AfricArXiv
Not a member yet
1453 research outputs found
Sort by
Using General Collective Intelligence to Optimize the Process of Evolutionary Optimization
Get PDFIn the study of logic, state spaces have been used to define semantic representations of theories for the purpose of abstract problem-solving. This paper explores the use of a variety of state space (a functional state space) defined through the emerging technique of Human-Centric Functional Modeling, in a thought experiment to model all information required in the process of problem-solving using evolutionary computing, and all the information required to index evolutionary computing solutions and the problems they are meant to solve, so those problems and solutions can be uniquely identified and compared, in order to move towards automation of the process of evolving such evolutionary computing solutions by applying such solutions to the design of the solutions themselves
Wangari Maathai’s Environmental Bible as an African Knowledge: Eco-spirituality, Christianity, and Decolonial Thought
Get PDFRecent scholarship has acknowledged the contribution of the environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), to African ecological and decolonial thinking. As far as Maathai’s engagement with religion is concerned, scholarship emphasises her critique of Christianity for its links to colonialism and environmental degradation, and foregrounds her reclaiming of Kikuyu religion and culture as a form of indigenous African knowledge that enhances environmental awareness. However, Maathai’s simultaneous creative and constructive engagement with Christian traditions, in particular the Bible, tends to be systematically overlooked, perhaps because it seems at odds with her status as a decolonial thinker. This article examines Maathai’s engagement with the Bible, arguing that it presents an interrogation of the category of indigenous knowledge, which for her is not static but dynamic and can incorporate biblical scripture as an African knowledge. Hence, Maathai challenges scholars to take the Bible seriously as a relevant resource for environmental activism as well as for ecological and decolonial thought
Contributions of Red Lists of Ecosystems to risk-based design and management of protected and conserved areas in Africa
Get PDFSupplemental Materials: https://osf.io/p5n9q/Protected and Conserved Areas (PCAs) are key ecosystem management tools for conserving biodiversity and sustaining ecosystem services and social co-benefits. As countries converge on a 30% target for protection of land and sea under the post-2020 framework of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, a critical question emerging is, “which 30%?”. One approach to an answer is risk-based: we should protect the 30% that returns the greatest reductions in risks of species extinction and ecosystem collapse. IUCN Red List protocols provide practical methods for assessing these risks. All species, including humans, depend on the integrity of ecosystems for their well-being and survival. Africa is strategically important for ecosystem management due to convergence of high ecosystem diversity, intense pressures and high levels of human dependency on nature. We reviewed the outcomes of a symposium at the inaugural African Protected Areas Congress convened to discuss applications of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems to the design and management of PCAs. We found significant recent progress in red listing, with c. 1000 ecosystem types assessed across 21 countries. While these span a diversity of environments across the continent, the greatest thematic gaps are in freshwater, marine and subterranean realms and large geographic gaps exist in north Africa and parts of west and east Africa. The projects are implemented by a diverse community of government agencies, NGOs and researchers. Already, they are having impact on policy and management, informing extensions to formal Protected Area networks, supporting decision making for sustainable development and informing ecosystem conservation and threat abatement, both within boundaries of PCAs and in surrounding landscapes and seascapes. We recommend further integration of risk assessments into environmental policy and enhanced investment in ecosystem red listing to fill current gaps
A Case Study of Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Get PDFThis is a CASE STUDY OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS) is designed to be a PBL for teaching for Medical students
Vulnerabilities and intersecting issues as contributors to higher risk of transmission and acquisition of HIV
No full textThe majority of HIV/AIDS programs and research remain focused on preventive and therapeutic approaches, with a key interest in behavioral change. This myopic view ignores the wider framework of the epidemic and disregards some of the more intricate aspects, compared to the direct causes of the disease. This paper attempts to discuss the prevailing factors and how they support the high risk of transmission and acquisition of HIV in society
Prevent Road Accident using Machine to Machine (M2M) Learning
No full textThe number of road casualties is steadily rising, while the age of driverless vehicles on the road is rapidly coming. Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and the use of Big Data created by M2M communication have enormous promise for improving road safety. A training dataset-less Deep Learning strategy that uses only a safety model and optimizes it sequentially through M2M learning over time can prevent a lack of suitable Knowledge Base while also improving the capacity to handle unpredictable scenarios. The article outlines an M2M learning model based on in-vehicle sensors that can be used to reduce traffic accidents
Double Reflexes In North-Western Bantu And Their Implications For The Proto-Bantu Consonant System
No full textA number of languages in the north-westernmost area of the Bantu domain have been claimed to present two different reflexes of originally unitary Proto-Bantu (PB) phonemes. A solution to this surprising situation has been sought in the presence of some assumed phonological conditioning, whereas other authors have proposed to reconstruct new proto-phonemes. The present chapter establishes that for voiced PB phonemes, a tonal conditioning can indeed be found; but for voiceless PB phonemes, the situation is more confused, and specifically there emerges a small but consistent sub-group of reconstructed stems which escape the general “weakening” of the proto-phoneme *t, without any obvious conditioning. The hypothesis is that according to a wave model, those items were not touched by the weakening innovation at the time of its spread
Open Library of Science (OLS)
No full textA slide deck of my presentation during my Graduation Ceremony at OLS-5 (Cohort of Hope), Open Life Science Program. Here, I talked about the rapidly growing of Article Processing Charges (APCs) in open access scholarly journals at the global scale, which restricted Nigerian scientists and researchers from publishing in high quality journals due to limited access to research funding. Moreover, I also shared more light on why so many Nigerian Journals are not visible online and are not even indexed in some of the indexing databases. It is due to this limitation that I provided an alternatives publishing model based on the concept from Open Library of Humanities (OLH) to solve this potential problem.
I thought of this idea of developing an Open Library of Science (OLS) which aim at developing an open access publication platform (standalone and collection-based independent journals) for Nigerian academic and learned society journals to simply aid in increasing discoverability of Nigerian research output. The OLS is of course going to be a not-for-profit that will collectively be funded by a consortium of institutional libraries through paying a small subsidy fee, and possibly through Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), an established Federal Government Agency that is funding research in all the government-owned tertiary institutions in Nigeria
Mitigating the Challenges of Nigeria’s Democracy
No full textThe notable challenges that Nigeria’s democratic processes and development suffer from includes cases of electoral misconduct such as rigging, use of thugs to interrupt the election process and use of money to bargain the votes of the poor hungry Nigerian. Inter and intra party conflicts, ethno religious violence, inequality, pandemics, along with others. Studies on Nigeria’s democracy exist but are limited to providing a ground breaking approach to mitigating the challenges of Nigerian democracy. This article presents an innovative approach from the political behavioural change theoretical and practical insight to mitigating the challenges of Nigerian democracy through a qualitative method of data collection and analysis. Findings concludes that challenges of Nigeria’s democracy can be mitigated through an innovative political behavioural change approach that centers on meeting the most pressing issues and demands of the electorates. And in the manner democratic process and practices of the Nigerian political system is handling generally. This would ultimately help to connect democratic values with democratic attitude, democratic attitude with electorates’ electorates and leaders’ democratic behaviour with most pressing issues and demands. Issues and demands with democratic policies and institutions, local or international significant for democratic development
Velar Tap in Dàgáárè
No full textBodomo (1997) describes intervocalic velar [ɡ] in Dàgáárè as fricative [ɣ]. With 42 tokens of intervocalic [ɡ] from a native speaker of Dàgáárè, we investigated the acoustic and articulatory features of the Dàgáárè intervocalic velar [ɡ] using ultrasound images, waveforms, spectrograms, and palatogram. The results of the study suggest that Dàgáárè intervocalic [ɡ] is not a fricative but a velar with strong tap-like features, a previously unattested sound in natural language (Ladefoged 1990). Following from this, we conclude that Dàgáárè intervocalic velar [ɡ] is not a fricative but a tap