Abstract: A new hexadentate 2-picolyl-polypyridyl-based ligand (4, 4’-(butane-1, 4-diylbis(oxy))bis(N, N-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)aniline)) (2BUT) (1) and its corresponding Ru(II/III) complexes were synthesized and characterized, followed by assessment of their possible bioactive properties towards drug-resistant and non-drug-resistant bacteria. Spectroscopic characterization of the ligand was done using proton NMR, FTIR, and ESI-MS, which showed that the ligand was successfully synthesized....
Abstract: Recently, Chang et al. (2015) constructed an algorithm that converges weakly to the solution of the split equality fixed point problem for quasi-pseudo-contractive mappings under some suitable conditions. They also showed that strong convergence is obtained in the case when the quasi-pseudo-contractive mappings are semi-compact. In this article, we construct an algorithm for quasi-pseudo-contractive mappings that always converge strongly to some solution of the split equality fixed...
Abstract: The quest for the design and synthesis of carbon dots with anti-counterfeit properties that are derived via green, environmentally friendly and economical procedures is a continuous process. Carbon dots (C-dots) derived from biowaste are cheap to synthesize, possess good photo-stabilityand high synthetic yield, making them applicable in the anti-counterfeiting of currency. Herein, we report a novel eco-friendly, cheaper, and faster method for the synthesis of carbon dots with stron...
Abstract: Agricultural residue-based fibrous (ARF) materials have been identified to be a commercially viable solution for energy-efficient building insulation application. ARFs have various advantages over synthetic fibers including environmentally friendly, light weight, low cost, and competent mechanical properties. Meanwhile, in many African countries including Botswana, the expertise to manufacture building insulators by using ARFs is scarce and consequently building insulation material...
Abstract: Data mining (also called knowledge discovery in databases) represents the process of extracting interesting and previously unknown knowledge (patterns) from data. By applying artificial intelligence together with analytical methods data can be extracted. An association rule expresses the dependence of a set of attribute-value pairs, called items, upon another set of items (item set). . The association rule mining algorithms can be classified into two main groups: the level-wise alg...
Abstract: In this letter, a general auto-correlation based frequency offset estimation (FOE) algorithm is analyzed. An approximate closed-form expression for the Mean Square Error (MSE) of the FOE is obtained, and it is proved that, given training symbols of fixed length N, choosing the number of summations in the auto-correlation to be 〈N/3〉 and the correlation distance to be 〈2N/3〉 is optimal in that it minimizes the MSE. Simulation results are provided to validate the analysis and...
Abstract: There is continuous intensive research on image compression techniques in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in the literature. Some of the image compression techniques in WSNs that exist in the literature include discrete cosine transform (DCT), discrete waveform transforms (DWT), set partitioning in a hierarchical tree (SPIHT), and embedded zero tree wavelet (EZW) coding. Research on image compression in WSNs is necessitated by the need to improve the energy efficiency of sensor nod...
Abstract: During the past 25 ka, southern Ethiopia has undergone tremendous climatic changes, from dry and relatively cold during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 25–18 ka) to the African Humid Period (AHP, 15–5 ka), and back to present-day dry conditions. As a contribution to better understand the effects of climate change on vegetation and lakes, we here present a new Predictive Vegetation Model that is linked with a Lake Balance Model and available vegetation-proxy records from southern...
Abstract: This study was conducted on the Ngaoundaba Crater Lake sediments to infer provenance, weathering conditions, organic matter accumulation, and trace metal concentrations. Ngaoundaba Lake sediments were collected using a manual core sampler at 5 to 8 m water depth. Two sediment cores from the littoral and center of the lake were analyzed for grain size distribution, water content (WC), organic matter content, mineralogy, and major and trace element concentrations. The Ngaoundaba sedi...
Abstract: The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a convergence of the mobile Internet and the Internet of Things (IoT), where vehicles function as smart moving intelligent nodes or objects within the sensing network. This paper gives two contributions to the state-of-the-art for IoV technology research. First, we present a comprehensive review of the current and emerging IoV paradigms and communication models with an emphasis on deployment in smart cities. Currently, surveys from many authors hav...
Abstract: Gaet’ale (GAL) and Mud’ara (MUP) are two hypersaline ponds located in the Danakil Depression recharged by underground water from the surrounding highlands. These two ponds have different pH, salinity, and show variation in the concentration of many ionic components. Metagenomic analysis concludes that GAL is dominated by bacteria as in the case of the other hypersaline and acidic ponds in the Danakil Depression. However, Archaea dominated the ponds of MUP. In the current study,...
Abstract: We introduce a new method to compute plant distribution in Ethiopia under paleoclimatic conditions using fuzzy logic. Using a published map of the potential vegetation for Ethiopia we decipher the boundary conditions for the main vegetation units shown, reflecting modern climatic conditions for temperature and precipitation in this region. Fuzzy logic using these climatic values on a GIS platform then derived the computational map of the potential vegetation. Comparing it with the ...
Abstract: The focus of this thesis was on the comparison in breakage behavior of heterogeneous diorite rock obtained at two separate quarry locations in Botswana. There are many problems associated with inefficient size reduction of quarry stones. Generally, when the material is left over sized, it will fail in its downstream operation because during separation/ screening the product will not pass to lower screens and it will require a secondary crushing activity resulting in a waste of ener...
Abstract: Smart implants continue to evolve, posing tremendous opportunities to move towards personalized and pervasive healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, the adoption of smart implants is still nascent in SSA despite their tremendous benefits and the increasing demand to provide pervasive and personalized healthcare. There- fore, this study aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of opportunities and potential challenges associated with the adoption of smart implants in SSA ...
Abstract: Many elderly people have hypertension, and health systems are faced with the challenge of responding to the needs of this population. The availability of Nutrition Management Service (NMS) in Out Patient Department (OPD) services is one of the strategies that have the potential to control these patients' blood pressure. The study sought to investigate the availability of NMS for the hypertensive outpatient elderly in Thamae Health Centre and Khubetsona Health Centre. The study was ...