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A scoping review on efficacy and safety of medicinal plants used for the treatment of diarrhea in sub-Saharan Africa
Get PDFArticle, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management)--Northwest University, Potchefstroom CampusBackground In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), significant morbidity and mortality have been linked to diarrhea, which is frequently caused by microorganisms. A rise in antimicrobial-resistant pathogens has reignited the search for alter- native therapies. This scoping review aims to map the literature on medicinal plants in relation to their anti-diarrheal potential from SSA.
Methods Studies published from 1990 until April 2022 on medicinal plants used for the treatment of diarrhea from each country in SSA were searched on Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct and PubMed. The selection of articles was based on the availability of data on the in vitro and/or in vivo, ethnobotanical, and cross-sectional studies on the efficacy of medicinal plants against diarrhea. A total of 67 articles (ethnobotanical (n = 40); in vitro (n = 11), in vivo (n = 7), cross-sectional (n = 3), in vitro and in vivo (n = 2) and ethnobotanical and in vitro (n = 2), were considered for the descriptive analysis, which addressed study characteristics, herbal intervention information, phytochemistry, outcome measures, and toxicity findings.
Results A total of 587 different plant species (from 123 families) used for diarrhea treatment were identified. Most studies were conducted on plants from the Fabaceae family. The plants with the strongest antimicrobial activity were Indigofera daleoides and Punica granatum. Chromatographic methods were used to isolate six pure compounds from ethyl acetate extract of Hydnora johannis, and spectroscopic methods were used to determine their structures. The majority of anti-diarrheal plants were from South Africa (23.9%), Ethiopia (16.4%), and Uganda (9%). This study highlights the value of traditional remedies in treating common human diseases such as diarrhea in SSA.
Conclusion Baseline knowledge gaps were identified in various parts of SSA. It is therefore recommended that future ethnobotanical studies document the knowledge held by other countries in SSA that have so far received less attention. Additionally, we recommend that future studies conduct phytochemical investigations, particularly on the widely used medicinal plants for the treatment of diarrheal illnesses, which can serve as a foundation for future research into the development of contemporary drugs
Digital developments and employment: Understanding trends in Africa
Get PDFBookThere is broad consensus in the literature that job creation and productive employment are critical for building a vibrant, inclusive economy. The digital era has the potential to expand employment by creating new professional pathways and market opportunities, particularly in Africa, which has high levels of unemployment and considerable room for enhanced economic activity. However, advancing digital technologies also pose risks and concerns – notably that machines will increasingly take over the jobs of humans. The effects of digital developments on employment therefore warrant thorough investigation. This book delves into the effects of digital developments on employment in Africa, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. An important premise in the book is that employment is a leading determinant of inclusive growth, which has become a policy imperative across the continent. Despite a wide range of views on digital developments and employment, there is no well-established, empirically determined relationship between these two phenomena in Africa, which makes policy-making difficult. The book addresses this research gap, giving specific attention to the fact that African countries are far from homogeneous, evidenced by their highly diverse economic activities and varying levels of development. The book is essential reading for scholars in the development economics discipline who have an interest in policy studies and in gaining a holistic appreciation of the employment effects of digital developments in Africa. Such insights will go a long way towards shaping countries’ economic and digital policies and putting the continent onto a steadier path towards its digital future
Assessing the Energy Crisis in South Africa: The Socio-Economic Implication and Challenges Ahead
Get PDFJournal Article.Department of Public Administration and Local Government, School of Government Studies, Faculty of Humanities - North West University, MahikengThis paper examined the socio-economic implications caused by the current energy crisis South Africa is facing. Although the crisis is not at its worst stage when compared to other countries in Africa, there are still challenges ahead if the crisis at this stage is not nipped in the bud. This paper aims at providing an overview of the energy crisis and reasons for its persistence in South Africa taking a departure from 2007. It thus examined the effect of the energy crisis on human livelihood, manufacturing businesses and the economic growth of South Africans. It discussed the concerted efforts made by the government in terms of policy intervention to solve the energy crisis, vis-à-vis policy successes and the challenges in South Africa. Using secondary data sources, this paper analysed the problems behind the energy crisis and its persistent nature in South Africa. It reviewed the extant literature intending to showcase government activities in terms of policies and actions toward subduing the energy crisis in South Africa. It also underlined the strengths and the weaknesses of government policies on the energy crisis in South Africa. This paper found that population expansions and ever-increasing human activities constitute major reasons for the persistent energy crisis in South Africa. This paper concluded that the energy crisis in South Africa may continue to take its negative recourse on the people and economy if adequate attention is not being paid to alternative energy sources at provincial and municipal levels. The attention should aim at complementing the existing energy infrastructure as well as accommodating the energy needs of the population and ever-increasing human activities. This study contributes to the existing debate on securing energy transition in the developing economy of South Africa
The Contribution of Experiential Learning to Self-Directed Learning Approaches in Higher Education
No full textBook Chapter. North-West UniversityThere have been trends in experiential learning (EL) to implement self-directed learning (SDL) in higher education institutions in the 21st century. Due to the necessity of a real-life, interactive environment in the lecturing approaches in higher education, the problem is to ensure that the learning becomes interactive and meaningful to the students. Students commit to learning when their goals and objectives are considered realistic and important, though they may face socio-economic challenges. Therefore, applying knowledge in the real world is important and relevant to the student’s needs. This chapter explores the implications of experiential learning theory to gain work-related skills and knowledge for the work environment. The implication of the experiential learning theory (ELT) to higher education is that lecturers should design course materials that empower students to acquire knowledge and skills to solve real-life problems. Thus, ELT points to teaching practices that aim at enabling students to perform activities that are close to those found in the workplace
The relationship between sustainability and financial performance of South African companies
Get PDFArticle, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (Cybernetics Management)--Northwest University,Potchefstroom CampusOrientation: Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance remains crucial information required by stakeholders as they are interested in monitoring whether companies contribute to sustainability or not.
Research purpose: The study’s purpose was to determine how the sample companies scored on the three pillars of ESG performance and to determine the relationship between ESG scores and the financial performance of selected South African listed companies, with special reference to the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on that relationship.
Motivation for the study: Because of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, companies tend to focus on their ESG-impact, resulting in them investing in sustainable operations.
Research approach/design and method: Linear mixed-effect regression analysis models were developed to determine the relationship between ESG scores and financial performance. The sample consisted of 104 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) from 2017 to 2022.
Main findings: We found that companies do not equitably score on the ESG performance pillars. We also found the following significant relationships: (1) Return on equity (ROE) positively impacts governance performance, (2) ESG positively impacts Tobin’s Q and (3) governance performance positively impacts ROE. Furthermore, the results show that sustainability and financial performance before and after COVID-19 are mainly not meaningful.
Practical/managerial implications: New insights are revealed in the interests of shareholders, potential investors and company management regarding how to interpret the relationship between ESG pillars and financial ratios.
Contribution/value-add: We contribute to the theory as a conceptual framework was developed to interpret the results within the shareholder’s theory
Partial isospectrality of a matrix pencil and circularity of the c-numerical range
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Pure and Applied Analytics-- Potchefstroom CampusWe study when functions of the eigenvalues of the pencil
Re(e−itA)=cos(t)ReA+sin(t)ImA (1)
are constant functions of t. The results are then applied to questions regarding the numerical range, the higher rank numerical range and the c-numerical range, and we derive trace type conditions for when these numerical ranges are disks centered at 0. The theory of symmetric polynomials plays an important part in the proofs.Acknowledgements
We thank Professors Jonah Blasiak and Darij Grinberg for discussions on symmetric polynomials. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the National Graduate Academy for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (NGA(MaSS))
Enhancing the Oxygen Evolution Reaction Activity of Sputtered Ni, NiO, and NiNiO Thin Films by Incorporating Fe
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Chemical Resource Beneficiation-- Potchefstroom CampusThe effect of Fe-containing alkaline electrolyte, on the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity of Ni electrocatalysts, has long been of interest as Fe increases the OER activity of Ni electrocatalysts. However, controversy exists as to whether it is surface or bulk Fe that is responsible for the increased activity. In this study, magnetron sputtering was employed to sputter Ni, NiO and NiNiO thin film electrocatalysts to study the effect that different concentrations of Fe in the electrolyte have on their OER activities. It was found that increasing concentrations of Fe increasingly enhanced the OER activity of these thin film electrocatalysts until the electrolyte was saturated with Fe. The lowest overpotential achieved is 279 mV (at 10 mA cm−2) for NiNiO cycled in KOH containing 1 mM Fe, with all three thin film electrocatalysts exhibiting overpotentials within the same range after 30 voltammetry cycles in 0.9 ppm Fe and 1 mM Fe. All Tafel slopes are between 36 and 45 mV dec−1 indicating similar kinetics for the samples cycled in different Fe concentrations. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results show that Fe is found in the top layers of the electrocatalysts after cycling.Acknowledgements
This work was performed within the SANOCEAN project (South Africa/Norway joint research programme on ocean research including blue economy, climate change, the environment and sustainable energy). The project is financially supported by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) and the Research Council of Norway (288590). This work is based on the research supported wholly/in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Numbers: 123025, 118753). The Grantholder acknowledges that opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in any publication generated by the NRF supported research is that of the author(s) alone, and that the NRF accepts no liability whatsoever in this regard. The SEM and EDX analyses were conducted by Innocent Shuro, materials characterization specialist at the NWU. XPS measurements in this study were performed by Martin F. Sunding at SINTEF materials physics in Osl
IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND MONEY-INDUCED VOTINGBEHAVIOR ON GOVERNANCE CRISES IN NIGERIA
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Humanities, North--West UniversityThis paper investigates the influence of social media and money on voting behavior and its impact ongovernance crises. It argues that the effect of tampered voting behavior due to intra-party money-inducement during election on governance crises in Nigeria has received very little attention. Indeed,general elections in Nigeria, have heavily been money-ladened, and money has effectively been usedto tamper voters’ behavior. Voters’ have changed their minds on who to vote for, just because moneywas given to them. Thus, how heavily monetized voting behavior stimulate governance crises remainlargely underrepresented in the literature. Drawing on qualitative method, this article measuredincessant governance crises in Nigeria from the prism of monetized voting behavior. The findingsprovide adequate information on the dimension of money and social media politics in Nigeria’s primaryelections. It also advances knowledge on the link between governance crises and monetization ofvoters’ behavior. It concludes that the emergence of the current Nigerian president, which is largelybased on monetization of voters and abusive use of social media tools, is the leading cause of currentcrises in governance in Nigeri
Leisure education and indigenous knowledge systems in South Africa: a commentary
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Health Sciences, Physical Activity Sport and Recreation (PhASRec)-- Potchefstroom CampusThe role of leisure education in equipping individuals and society to participate in leisure is well-researched in scholarship. In this commentary, we argue that incorporating indigenous knowledge systems (derived from South Africa’s (SA) diverse peoples, cultures and languages) in leisure education may promote inclusivity, cultural relevance and alternative leisure perspectives. Drawing from various scholarly perspectives, this article defines leisure education, revisits the concept of leisure, explores the concept of indigenous knowledge systems and presents a case for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in the SA context. The implications that are drawn from the discussion call for a re-thinking of leisure education so that it responds to SA’s contextual realities through the strategic incorporation of indigenous knowledge. This may contribute towards contextualized leisure research methods, wholesome leisure education content, creative resource-attainment strategies, novel knowledge-transfer methods and unique skill-equipping techniques that may advance leisure wellness, social cohesion and the leisure profession in SA
Reflecting on Evil and the Devil in Pentecostal Theodicy
Get PDFJournal Article, Faculty of Theology, Unit for Reformational Theology and Dev of the SA Society-- Potchefstroom CampusMost Pentecostals, at least in the global South, believe that Satan and his demonic forces are responsible for much of the carnage and suffering that characterise life on earth. The broader context of the discourse is the challenge theodicy poses to Christian believers: if God is almighty and good, why do believers, just like unbelievers, suffer while living on earth? This paper aims to discuss Pentecostals’ response: they blame evil as Satan’s strategy to oppose God. They reason that his main goal is to handicap and double-cross creation because God threw him and his followers from heaven following his rebellion against the divine order. Thus, Satan is portrayed as the instigator of the first human couple, tempting them to sin, with all future generations implied by their choice and cursing human beings with a sinful nature at birth. Demonic forces employ human sinful nature to realise their ultimate goal, to separate humankind from the Creator by tempting them to sin while also threatening the rest of creation. This article investigates the Pentecostal theology of demonic forces in explaining the challenges posed by theodicy by comparing it to biblical data, using grammatical-historical exegesis and a comparative literature survey to evaluate their biblical grounding. It concludes that Pentecostals’ belief in such forces are justified if the the New Testament narratives are accepted as divine revelation. However, some Pentecostal speculations about demons’ origins, scope and reach are not biblically justified and complicates the response to theodicy, such as the origin of evil and its relation to human beings