Natural & Applied Sciences

Research Papers/Topics Natural & Applied Sciences

Effectiveness of using milled Moringa Oleifera seeds as a disinfectant in waste water treatment

Abstract: Water disinfection is a crucial water treatment process because it deals with the removal of pathogens to make water safe to drink. Moringa oleifera extract was used as a disinfectant and the total coliform count was monitored through microscopic observations. The total coliform bacteria removal at a dosage of 5 ml/100 ml of Moringa Oleifera extract was counted to be 13 colonies from an original count of 200 colonies, translating to about 93.5% removal of the bacterial strains. The...

Investigating the cybersecurity threat landscape for Botswana

Abstract: Movement restrictions introduced by the coronavirus pandemic have incentivized the rollout of online services globally. Additionally, more employees were telecommuting throughout the pandemic and remote work has become the new normal. This has provided nefarious actors with lucrative opportunities. Hence there has been an increase in online criminal and terrorism activities. The weaponization of the cyberspace is also a concerning trend in the ongoing geopolitical tensions. This is...

Investigation of the efficacy of a ZnO-starch nanocomposite packaging to prolong the shelf life of fragaria ananassa (strawberries)

Abstract: Nanomaterials have been used recently in food packaging as antibacterial coatings because of their desirable antibacterial and antifungal properties. The use of antimicrobial packaging is to deter the growth of microorganisms responsible for spoilage or diseases in packaged foods, therefore prolonging their shelf life. In this study, potato peel starch and ZnO-starch nanocomposite paper (ZnO-starch NC paper) were developed and evaluated for antibacterial activity against Esche...

The effects of heavy metals on the quality and yield of vetiver grass (chrysopogon zizanioides) essential oil

Abstract: Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides;CZ) is a well-known grass that can both remediate various heavy metals in soil as well as producing essential oil that is commonly used in premier perfumery, food and pharmaceutical industries. Due to this versatility property, this study was aimed at extracting essential oil from Chrysopogon zizanioides roots cultivated in SelibePhikwe mine tailings and study the quality and quantity (chemical composition and yield) of the Chrysopogon ziza...

Generalized synchronization of regulate seizures dynamics in partial epilepsy with fractional-order derivatives

Abstract: The dynamical behavior and the synchronization of epileptic seizure dynamics, with fractional-order derivatives, is studied in this paper. Knowing that the dynamical properties of ictal electroencephalogram signal recordings during experiments displays complex nonlinear behaviors, we analyze the system from chaos theory point of view. Based on stability analysis, the system presents three equilibrium points with two of them unstable. Moreover, the system reveals attractor points fr...

Impact of higher-order dispersions and non-kerr nonlinearities on soliton pulse trains induced by modulational instability in doped and undoped optical fibers

Abstract: We start by considering the theory of electromagnetic waves, from the Maxwell’s equa tions, the extended (1+1)D complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, higher-order nonlin ear Schr¨odinger equation are derived with the third, fourth, fifth and sixth-order dis persions and the cubic, quintic, and septic nonlinear terms, describing the dynamics of extremely short pulses in nonlinear undoped and doped optical fibers. The linear stability analysis is employed to extract an expression for ...

Neuronal firing and DNA dynamics in a neural network

Abstract: We study the mutual effects of neuronal electrical activity and DNA dynamics in a network of electrically coupled neurons with nearest neighbors communication. For that we develop by means of the coupling function method, a mathematical DNA-neuron model that can be considered as an extension of the simplified Hodgkin-Huxley models. Numerically, we explore the biological properties of the model with emphasis on local phase transitions and synchronous neural activity. Our results sug...

EEG human biometric authentication using eye blink artefacts

Abstract: This study proposes a new electroencephalography (EEG) biometric authentication for humans based on eye blinking signals extracted from brainwaves. The brainwave signal has been investigated for person authentication over the years because of its difficulties in spoofing. Due to advancing low-cost EEG hardware equipment, it has recently been significantly explored. Most studies in brainwave authentication focus on the use of imagination and mental task to authenticate a subjec...

Comparison of CaO-NPs and Chicken Eggshell-Derived CaO in the production of Biodiesel from Schinziophyton rautanenii (Mongongo) Nut Oil

Abstract: The ever-increasing population growth and economic developments have heightened demand for energy. This has resulted in depletion and ever-rising prices of petroleum diesel, thus increasing environmental degradation. These complications have motivated this study for the search of an alternative eco-friendly and renewable source of energy such as biodiesel. Biodiesel has been found to be a potential alternative fuel for diesel. Biodiesel was produced by transesterification reaction ...

Conceptual Framework for Multi-Factor Authentication for Mobile Money Systems in Lesotho

Abstract: The widespread use of mobile phones has contributed significantly to the emergence of Mobile Money Transfer Services (MMTS) in Lesotho. This invention made a great contribution to the financial sector as it bridged the gap between those who qualify for a bank account and those who have to rely on other financial services except for bank, for their financial needs. The main objective of this research study is to enhance the security of MMTS in Lesotho, and solve its security vulnera...

Isolation of serotype-specific antibodies against Dengue virus non-structural protein 1 using phage display and application in a multiplexed serotyping assay

Abstract: The multidimensional nature of dengue virus (DENV) infections, which can be caused by four distinct serotypes of the virus, complicates the sensitivity of assays designed for the diagnosis of infection. Different viral markers can be optimally detected at different stages of infection. Of particular clinical importance is the early identification of infection, which is pivotal for disease management and the development of blood screening assays. Non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is an...

Microbial and chemical diversity of traditional non-cereal based alcoholic beverages of Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: Fermentation remains an important food preparation technique of health, cultural and economic importance throughout the world. In Sub-Saharan Africa, traditional alcoholic fermentation of cereal and non-cereal based substrates into alcoholic beverages is deeply rooted in the society. Although a multitude of traditional alcoholic beverages from cereal substrates are well researched and documented, their non-cereal based counterparts, mostly produced from indigenous, inexpensive subs...

Extending the technology acceptance model to predict mobile learning adoption among tertiary education students in Botswana

Abstract: A new paradigm shift from eLearning to mLearning will inevitably change the learning process. There is an immense proliferation of mobile technologies however in education these technologies are not fully utilised. Thus the key question that arises is that what are the factors which influence students to adopt mobile technologies in education? The purpose of the study is to extend and apply Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the theoretical framework to explain the determinants o...

Enhanced deep learning with featured transfer learning in Identifying disguised faces

Abstract: The objective of face recognition is, given an image of a human face identify the class to which the face belongs to. Face classification is one of the useful task and can be used as a base for many real-time applications like authentication, tracking, fraud detection etc. Given a photo of a person, we humans can easily identify who the person is without any effort. But manual systems are biased and involves lot of effort and expensive. Automatic face recognition has been an import...

Optimizing yield and quality of bio-oil: a comparative study of Acacia tortilis and Pine dust

Abstract: We collected pine dust and Acacia tortilis samples from Zimbabwe and Botswana, respectively. We then pyrolyzed them in a bench-scale plant under varying conditions. This investigation aimed to determine an optimum temperature that will give result to maximum yield and quality of the bio-oil fraction. Our experimental results show that we obtain the maximum yield of the oil fraction at a pyrolysis temperature of 550 ◦C for the acacia and at 500 ◦C for the pine dust. Our results ...


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