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Study of Heiken Ashi Candlestick for Noise Reduction
No full textIn this study, we examined Heiken Ashi's ability to reduce the noise when the traditional candlestick bars are transformed into Heiken Ashi candlesticks. The transformed candlestick is done by a python program. The entropy is calculated at a given confidence level for both traditional candles and Heiken Ashi. By assumption, the noise is measured by the entropy. The higher the value of the entropy, the more pronounced the noise is. The hypothesis test for Heiken Ashi showed accepted results, and the Heiken Ashi candle entropy is lower than traditional candles
Open Science Capacity Building in Africa
No full textSlides about Open Science Capacity Building stakeholders in Africa that were shared during the First meeting of the Working Group on Open Science Capacity Building hosted by UNESCO
Histopathological Patterns of Cervical Cancer Among Females Presenting to Makerere University Pathology Core Reference Laboratory. A 5-Year Review
No full textSupplemental Materials: https://osf.io/p347e/The study aimed to determine the histopathological pattern of cervical cancer among females presenting to Makerere university pathology core reference laboratory. Information on patients who had a cervical cancer diagnosis by histology from 2017 to 2021.The Data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 18. A total of 120 patients from 2017 to 2021 were recruited into the study. The mean age of the patients was 47.5 (SD 13.1), the youngest patient was 21 years and the oldest was 80 years of age. Cervical cancer was more prevalent in women aged between 35 to 54 years 77(64.2%) and women with HIV infection 26(21.7%). Squamous cell carcinoma presents in 102 (85%) patients was the most prevalent pattern of cervical cancer. This was followed by adenocarcinoma 7 (5.8%) and adenosquamous 5 (4.2%) histological patterns of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is predominant among women with HIV and women aged 35-55 years. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most prevalent pattern of cervical cancer in Uganda present in every 9 out 10 cervical cancer patients. Routine screening of all HIV positive women and women aged 35 years and above is recommended
Public Health Surveillance for Adverse Events Following Covid-19 Vaccination in Africa: Rare Adverse Events and Fatal Cases Following COVID-19 Vaccination in Africa
No full textBackground: The death toll and economic disaster caused by SARS-CoV-2/ COVID-19 is still on the rise globally and in Africa with a case fatality ratio (CFR), 2.58 from 220,958 deaths out of 8,556,890 cases recorded across the continent as of 14th November 2021. Local, national and international health agencies have advocated multi-pronged public health strategies to limit infections and prevent deaths. The availability of a safe and effective vaccine is critical in the control of a pandemic. Several adverse events have been reported globally for different vaccines including COVID-19 with limited or no data from Africa.
Methods: This cross-sectional epidemiological study investigated the adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination in Africans between April- June, 2021 using a structured questionnaire distributed via the web for public health surveillance.
Results: Out of the 1200 participants recruited, a total of 80.8% (n = 969) respondents from 35 countries including 22 African countries and 13 countries where Africans live in the diaspora reported different adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination. More than half of the vaccinee were male (53.0%) and frontline healthcare workers (55.7%), respectively. A total of 15.6% (n = 151) reported previous exposure to SARS-CoV-2 while about one-fourth, 24.8% (n = 240) reported different underlying health conditions prior to vaccination. Fatal cases were 5.1% (n = 49) while other significant heterogenous events were reported in three categories: very common, common, and uncommon adverse events including enlarged lymph nodes 2.4% (n = 23), menstrual disorder 0.5% (n = 5), and increased libido 0.2% (n = 2).
Conclusions: The study provided useful data for concerned authorities and institutions to prepare plans that will address issues related to COVID-19 vaccines
Elevating Science to Detect Unsolvable Problems
No full textThis article explores the systematic causes for problems in science to be effectively unsolvable. These causes are classed as problems of cognition, and problems of awareness, since, problems can’t be defined or solved through conscious effort unless there is an awareness of the need for a problem to be defined, and/or awareness of the need for a solution. For this reason problems might be unsolvable not only because they are too complex to be solved through type 1 or type 2 cognitive reasoning, but also because of lack of awareness they exist. This article explores both systemic sources of lack of awareness and new techniques which might address that lack, as well as exploring the emerging science of General Collective Intelligence which promises to significantly increase capacity to address lack of collective cognitive ability
Comment avoir un nouvel homme congolais ? Perspectives anthropologiques chrétiennes
No full textLa République Démocratique du Congo traverse une multicrise dont la cause essentielle est une crise d’homme désarticulé, désorienté, taré, perdu, d’où la nécessité de former un nouvel homme congolais capable de se prendre en charge et de travailler à l’avènement d’une nouvelle société. Mais comment s’y prendre ? A travers cet article nous voulons faire une étude anthropologique de la crise congolaise en analysant le fonctionnement de la culture et de la vision du monde panviltaliste de ce peuple dans un paradigme chrétien
Predicate Structure And Argument Indexing In Early Bantu
No full textMeeussen’s (1967: 108–111) Proto-Bantu reconstruction involves a morphologically compact predicate with bound cross-reference on the verb for core arguments, which indeed characterises the majority of modern languages in the Bantu spread zone. In the north-west, however, numerous Bantu languages possess a split predicate structure with free pronouns or person-inflected portmanteau morphemes that also encode tense, aspect, modality, and polarity. This feature is also found in many languages of the Macro-Sudan Belt, a large convergence area neighbouring the Bantu spread zone and hosting its homeland and Bantu’s closest relatives in Benue-Kwa (Güldemann 2008; 2018). Moreover, several Proto-Bantu subject and object prefixes reconstructed by Meeussen (1967) and other researchers deviate considerably from pronoun forms that can be assumed for early Benue-Kwa and Niger-Congo in general (Güldemann 2017). Against this background, the present chapter proposes a revised conceptualisation of pronominal participant marking in early Bantu that can reconcile the modern empirical data in this group with the typological profile of the area where Proto-Bantu originates. It implies that Meeussen’s verbal argument cross-reference reconstructions are themselves valid, both in terms of morphosyntactic status and segmental form, but should not be projected back to the proto-stage that gave rise to the entire Narrow Bantu family as traditionally defined. Since these reconstructions differ from argument cross-reference in predicates elsewhere in Benue-Kwa, they should be seen as innovations in later ancestral stages of Bantu
General Collective Intelligence as a System for Facilitating Parallel and Distributed Computing
No full textA General Collective Intelligence or GCI is a hypothetical platform able to self-organize individuals or intelligent agents working on behalf of those individuals, into potentially massive networks of cooperation on a self-sustaining basis, where those networks might exponentially increase the complexity and duration of reasoning the group is able to execute. When applied to the computing processes that might be executed by each individual, the algorithm represented by GCI creates the potential to take any computing process that has been abstracted into a logical model (a model in which each component of logic might be implemented in a separate functional component), and to automatically search for and apply patterns of solution by which it might be possible to increase outcomes. Such patterns might involve distributing processing across multiple instances of those functional components, and scaling processing by increasing the instances of those functional components in series and in parallel, as well as ensuring this effort has more value than cost to performance so it is possible to sustain the effort at doing so, until computing outcomes are scaled as necessary to achieve a given target, or until returns from scaling diminish to the point that further investment in scaling is unproductive. This paper explores how such processes of cooperation might include all forms of parallel and distributed activity, how that cooperative activity might be abstracted into a logical model, and how GCI might facilitate parallel and distributed computing through that model
Home learning environment and physical development impact children’s executive function development and literacy in rural Côte d’Ivoire
No full textSupplemental Materials: https://osf.io/wmbg8/Socio-economic status (SES) is closely linked to children’s reading development. Previous research suggests that executive functions (EF) mediate the effects of SES on reading, however, this research has almost exclusively focused on high-income countries (HICs). Comparatively less is known about the mechanisms that link SES and literacy in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). Childhood experiences of poverty in LMICs have been consistently linked to cognitive development through two sets of predictors: nutrition and physical growth, and the availability of educational scaffolding at home. The influence of the home learning environment (i.e. material deprivation, types of caregiver interactions) and nutrition to support children’s physical development (i.e. children’s BMI and stature for their age) on EF and literacy was examined in 630 primary-school children (6-14 years) in rural Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Structural equation modeling revealed that SES had an indirect effect on EF via the home learning environment, and in turn, reading. Importantly, the home learning environment, and a child’s physical development and nutrition showed distinct contributions to EF. The results suggest that improved educational scaffolding at home and supplemented nutrition could support EF development and reduce the negative impact of socioeconomic risk factors on reading
Reporting uncertified science in the news media during the Covid-19 pandemic
No full textPreprints have gained prominence in the dissemination of scientific findings. This development has been reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to require the rapid dissemination of new scientific information. However, since preprints usually have not undergone peer review, they lack the rigor of other scientific publications such as journal articles. This presents a challenge for the news media tasked with keeping the public informed about the latest scientific developments in the context of great uncertainty during a global pandemic. This research note investigates the reporting of scientific information from preprints in 80 news articles identified in news articles related to Covid-19 published in four South African online media outlets. Our results show that despite the publication of guidelines for reporting on preprints in the media, there is still a way to go regarding the judicious use of scientific information from preprints by the news media