Botswana International University of Science and Technology

Purpose This study longitudinally assessed the quality of life (QoL) in patients who completed chemoradiation (CRT) for cervical cancer in Botswana and compared the QoL for those living with and without HIV infection. Methods Patients with cervical cancer recommended for curative CRT were enrolled from August 2016 to February 2020. The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality-of-Life (QLQ-C30) and cervical cancer-specific (QLQ-Cx24) questionnaires, translated into Setswana, were used to assess the QoL of patients prior to treatment (baseline), at the end of treatment (EOT) and in 3 month intervals post-treatment for 2 years, and statistical analyses were performed. Results A total of 294 women (median age: 46 years) were enrolled and followed up for an average of 16.4 months. Of women with recorded staging, most had FIGO stage III/IV disease (64.4%). Women living with HIV (WLWH; 74.1%) presented at earlier ages than those without HIV (44.8 years vs 54.7 years, p<0.001). The QoL for all domains did not differ by HIV status at baseline, EOT or 24 month follow-up. Per QLQ-C30, the mean global health status score (72.21 vs 78.37; p<0.01) and the symptom (12.70 vs 7.63; p=0.04) and functional scales (88.34 vs 91.85; p<0.01) improved significantly from the EOT to the 24 month follow-up for all patients; however, using the QLQ-Cx24 survey, no significant differences in the symptom burden (12.53 vs 13.67; p=0.6) or functional status (91.23 vs 89.90; p=0.53) were found between these two time points. Conclusion The QoL increased significantly for all patients undergoing CRT, underscoring the value of pursuing curative CRT, regardless of the HIV status.

The caterpillars of Gonimbrasia belina, commonly known as mopane worms, are intensively harvested for human consumption in southern Africa. Concerns over the sustainability of the species have been raised for the last two decades due to increasing demand, habitat erosion, and climate change. Despite its cultural, economic, and nutritional significance, genetic data for G. belina was largely unavailable. We used a multi-marker approach including mitochondrial sequences and nuclear ddRADseq data to assess the genetic diversity, phylogeographical structure and demographic history of G. belina in Namibia and the Limpopo River Basin (South Africa and Botswana). Mitochondrial sequences revealed strong phylogeographical structure at the broad scale separating Namibia and Limpopo River Basin populations. Within the Limpopo River Basin, populations are separated by the Limpopo River, with haplotype sharing only at the border between South Africa and Botswana. Mitochondrial genetic diversity varies between sampling areas but overall is highest in South Africa and lowest in Botswana, while historical demography points to population expansion in Namibia but not in South Africa and Botswana. Nuclear data in the Limpopo River Basin revealed some connectivity among populations albeit with significant genetic differentiation and unique gene pools in some sampling areas. All sampling areas show low genetic diversity, alarmingly small effective population size, and signs of recent bottlenecks. We generated the first baseline data for the genetic monitoring of G. belina populations and conclude that concerns over the sustainability of the species are presently justified in Botswana and South Africa.

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith, is a significant global agricultural pest known for its rapid invasion and devastating impact on crops. While pesticides may be effective for controlling the pest in the short-term, they cause several socioeconomic and ecological costs that highlight the need for more sustainable management strategies. Telenomus remus (Nixon) is a promising egg parasitoid for its biological control. For the parasitoid to provide effective ecosystem services, it should be able to survive and coexist within the same ecological niches as its host. However, there is limited information regarding the potential responses of T. remus to thermal changes. In the context of the changing climate environments, it is key to understand the para-sitoid's overall environmental fitness in relation to its host. We investigated the effects of short-term (2 h) and long-term (6 h) acclimation pretreatment of T. remus adults and S. frugiperda eggs to high and low temperatures (18°C and 32°C, respectively) in comparison with the control (28°C). Telenomus remus thermal fitness (critical thermal maxima [CT max ], heat knockdown time and critical thermal minima [CT min ]), parasit-ism rates, and adult emergence were determined. Pretreated S. frugiperda eggs were assessed for hatchability under the control conditions. Acclimation at low (18°C) and high (32°C) temperatures significantly reduced and increased heat tolerance, respectively. Both temperatures, however, reduced cold tolerance. The parasitoid thermal tolerance polygons following acclimation pretreatment, showed significant heat-but not cold-tolerance gains. Fall armyworm eggs short-term acclimated to 32°C had significantly higher (p < 0.05) but comparable hatchability to the control treatment. Similarly, parasitism and adult emergence rates were significantly lower (p < 0.001) following long-term acclimation of host eggs and the parasitoid to 32°C. These findings suggest that high temperatures may decouple the T. remus-fall armyworm ecological relationship, threatening its success in warming regions. The findings provide valuable insights into the potential environmental resilience and suitability of T. remus as a biological control agent across different climates or geographies.

The study aims to analyse the importance of electroosmotic force on the solute dispersion in a microchannel where the carrier fluid is defined by non-Newtonian Casson rheology. The Electric-double layer (EDL) is considered near the channel walls. Flow unsteadiness due to the electric force leads to a highly non-linear momentum equation, which is solved using a regular perturbation method. However, Gill’s generalized dispersion technique is used to discuss the solute dispersion mechanism. The velocity profile, along with the advection, dispersion coefficients and mean concentration, is discussed with different rheological and controlled parameters. The impact of key control parameters, i.e., thickness of the EDL, yield stress, and Péclet number, on the dispersion coefficient, advection coefficient, and mean concentration is examined. A wide range of parameters is considered based on the experimental and physical database from different literatures. Although the transport coefficients are evaluated analytically, numerical tests have also been conducted, producing results that match very well. The existence of electroosmotic force (higher Debye–Hückel electro-osmotic parameter, κ) raises the advection coefficient, and this impact is more noticeable for lower κ values. The dispersion coefficient ($K_{2}$) diminishes nonlinearly with increasing κ and eventually converges to a specific value with larger κ. The mean concentration variation is more pronounced at lower values of κ, showing a 50% increase as κ rises from 10 to 50, while the variation is only 7% when κ changes from 50 to 100. Understanding dispersion phenomena controlled by electroosmotic force and pulsatility is a challenging task, mainly due to its nonlinearity, and as a result, this area has not been extensively explored. This type of study may have wide applications in biomedical engineering, human blood flow analysis, and beyond. The present simulation will thus be valuable in understanding mass transfer processes. Schematic diagram of the proposed geometry

The development of giant waves represents a fundamental information field in oceanic research, such as energy harvesting. In this work, we consider the effects of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) in studying and analyzing the dynamics of a floating pontoon immersed in Newtonian fluid flow. In this respect, a nonlinear coupled model, based on the Navier–Stockes and Navier–Lamé equations, is applied to solve the fluid-structure interaction problem. To this end, a set of coupled dynamical equations is established, and using the multi-scales method, a coupled complex Ginzburg–Landau equation is derived. First, it is demonstrated that Young's modulus (E) as well as the Poisson's ratio ( νs) have considerable effects on the giant waves occurrence. In this regard, we have obtained a critical value of νs above which giant waves can occur, meanwhile, the results obtained also indicate that the increase in E decreases the probability of giant wave formation. Moreover, the dynamic study to explore the dynamical responses from the interaction between the fluid and the structure exhibits different phase portraits that depend on the temporal frequencies of the incident wave from the flowing fluid ( ω) and the frequency of the fluid wave reflected by the structure ( ω′). These results aim to find applications in the marine industry, where they can be applied to problems related to the stability of ships and offshore structures, sea-keeping problems, and resistance to wave actions. They could also be used to develop floating offshore wind turbines and dimensional buoys for energy harvesting from the ocean surface.

This study was aimed at investigating the removal of antiretroviral (ARV) drug residues of emtricitabine (FTC), lamivudine (LVD) and Tenofovir (TFV) from water using the UV–Vis/TiO 2 /H 2 O 2 hybrid system. Evaluations of operational factors, degradation kinetics, scavenger effects, degradation pathways, and reusability of the catalyst were the key objectives of the study. The central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology (RSM) was used for process optimization. Five variables (pH, pollutant concentration, TiO 2 loading, H 2 O 2 dosage and time) were optimized. The removal realized was 92.56% (FTC), 91.67% (LVD) and 94.83% (TFV) respectively under optimum conditions. The degradations obeyed the pseudo-first-order model with the rate constant (k 1 ) of 0.10773 min ⁻¹ (FTC), 0.0513 min ⁻¹ (TFV,) and 0.04756 min ⁻¹ (LVD). pH and H 2 O 2 had a positive influence on pollutant removals up to optimum conditions. The ·OH and h ⁺ were the major contributors to pollutant degradations. The synthesized TiO 2 could be reused in four successive cycles for the effective degradation of all the ARVs. The research shows that the UV–Vis/TiO 2 /H 2 O 2 hybrid system may provide an alternative treatment method for the ARVs in water. Graphical Abstract

This comprehensive study delves into the examination and application of novel statistical distributions, namely the Ristić-Balakrishnan-Topp-Leone-Exponentiated half Logistic-G (RB-TL-EHL-G) family of distributions, emphasizing their paramount importance in reliability and medical data modeling. We meticulously explore a multitude of this family of novel distributions, accentuating their respective features, properties, and real-world applicability. The probability density, the cumulative distribution, the hazard rate, and the quantile functions are provided. The density functions of the RB-TL-EHL-G family are expanded, enabling a deeper understanding of their statistical properties , including various moments, generating functions, order statistics, stochastic orderings, probability weighted moments, and the Rényi entropy. A significant portion of the investigation is dedicated to the intensive analysis of various data sets, to which these distributions are fitted, unveiling noteworthy insights into their behavior and performance. Furthermore, the discussions extend to a comparative study, delineating the advantages and limitations of each distribution, fostering a deeper understanding and selection criteria for practitioners.

Strychnos potatorum (Clearing nut tree) is a deciduous tree with well-known pharmaceutical, medicinal and anthropological uses. Historically, the use of Strychnos potatorum as a medicinal plant is well documented in Asianic communities of Eastern India and Myanmar as well as some in Sub-Sahara Africa. Various parts of the plant from seeds to leaves are used to treat different conditions from gastropathy and bronchitis to diabetes, conjunctivitis, and even ulcers. The seeds of Strychnos potatorum are also known to be effective in water treatment and purification realms as an effective coagulant and an antimicrobial agent in the treatment of contaminated surface and underground waters. The ripe fruit pulp of Strychnos potatorum is also in some areas used as a washing detergent. This makes the plant an untapped vessel for sustainable use in regions where it is abundantly available especially in Sub-Sahara Africa. In this review, the focus is to bring to light the applications of this species and document its uses as well as look at the physicochemical characteristics that suit the plant to these various applications. This is an important natural wealth to the region where the plant is prevalent, in the Chobe and Ngamiland areas in Botswana and northern Limpopo in South Africa . Graphical Abstract

Annually the poultry industry releases millions of tons of feather waste into the environment. With a protein content of 91%, feather offers huge potential to serve as an animal feed supplement. However, keratin, the main protein component of feather, is highly resistant to hydrolysis by animal and plant proteases. The use of physicochemical methods to hydrolyze feather, in addition to being expensive, cause decomposition of some amino acids. Thus, microbial bioconversion of feather offers an attractive option for the production of useful products. In this study, an alkaliphilic feather degrading strain, Bacillus pseudofirmus BCC026 was isolated from the Makgadikgadi salt pan in Botswana. When grown in liquid culture containing feather as the sole source of nitrogen, it resulted in complete solubilization within 48 to 72 h. The organism also produced an alkaline protease, soluble proteins, and peptides/amino acids into the culture medium. The enzyme showed optimum activity in the pH range of 7.5–10.5 and at 70°C. It was also active and stable in commercial detergents and resulted in complete removal of stain from cotton fabrics. The enzyme was also effective in removing hair from goatskin indicating its potential for dehairing application. Microbial growth substrates are known to account for a significant proportion of the production cost of industrial enzymes. Since protease BCC026 was produced using feather, a cheap and readily available resource, enzyme production cost could be significantly reduced. Moreover, after enzyme recovery, the soluble proteins and peptides/amino acids in the filtrate could be used for different applications.

The partial nucleotide sequence of the coat protein (CP) gene of Ethiopian isolates of chickpea chlorotic stunt virus (CpCSV, genus Polerovirus), beet western yellows virus (BWYV, genus Polerovirus), and soybean dwarf virus (SbDV, genus Luteovirus) was determined from lentil and chickpea plants showing yellowing, stunting, and reddening symptoms. Comparative sequence analysis of CpCSV isolates obtained from five chickpea and five lentil isolates showed 94.9%–100% and 91.9%–98.7% nucleotide sequence identity with each other and with the reference isolates, respectively. One CpCSV isolate from chickpea (MZ043728) showed a close relationship with isolates of the serotype II while the remaining nine isolates were closely related to isolates belonging to serotype I. Sequence identities of three chickpea BWYV isolates varied from 93.3% to 100% with the reference isolates, and one of them (MZ043727) displayed 100% nucleotide identity with previously reported lentil stunt virus (LStV, genus Polerovirus). The chickpea isolates MZ043725 and MZ043726 appear to be identical to each other, whereas the other isolate (MZ043727) was identical to previously identified LStV isolate. The nucleotide sequence of three Ethiopian SbDV isolates had a lower identity with GenBank isolates and their phylogenetic analysis showed that they are clustered separately from the rest of the reference isolates indicating that they are the most divergent. This result generates essential information for further research on legume viruses in Ethiopia. In addition, a detailed study should be conducted in the future to understand the prevalence of LStV and determine the potential yield losses associated with the virus in Ethiopia.

Improved drought and flood management in semi-arid transboundary basins requires a better understanding of the connections between dry and wet extremes, surface water and groundwater, upstream and downstream, and local communities and formal governance actors. This study describes a multi-disciplinary and mixed-methods research in the Limpopo River Basin, southern Africa. The methodology included hydrometeorological data analysis to identify drought and flood events, group discussions with 240 local community participants about drought and flood processes, impacts and preparedness, and interviews with 36 (inter)national and regional water managers and policymakers about drought and flood governance, early warning and communication. Additionally, we co-created drought and flood management scenarios through transboundary and national workshops and modelled these with an integrated surface water-groundwater model. We found that floods are crucial for aquifer recharge, providing baseflow during droughts, but also impactful for communities, who receive less training and support for floods than for droughts. Flood early warnings (if provided) are often not acted upon because of cultural values or limited resources. Drought and flood adaptation strategies were simulated to be effective, but factors like investment and maintenance costs, technical capacity and community uptake impact implementation. Furthermore, technical measures alone are inadequate to reduce community risk if underlying vulnerabilities are not addressed. Therefore, strengthening connections between communities and formal governance actors and better transboundary management of surface water and groundwater connections could yield significant benefits.Contribution: This study provides 11 distinct recommendations for managing drought and flood risk, focussing on the four connections analysed.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading global cause of mortality, necessitating the development of innovative diagnostic approaches for early and accurate detection. Existing diagnostic methods are invasive, time-intensive, and contribute to delays in diagnosis, thereby exacerbating disease progression in patients and facilitating community transmission. To address these limitations, this study investigated human breath samples to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) associated with active TB as potential non-invasive biomarkers. VOCs were analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), supported by AMDIS and OpenChrom software for compound identification. The findings revealed the presence of previously unreported VOCs associated to breath samples from patients with active TB and multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), which were absent in control participants without TB symptoms. Furthermore, the results suggest the feasibility of differentiating MDR-TB from active TB based on breath VOC profiles, marking a novel observation. These findings underpin the development of a non-invasive breathalyser diagnostic device for TB, with the potential to enhance disease management and reduce transmission.

The proctor compaction test is used to determine the maximum dry density (MDD) and optimal moisture content (OMC). This test can be labor-intensive and time-consuming particularly when many testing samples are involved. The forecast accuracy of the empirical correlations utilized to estimate MDD and OMC is low. The artificial intelligence (AI) models which are considered black boxes can result in trained models with high prediction accuracy and yet incoherent with physical and engineering principles. This study has thus concentrated on creating explainable AI-based models for forecasting MDD utilizing liquid limit, plastic limit (PL), gravel fraction, sand fraction (SF), clay fraction (CF), and compaction energy from a broader range of soil data as input data. Artificial neural networks (ANN), deep neural networks, support vector regression, extreme gradient boosting machine, and random forest are the algorithms used. The similarity in prediction accuracy among the five AI models serves as an example of the accuracy and reliability of AI prediction models. However, the ANN MDD model was found to be the most effective when using explainable AI (XAI) since it has a high degree of generalizability and is consistent with engineering and physical concepts in soil compaction. There were no irregular or illogical MDD estimations during these XAI analyses. PL and SF or CF have been successfully used in the creation of new XAI-based charts for direct MDD predictions as the XAI study shown that these inputs offer broader forecasts of MDD.

Al─doped ZnO/SnO 2 (Al─ZnO/SnO 2 ) thin films are prepared using spray pyrolysis followed by an investigation of their microstructural and optical properties. Unlike ZnO, Al─doped ZnO (Al─ZnO), SnO 2 and Al─doped SnO 2 (Al─SnO 2 ) films, which exhibited polycrystalline structures with distinct peaks, Al─ZnO/SnO 2 films displayed a single sharp peak, indicating strong preferential orientation along the ZnO (100) plane. Scanning electron microscopy revealed spherical aggregates of random polycrystals in ZnO and SnO 2 samples, while Al─ZnO/SnO 2 films have more pores/voids and various nanostructures, including nanorods growing parallel to the substrate. These nanorods provided 1D conductive pathways that closed the open‐circuits created by the pores/voids, thereby improving electron transport. The refractive index ( n ) and extinction coefficient ( k ) are evaluated using the Cauchy normal dispersion model, and the obtained values are used to determine other linear and nonlinear optical parameters. Al─ZnO/SnO 2 films exhibited low n (≈1.45) and k (≈0) in the visible region, an enhanced band gap (≈3.8 eV), and low Urbach energy (≈84 meV), which minimized light scattering losses, resulting in high visible region transmittance (≈90%). The synergy between high transparency and improved electrical conductivity inferred from the enhanced microstructural and optoelectronic properties makes these films promising candidates for use as transparent conducting electrodes in optoelectronic devices.

Fault ruptures induced by earthquakes pose a significant threat to constructions, particularly underground structures such as pile foundations. Among various foundation types, batter pile foundations are widely used due to their ability to resist inclined forces. To gain new insights into the response of batter pile groups to fault ruptures caused by earthquakes, this study investigates the deformation and failure mechanisms of batter pile groups due to the propagation of normal and reverse fault ruptures using 3D numerical modeling. An advanced hypoplastic constitutive model for clay, which accounts for small-strain stiffness, and a concrete damage plasticity (CDP) model are employed to simulate the soil and the batter pile foundation, respectively. Results show that following fault propagation, nearly 10% tilting and significant displacement occurred at the pile cap, indicating a total failure of the batter pile foundation. It was also observed that the piles bent towards the slipping direction of the hanging wall. Tensile damage to the pile foundation was notably more severe than compression damage. The most severely damaged regions were not only located at the joints between the piles and the pile caps but were also found along the pile shafts.

Continental rifts commonly develop in orogenic belts and avoid cratons as cratonic crust agedness and cooler geotherms inhibit strain localization. Recent earthquakes in Eastern Botswana unveil an active incipient rift zone within the Kalahari Craton featuring ~80-km long fault scarps of the Khurutshe Graben. Here, we investigate the rift structure, syn-rift stratigraphic architecture and long-term evolution, to understand the timing and rift initiation mechanisms. We utilize 2-D DC-resistivity imaging, borehole logs, and field observations in excavations of the Khurutshe Fault (KF) scarps to delineate its fine-scale structure and relationships with subsurface stratigraphy. Borehole-constrained resistivity tomography reveals four geoelectrical layers: a shallow ~10-m thick resistive wedge unit representing the Holocene Kalahari Formation which thickens towards and terminates on the KF, overlying ~100-m thick highly-discontinuous moderate-to-very high resistivity Jurassic (Karoo) basalts and siliciclastics which also thicken towards the KF, and basal highly-resistive Precambrian crystalline basement. Borehole isopach maps confirm a ubiquitous pattern of stratigraphic thickening on the KF hanging walls. Excavations of the fault zone reveal highly cemented Karoo sandstones hosting slickensided calcite-altered slip surfaces. These observations indicate: 1) concurrent fluid-involved normal faulting with syn-tectonic deposition of the Jurassic sequences, providing for the first time, evidence of Karoo extension in southeast Botswana, and 2) that the Phanerozoic cratonic rift initiation was first accommodated by magmatic diking and normal faulting. We propose that this ancient, failed rift zone constitutes a mechanical weakness in the cratonic lithosphere that is now being reactivated again by the lithospheric buoyancy tectonic forces of the African Superplume.

Efficient information exchange between government entities and citizens is crucial for effective governmental service delivery. However, e-government systems in developing countries like Botswana face challenges due to a lack of communication and integration among these systems. This case study addresses the interoperability challenges in Botswana's e-government systems by exploring and documenting the development of the e-government service-oriented interoperability framework (e-GSOIF). This framework integrates various technological and methodological approaches to improve service delivery and efficiency. It incorporates service-oriented architecture (SOA), event-driven architecture (EDA), ontologies, a refined software development lifecycle methodology, and the interoperability practical implementation support (IPIS) approach. The study pinpoints key factors impacting e-government system implementation and interoperability in Botswana through interviews, questionnaires, and observation. It also identifies essential technical components for E-Government Interoperability. The e-GSOIF framework is evaluated against the original IPIS framework using exploratory factor analysis and compatibility assessment with predefined functionality criteria, demonstrating its superiority. This paper targets government officials, IT specialists, researchers, and students interested in e-government services interoperability. It offers insights into advancing the landscape of e-government service delivery through an effective interoperability framework.