Department of Mathematics and Statistics

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    Nutrition and work efficiency as a strategic variable necessary in a mining environment for high productivity: A case of Filabusi mining community
    (Qeios, 2023-06-09) Ndlovu, Meshach; Zulu, Eldon
    Work has a central role in the lives of big share of mine employees and meals they eat during the workday comprise an important factor in their nutrition, health, and wellbeing. The objective of this study was to examine the contribution of agricultural dimension, vegetable markets enhancing nutrition and work efficiency as a strategic necessity in a mining environment for high productivity during the COVID 19 pandemic. The study employed a Quasi –experiment quantitative research paradigm and a questionnaire was distributed to the mentioned population. Also of note, are the socio-demographic, socio- economic and work-related factors to the eating patterns of 150 mine employees from 6 different mines around Filabusi community during the working day and how their eating patterns influence dietary intake and productivity? The study revealed that, all the variables in the pre-test analysis indicated no significant difference in each of the listed variables between the two groups then the evidence in the post-test analysis point out that the two variables with a significant difference between the two group is strongly as a result of the treatment (eating habits, nutrition and diet) during this COVID-19 pandemic that has led to better emotional strength and improved productivity at work place.
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    Exploring the impact of how criminals interact with cyber-networks—a mathematical modeling approach
    (Taylor & Francis, 2024-01-11) Chikore, Tichaona; Nyirenda-Kayuni, Mwawi; Chukwudum, Queensley C.; Chazuka, Zviiteyi; Mwaonanji, John; Ndlovu, Meshach; Zhangazha, Moster; Mhlabane, Fezile; Osman, Shaibu; Nyabadza, Farai; White, K. A. Jane; Shang, Yilun
    There is a growing interest in using mathematical models to understand crime dynamics, crime pre-vention, and detection. The past decade has experienced a relative reduction in conventional crimes, but this has been replaced by significant increases in cybercrime. In this paper, we use deterministic modelling to describe the spread of cybercrime across a cyber-network by describing the hetero-geneity of interactions between individuals using a nonlinear interaction between individuals in the network, and we allow criminals to operate either internally or externally to the cyber-network. We are able to determine the impact of the location of the criminal relative to the cyber-network which is being attacked. The model structure incorporates key elements of a social network structure thereby allowing for limited rates of victimisation. Both model structure and our observations are novel and provide a new contribution to the theoretical discussion of cybercrime dynamics, offering potential avenues to consider control strategies. Using steady-state analysis and extensive numerical simu-lations, we find that the location of criminals relative to the network does not impact the system qualitatively, although there are quantitative differences. Cyber-networks that are more clustered are likely to experience greater levels of cybercrime, but there is also a saturation effect that limits the level of victimisation as the number of criminals attempting to undertake crimes on given network increases. We discuss model limitations and describe how the model might be used with datasets to translate the theoretical findings into a useful tool in the fight to detect and eradicate cybercrime activity.