School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://197.255.125.131:4000/handle/123456789/28142
Browse
12 results
Search Results
Item Population infection estimation from wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 in Nagpur, India during the second pandemic wave(PLoS ONE, 2024) Acheampong, E.; Husain, A.A.; Nayak, A.R.; et al.,Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as an effective environmental surveillance tool for predicting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2) disease outbreaks in high-income countries (HICs) with centralized sewage infrastructure. However, few studies have applied WBE alongside epidemic disease modelling to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in low-resource settings. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of collecting untreated wastewater samples from rural and urban catchment areas of Nagpur district, to detect and quantify SARS-CoV-2 using real-time qPCR, to compare geographic differences in viral loads, and to integrate the wastewater data into a modified Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Confirmed Positives-Recovered (SEIPR) model. Of the 983 wastewater samples analyzed for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, we detected significantly higher sample positivity rates, 43.7% (95% confidence interval (CI) 40.1, 47.4) and 30.4% (95% CI 24.66, 36.66), and higher viral loads for the urban compared with rural samples, respectively. The Basic reproductive number, R0, positively correlated with population density and negatively correlated with humidity, a proxy for rainfall and dilution of waste in the sewers. The SEIPR model estimated the rate of unreported coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases at the start of the wave as 13.97 [95% CI (10.17, 17.0)] times that of confirmed cases, representing a material difference in cases and healthcare resource burden. Wastewater surveillance might prove to be a more reliable way to prepare for surges in COVID-19 cases during future waves for authorities.Item Can an Enterprise System Persuade? The Role of Perceived Effectiveness and Social Influence(Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2018-04) Dabi, J.; Wiafe, I.; Stibe, A.; Abdulai, J.D.This study provides an interpretation to empirically explain and predict use continuance intention of students towards an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. A research model based on the information system continuance, the social identity theory, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was adopted and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The analysis uncovered important roles that perceived effectiveness and social influence play in explaining the intention of students to continue using the ERP. Further, the model demonstrated how primary task support contributes to perceived effort, which helps in explaining perceived effectiveness of the system. Computer-human dialogue support significantly contributes to perceived credibility, primary task support and perceived social influence. Social identification of the students significantly predicts perceived social influence. Research related to continuous usage of an ERP system is viable, as it enables designers and developers building more persuasive enterprise and socially influencing systems. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018.Item Effect of Dipole Corrections and Spin Orbit Coupling on Tungsten Dichalcogenides Monolayer: A in Silico First Principles Study(2018 Open Innovations Conference, OI, 2018-11) Obodo, K.O.; Ouma, C.N.M.; Gebreyesus, G; Obodo, J.T.; Braun, M.The structural and electronic properties of tungsten dichalogenides compounds (WS 2 , WSe 2 , WTe 2 ) were investigated from first principles calculations. We found that the structural and electronic properties changed both as a function of the dipole corrections and spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Comparing the calculated results with experimental values, we found that introducing SOC by itself in these 2D materials grossly underestimates the electronic band gap. Adding the self-consistent dipole correction results in larger electronic band gap for these tungsten dichalogenide compounds. Thus, the influence of dipole corrections in these 2D WX 2 materials was found to be significant. The SOC are not relevant for these materials and care should be taken on application of these dipole corrections.Item Survey of Mobile Malware Analysis, Detection Techniques and Tool(2018 IEEE 9th Annual Information Technology, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference, IEMCON 2018, 2018-11) Gyamfi, N.K.; Owusu, E.The rapid increase in the use of smartphones, has contributed to the increase in mobile attackers. In most situations deceitful applications are infected with malicious contents to cause harm to both the hardware and the software. These malicious programs or malware are usually designed to disrupt or gather information from the device. By attempts to curtail these problems various techniques are proposed. This paper attempts to analyze the most popular and recent techniques and suggests which is better.Item Bank Fraud Detection Using Support Vector Machine(2018 IEEE 9th Annual Information Technology, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference, IEMCON 2018, 2018-11) Gyamfi, N.K.; Abdulai, J.D.With the significant development of communications and computing, bank fraud is growing in its forms and amounts. In this paper, we analyze the various forms of fraud to which are exposed banks d data mining tools allowing its early detection data already accumulated in a bank. We use supervised learning methods Support Vector Machines with Spark (SVM-S) to build models representing normal and abnormal customer behavior and then use it to evaluate validity of new transactions. The results obtained from databases of credit card transactions show that these techniques are effective in the fight against banking fraud in big data. Experiment result from the study show that SVM-S have better prediction performance than Back Propagation Netw orks (BPN). Besides the average prediction, accuracy reaches a maximum when training the data ratio arrives at 0.8.Item Women in physics in Ghana: Improvement on the horizon(AIP Conference Proceedings, 2005-09) Andam, A.B.; Amponsah, P.E.; Kaufmann, E.E.In Ghana, the number of women involved in physics has been rather small compared with that of men. We report a gratifying increase in the number of women studying physics in Ghana during the past 5 years. This is the positive result of various intervention strategies that have been put in place in Ghana during the past 15 years. It is estimated that the developing countries of Africa need at least 2000 scientists per 1 million in population for effective industrial development. If this critical mass of scientific personnel is to be assembled, with the relevant supporting technical personnel, no country can afford to leave 50% of the population—the half that consists of women—out of scientific, technological, and mathematics education. It is imperative that many more women study physics if the country is to move forward and have the critical mass of scientists needed for economic growth. One of the basic problems that have put women on the sidelines in the pursuit of scientific studies and careers is gender stereotyping. Gender stereotyping of school courses and careers finds expression in the expectation that certain courses like physics, mathematics, engineering, and other technical work are “boys courses” or “men’s jobs” and girls will study languages, typing, cooking, and sewing, which will lead to jobs in catering and junior-level office work. These societal expectations are projected in the school into what has been described as “the hidden curriculum.” On paper, all subjects are open to all students, but in practice there is often gender bias toward certain subjects. The result has been a categorization of careers into “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs.” In fact, some well-meaning people have, in the past, advised that the study of science and mathematics could harm the delicate feminine frame Department of PhysicsCollection Department of StatisticsCollection Department of Computer ScienceCollection Department of Earth ScienceCollection