Science and Technology

The purpose of the research was to come up with or to recommend an efficient system back up procedure. This is a critical requirement as every institute depend on data. It is therefore the lifeblood of any company and a strategic asset. In the cases of litigation requests, for example, companies are responsible for providing the required information needed for their defence, and this now may include backed up data. Due to all these developments, business and corporate authorities have gained a clear awareness of the need to back up their data as part of their overall business continuity and disaster recovery plan, hence the purpose of this research to come up with an efficient system back up procedure.

In the present study, a sustainable maize stover-g-methyl methacrylate (MS-g-MMA) biopolymer was synthesized by free radical polymerization using benzoyl peroxide initiator and applied in the removal of methyl red dye from aqueous solutions. Monomer concentration, initiator concentration, temperature and reaction time were the synthesis independent variables. The prepared biopolymer was characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The effects of pH (2 − 11), contact time (5-300 min), initial concentration (5-50 mg/L), adsorbent dosage (0.2-2 g) and temperature (20-50 °C) were investigated through batch adsorption studies. The optimum conditions were determined to be pH 6, contact time 120 min, adsorbent dosage 0.2 g and initial concentration 5 mg•L− 1. The adsorption kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic parameters were studied. The kinetic and isotherm data followed pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacities of 13.58 and 23.47 mg/g were achieved for raw and modified maize stover, respectively. The adsorption process was endothermic, spontaneous and chemisorption. This study showed that MS-g-MMA could be applied as a potential biopolymer for the removal of methyl red from aqueous solutions.

Zimbabwe Government invests significant amount of money is to construct tollgates infrastructure along its major roads with the intention of generating road maintenance revenue. This research exploits the use of Geo-Fencing (G-F) with the aid of GPS systems to create cheap infrastructure-less tolling system that is more efficient compared to the current ZINARA tolling system. The city geographical boundaries generate a digital G-F around it. The coordinates of the G-F that intersect with the road network on the digital map thus become the virtual toll points (tolling points). Vehicles equipped with active GPS systems linked to a toll-fee account, constantly communicates with the control centre, relaying real-time vehicle coordinates to the servers. Billing is affected every time a vehicle crosses the tolling point. Successful model functionality of the infrastructure-less tollgate system is presented and developed using Arduino micro-controllers and a modified GPS map-matching algor...