African Centre for Technology Studies

Maerua edulis (Gilg & Gilg-Ben.) DeWolf) was traditionally used in the treatment and/ or management of various diseases, including cancer. However, limited studies have evaluated whether M. edulis can suppress the proliferation of cervical cancer cells, and its putative mechanism for antiproliferative activity remains unclear. Therefore, we conducted this study to evaluate the in-vitro antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects of M. edulis root extracts against human cervical cancer cells and their underlying mechanism of action. To achieve this goal, we performed MTT assay, microscopic analyses, and wound-healing assay to assess the antiproliferative activity of M. edulis extract and its fractions. Qualitative phytochemical and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were performed to characterize the phytochemicals in bioactive extracts, and network pharmacology was utilized to predict putative molecular targets and the mechanism of action of the active extract's fractions. Target validation was accomplished through molecular docking and real-time PCR methods. Bioactive M. edulis extracts exhibited significant antiproliferative activity against HeLa cells, with hexane fraction (essential oil) and ethyl acetate extracts demonstrating IC50 values of 0.02% (v/v) and 47.42µg/mL, respectively. GC-MS analysis identified key phytochemicals such as methyl stearate, (8Z)-14-methylhexadec-8-enal, squalene, and stigmasta-3,5-diene, which were associated with the demonstrated bioactivities, possibly mechanistically through regulation of apoptosis and cell cycle-related genes (BCL2, CDK2, TP53). Interestingly, gene expression analysis revealed the modulation of these target genes. The results of our study suggest the potential therapeutic benefits of M. edulis in the treatment and management of cervical cancer. Further in-vivo studies are recommended to validate these findings and establish their safety profile.

Abstract The contents of the chapters of this book attest to the fact that sustainable livestock production is imperative to meeting the food needs and the economic development of Africa. To achieve this, all stakeholders involved must understand their roles and also be willing to pull together resources through sustainable cooperations, guided by clear local, regional, and continent-wide policies to achieve the common objective of sustainable livestock improvement. This chapter presents the roles of various institutions—within countries, between countries, and multinationals engaged in supporting animal improvement in Africa. It discusses the importance of functional linkages and needed cooperations between the various stakeholders. It concludes that the crucial elements necessary for the effective utilization of the factors presented in this book to deliver resilient and sustainable animal genetic improvement for the transformation of the African livestock industry are enabling policies, functioning institutional arrangements, access to appropriate technologies, funding and information, and adequate infrastructure and trained personnel.

Abstract Africa is home to a rich diversity of farm animal genetic resources which play major roles in poverty alleviation, food, and nutritional security as well as helping meet various socio-cultural needs. These valuable animal resources range from the major species such as pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, camelids, poultry, aquatic resources, and bees to micro-livestock such as guinea fowl, grasscutters, and cavies. In line with the Global Plan of Action on Animal Genetic Resources, there is a need for Africa to sustainably manage these resources and help ensure their conservation. Genetic improvement of Africa’s animal resources will be key to breeding resilient, productive, and climate-adaptive animals for the current and future generations. Unfortunately, Africa continues to lag behind in both the institutional and human resource capacity for animal genetic resources management, including improvement. This chapter presents a brief overview of human resources capacity challenges, limitations in animal breeding and genetics and subsequently suggests how to turn some of the challenges into opportunities. The basic concepts and misconceptions in animal breeding, lessons learned from past capacity-building initiatives, and the need to improve agricultural education in primary and secondary schools are covered. Additionally, we review post-secondary technical education and graduate education in animal breeding. Finally, we highlight the need to embrace good collaborative partnerships to enable Africa to boost its human and institutional capacity in order to take advantage of current and emerging innovative technologies in animal breeding education.

Malaria remains a significant public health challenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), particularly among pregnant women and children under 5, who bear the highest burden of disease and mortality. Despite efforts to scale up control programs, the country faces numerous challenges, including limited healthcare access, inadequate funding, insecticide resistance, and gaps in surveillance. Vector control efforts are constrained by minimal government involvement and heavy reliance on international donors. Recent innovations, such as genomic surveillance, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and mobile health (mHealth) solutions, offer new avenues for improving diagnosis, treatment, and data collection. Integrated approaches, such as incorporating malaria prevention into routine maternal and child healthcare, expanding access to vaccines like RTS,S and R21, and improving the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), are vital for sustaining control efforts. Community engagement and behavior change strategies are crucial to increasing uptake of preventive measures. Furthermore, climate change necessitates adaptable interventions to address shifting transmission patterns. Strengthening surveillance, training community health workers, and fostering public-private-philanthropic partnerships will enhance capacity for malaria control. Sustainable financing, policy reinforcement, and innovative tools are essential to prevent resurgence and protect vulnerable populations, ensuring progress toward malaria elimination in DR Congo. This review uniquely aims to address and consolidate evidence on pregnant women and young children in the DR Congo context, highlighting innovations and donor-dependence risks.”

Cloud computing is a new era technology, which is entirely dependent on the internet to maintain large applications, where data is shared over one platform to provide better services to clients belonging to different organizations. It ensures maximum utilization of computational resources by making availability of data, software and infrastructure with at a lower cost in a secure, reliable and flexible manner. Fog computing is emerging as a powerful and popular computing paradigm, which extends cloud computing paradigm to enable the service execution in the edge network. The mobile and IoT (Internet of Things) applications could choose the computing nodes in both fog and cloud for resource provisioning. Generally, load balancing is one of the key factors to achieve resource efficiency and avoid bottleneck, overloaded and low-load resource usage. Load balancing is an important aspect of fog networks that avoids a situation with some under-loaded or overloaded fog nodes. Quality of Service (QoS) parameters such as resource utilization, cost, response time, performance, and energy consumption can be improved with load balancing. Recently, several studies have been conducted on load balancing in fog computing. This paper introduces an Artificial Immune System (AIS)-based load balancer for efficient resource allocation in fog computing, utilizing a multi-metric fitness function incorporating CPU and RAM availability, energy efficiency, and proximity. A mutation mechanism enhances adaptability and prevents allocation bias. the results reveal that the AIS achieves 41.67% better resource allocation efficiency compared to Random Load Balancer and up to 30.77% improvement over Least connection and Round Robin strategies. The AIS model effectively balances CPU utilization, latency, and energy consumption, providing a robust and scalable solution for dynamic fog networks.

Accurate prediction of concrete mechanical strength is crucial for ensuring safe and dependable infrastructure design and construction. However, traditional empirical models often face challenges in precisely predicting mechanical strength due to the complex nonlinear relationship between concrete properties and strength. This study proposes an AutoGluon–Shapley additive explanations (AutoGluon‐SHAP) approach, which automatically predicts concrete mechanical strength while providing insightful interpretations of the results. Additionally, a graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to enhance global accessibility to the model. AutoGluon leverages powerful algorithms such as LightGBM, CatBoost, XGBoost, random forest, ensembles, and neural networks within its TabularPredictor to automate model selection. The models were trained and tested using a comprehensive dataset of 1760 concrete samples sourced from the published literature, encompassing diverse concrete types, cement brands, additives, target compressive strengths, and curing periods. Results show that the WeightedEnsemble_L2 predictive model demonstrated robust performance in estimating flexural, tensile, and compressive strengths. All the predictive models achieved high performance with R2 of more than 0.98 for all the strengths’ properties. SHAP offered both global insights into the influence of the predictors on mechanical strength and local explanations for individual predictions, ensuring transparency and reliability. The developed GUI resulted in a globally accessible and reliable estimation of concrete mechanical strength.

The global prevalence of junk and nonorganic foods has made it increasingly difficult to find sustainable organic food options, despite their potential health benefits. This issue is exacerbated by factors such as production scarcity, climate change, and the widespread availability and affordability of junk food. Additionally, there is a lack of research and attention toward orphan crops, which have high nutritional value and significant health benefits, resulting in food and nutrition insecurity. One such underutilized crop is teff, a small grain cereal grown in Eritrea that is highly nutritious, resilient to climate variability, gluten‐free, and rich in dietary fiber. Teff requires low agricultural input, making it a superfood for humans and a valuable animal feed source. The lack of scientific research on teff’s agronomic characteristics, yield potentials, and nutritional benefits hinders its global recognition and distribution. To address this, the Addey Agricultural and Food Cooperative Research and Development team has reviewed existing scientific knowledge on teff. This review covers the botanical description, origin, production, climatic and soil requirements, agronomic practices, and improvement techniques of teff. Also, we explore teff’s nutritional and phytochemical composition, potential health benefits, and use as animal feed. The review highlights teff’s global potential and identifies gaps in current farming practices, recommending modern, technology‐based methods for sustainable production and productivity.

Due to the growing infrastructure and the demand for environmentally friendly environments, the use of concrete as a construction material is gradually rising. Since concrete is the second‐most utilized material after water, it is necessary to employ alternative, sustainable materials, particularly those derived from waste. Rice husk ash (RHA) is an agro‐waste from the rice milling industry that produces more than 20 million tons per year worldwide. A significant amount of RHA is discarded as waste material, resulting in substantial pollution. The pozzolanic properties of RHA make it suitable for use in the building industry, providing an alternate solution to its disposal. The utilization of RHA as a binder material in the production of geopolymer concrete or mortar is considered an effective way to prevent this substantial issue. In this review, the production, properties, and utilization of RHA in geopolymers are comprehensively and systematically studied. Moreover, the chemical, physical, and microstructure of various RHA were critically evaluated, and their influence on fresh and hardening characteristics of geopolymers is presented. Numerous research investigations have documented the advantageous impact of RHA on the mechanical, durability, and microstructural characteristics of geopolymers, particularly when utilized at an optimal dosage. In general, this analysis will give researchers and the industrial sector important information about the creation, recycling, properties, and use of RHA in the creation of geopolymers for possible building applications. The study’s findings indicate that RHA shows potential in enhancing the mechanical characteristics, durability, microstructure, and sustainability of geopolymers. Furthermore, RHA has the potential to act as a cobinder by up to 10%–20% without compromising the geopolymers’ performance due to its high pozzolanic properties, in addition to achieve 35–45 MPa when act alone.