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Green synthesis of CuO nanoparticles using Ligustrum lucidum extract, and the antioxidant and antifungal evaluation
Get PDFJournal Article, Food Security and Safety Focus Area, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, MmabathoBiosynthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles using plant extract is an inexpensive, simple, rapid, and environmentally friendly approach to obtaining nanoparticles for biological applications. Herein, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) were successfully synthesized using an aqueous extract from Ligustrum lucidum leaves. The structural, optical, and morphological characteristics of the nanoparticles were assessed using x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV-visible spectrophotometer, transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM), and energy-dispersive x-ray (EDX). Nanocrystalline CuO with an average crystalline size of 22.0 nm and a band gap energy of 1.4 eV were confirmed from the XRD and UV-vis spectrophotometer, respectively. Morphological studies showed spherical nanoparticles, whose particle size estimation (30 ± 5 nm) agrees with the crystalline size deduced from the XRD pattern. A free radical scavenging activity of the CuO nanoparticles, evaluated using the 1, 1-diphenhyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, showed that it exhibited high antioxidant activity (IC50: 63.35 μg ml−1) that is concentration dependent. Antifungal evaluation using four different fungal strains (Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, and Trichoderma harzianum) indicated a direct relationship between the potency of the particles and their concentration, with 1 ppm solution exhibiting the highest potency. The green synthesized CuO-NPs using Ligustrum lucidum may be potentially used as an antioxidant and antifungal agent for therapeutic applications.This research was funded by the North-West University, South Africa (UID1K002799)
Validating Inertia Assessment Metrics in Distribution Systems with High-RES Penetration
Get PDFJournal Article, (Faculty of Engineering (Electrical, Electronic, and Computer Engineering)) -- North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusThe role of inertia in distribution networks is rapidly increasing. Many researchers are focused on ways to estimate, measure, and control inertia, as it has become a crucial parameter that provides valuable information for network management. However, the distribution network is not as stable and has many more nodes compared to the transmission network. Additionally, the distribution network is populated with various renewable energy sources. While this brings several advantages, such as reducing fossil fuel-based energy production and adjusting voltage in remote nodes of the network, it also significantly impacts the network's inertia due to the removal of rotating electrical assets in favor of renewable sources. To address this issue, the paper tests a new inertia metric on a section of a real network with significant presence of renewables. This metric, calculated using frequency and power measurements, demonstrates a strong capability to reflect the current state of inertia in the network. The paper concludes with a description of the network under consideration, the instrumentation used, and a brief uncertainty analysis.Industry, Innovation and Infrastructur
Heterotrophic bacteria in drinking water: evaluating antibiotic resistance and the presence of virulence genes
Get PDFJournal Artricle, Faculty of Natural And Agricultural Science, North--West University-PotchefstoomHeterotrophic bacteria, impacting those with infections or compromised immunity, pose heightened health risks when resistant to antibiotics. This study investigates heterotrophic plate count bacteria in water from North West-C (NWC) and North West-G (NWG) facilities, revealing prevalent β-hemolysis (NWC 82.5%, NWG 86.7%), enzyme production (98%), and antibiotic resistance, especially in NWC. NWG exhibits variations in hemolysin (P = 0.013), lipase (P = 0.009), and DNase activity (P = 0.006). Antibiotics, including ciprofloxacin, persist throughout treatment, with high resistance to β-lactams and trimethoprim (47%–100%), predominantly in NWC. Multiple antibiotic resistance index indicates that 90% of values exceed 0.20, signifying isolates from high antibiotic usage sources. Whole genome sequencing reveals diverse antibiotic resistance genes in heterotrophic strains, emphasizing their prevalence and health risks in water.
IMPORTANCEThis study’s findings are a stark reminder of a significant health concern: our water sources harbor antibiotic-resistant heterotrophic bacteria, which can potentially cause illness, especially in individuals with weakened immune systems or underlying infections. Antibiotic resistance among these bacteria is deeply concerning, as it threatens the effectiveness of antibiotics, critical for treating various infections. Moreover, detecting virulence factors in a notable proportion of these bacteria highlights their elevated risk to public health. This research underscores the immediate need for enhanced water treatment processes, rigorous water quality monitoring, and the development of strategies to combat antibiotic resistance in the environment. Safeguarding the safety of our drinking water is imperative to protect public health and mitigate the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections, making these findings a compelling call to action for policymakers and public health authorities alike
Governance of Contemporary Public Affairs Issues in South Africa: Lessons for the New Government of National Unity
No full textJournal Article. Humanities: Research & Innovation. North West University. PotchefstroomAmid globalisation, neoliberalism, and growing nationalist sentiment, governance is seen as the cornerstone for implementing policies and achieving results that meet the demands of citizens and advance human rights. Dealing with the many modern issues that millions of South Africans face is a daunting assignment for the recently established Government of National Unity (GNU). The ANC, which has held a majority of the vote since 1994 without pursuing a coalition to co-govern the nation, was among the registered political parties that ran in the 2024 national election, but it failed to secure an absolute majority of votes, leading to the formation of the GNU. Regretfully, South Africa has several enormous social problems, some of which have been classified as major challenges that need immediate attention and concerted efforts from the recently established government and various levels of non-governmental and non-state players. This editorial offers guidance to the GNU on how to overcome the triple threat of poverty, inequality, and unemployment, as well as several other current concerns facing the nation. This should be done in the face of complex issues brought on by rapidly advancing technology and shifting geo-political and globalisation-related challenges. This issue emanates from the 23rd Annual Conference of the South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM), which took place in the context of myriad trends shaping the form and content of the South African political landscape arising from the outcome of the 2024 national election. Ethics in the public sector, the implications of state-capture, building state capacity, rethinking the public affairs curriculum, and the fourth industrial revolution are some of the current issues that will be covered in this issue
Recent prison protests/ riots in South Africa reimagined with different outcomes
Get PDFJournal Article, North-West UniversityThis article makes use of secondary data analysis to examine why conflicts in South African prisons, in the form of protest and/or riots, invariably end up in violence, resulting in the death or injury of prison officials and/or incarcerated people. Using the data on eight prison protests compiled by Lukas Muntingh, collected from a sociological/rights perspective, we re-examine these incidents from a conflict management perspective. The work of Burton and Galtung on peace studies is employed to reimagine the management of these case studies and we conclude that every one of these cases could conceivably have been stepping-stones to positive peace (a flourishing, rusting environment) rather than negative peace (mere desistance from violence) in our prisons. We conclude that investing funding in conflict management or transformation training by the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is bound to generate meaningful benefits, including beyond prison walls. To allow an alternative dispute resolution regime to settle in DCS’s institutional culture, we recommend that the Emergency Support Team (EST) should only be employed as a very last resort, authorised by the Inspecting Judge for Correctional Services (or someone independent of DCS) after consultation with the Minister of Correctional Services
Nursing categories’ perceptions of the practice environment and quality of care in North West Province: a cross-sectional survey design
Get PDFJournal Article, NuMIQ Research Focus Area, School of Nursing Science, North-West University, PotchefstroomBackground
There is a substantial amount of literature on the perception of the practice environment and quality of care as perceived by registered nurses and community services nurses in South Africa and worldwide, but there is little to no research that could be found regarding other categories of nurses, and how these perceptions differ between the different categories. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the different nursing categories’ perceptions of the practice environment and quality of care and the association between the variables.
Methods
This study applied a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected in April 2021 in the public sector of the North West Province. Multiphase sampling was applied to all categories of nurses who worked in an in-patient unit in the selected hospital for at least 3 months (n = 236).
Results
All nursing categories perceived the practice environment as negative, regarding nurse participation in hospital affairs; nurse manager ability, leadership, and support of nurses and staffing and resource adequacy. Perceived quality of care and patient safety items were perceived as neutral and good. However, in all instances, the perceptions of community service nurses and registered nurses were most negative, and enrolled nurse assistants most positive. Adverse events towards patients and nurses were perceived to only occur a few times a year. Overall, nurse perceptions of quality of care and patient safety were most correlated with the subscale of nurse foundations of quality of care and nurse manager ability, leadership, and support of nurses. Adverse events towards patients were most correlated with the collegial nurse-physician relationship subscale, while adverse events towards nurses were correlated with the foundations of quality of care subscale.
Conclusion
Improving the practice environment, especially regarding the subscale nurse foundations of quality of care and nurse manager ability, leadership, and support of nurses, is associated with improved quality of care. Nurses with higher qualifications, registered nurses and community service nurses rated quality of care lower than other categories of nurses, contributing to literature that higher qualified staff are more competent to assess the practice environment and quality of care.This work is based on research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number 123541). Prof S.K. Coetzee, the Chairholder and postgraduate student acknowledge that opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in any publication generated by NRF-supported research is that of the author(s) alone, and that the NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard
Predicting South African consumers’ intention to continue using their preferred retail bank’s services: A model validation
Get PDFObjective: The objective of the article is to validate a model of the factors, namely ethical responsibility, social
responsibility, bank trust, attitude, and brand loyalty, that influence the behavioural intentions of consumers
to continue using banking services.
Research Design & Methods: This study focuses on predicting South African consumers’ intention to continue
using their preferred retail bank’s services through a validated measurement model. Using confirmatory factor
analysis, reliability and validity analyses, correlation assessments and collinearity diagnostics, the study examines a dataset of 500 participants sourced from a reputable global market research database. The measurement model comprises six latent factors, namely ethical responsibility, social responsibility, bank trust, attitude, brand loyalty and behavioural intention.
Findings: Results indicate strong internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha and CR > 0.85) and convergent validity
(AVE > 0.50) across all factors. The model also exhibits good fit indices (PCMIN/DF = 2.610, IFI = 0.943, TLI =
0.937, CFI = 0.943, SRMR = 0.042, RMSEA = 0.057), confirming its psychometric properties.
Implications & Recommendations: This research highlights the interactions among the studied factors and
their implications for customer retention strategies, providing actionable insights for banking professionals
and policymakers. Future research should explore the relationships between these latent factors to enhance
customer retention and satisfaction strategies in the banking industry.
Contribution & Value Added: Brand loyalty remains one of the biggest challenges facing banks today. As such,
there is a need to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ intention to continue using their preferred
retail bank’s services to build brand loyalty. This study fills a gap in existing literature regarding banking behaviours in a unique socio-economic South African context
Aspects of the illegal hunting and trade of vultures in northern KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of law,North--West University-PotchefstroomThe harvesting and trade of species for use in traditional medicine, or muthi, is predominantly illegal, unregulated,and likely unsustainable, representing a major conservation challenge. In South Africa, vulture populations havedeclined considerably in recent decades, but evidence shows a consistent use of vultures by traditional healthpractitioners. However, less is understood about the key factors that underpin the hunting of these birds. Weevaluated aspects of the illegal hunting and trade of vultures in northern KwaZulu-Natal Province. Data werecollected using in-depth interviews with local hunters and muthi traders. A mixed-method sampling design wasused, and data were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The results revealed that vultures were huntedmainly by local men aged 24–40 years. The vultures were obtained using multiple techniques, but poison (38%) andfirearms (31%) were the preferred methods. Vultures were hunted upon request and traded through local networkscomprising hunters, traditional health practitioners and muthi traders. Carcasses were sold directly to traditionalhealth practitioners, but some were destined for the local market. Prices for the whole carcass ranged from ZAR500(US116). Perceptions held by respondents concerning the hunting and trade of vulturesalluded to the difficulty of obtaining birds. This was attributed to vultures’ conservation status and the risk of beingfound in the possession of a vulture or any of its by-products. Live vultures were reportedly hard to find as theymostly inhabited protected areas, and their low numbers were also highlighted as an exacerbating factor. The useof vultures in African traditional medicine is a well-established practice; however, presently, this threatens thelong-term persistence of vultures in the wild. Intricate socio-economic influences are at play, and addressing thesemay facilitate positive conservation outcomes for vultures and other target species in northern KwaZulu-Nata
Bibliometric analysis of ICT research in South Africa
No full textMost of the new fixed and wireless communication networks are
being provided by local businesses and foreign subsidiaries,
indicating the rising popularity of South Africa's ICT sector in the
continent's rapidly expanding market. This study analyzes
information and communication technology (ICT) research in
South Africa and suggests potential development areas in the
country's ICT literature. The study focused on publications that
published most ICT research articles for 2009–2024. The study
conducted bibliometric analysis based on the number of South
African publications and citations in ICT research as indexed in
the Scopus and Web-of-Science databases. University of South
Africa (UNISA) produced 77% of publications between 2009 and
2024. The University of Pretoria (UP) curriculum aligns with
worldwide standards. It gives students a thorough grasp of
computer science, emphasizing modern software development
techniques used in the IT sector. In the same period, the University
Of Pretoria (UP) came in second with 49% followed by the
University of Cape Town (UCT) at 41%, the University of
Johannesburg (UJ) at 29%, The Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) at 28%, followed by University of
KwaZulu-Natal at 20%, the North-West University (NWU) at
18% followed by University of Western Cape at 15%, University
of Fort Hare at 14%, and Tshwane University of Technology, at
13%. Most research areas were education, educational research,
information science, library science, environmental sciences,
astronomy, astrophysics, multidisciplinary sciences, computer
science, and information systems. During this period, South
Africa experienced minimal to no publication in ICT research by
universities of technology and colleges. The main contribution of
this study is to investigate the prevalence of ICT research in South
Africa and provide recommendations on how to improve ICT
research
An assessment of the drivers of unauthorised, irregular, and wasteful expenditure in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality
Get PDFJournal Article, School of Accounting Sciences, North-West UniversityPurposeThe Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) identified metropolitan municipalities as the highest contributors to unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful (UIFW) expenditure in South Africa, prompting the National Treasury (NT) to call for the management there-of, as a top priority. This study aimed to assess the drivers behind UIFW expenditure’s ongoing presence in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CoT), despite the AGSA's findings and recommendations, with an extensive oversight role by municipal public account committees (MPAC).
Methodology/ApproachThrough qualitative research techniques, the researchers thematically analysed the collected data, using the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) framework. The analysis of UIFW expenditure trends in metropolitan municipalities over five years, revealed significant problems in the Tshwane metropolitan municipality, leading to the study of the CoT. By employing Atlas.ti software, the coding process identified the primary factors responsible for the prevalence of UIFW expenditure in the CoT.
Findings/ResultsUsing eight codes, the study illustrated the primary themes that contribute to irregular spending and the challenges that obstruct internal controls. The research findings attributed the weaknesses of the internal control environment to cultural and behavioural factors as the main driving forces towards incurring the UIFW expenditure, whilst identifying management practices as significant contributors to the lack of oversight. According to the study, the lack of awareness and failure to adhere to established procedures detrimentally impacted the effectiveness of control measures, resulting in the occurrence of UIFW expenditure. Owing to the absence of effective measures to manage and discourage misconduct, the metropolitan municipality had inadvertently provided individuals with opportunities to embezzle funds, leading to a surge in unethical practices. To effectively address these challenges, the study outcomes recommended a range of measures, including enhancing the control environment, increasing accountability, and establishing a consequence management system. The aim of this initiative was to address loopholes that facilitate unwarranted activities and to encourage responsible financial management by the metropolitan municipality, ultimately reducing UIFW expenditure.
Heuristic inferencesThe study highlighted that a lack of effective management oversight at an operational level had led to a failure to understand and follow internal controls. Although the AGSA managed to achieve some progress in suggesting measures to address the problem, the underlying causes of the issue remained unknown. Discovering these causes would be instrumental in mitigating UIFW expenditure in the metropolitan municipality. The root causes of these issues can be traced back to the way management operates, the CoT's capacity constraints, and the prevailing culture. In order to tackle this issue, the metropolitan municipality culture should prioritise adherence to and promote awareness of internal controls.
Originality/ValueThis study identified the factors behind the persistent incurrence of UIFW expenditure in the CoT, suggesting the need for more research in other municipalities