ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of human life during last three years. One of these aspects is the adaption of new trends and technologies for everyday activities such as delivery and transportation. People now prefer to shop online and get their products delivered at home without wasting any time. Therefore, the security and importance of online and delivery applications is the main concern these days. The payment mode of these applications is online which involves personal data like bank information and user details. This problem led to the research contribution of our work. The main objective and implication of this study is to find personally identifiable information (PII) of users which uniquely identifies a person at personal and organizational scopes. In this paper, we present the forensics analysis of eight popular Android delivery and transport applications i.e. Daraz.pk, Foodpanda, Grocer app, Airlift express, Bykea, Indriver, Uber and Clicky shopping app. These applications have not been previously studied and investigated by other researchers. Furthermore, these applications are among the top android apps used by customers. It is expected that such an analysis can guide investigators towards obtaining useful information about a suspect who has used such an application on their device. The analysis process started with the installation of each application on a rooted Samsung S7 Edge smartphone. Then various activities were performed such as setting up an account, booking a ride, or ordering a delivery. After this, a physical image of the device was acquired. A detailed analysis of the image was carried out using Autopsy and all relevant artifacts were collected. A comparison of the results showed largest number of artifacts have been gathered from installation activity and the most number of unique artifacts have been collected from order and booking activity. A tabular form of analysis has also been shown with all of the source and path files from which the data has been gathered. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
As a result of COVID-19, a lot of users in Pakistan switched to online banking. However, the most significant obstacles to the widespread use of online banking applications are security and usability concerns.This research aims to analyze the security and usability of online banking applications in Pakistan. An investigation of security, usability, users' education, and comparison with international online banking applications is carried out in this study. In the first phase of this study, a survey was conducted on 302 participants to collect data from end-users perspectives in Pakistan. The statistical analysis tool SPSS was used to analyze the survey findings. In the second phase of this study, a limited number of experts were interviewed to better understand the survey findings. Survey and interview findings were compared to highlight the strength and weaknesses of online banking applications in Pakistan. Additionally, this study aims to identify users' needs and provide suggestions for improving the acceptance and usage of online banking applications in Pakistan.The results indicate that the use of mobile banking is relatively high as compared to other online banking applications. Most users are not familiar with all the features, and functions provided in online banking. Users are still experiencing significant difficulties in logging in, especially after a long time of inactivity. Additional authentication other than OTP is needed at the time of the transaction. Users should be educated about security features and security measures to avoid online attacks while banking online. It is hoped that the findings of this study will help online banking service providers in Pakistan to recognize usability, security, and user education issues and make their services more secure, usable, and convenient. Additionally, this study aims to identify users' needs and provide suggestions for improving the acceptance and usage of online banking applications in Pakistan. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The new highly transmitted pathogenic viral infection started from Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. The World Health Organization publicized that it is phylogenetically belonging to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), introduced as COVID-19 pandemic disease, and spread around the world. The first confirmed case in Kurdistan region was on 1st of March, 2020. While the first COVID-19 case in Halabja province/Kurdistan region was recorded on 27th of March, 2020. This study was designed, when the Wafa Hospital constructed in Halabja/Kurdistan region for infected patients. The data were collected from 14th April to the end of December, 2020 and included name and age of the infected persons. Samples were obtained nasopharyngeal using a sterilized swab following WHO guidelines and then the real time PCR (RT-PCR) machine was used for analysis. This study was particularly representing the impact of COVID-19 on suspected person. It was focused on the susceptibility of suspected cases in Halabja province, according to ages and sexes. During the study, 5183 cases were tested, 2796 (54%) cases were confirmed as positive result and 2387 (46%) cases were negative, including all ages, males and females. Confirmed male cases among 3116 cases were 1646 (60.1%), and 1150 (39.9%) positive cases recorded among 2067 female tests. In addition, the ages of the tested cases were divided into 10 sub-groups (0-9) years old to (90-99) years old, subsequently. The result of this study for both sexes, revealed that, the most confirmed cases among (30-39) years group and (40-49) years group were (1521) and (1223) confirmed positive cases. The lowest cases were among over 80 years old and below 9 years old (10, 3) confirmed cases. Besides, the confirmed cases for other age groups for both sexes were (50-59) years old was 397, (60-69) years old was 205, (70-79) was 77. Finally, the data showed that, the common confirmed cases were among groups 20-59 years old and the rare cases were under 9 and over 80 years.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is an infectious pandemic disease which is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Up to date, scientists are trying to identify a new specific antiviral drug to overcome this disease. Different methods are under study and evaluation in the entire world to control the virus, including blood plasma, blood purification, and antimicrobial and antiviral agents;however, there are no approved drugs yet. This review is focused on the conducted clinical trials worldwide, including the Iraq- Kurdistan region, China, USA, and Europe, to find relevant data on the agents with potential efficacy to treat the COVID-19 infection. The utmost commonly assessed therapies for this disease were chloroquine phosphate, hydroxyl-chloroquine, azithromycin, lopinavir/ritonavir, favipiravir, remdesivir, and alternatively, blood plasma, ivermectin in combination with doxycycline, and dexamethazone. This review suggests that blood plasma transfusion, the combination of hydroxyl-chloroquine with azithromycin, and remdesivir were the most abundant and efficient therapies. Thus, more light could be shed on these particular drugs on the road of drug investigation against COVID-19 pneumonia. © 2022 University of Baghdad-College of Science. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Unexpected postponement or delay in various treatment protocols during peak time of COVID-19 cause serious psychological trauma and obstacle to orthodontists and orthodontic patients as well. Objective: To evaluate depression and anxiety level of orthodontic patients during this chaos regarding their treatment even when the treatment was resumed. Study Design: Questionnaire-based cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Orthodontics, Bacha Khan College of Dentistry, Mardan from 1st July 2021 to 31st December 2021. Methods: One hundred and sixty-six orthodontic patients were enrolled after taking informed consent from the patients. Data were taken in hard form and then later verbally translated into native language of this area. Numerical rating scale was used for psychological assessment and for the determination of anxiety level where 0 refers to no anxiety and 10 interprets extreme anxiety. Results: Ninety-three females and seventy-three males were present in this study. Conclusion: Severe anxiety level was reported and patients were greatly concerned about their health.
ABSTRACT
Aim: To assess the main radiological feature of chest radiography for diagnosis and evaluation of COVID-19 patients. Methodology: A literature search was performed with the use of search engines. The following search engines provided us articles for this systematic review from until 27 February 2021: PubMed, NCBI, Medline, Medscape, and Google Scholar. We included only those articles in which CXR was performed on infected patients for the detection and evaluation of COVID-19. Results: out of eighty (80) articles, only twelve (12) were included in this review to assess the main radiological feature of chest radiography of COVID-19 patients. Patients who went for chest x-ray have shown following radiographic features with pooled percentages as mentioned GGO 32.38%, consolidation 35.15%, vascular congestion sign 7.92%, nodules 33.57% whereas pleural effusion accounts 19.36%, pneumothorax 18.55%, and lymphadenopathy was noted on 1.96%. Pooled Percentages of radiographic features of COVID-19 patients in right lung, left lung or both affected lungs were 21.32%, 5.77% and 47.78% respectively. This calculation is showing B/L lung involvement is more dominant as compare to right and left lung independently. Conclusion: Chest radiograph can be helpful modality in the diagnosis, evaluation and follow-up of SARS- CoV 2 pneumonia patients. Consolidation, GGO with peripheral distribution of lesion and bilateral pneumonia are most common findings of COVID-19 on chest X-ray. Chest x-ray are the baseline/first line approach for COVID-19 as it is easily available. Moreover, in late stages multiple radiological findings are quite helpful.
ABSTRACT
Aim: HRCT chest findings in PCR positive or clinically suspected patients of COVID-19 infection. Methods: Retrospective study recruited 207 clinically suspected patients of COVID disease with duration of 1-14 days from the radiology department of Shalamar Hospital Lahore. Patients were categorized into two groups on the basis of PCR +ve (123) and PCR -ve group (84). Results: Among 123 PCR +ve patients, 107 patients were CT Positive and 16 were CT negative. While from 84 PCR -ve patients, 38 patients were CT positive. Among PCR Positive patients, most prevalent finding was GGO (84.5%), followed by lymphadenopathy(48.8%), interlobular septal thickening (41.5%), consolidation (5.7%) on HRCT chest. The GGO was mostly bilateral (82.2%) and Peripheral (47.8%). Among 84 PCR negative patients, GGO (45.3%), followed by interlobular septal thickening (28.6%), lymphadenopathy (19.1%). The GGO was mostly bilateral (26.2%) and Peripheral (25%). HRCT Chest has Sensitivity (86%), specificity (54%) and accuracy 74%. Conclusion: GGOs with bilateral and peripheral distribution was the most common finding in both PCR positive and negative patients, whereas lymphadenopathy in PCR positive and Interlobular septal thickening in PCR negative patients was the second common finding. High resolution CT Chest performs a significant role in early diagnosis of patients with COVID-19 due to its high sensitivity and specificity.
ABSTRACT
The unfolding Covid-19 is posing worldwide health and socio-economic threats. As most of the world attention is concentrated upon a few countries, in many fragile areas, the impact of the pandemic on the health systems might be even higher, but risks staying hidden from public consideration. This is the case of Iraq where Covid-19 is a further burden on an already weakened public health system. This study draws attention to the Autonomous Region of the Iraqi Kurdistan, that before the emergency was investing in the rebuilding of its public health system after decades of tensions and conflicts. Information on governmental measures for COVID-19 containment and response, management approaches, prevention interventions, and public opinion reactions have been collected from official sources, websites and from interviews with the local staff working in the field. The experience of the Iraqi Kurdistan opens new opportunities for reflection on how a war-torn region is dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. Acquiring knowledge on the health needs of such a fragile area holds a paramount importance for providing preparedness planning and enhancing resilience of the public health system in case of future disasters. The lesson learnt might be useful for other regions living in similar contexts. © 2020, World Research Association. All rights reserved.