to CaS with activated carbon in a tube furnace operating at 1 100 °C. The CaS yield was 96%. The CaS formed was suspended in water to form a CaS slurry. The reaction of gaseous CO2 with the CaS slurry leads to the stripping off of H2S gas and the precipitation of CaCO3. During batch studies sulphide was stripped from 44 000 mg/ℓ to less than 60 mg/ℓ (as S). The H2S generated in the previous step was then reacted in the PIPco process to form elemental sulphurKeywords: gypsum, CaS, thermal studies, H2S stripping, sulphur, thermal reduction, CaCO3 precipitatio

Patterns of Striped order in the Classical Lattice Coulomb Gas

We obtain via Monte Carlo simulations the low temperature charge configurations in the lattice Coulomb gas on square lattices for charge filling ratio $f$ in the range $1/3 < f < 1/2$. We find a simple regularity in the low temperature charge configurations which consist of a suitable periodic combination of a few basic striped patterns characterized by the existence of partially filled diagonal channels. In general there exist two separate transitions where the lower temperature transition ($T_p$) corresponds to the freezing of charges within the partially filled channels. $T_p$ is found to be sensitively dependent on $f$ through the charge number density $\nu = p_{1}/q_{1}$ within the channels.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

Bosonization in d=2 from finite chiral determinants with a Gauss decomposition

We show how to bosonize two-dimensional non-abelian models using finite chiral determinants calculated from a Gauss decomposition. The calculation is quite straightforward and hardly more involved than for the abelian case. In particular, the counterterm $A\bar A$, which is normally motivated from gauge invariance and then added by hand, appears naturally in this approach.Comment: 4 pages, Revte

Selection and application of ssDNA aptamers to detect active TB from sputum samples

BACKGROUND: Despite the enormous global burden of tuberculosis (TB), conventional approaches to diagnosis continue to rely on tests that have major drawbacks. The improvement of TB diagnostics relies, not only on good biomarkers, but also upon accurate detection methodologies. The 10-kDa culture filtrate protein (CFP-10) and the 6-kDa early secreted antigen target (ESAT-6) are potent T-cell antigens that are recognised by over 70% of TB patients. Aptamers, a novel sensitive and specific class of detection molecules, has hitherto, not been raised to these relatively TB-specific antigens. METHODS: DNA aptamers that bind to the CFP-10.ESAT-6 heterodimer were isolated. To assess their affinity and specificity to the heterodimer, aptamers were screened using an enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assay (ELONA). One suitable aptamer was evaluated by ELONA using sputum samples obtained from 20 TB patients and 48 control patients (those with latent TB infection, symptomatic non TB patients, and healthy laboratory volunteers). Culture positivity for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) served as the reference standard. Accuracy and cut-points were evaluated using ROC curve analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-four out of the 66 aptamers that were isolated bound significantly (p<0.05) to the CFP-10.ESAT-6 heterodimer and six were further evaluated. Their dissociation constant (K D ) values were in the nanomolar range. One aptamer, designated CSIR 2.11, was evaluated using sputum samples. CSIR 2.11 had sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 68.75% using Youden's index and 35% and 95%, respectively, using a rule-in cut-point. CONCLUSION: This preliminary proof-of-concept study suggests that a diagnosis of active TB using anti-CFP-10.ESAT-6 aptamers applied to human sputum samples is feasible