Workflow automation in liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

We describe the fully automated workflow path developed for the ingest and analysis of liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS) data. With the help of this computational workflow, we were able to replace two human work days to analyze data with two hours of unsupervised computation time. In addition, this tool also can compute confidence intervals for all its results, based on the noise level present in the data. We leverage only open source tools and libraries in this workflow

The effect of ageing on the innervation and total collagen content of human colon.

This thesis addressed the enteric innervations and total collagen content and its distribution within the functional sublayers, namely: mucosa, submucosa and muscularis externa (circular muscle (CM) and taenia coli (TC)) in ageing human colon.Macroscopically normal ascending (AC) and descending (DC) colon was obtained at surgery from cancer patients without diagnosis of diverticular disease or inflammatory bowel disease. Masson’s trichrome and Picrosirius red stains were employed to identify the total collagen content and distribution within the colonic wall. A hydroxyproline assay evaluated the total collagen concentration in the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human colonic samples. Assessment of the subtypes of enteric glial cells (EGCs) and calretinin- immunoreactive (IR) enteric neurons were demonstrated by immunohistochemical method. Standardized procedures were utilised to ensure unbiased counting and densitometric evaluation for further quantitative analysis.The results of the present study demonstrated that greater a collagen content was present in the submucosa and muscularis externa, particularly the TC in the elderly (≥ 65 years) samples compared to adult (< 65 years). The density of S100-IR EGCs declined among the elderly in the CM and within the myenteric plexus (MP) per ganglionic area. There was little or no GFAP-IR EGCs in both adult and elderly colon. Among the elderly, the density of calretinin-IR neurons and fibres were decreased in the submucosal plexus of AC but not clearly in the DC. In the mucosal layer of both AC and DC, the decrease in density of calretinin-IR fibres was greater in the AC compared to DC. Sex related differences were not found when data combined in both the AC and DC samples. Collectively, these results indicate that there are region and sublayer dependent changes in the distribution of total collagen fibres, EGCs and calretinin-IR enteric neurons in ageing human colon. This age-related structural change may differentially impact upon specialised functions and affect colonic physiology

Investigating underemployment in South Africa

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDLabour economists in South Africa have extensively researched on almost all aspects of the unemployment phenomenon, specifically, the levels and extent of unemployment as well as the causes of unemployment have received a lot of empirical attention. One category of the labour force, namely the underemployed, has mostly been ignored in empirical studies. An investigation into the prevalence and rate of underemployment is essential because unemployment alone underestimates the magnitude of a country’s available excess labour capacity. The study focuses on various conceptual and empirical issues, including the definition of underemployment, the extent of underemployment in South Africa, demographic characteristics of the underemployed, an empirical estimation of the total earnings effect of underemployment, the duration of underemployment, and the possible policy options to tackle underemployment. To achieve its research objectives, the study conducts various descriptive and econometric analyses, using the data from the 1995-2016 labour force surveys and the first four waves of NIDS conducted in 2008-2015

A CREDIT ANALYSIS OF THE UNBANKED AND UNDERBANKED: AN ARGUMENT FOR ALTERNATIVE DATA

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the statistical and economic significance of non-traditional credit data for individuals who do not have sufficient economic data, collectively known as the unbanked and underbanked. The consequences of not having sufficient economic information often determines whether unbanked and underbanked individuals will receive higher price of credit or be denied entirely. In terms of regulation, there is a strong interest in credit models that will inform policies on how to gradually move sections of the unbanked and underbanked population into the general financial network. In Chapter 2 of the dissertation, I establish the role of non-traditional credit data, known as alternative data, in modeling borrower default behavior for individuals who unbanked and underbanked individuals by taking a statistical approach. Further, using a combined traditional and alternative auto loan data, I am able to make statements about which alternative data variables contribute to borrower default behavior. Additionally, I devise a way to statistically test the goodness of fit metric for some machine learning classification models to ascertain whether the alternative data truly helps in the credit building process. In Chapter 3, I discuss the economic significance of incorporating alternative data in the credit modeling process. Using a maximum utility approach, I show that combining alternative and traditional data yields a higher profit for the lender, rather than using either data alone. Additionally, Chapter 3 advocates for the use of loss functions that aligns with a lender\u27s business objective of making a profit

EXTREMISTS VERSUS EXTREMISTS: HOW THE GLOBAL CONTESTATION BETWEEN THE ISLAMIC STATE AND AL-QAEDA GOT TO NORTHWEST AFRICA

Prior to the 2011 political unrest in the Middle East, Al-Qaeda had been the hegemon in the global jihadism until its offspring the Islamic State in Iraq shot into fame through their spectacular military successes in Iraq and Syria, throwing a challenge to Al-Qaeda. The feat of the Islamic State attracted a lot of foreign fighters to join them. The relationship between Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State became more acrimonious when the Islamic State rebranded and called itself the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). As was expected, these developments caused concerns among leaders of Al-Qaeda who felt their monopoly over global jihad was slipping out of their hands. Though the affiliates of these two groups fought each other in every theater they met, their Sahel affiliates, Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS), and Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) in Northwest Africa had a cooperative relationship until 2019. While Al-Qaeda embarks on preaching Islam to the people in its areas of jurisdiction, ISIS focuses on seizing territories. This series of events has created problems between the two prominent terrorist groups of which none is ready to accept the other's supremacy.Brigadier General, Ghana ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Advanced Prognostic Modeling for Breast Cancer Patients: Leveraging Data-Driven Approaches for Survival Analysis

Breast cancer is the second most prevalent form of cancer in women in the United States. Each year, about 264,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women and of this number, about 42,000 women lose their lives as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Early detection and effective treatment are crucial for improving survival rates and reducing mortality. This study aimed to explore the influential factors that may risk the survival of women with the disease and compare their predictive abilities using several error and performance metrics. The study uses a dataset from the National Cancer Institute\u27s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program containing information on 4024 women with infiltrating duct and lobular carcinoma breast cancer diagnosed between 2006 - 2010. We adopt the ensemble technique, Random Survival Forest which was built as a time-to-event extension of the random forest that can handle high-dimensional data and interactions between variables, and the Cox Proportional Deep Neural Network which can handle complex nonlinear relationships between covariates. The LASSO Cox regression technique was employed as a variable selection method to be used in building the models. To improve the interpretability of the results, the Shapley Additive explanation was utilized in the study to shed light on the models\u27 performance and to facilitate the interpretation of the model\u27s variables, using the features obtained from the Cox regression hazard model and Machine Learning techniques such as the Extreme Gradient Boosting, LightGBM, SVM with RBF Kernel and Random Forests algorithms as a benchmark

Managing water adequacy, reliability and safety challenges through sustainable strategies in a mine-catchment community

Newmont Mining Corporation (Denver, U.S.A.) is the parent Company of Newmont Ghana Gold Limited that operates in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. This information is picked from the Ahafo site of the Company in a town called Kenyasi, comprising three suburbs;namely, Kenyasi # 1, Kenyasi # 2 and OLA resettlement. The operations of Newmont resulted into population influx. Pressure on water supply systems became very great, amidst other challenges. At OLA resettlement, residents also faced problems regarding the quality of the water. These circumstances led to agitations and road blocks which normally prevented Company vehicles from working. Newmont’s timely assessment and attention to the challenges resolved all the issues

Simultaneous minimisation of water and energy within a water and membrane network superstructure

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, 2015The scarcity of water and strict environmental regulations have made sustainable engineering a prime concern in the process and manufacturing industries. Water minimisation involves the reduction of freshwater use and effluent discharge in chemical plants. This is achieved through water reuse, water recycle and water regeneration. Optimisation of the water network (WN) superstructure considers all possible interconnections between water sources, water sinks and regenerator units (membrane systems). In most published works, membrane systems have been represented using the “black-box” approach, which uses a simplified linear model to represent the membrane systems. This approach does not give an accurate representation of the energy consumption and associated costs of the membrane systems. The work presented in this dissertation therefore looks at the incorporation of a detailed reverse osmosis network (RON) superstructure within a water network superstructure in order to simultaneously minimise water, energy, operating and capital costs. The WN consists of water sources, water sinks and reverse osmosis (RO) units for the partial treatment of the contaminated water. An overall mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) framework is developed, that simultaneously evaluates both water recycle/reuse and regeneration reuse/recycle opportunities. The solution obtained from optimisation provides the optimal connections between various units in the network arrangement, size and number of RO units, booster pumps as well as energy recovery turbines. The work looks at four cases in order to highlight the importance of including a detailed regeneration network within the water network instead of the traditional “black-box’’ model. The importance of using a variable removal ratio in the model is also highlighted by applying the work to a literature case study, which leads to a 28% reduction in freshwater consumption and 80% reduction in wastewater generation.GR201

A reading of “oil” (James 5:14) in the Ghanaian Christian Ministry

This paper sought to examine the meaning and the significance of James 5:14. The place of anointing oil in Christian ministry has taken on new meanings and significance, albeit the traditional views. The anointing oil is being used for exorcism, as a repellant against evil powers, an aid of socio-economic well-being and the like. However, through a lexico-syntactical analysis, it has been concluded that the oil referred to in the passage has a pure medical significance and that prayer of faith, as the worldview of the author, reinforces and accelerates the healing process of the medicinal oil. Therefore, any Christian who shares the worldview of the author can blend prayer of faith and any prescribed medicine to help in a healing process.Keywords: Oil, Ghanaian Christian, Christian ministry, Anointing oil, Bibiani Cour