South African Journal of Science最新文献

{"title":"Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research.","authors":"Siti M Kabanda, Nezerith Cengiz, Kanshukan Rajaratnam, Bruce W Watson, Qunita Brown, Tonya M Esterhuizen, Keymanthri Moodley","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/15129","DOIUrl":"10.17159/sajs.2023/15129","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The data ecosystem is complex and involves multiple stakeholders. Researchers and scientists engaging in data-intensive research collect, analyse, store, manage and share large volumes of data. Consequently, capturing researchers' and scientists' views from multidisciplinary fields on data use, sharing and governance adds an important African perspective to emerging debates. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional survey and received 160 responses from researchers and scientists representing 43 sub-Saharan African countries. Whilst most respondents were satisfied with institutional data storage processes, 40% indicated that their organisations or institutions did not have a formally established process for storing data beyond the life cycle of the project. Willingness to share data was generally high, but increased when data privacy was ensured. Robust governance frameworks increased the willingness to share, as did the regulation of access to data on shared platforms. Incentivising data sharing remains controversial. Respondents were satisfied with exchanging their data for co-authorship on publications (89.4%) and collaboration on projects (77.6%). However, respondents were split almost equally in terms of sharing their data for commercial gain. Regarding the process of managing data, 40.6% indicated that their organisations do not provide training on best practices for data management. This could be related to a lack of resources, chronic institutional under-investment, and suboptimal research training and mentorship in sub-Saharan Africa. The sustainability of data sharing may require ethical incentive structures to further encourage researchers and scientists. Tangible infrastructure to facilitate such sharing is a prerequisite. Capacity development in data governance for researchers and scientists is sorely needed.</p><p><strong>Significance: </strong>Data sharing is necessary to advance science, yet there are many constraints. In this study, we explored factors that promote a willingness to share, as well as constraining factors. Seeking potential solutions to improve data sharing is a scientific and ethical imperative. The standardisation of basic data sharing and data transfer agreements, and the development of a Data Access Committee will strengthen data governance and facilitate responsible data sharing in sub-Saharan Africa. Funders, institutions, researchers and scientists ought to jointly contribute to fair and equitable data use and sharing during and beyond the life cycle of research projects.</p>","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11526389/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41547339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scientific revolution, industrial revolution, technological revolution or revolutionary technology? A rejoinder to Marwala and Ntlatlapa (S Afr J Sci. 2023;119(1/2))","authors":"I. Moll","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/15767","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/15767","url":null,"abstract":"Critical responses by Marwala and Ntlatlapa challenged Moll’s refutation of a contemporary technological revolution as a necessary but not sufficient stratum of a Fourth Industrial Revolution (S Afr J Sci. 2023;119(1/2)). This rejoinder suggests that they work with loose criteria about what counts as a ‘revolution’, and therefore confuse the character of industrial, scientific and technological revolutions. Therefore, their defence of the existence of a new, contemporary technological revolution, and a related economic, social and geopolitical revolution, rests on shaky conceptual ground. Neither the pandemic nor an unprecedented fusion of technologies has produced a ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’.","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47373349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impacts of artificial light at night in Africa: Prospects for a research agenda","authors":"B. Coetzee, I. Smit, Simone Ackermann, K. Gaston","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/13988","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/13988","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial light at night (ALAN) has increasingly been recognised as one of the world’s most pernicious global change drivers that can negatively impact both human and environmental health. However, when compared to work elsewhere, the dearth of research into the mapping, expansion trajectories and consequences of ALAN in Africa is a surprising oversight by its research community. Here, we outline the scope of ALAN research and elucidate key areas in which the African research community could usefully accelerate work in this field. These areas particularly relate to how African conditions present underappreciated caveats to the quantification of ALAN, that the continent experiences unique challenges associated with ALAN, and that these also pose scientific opportunities to understanding its health and environmental impacts. As Africa is still relatively free from the high levels of ALAN found elsewhere, exciting possibilities exist to shape the continent’s developmental trajectories to mitigate ALAN impacts and help ensure the prosperity of its people and environment.","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47513078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of fucoxanthin from Dilophys fasciola and as a food additive in stirred yoghurt","authors":"E. Ibrahim, Samah M. El-Sayed, S. Murad, W. Abdallah, Hoda S. El‐Sayed","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/13722","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/13722","url":null,"abstract":"We investigated the effects of fucoxanthin isolated from the edible macroalga Dilophys fasciola on pathogenic microbes and probiotics in vitro and the antioxidant activity of fucoxanthin. The yield concentration of the obtained crude was 50.5% fucoxanthin. We found strong inhibition against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes, and lower inhibition against Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. The probiotic strains progressed between 1.2 and 1.67 log cycles at a concentration of 30 μg/mL. The antioxidant activity ranged between 54.76% and 88.36% at a concentration of 40 μg/mL. The 50% lethal dose of algal fucoxanthin was shown to be more than 2511.88 mg/kg. The production of stirred yoghurt incorporated with 20 mg and 30 mg of fucoxanthin per kilogram of milk was evaluated through chemical, microbiological, and sensory analyses during storage for 21 days and compared with control samples. The maximum growth for probiotics (Bifidobacterium bifidum and Lacticaseibacillus casei) was found on day 14, but more viability counts were detected in the treatment with 30 mg/kg. All treatments were free from mould and yeast counts up to 7 days, and the small numbers of mould, yeast, and psychrotrophic counts appeared first in control samples. Also, the highest dry matter content was observed for treatments with 30 mg/kg. Moreover, the protein, fat, and ash content of all treatments increased with a progressive cold storage period. Greater reductions in the pH were found in treatments than in the control, and were consistent with the development of acidity. During storage, the amount of crude fucoxanthin had no significant impact on the flavour, colour, or appearance scores.","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43426497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comments on Singh et al. (2022) ‘Marine seismic surveys for hydrocarbon exploration: What’s at stake?’","authors":"H. Cawthra, M. Brandt, N. Hicks, D. Khoza","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/14514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/14514","url":null,"abstract":"We write this Commentary as a reply to Singh et al.(S Afr J Sci. 118(3/4), Art. #13420). We found that Singh et al.’s article did not adequately cover a rounded viewpoint on the topic, and we highlight a different perspective, calling for a balanced review in this regard. We base our argument on two premises. First, the literature study is incomplete, which creates a misleading perception that nothing is currently being done in South Africa to transition to a low carbon economy. Second, we comment on the statements made on seismic surveys. Herewith, we request that the authors consider a corrigendum that better reflects this research space, and call for more discussion on this topic.","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46820591","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of season and other factors on avian Trypanosoma spp. and microfilarial prevalence in the Lowveld, South Africa","authors":"Tinotendashe Pori, M. Ndlovu, M. Markus","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/10358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/10358","url":null,"abstract":"To comprehend the effects of emerging infectious diseases on both human and animal health, it is necessary to understand the ecology of pathogens that have wildlife reservoirs. In this study, we determined the prevalence of the parasites Trypanosoma spp. and filarial nematodes in the bloodstream of birds in and around the Kruger National Park, South Africa, partly to test the hypothesis that season influences parasitaemia. Other factors considered were foraging habits, gregariousness or solitariness, and whether location might facilitate contact between birds and parasite vectors. Microscopy was used to screen stained blood smears prepared from 685 captured birds of 87 species. It was found that 3.9% of the birds were infected with filarial nematodes (as reflected by the presence of microfilariae) and 3.1% with Trypanosoma spp. No cases of coinfection with both types of parasite were encountered. Ground-foraging and solitary birds had the highest parasite prevalences compared to other birds. Infections were recorded throughout the year at all six sites. The respective percentages of birds harbouring the two parasite types in the dry season were the same (both 2.3%), whereas microfilariae dominated in the wet season (6.9%) and the prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. then was 1.4%. These findings represent new knowledge concerning avian haemoparasite prevalence in an Afrotropical setting – something that has so far been poorly studied.","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42800194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An Eocene fossil scarab beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) from Tanzania","authors":"Werner P. Strümpher, C. Scholtz, T. Schlüter","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/14681","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/14681","url":null,"abstract":"A fossil scarabaeoid (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) Mahengea mckayi new genus, new species – the only well-preserved insect fossil and one of only a few insects found at the site – is described from an otherwise rich Eocene (~ 45.6 mya) maar Lagerstätte at Mahenge in central northern Tanzania. Numerous fossil fishes and plants have been recovered from this site and described. The dearth of insect fossils is surprising considering their richness in other deposits of similar origin and age. We suggest that the rich fish fauna present in the oxygen-rich parts of the water in the former volcanic crater lake may have scavenged most of the terrestrial insects that fell into the water. Although the fossil described here is undoubtedly that of a member of the Scarabaeoidea, the family placement remains unsure.","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45384868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"To ‘train’ or to ‘educate’ for doctoral work? – that is the question: A review of Doctoral Training and Higher Education in Africa","authors":"E. Mgqwashu","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/15740","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/15740","url":null,"abstract":"Doctoral Training and Higher Education in Africa is both timely and essential for a transforming and decolonising higher education. A combination of an ageing professoriate and a growing number of younger, newer and less experienced academics entering academia in Africa 1 make this book even more critical. Its deliberateness in offering varying insights on doctoral training from across Africa enables the reader access to unique discourses and practices that guide doctoral support in ways that other similar publications on the subject have not. The timeliness of the book also lies in its contribution to the role higher education needs to play in economic development. Africa is a context in which, more than before, higher education can be said to be increasingly becoming one of the hopes for ensuring economic development, innovation and the necessary socio-political advancement for society at large. 2 Doctoral work is certainly critical in the context of such imperatives, for it is through it that an informed knowledge base equipped to tackle local and global challenges could be found. The book is also critical as a political project. As some will rightly argue, disguised in neo-liberal discourses such as globalisation and/or internationalisation, former colonisers seem to have managed to control, and in some sense shape, higher education on the African continent. 3 Calls for Africans to take back knowledge domains, redefine and locate them within the local have been deafening. 4 In some respects, this book represents a response to such calls. Focusing on what it calls doctoral training, the book engages with the subject matter in ways that fit distinctly African needs and contexts, thereby revitalising African higher education. One of the aspects that seems to have received cursory attention in the book, despite the attention it has attracted in the recent past, is the need to continue to deconstruct what it means to generate knowledge in a transforming and decolonialising higher education context. 5 More specifically, given the subject of the book, it would have benefitted a reader to be exposed to an extended discussion on the possible implications for doctoral supervision of a candidate whose work needs to be locally responsive, while globally relevant. There is urgency for","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44350721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reflections from South Africa on Language, Culture and Decolonisation","authors":"K. Luckett","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/15640","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/15640","url":null,"abstract":"The chapters in this book originated at a series of conferences","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47920264","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Who’s who of fishes of the Western Indian Ocean","authors":"S. Fennessy","doi":"10.17159/sajs.2023/15676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/15676","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":21928,"journal":{"name":"South African Journal of Science","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42643541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}