PRIVATE SECURITY SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM

Security is an essential need for man. Without the sense of security, daily human activities will be greatly affected. Most people go to great lengths to ensure there is a presence of security in their environment, often employing dedicated personnel to keep watch over them and their property. This paper proposes a design of a microcontroller based electronic security system which helps to detect possible intruders to a home. This security system is designed to reduce the need of having personnel stationed as security guards over a home. It has the primary unit called the Area Watch Unit (AWU) consisting of a motion detection unit that effectively detects motion around specified perimeters which is then followed by a computer vision to identify and classify what caused the motion. A facial recognition algorithm is run on the face extracted from the image captured after the object that caused the motion is identified and classified as human. Access is then granted to the individual if the results from the facial recognition is positive otherwise a message is sent to the owner of the home indicating a possible intruder is present. There is also a Final Recovery Unit (FRU) which sends a message to the owner of the home and sounds an alarm whiles flashing lights in the event that the Area Watch Unit (AWU) is by-passed without authority

Drowsing Driver Alert System for Commercial Vehicles

A number of accidents on our roads are caused by driver fatigue or drowsiness. Human fatalities as a result of driver drowsiness has been a major challenge for road safety bodies worldwide. Various road safety campaign messages have been put out to discourage drivers from driving whilst tired, but the problem still persists. Different technologies have been proposed over the years, but most seem to be too expensive to implement on a large scale. We present an inexpensive drowsing driver alert system in this paper. The system, known as Drowsing Driver Alert System (DDAS) is a smart system intended to effectively keep commercial drivers alert when driving. The system is able to detect when a driver is drowsy and alert him/her in real-time to prevent a potential accident. Using a camera, the eyes of the driver are monitored continuously whiles driving and analyzed to determine if they are shut or the blink rate is not normal. Two stages of alerts are given if the driver is determined to be drowsy. Log files of activities performed by the system are also saved to an external storage device to enable further analysis later

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Intelligent Miniature Circuit Breaker

The traditional electrical distribution panel (or breaker panel) is a system that divides the main electrical power feed and distributes them to subsidiary circuits whiles providing a protective mechanism via the use of miniature circuit breakers, residual current devices, etc. The conventional panel distributes electrical power alright but the system does not make provision for any form of real time monitoring and feedback of power consumption levels in the home. This paper presents a design of a miniature circuit breaker distribution panel integrated with other electronic devices which helps achieve real time monitoring of power consumption and also automatically trips the circuit if there is a fault and reconnects the circuit if the fault is cleared to ensure little to no interruption in electricity to appliances

A Proposed DoS Detection Scheme for Mitigating DoS Attack Using Data Mining Techniques

A denial of service (DoS) attack in a computer network is an attack on the availability of computer resources to prevent users from having access to those resources over the network. Denial of service attacks can be costly, capable of reaching $100,000 per hour. Development of easily-accessible, simple DoS tools has increased the frequency and reduced the level of expertise needed to launch an attack. Though these attack tools have been available for years, there has been no proposed defense mechanism targeted specifically at them. Most defense mechanisms in literature are designed to defend attacks captured in datasets like the KDD Cup 99 dataset from 20 years ago and from tools no longer in use in modern attacks. In this paper, we capture and analyze traffic generated by some of these DoS attack tools using Wireshark Network Analyzer and propose a signature-based DoS detection mechanism based on SVM classifier to defend against attacks launched by these attack tools. Our proposed detection mechanism was tested with Snort IDS and compared with some already existing defense mechanisms in literature and had a high detection accuracy, low positive rate and fast detection time

On Distributed Denial of Service Current Defense Schemes

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are a major threat to any network-based service provider. The ability of an attacker to harness the power of a lot of compromised devices to launch an attack makes it even more complex to handle. This complexity can increase even more when several attackers coordinate to launch an attack on one victim. Moreover, attackers these days do not need to be highly skilled to perpetrate an attack. Tools for orchestrating an attack can easily be found online and require little to no knowledge about attack scripts to initiate an attack. Studies have been done severally to develop defense mechanisms to detect and defend against DDoS attacks. As defense schemes are designed and developed, attackers are also on the move to evade these defense mechanisms and so there is a need for a continual study in developing defense mechanisms. This paper discusses the current DDoS defense mechanisms, their strengths and weaknesses

Blood C‐peptide concentration as a proxy marker of cardiovascular disease: An observational cross‐sectional study

Abstract Background and Aims Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the leading causes of disability and early death in sub‐Saharan Africa. Most of the current blood tests for CVD diagnosis involve performing about three test profiles; often at additional cost to patients. C‐peptide, a cleavage product of proinsulin, is a promising marker that has the potential to serve as a proxy marker for diagnosing CVDs in resource‐poor settings. Methodology The study was an observational cross‐sectional one and involved 127 consenting persons diagnosed with CVD and 127 individuals without CVD. The socio‐demographic and clinical characteristics of participants were obtained. Blood levels of C‐peptide, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), total creatinine kinase (CK), creatine kinase myocardial bound (CKMB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), propeptide of brain natriuretic peptide (PBNP), Troponin T, lipids, and biomarkers of kidney and liver function were analyzed using ELISA and an automated analyzer. Insulin resistance was computed using the modified homeostatic model assessment (HOMA‐IR). Results The CVD Group had significantly higher levels of C‐peptide, CK, CKMB, troponin T, PBNP, FPG, HOMA‐IR, and several selected kidney, liver, and lipid parameters compared to the non‐CVD Group (p < 0.05 for all). Troponin T recorded a positive correlation (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) with C‐peptide among the CVD Group. The sensitivity and specificity of C‐peptide in identifying CVD were 96.1% and 91.3% respectively (area under the curve = 0.938, p < 0.001). Conclusion C‐peptide levels were higher in the CVD Group and appeared to be a valuable (high sensitivity and specificity) biomarker in detecting CVD

Preliminary Investigation into Plasmodium-like Piroplasms (Babesia/Theileria) among Cattle, Dogs and Humans in A Malaria-Endemic, Resource-Limited Sub-Saharan African City

Babesia and Theileria are protozoan parasites belonging to the order piroplasmida, transmitted by hard ticks, and can cause diseases known as piroplasmosis. Human infections are usually asymptomatic, except in immuno-compromised persons who present malaria-like symptoms. Moreover, microscopically, the morphologies of Babesia and Theileria can resemble that of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium. In malaria-endemic areas with limited resources, these similarities can increase the possibility of misdiagnosing a patient as having malaria instead of piroplasmosis, which may further lead to inappropriate choice of disease management. This preliminary investigation aimed at detecting Babesia/Theileria in cattle, dogs and humans in some parts of Accra. Whole blood samples were taken from febrile cattle (n = 30) and dogs (n = 33), as well as humans diagnosed with malaria (n = 150). Blood samples of all study subjects were microscopically screened for possible presence of haemoparasites. Samples whose smears had features suggestive of possible piroplasmic infection were all given the label &ldquo;suspected Babesia/Theileria-infected&rdquo; samples. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on extracted deoxyribonucelic acid (DNA) from all the &ldquo;suspected&rdquo; samples of cattle, dogs and humans, with primer sets that can detect 18S rRNA genes of Babesia/Theileria spp. In addition to this, amplification was performed on the &ldquo;suspected&rdquo; dog samples using the BcW-A/BcW-B primer set which detects the 18S rRNA genes of B. canis, while the BoF/BoR primer set which targets the rap-1 region of B. bovis and another primer set which detects the 18S rRNA genes of most bovine Babesia spp. (including B. divergens) were used on the suspected cattle samples. For the human samples, however, additional amplification was done on the extracted DNA using primers for the three other Babesia targeted (B. divergens, B. bovis and B. canis). Microscopy showed possible Babesia/Theileria infection suspected in all three groups of subjects in the following proportions: cattle (10/30; 33%), dogs (3/33; 9%) and humans (6/150; 4%). DNA from one-third of the &ldquo;suspected&rdquo; dog samples yielded amplification with Babesia canis primers. Moreover, a broad-detecting set of primers (that can amplify some Babesia and Theileria species) amplified DNA from nine (9/30; 30%) of the &ldquo;suspected&rdquo; cattle samples, but none from those of the humans. Although for this study conducted in the city, the Babesia/Theileria primers used did not amplify DNA from the six &ldquo;suspected&rdquo; human samples; the possibility of Babesia/Theileria infection in humans in other parts of the country cannot be overruled. There is therefore a need for further studies on possible emergence of human babesiosis/theileriosis in other parts of Ghana and sequencing for specific identification of any circulating strain

Unravelling the Perspectives of Day and Night Traders in Selected Markets within a Sub-Saharan African City with a Malaria Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Survey

Background: Malaria is still endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, with a high disease burden. Misconceptions about malaria contribute to poor attitudes and practices, further increasing the burden in endemic countries. Studies have examined the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of malaria among different populations. However, there seems to be no available literature reporting on the perspectives of day and night market traders. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on malaria KAP with a focus on day and night market traders. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study involving day and night market traders in 10 selected markets within the Greater Accra Region of Ghana was carried out. Data were collected from consenting respondents using a structured questionnaire. Results: Of the 760 respondents (33.3% (n = 253) night and 66.7% (n = 507) day traders) interviewed, there was no significant difference between the day and night market traders in terms of malaria KAP. Although the market traders had an overall moderate knowledge (54.0% of the day traders and 56.5% of the night traders), misconceptions about malaria (especially that it could be caused by exposure to the sun) still existed among the traders. Moreover, the majority of the traders who demonstrated high knowledge (43.98%, n = 250) did not always take laboratory tests to confirm their suspicion, indicating poor attitude. Furthermore, the market traders’ choice of drug for malaria treatment (p = 0.001) and preferred malaria treatment type (orthodox or herbal) (p = 0.005) were significantly associated with their knowledge level. Conclusions: Despite the observation that no significant difference in KAP exists between day and night market traders, appropriate health education programs and interventions still need to be directed at misconceptions, poor attitudes, and poor practices revealed by this study. This will ultimately help in the prevention and control of malaria in Ghana, and globally