Exploring the representation of women in leadership positions in metropolitan police departments

This study explores the representation of women in leadership positions in Metropolitan Police Departments (MPDs). Historically, the police career was male dominated and women were not allowed to work in the police. Democracy, changes in law, and societal beliefs opened policing as a career to women. Various legal frameworks provide for gender equality, therefore equal gender representation in the workplace is a developmental goal in South Africa. The Commission on Employment Equity (CEE, 2015) of South Africa reported that women comprised 44.8% of the economically active population, yet males were still in charge of senior management positions in South African companies. The 2015 South African Employment Equity Report indicates that women hold only 29.5% of top level management positions and 30.7% of senior management positions (CEE, 2015). These results are lower than the government’s mandated target of 44.4% management positions reserved for women. The MPDs (2017) indicated that, out of a sample of 600 women, 91 are in leadership positions. The current gender representation in MPDs’ leadership positions forms this study’s problem statement. This study is qualitative in nature. Twenty-five South African women from the Gauteng Province from Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, and Johannesburg MPDs were interviewed. The transformative approach was used to inquire on participants’ experiences and views about gender representation, as well as women’s advancement to leadership positions in the MPDs. Data were analysed using Atlas.ti™. The results showed that culture, stereotypes, and physical fitness were perceived as barriers that hindered the representation of women in leadership positions. Furthermore, sexual and verbal harassment, bullying, discrimination against female officers at the workplace, and unimplemented policies and procedures were also hindrances. The participants recommended that the South African MPDs review human resource practices and policies to promote a positive and constructive work environment for all employees.Police PracticeD. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science

Effect of water and straw management practices on methane emissions from rice fields: A review through a meta-analysis

[EN] Rice fields contribute substantially to global warming of the atmosphere through emission of methane (CH4). This article reviews the state of the art of factors affecting CH4 emissions in rice fields, focusing on soil organic matter content and water management practices. A quantitative relationship between these factors was established through a meta-analysis based on a literature survey. This relationship can be useful to update emission factors used to estimate CH4 in the National Emission Inventories. Methane emissions in rice fields can be as much as 90% higher in continuously flooded rice fields compared with other water management practices, independent from straw addition. Water management systems that involve absence of flooding in total or for part of the growing period such as midseason drainages, intermittent flooding, and percolation control, can reduce CH4 emissions substantially. Moreover, CH4 emissions increase with the amount of straw added up to 7.7 t/ha for continuously flooded soils and up to 5.1 t/ha for other water regimes. Above these levels, no further increase is produced with further addition of straw. With regard to rice straw management mitigation strategies, recommended practices are composting rice straw, straw burning under controlled conditions, recollecting rice straw for biochar production, generation of energy, to be used as a substrate, or to obtain other byproducts with added value. This review improves the understanding of the relationship between straw application rate, water regimes, and CH4 emissions from rice fields to date. This relationship can help to select the most appropriate management practices to improve current mitigation strategies to reduce atmospheric CH4. © 2012 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.This study was financially supported by Fundacio´n Agroalimed from the Consellerı´a de Agricultura of Valencia, Spain and the Vicerrectorado de Investigacio´n of the UPV (Programa de Apoyo a la Investigacio´n y Desarrollo, PAID06-11 Program, Project No. 1950).Sanchís Jiménez, EM.; Ferrer Roglán, M.; Torres, AG.; Cambra López, M.; Calvet Sanz, S. (2012). Effect of water and straw management practices on methane emissions from rice fields: A review through a meta-analysis. Environmental Engineering Science. 29(12):1053-1062. https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2012.0006S10531062291

The effect of prey identity and substrate type on the functional response of a globally invasive crayfish

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity on a global scale, therefore, developing predictive methods to understand variation in ecological change conferred is essential. Trophic interaction strength underpins community dynamics, however, these interactions can be profoundly affected by abiotic context, such as substrate type. The red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) has successfully invaded a number of freshwater ecosystems. We experimentally derive the Functional Response (FR) (density dependent predation) of the red swamp crayfish preying upon both a benthic prey; chironomid larvae, and a pelagic prey; Daphnia magna, on a no substrate control, sand, and gravel substrates to determine whether (1) there is a higher impact on prey that are benthic, and (2) whether the presence of different substrate types can dampen the interaction strength. We apply and demonstrate the utility of the Functional Response Ratio (FRR) metric in unravelling differences in ecological impact not obvious from traditional FR curves. Procambarus clarkii is capable of constantly utilising high numbers of both benthic and pelagic prey items, showing a Type II functional response under all scenarios. The presence of gravel and sand substrate each independently decreased the magnitude FR upon D. magna. Though, with regards to chironomid larvae the FR curves showed no difference in magnitude FR, the FRR reveals that the highest impact is conferred when foraging on sand substrate. This reinforces the need for impact assessments to be contextually relevant

Profile: Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system.

The Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system (HDSS), located in rural northeast South Africa close to the Mozambique border, was established in 1992 to support district health systems development led by the post-apartheid ministry of health. The HDSS (90 000 people), based on an annual update of resident status and vital events, now supports multiple investigations into the causes and consequences of complex health, population and social transitions. Observational work includes cohorts focusing on different stages along the life course, evaluation of national policy at population, household and individual levels and examination of household responses to shocks and stresses and the resulting pathways influencing health and well-being. Trials target children and adolescents, including promoting psycho-social well-being, preventing HIV transmission and reducing metabolic disease risk. Efforts to enhance the research platform include using automated measurement techniques to estimate cause of death by verbal autopsy, full 'reconciliation' of in- and out-migrations, follow-up of migrants departing the study area, recording of extra-household social connections and linkage of individual HDSS records with those from sub-district clinics. Fostering effective collaborations (including INDEPTH multi-centre work in adult health and ageing and migration and urbanization), ensuring cross-site compatibility of common variables and optimizing public access to HDSS data are priorities

Diagnostic accuracy of a three-gene Mycobacterium tuberculosis host response cartridge using fingerstick blood for childhood tuberculosis: a multicentre prospective study in low-income and middle-income countries

BACKGROUND: Childhood tuberculosis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in part due to missed diagnosis. Diagnostic methods with enhanced sensitivity using easy-to-obtain specimens are needed. We aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the Cepheid Mycobacterium tuberculosis Host Response prototype cartridge (MTB-HR), a candidate test measuring a three-gene transcriptomic signature from fingerstick blood, in children with presumptive tuberculosis disease. METHODS: RaPaed-TB was a prospective diagnostic accuracy study conducted at four sites in African countries (Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Tanzania) and one site in India. Children younger than 15 years with presumptive pulmonary or extrapulmonary tuberculosis were enrolled between Jan 21, 2019, and June 30, 2021. MTB-HR was performed at baseline and at 1 month in all children and was repeated at 3 months and 6 months in children on tuberculosis treatment. Accuracy was compared with tuberculosis status based on standardised microbiological, radiological, and clinical data. FINDINGS: 5313 potentially eligible children were screened, of whom 975 were eligible. 784 children had MTB-HR test results, of whom 639 had a diagnostic classification and were included in the analysis. MTB-HR differentiated children with culture-confirmed tuberculosis from those with unlikely tuberculosis with a sensitivity of 59·8% (95% CI 50·8–68·4). Using any microbiological confirmation (culture, Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra, or both), sensitivity was 41·6% (34·7–48·7), and using a composite clinical reference standard, sensitivity was 29·6% (25·4–34·2). Specificity for all three reference standards was 90·3% (95% CI 85·5–94·0). Performance was similar in different age groups and by malnutrition status. Among children living with HIV, accuracy against the strict reference standard tended to be lower (sensitivity 50·0%, 15·7–84·3) compared with those without HIV (61·0%, 51·6–69·9), although the difference did not reach statistical significance. Combining baseline MTB-HR result with one Ultra result identified 71·2% of children with microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis. INTERPRETATION: MTB-HR showed promising diagnostic accuracy for culture-confirmed tuberculosis in this large, geographically diverse, paediatric cohort and hard-to-diagnose subgroups. FUNDING: European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, UK Medical Research Council, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF)

Impact of systematic early tuberculosis detection using Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra in children with severe pneumonia in high tuberculosis burden countries (TB-Speed pneumonia): a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial

Background In high tuberculosis (TB) burden settings, there is growing evidence that TB is common in children with pneumonia, the leading cause of death in children under 5 years worldwide. The current WHO standard of care (SOC) for young children with pneumonia considers a diagnosis of TB only if the child has a history of prolonged symptoms or fails to respond to antibiotic treatments. As a result, many children with TB-associated severe pneumonia are currently missed or diagnosed too late. We therefore propose a diagnostic trial to assess the impact on mortality of adding the systematic early detection of TB using Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Ultra) performed on nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) and stool samples to the WHO SOC for children with severe pneumonia, followed by immediate initiation of anti-TB treatment in children testing positive on any of the samples. Methods TB-Speed Pneumonia is a pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in six countries with high TB incidence rate (Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia and Cambodia). We will enrol 3780 children under 5 years presenting with WHO-defined severe pneumonia across 15 hospitals over 18 months. All hospitals will start managing children using the WHO SOC for severe pneumonia; one hospital will be randomly selected to switch to the intervention every 5 weeks. The intervention consists of the WHO SOC plus rapid TB detection on the day of admission using Ultra performed on 1 nasopharyngeal aspirate and 1 stool sample. All children will be followed for 3 months, with systematic trial visits at day 3, discharge, 2 weeks post-discharge, and week 12. The primary endpoint is all-cause mortality 12 weeks after inclusion. Qualitative and health economic evaluations are embedded in the trial. Discussion In addition to testing the main hypothesis that molecular detection and early treatment will reduce TB mortality in children, the strength of such pragmatic research is that it provides some evidence regarding the feasibility of the intervention as part of routine care. Should this intervention be successful, safe and well tolerated, it could be systematically implemented at district hospital level where children with severe pneumonia are referred. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03831906. Registered 6 February 2019

Chitosan–Starch–Keratin composites: Improving thermo-mechanical and degradation properties through chemical modification

The lysozyme test shows an improved in the degradability rate, the weight loss of the films at 21 days is reduced from 73 % for chitosan-starch matrix up to 16 % for the composites with 5wt% of quill; but all films show a biodegradable character depending on keratin type and chemical modification. The outstanding properties related to the addition of treated keratin materials show that these natural composites are a remarkable alternative to potentiat-ing chitosan–starch films with sustainable featuresChitosan–starch polymers are reinforced with different keratin materials obtained from chicken feather. Keratin materials are treated with sodium hydroxide; the modified surfaces are rougher in comparison with untreated surfaces, observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy. The results obtained by Differential Scanning Calorimetry show an increase in the endothermic peak related to water evaporation of the films from 92 °C (matrix) up to 102–114 °C (reinforced composites). Glass transition temperature increases from 126 °C in the polymer matrix up to 170–200 °C for the composites. Additionally, the storage modulus in the composites is enhanced up to 1614 % for the composites with modified ground quill, 2522 % for composites with modified long fiber and 3206 % for the composites with modified short fiber. The lysozyme test shows an improved in the degradability rate, the weight loss of the films at 21 days is reduced from 73 % for chitosan-starch matrix up to 16 % for the composites with 5wt% of quill; but all films show a biodegradable character depending on keratin type and chemical modification. The outstanding properties related to the addition of treated keratin materials show that these natural composites are a remarkable alternative to potentiat-ing chitosan–starch films with sustainable featuresUniversidad Autónoma del Estado de México Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico de Querétaro Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya Universidad Autónoma de Cd. Juáre