Abstract: Physical layer security (PLS) is considered as a promising technique to prevent information eavesdropping in wireless systems. In this context, cooperative relaying has emerged as a robust solution for achieving PLS due to multipath diversity and relatively lower transmission power. However, relays or the relay operators in the practical environment are unwilling for service provisioning unless they are incentivized for their cost of services. Thus, it is required to jointly consid...
Abstract: In this thesis, the synthesis, optimization and application of a simple aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) specific extraction polymer sorbent based on molecular imprinting technology (MIT), for the selective pre-concentration of the potent AFB1 toxin from child weaning food, Tsabana manufactured in Serowe, Botswana is presented. As a food safety regulatory measure, the Tsabana must be cleared of the hazardous aflatoxins especially AFB1 before consumption as it is the most potent amongst those co...
Abstract: Liquid-liquid mixtures are ubiquitous in many natural and industrial processes. Their excess thermodynamic properties are governed by the intermolecular interactions. As such, experimental techniques such as neutron and x-ray diffractions, or computational chemistry methods can be used to probe structure at atomic level. However, they are rather scarce and expensive. Our interest is on the binary liquid mixtures involving 2,2′-difurylmethane (DFM) and n-alcohol, which have been s...
Abstract: Energy consumption has risen to be a bottleneck in wireless sensor networks. This is caused by the challenges faced by these networks due to their tiny sensor nodes that have limited memory storage, small battery capacity, limited processing capability, and bandwidth. Data compression has been used to reduce energy consumption and improve network lifetime, as it reduces data size before it can be forwarded from the sensing node to the sink node in the network. In this paper, a surv...
Abstract: Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) have been globally considered emerging environmental contaminants that pose a serious concern to human health and the ecosystem. The ubiquitous nature of ARB and ARGs among pathogens from wastewater effluents, indicate that wastewater treatment facilities are major reservoirs for antibiotic resistance determinants, thus contributing to the widespread dissemination of antibiotic resistance. The primary object...
Abstract: The Banana Zone Cu-Ag Prospect is within the SW-NE trending Ghanzi-Chobe Belt (GCB), which extends from the Namibia-Botswana border in the south to Shinamba Hills in the north near the Botswana-Zambia border. The Banana Zone is also part of the Ghanzi Project owned by Khoemacau Copper Mining and situated between the Ghanzi and Maun townships, in Botswana. The Banana Zone has inferred resource of over 225.4 million metric tonnes (Mt) grading 0.64% Cu and 8.1 g/t Ag. The GCB consists...
Abstract: Fruit production is one of the fastest growing sectors in Botswana. As one of the agricultural sectors, fruit production is very crucial as it contributes immensely towards income generation and employment opportunities, especially for vulnerable rural livelihoods. Despite all the benefits, one of the biggest hurdles in the fruit production industry is disease and insect pests. Chief among these insect pests is the Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae). Bactrocera dor...
Abstract: Botswana has about 84 % of its land area as part of the semi-arid Kalahari desert and it experiences over 320 clear sky days per annum, with a solar insolation of 21 MJ/m2 per day on a horizontal flat surface. This favors energy generation using concentrated solar thermal technologies, especially parabolic trough collector (PTC). PTC is the most mature technology and contributes up to about 90 % of installed concentrated solar thermal power in the world. A PTC prototype was fabrica...
Abstract: Quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum secret sharing play a pivotal role in securing con dential information. QKD allows legitimate parties to create a cryptographic key which they can use to communicate privately without being intercepted by a malicious eavesdropper. QKD exploits the laws of quantum mechanics such as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, the no cloning theorem and the principle of entanglement to detect any eavesdropper who tries to gain the knowledge of the ...
Abstract: Recently, organic and inorganic pollutants including heavy metals, effluents, dyes, and bacteria have been removed from wastewater and other environmental settings using nanomaterials. Combining two or more nanomaterials to form nanocomposites offers improved and tailored properties for these applications. Metal-polymer nanocomposite exhibit elevated optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, which make them interesting candidates for the manufacturing of functional de...
Abstract: Parental magma composition to layered ultramafic to mafic intrusions are commonly studied using rocks occurring along their contact with the surrounding country rock. These include sills, dykes and/or rare chill margins. In comparison to the well-studied ~2.05 Ga Bushveld Complex layered intrusion, no study is available on the parental magma composition of the Molopo Farms Complex layered intrusion in southern Botswana. With a size, approximately 1/3rd of the Bushveld Complex, mafi...
Abstract: A novel, selective, sensitive, cheap and robust hemoglobin imprinted polymer (Hb-MIP) in the form of a powder, was synthesised through bulk, free-radical polymerization employing molecular imprinting technology (MIT), for the selective removal of interfering hemoglobin from whole blood samples prior to instrumental analysis in molecular diagnostics and toxicological assays. Following solid phase extraction clean-up through batch rebinding experiments, the Hb-MIP powder effectively ...
Abstract: Internal erosion and development of seepage pathways is an ever present concern in earth fill dams, and are a major reason for many dam failures. Internal erosional progresses that are responsible for many dam failures are usually difficult to detect at their onset using the currently in-built monitoring systems that are installed during dam construction. Importantly, increased seepage in dams can only be observed after manifesting at the surface, at which time the integrity of the...
Abstract: Botswana is a country which depends mainly on cereal agriculture, done mostly by rural farmers as their major income stream. However, lepidopteran stemborers are a major constraint in the rural farmers’ cultivation of cereal crops. Species diversity and distribution of these insects of economic concern is currently unknown in Botswana. Through a survey, I catalogued the diversity of stemborers, host plant interactions and their associated parasitoids across Botswana. A total of 1...
Abstract: We propose a new generalized family of distributions called the exponentiated generalized power series (EGPS) family of distributions and study its sub-model, the exponentiated generalized logarithmic (EGL) class of distributions, in detail. The structural properties of the new model (EGPS) and its sub-model (EGL) distribution including moments, order statistics, Rényi entropy, and maximum likelihood estimates are derived. We used the method of maximum likelihood to estimate the p...