Search results for: African database

Authors: Lukman Oyelami

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Studies have identified trade as a veritable tool for inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. However, contrary to the overwhelming pieces of evidence of the Asian tiger as a success story of beneficial trade, many African countries still experience poverty unabatedly despite active engagement in trade. Consequently, this study seeks to investigate the contributory effect of technological innovation on total export performance and specifically manufacturing exports of African countries. This is with a view to exploring manufacturing exports as a viable option for diversification. To achieve the empirical investigation this study, require Systems Generalized Method of Moments (sys-GMM) estimation technique was adopted based on the econometric realities inherent in the data utilized. However, the static technique of panel estimation of the Fixed Effects (FE) model was utilized for baseline analysis and robustness check. The conclusion from this study is that innovation generally impacts export performance of African countries positively, however, manufacturing export shows more sensitivity to innovation than total export. And, this provides a clear pathway for export diversification for many African countries that run a resource-based economy.

Keywords: innovation, export, GMM, Africa

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Authors: Ayoola Femi J., Kayode Balogun

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In some African Countries, increase in Gross Domestic Products (GDP) has not translated to real development as expected by common-man in his household. For decades, a lot of contests on economic growth and development has been a nagging issues. The focus of this study is to analysing the effects of economic determinants/factors on economic advances in some African Countries by employing panel data analysis. The yearly (1990-2013) data were obtained from the world economic outlook database of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for probing the effects of these variables on growth rate in some selected African countries which include: Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cape-Verde, Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic Of Congo, Cote di’ Voire, Egypt, Equatorial-Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, and Uganda. The effects of 6 macroeconomic variables on GDP were critically examined. We used 37 Countries GDP as our dependent variable and 6 independent variables used in this study include: Total Investment (totinv), Inflation (inf), Population (popl), current account balance (cab), volume of imports of goods and services (vimgs), and volume of exports of goods and services (vexgs). The results of our analysis shows that total investment, population and volume of exports of goods and services strongly affect the economic growth. We noticed that population of these selected countries positively affect the GDP while total investment and volume of exports negatively affect GDP. On the contrary, inflation, current account balance and volume of imports of goods and services’ contribution to the GDP are insignificant. The results of our analysis shows that total investment, population and volume of exports of goods and services strongly affect the economic growth. We noticed that population of these selected countries positively affect the GDP while total investment and volume of exports negatively affect GDP. On the contrary, inflation, current account balance and volume of imports of goods and services’ contribution to the GDP are insignificant. The results of this study would be useful for individual African governments for developing a suitable and appropriate economic policies and strategies. It will also help investors to understand the economic nature and viability of Africa as a continent as well as its individual countries.

Keywords: African countries, economic growth and development, gross domestic products, static panel data models

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Authors: Po-Chun Wang, Yan-Ru Lai, Sophia I. C. Lin, Alvin W. Y. Su

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The Generative Theory of Tonal Music (GTTM) provides systematic approaches to recognizing local boundaries of music. The rules have been implemented in some automated melody segmentation algorithms. Besides, there are also deep learning methods with GTTM features applied to boundary detection tasks. However, these studies might face constraints such as a lack of or inconsistent label data. The GTTM database is currently the most widely used GTTM database, which includes manually labeled GTTM rules and local boundaries. Even so, we found some problems with these labels. They are sometimes discrepancies with GTTM rules. In addition, since it is labeled at different times by multiple musicians, they are not within the same scope in some cases. Therefore, in this paper, we examine this database with musicians from the aspect of classical music and relabel the scores. The relabeled database - GTTM Database v2.0 - will be released for academic research usage. Despite the experimental and statistical results showing that the relabeled database is more consistent, the improvement in boundary detection is not substantial. It seems that we need more clues than GTTM rules for boundary detection in the future.

Keywords: dataset, GTTM, local boundary, neural network

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Authors: Foluke Abimbola

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There are two separate groups of a recognised body of human rights. These are known as Civil and Political Rights, and Economic and Social Rights. There is however an impression that civil and political rights are enforceable in courts while socio-economic rights are not. Nigeria is an example of one of such countries whose constitution has social, economic and cultural rights’ provisions as well as civil and political rights. However, the socio-economic rights provided in the Nigerian constitution are not justiciable or are unenforceable in a court of law. On the other hand, a comparative examination of the socio-economic right provisions in the South African constitution and judgments of the constitutional court of South Africa reveals that socio-economic rights may be enforceable. This position may ensure the protection of the socio-economic rights of the poor and vulnerable groups. These rights include the rights to food, adequate shelter, health, and education. Moreover, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) which incorporates similar socio-economic right provisions, has been recognized as a domestic law in Nigeria and its provisions are enforceable by the domestic courts by virtue of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. It is not only a regional treaty signed and adopted by Nigeria but has been passed into law by the National Assembly and can be enforced like any other local law. This paper will propose that in view of the provisions of the African Charter and mechanisms for implementation as well as other international conventions and national constitutional provisions on human rights, domestic courts may be able to assess state responsibilities in the light of socio-economic rights. Cases decided by South African courts and other jurisdictions will be discussed in order to lend weight to the notion that socio-economic rights can be enforced in jurisdictions such as Nigeria even though the constitution provides otherwise.

Keywords: african charter, constitutional court of south africa, nigerian constitution, socio-economic rights, south african constitution

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Authors: M. Omer, D. Wilson

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Creating a database scheme is essentially a manual process. From a requirement specification, the information contained within has to be analyzed and reduced into a set of tables, attributes and relationships. This is a time-consuming process that has to go through several stages before an acceptable database schema is achieved. The purpose of this paper is to implement a Natural Language Processing (NLP) based tool to produce a from a requirement specification. The Stanford CoreNLP version 3.3.1 and the Java programming were used to implement the proposed model. The outcome of this study indicates that the first draft of a relational database schema can be extracted from a requirement specification by using NLP tools and techniques with minimum user intervention. Therefore, this method is a step forward in finding a solution that requires little or no user intervention.

Keywords: information extraction, natural language processing, relation extraction

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Authors: Dragos Ardeleanu, Silviu-Valentin Petre

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Written to satisfy the needs of Western powers, classical geopolitics bore the stint of Eurocentrism. Both Mackinder’s heartland and Nicholas Spykman’s rimland were intellectual creations set for the purpose of the Anglophone nations dealing with Eurasia. However, while today’s world is moving towards multipolarity, other emerging regional actors are following their own interests using a different geospatial map. Such is the case of Iran which has developed an engagement pattern in Africa, directed mostly towards costal states, in order to break the rimland grip of Arab states and also the international pressure established against Tehran’s nascent nuclear program. Capitalizing on literature review and analysing statements from key public figures, our paper argues that Iranian African geopolitics displays a dual message: on the one hand, it uses tiers-mondiste rhetoric to garner the support of different coastal African states and, on the other hand, it employs Shiism to gain a foothold in strategic parts of the black continent.

Keywords: African geopolitics, Iran, Shiism, tiers-mondisme

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Authors: Noorjehan Joosub-Vawda

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Objectives: The aim of this poster presentation is to examine cultural contextual understandings of ABI that could aid conceptualisation and the development of a model for neuropsychological rehabilitation in this context. Characteristics of the South African context that make the implementation of international NR practices difficult include socioeconomic disparities, sociocultural influences, lack of accessibility to healthcare services, and poverty and unemployment levels. NR services in the developed world have characteristics such as low staff-to-patient ratios and interdisciplinary teams that make them unsuitable for the resource-constrained South African context. Methods: An exploratory, descriptive research design based on programme theory is being followed in the development of a South African model of neuropsychological rehabilitation. Results: The incorporation of African traditional understandings and practices, such as beliefs about ancestral spirits in the etiology of Acquired Brain Injury are relevant to the planning of rehabilitation interventions. Community-Based Rehabilitation workers, psychoeducation, and cooperation among the different systemic levels especially in rural settings is also needed to improve services offered to patients living with ABI. Conclusions. The preliminary model demonstrated in this poster will attempt to build on the strengths of South African communities, incorporating valuable evidence from international models to serve those affected with brain injury in this context.

Keywords: neuropsychological rehabilitation, South Africa, acquired brain injury, developing context

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Authors: Marcia J. Watson

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The “school-to-prison pipeline” is a widely known phenomenon within education. Although data surrounding this epidemic is daunting, we coin the term “school-to-postsecondary pipeline” to explore proactive strategies that are currently working in K-12 education for African American students. The assumption that high school graduation, postsecondary matriculation, and social success are not the assumed norms for African American youth, positions the term “school-to-postsecondary pipeline” as the newly casted advocacy term for African American educational success. Using secondary data from the Children’s Defense Fund and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, we examine current conditions of educational accessibility and attainment for African American students, and provide effective strategies for classroom teachers, administrators, and parents to use for the immediate implementation in schools. These strategies include: (a) engaging instruction, (b) relevant curriculum, and (c) utilizing useful enrichment and community resources. By providing proactive steps towards the school-to-postsecondary pipeline, we hope to counter the docility of the school-to-prison pipeline as the assumed reality for African American youth.

Keywords: college access, higher education, school-to-prison pipeline, urban education reform

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Authors: Gabriel Adegbite

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Corruption has become one of the most notoriously persistent and progressively worsening social problems afflicting most of the African states. It has permeated virtually all institutions and has become a way of life and principal method of accumulating wealth on the continent. While major cause of this pandemic has been traced to the post-colonial antecedents of many African leaders, some highlights during the colonial era have shown that activities during the period gave impetus for its entrenchment. There is also a growing study establishing an intersection between corruption and governance. However, any comprehensive analysis of factors responsible for the emergence and entrenchment of corruption in Africa must take a holistic view of the practice. It must examine the role played by colonialism and neo-colonialism in African countries. This study presents few elements and historical view of corruption in sub-Sahara Africa. It analyse the reason for corruption eruption in most of the African states while suggesting some anti-corruption strategy that may be peculiar to the continent. This study makes a contribution to the growing literature in the area of corruption and panacea in developing countries.

Keywords: Africa, fighting corruption, antidote, governance

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Authors: Haymanot Gebre-Amlak, Selamawit Gebre-Amlak

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Since its original declaration in the 18th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's Communist Manifesto has become one of the most influential political tracts. Socialism is a political path that leads towards communism by fostering a cooperative economy through the creation of cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership, or shared equity. The ultimate objective of communism is to bring everyone working toward the same collective goal of a healthy, happy, and free society. The European establishment of 19-century colonial rule over the continent of Africa reinforced inflows of European investment and forced a profound change in the operation of labor and land markets. The colonial era and forced labor schemes in Africa lasted for several decades. When exiting from colonialism, these African countries were attracted to socialism’s ideology to bridge the social gap and freedom to their society. In this paper, we compare a pre and post socialist ideology and the impact in various African countries. We analyse the different aspects, which led to inconsistent outcomes. Our finding indicates that while they have some facets in common, each African country had a unique interpretation and influence from the socialist ideology.

Keywords: African politics, socialism in Africa, African history, Africa

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Authors: Mathias Linden, André Schneider, Harald F. O. von Korflesch

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The risk of train accidents is an ongoing concern for railway organizations, governments, insurance companies and other depended sectors. Safety technologies are installed to reduce and to prevent potential damages of train accidents. Since the budgetary for the safety of railway organizations is limited, it is necessary not only to achieve a high availability and high safety standard but also to be cost effective. Therefore, an economic assessment of safety technologies is fundamental to create an accurate risk analysis. In order to conduct an economical assessment of a railway safety technology and a quantification of the costs of the accident causes, the Global Railway Accident Database & Evaluation (GRADE) has been developed. The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of this accident database and to show how it can be used for risk analyses. A number of risk analysis methods, such as the probabilistic safety assessment method (PSA), was used to demonstrate this accident database’s different possibilities of risk analysis. In conclusion, it can be noted that these analyses would not be as accurate without GRADE. The information gathered in the accident database was not available in this way before. Our findings are relevant for railway operators, safety technology suppliers, assurances, governments and other concerned railway organizations.

Keywords: accident causes, accident costs, accident database, global railway accident database & evaluation, GRADE, probabilistic safety assessment, PSA, railway accidents, risk analysis

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Authors: Sanelisiwe Ndlovu

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Cities have become testbeds for automation and experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) in managing urban services and public spaces. Smart Cities and AI systems are changing most human experiences from health and education to personal relations. For instance, in healthcare, social robots are being implemented as tools to assist patients. Similarly, in education, social robots are being used as tutors or co-learners to promote cognitive and affective outcomes. With that general picture in mind, one can now ask a further question about Smart Cities and artificial agents and their moral standing in the African context of personhood. There has been a wealth of literature on the topic of personhood; however, there is an absence of literature on African personhood in highly automated environments. Personhood in African philosophy is defined by the role one can and should play in the community. However, in today’s technologically advanced world, a risk is that machines become more capable of accomplishing tasks that humans would otherwise do. Further, on many African communitarian accounts, personhood and moral standing are associated with active relationality with the community. However, in the Smart City, human closeness is gradually diminishing. For instance, humans already do engage and identify with robotic entities, sometimes even romantically. The primary aim of this study is to investigate how African conceptions of personhood and community interact in a highly automated environment such as Smart Cities. Accordingly, this study lies in presenting a rarely discussed African perspective that emphasizes the necessity and the importance of relationality in handling Smart Cities and AI ethically. Thus, the proposed approach can be seen as the sub-Saharan African contribution to personhood and the growing AI debates, which takes the reality of the interconnectedness of society seriously. And it will also open up new opportunities to tackle old problems and use existing resources to confront new problems in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Keywords: smart city, artificial intelligence, personhood, community

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Authors: Vahid Bairami Rad

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Extracting knowledge from spatial data like GIS data is important to reduce the data and extract information. Therefore, the development of new techniques and tools that support the human in transforming data into useful knowledge has been the focus of the relatively new and interdisciplinary research area ‘knowledge discovery in databases’. Thus, we introduce a set of database primitives or basic operations for spatial data mining which are sufficient to express most of the spatial data mining algorithms from the literature. This approach has several advantages. Similar to the relational standard language SQL, the use of standard primitives will speed-up the development of new data mining algorithms and will also make them more portable. We introduced a database-oriented framework for spatial data mining which is based on the concepts of neighborhood graphs and paths. A small set of basic operations on these graphs and paths were defined as database primitives for spatial data mining. Furthermore, techniques to efficiently support the database primitives by a commercial DBMS were presented.

Keywords: spatial data base, knowledge discovery database, data mining, spatial relationship, predictive data mining

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Authors: Chetneti Srisa-an

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In Knowledge and Data Engineering field, relational database is the best repository to store data in a real world. It has been using around the world more than eight decades. Normalization is the most important process for the analysis and design of relational databases. It aims at creating a set of relational tables with minimum data redundancy that preserve consistency and facilitate correct insertion, deletion, and modification. Normalization is a major task in the design of relational databases. Despite its importance, very few algorithms have been developed to be used in the design of commercial automatic normalization tools. It is also rare technique to do it automatically rather manually. Moreover, for a large and complex database as of now, it make even harder to do it manually. This paper presents a new complete automated relational database normalization method. It produces the directed graph and spanning tree, first. It then proceeds with generating the 2NF, 3NF and also BCNF normal forms. The benefit of this new algorithm is that it can cope with a large set of complex function dependencies.

Keywords: relational database, functional dependency, automatic normalization, primary key, spanning tree

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Authors: Mbuzeni Mathenjwa

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Upon their independence, most African countries adopted constitutions that proclaim respect for the rule of law. The decision to constitutionalise the rule of law is basically informed by the countries’ experience during the colonial era which was characterised by discrimination on various grounds including race, gender and religion. Despite the promise to be bound by and adhere to the rule of law, disrespect for the rule of law has become a norm in the African continent. This is evident from the reported incidence of abuse of power, failure to perform obligations imposed by law and flagrant disregard of the law by the Executive including the heads of states in the continent. In some African countries including South Africa, the courts of law have been approached to rule on the legality of the decisions of the executives, taken contrary to the prescripts of the law. South African Courts have laid down a number of decisions wherein they found that the conduct of the executive contravenes the rule of law. Consequently decisions of the executive have been declared invalid by courts. In this regard courts have become a safety net in preserving the rule of law in. Accordingly, this paper discusses the role of the courts in preserving the rule of law in Africa. This it does by explaining the notion of judicial independence and the doctrine of the rule of law. The explanation on the notion of judicial independence is relevant because only an independent judiciary can effectively review and set aside the decision of the executive including the president of a country. Furthermore, a comparative overview of the enforcement of the rule of law in African countries is done. The methods used for this research is literature review, and study of legislation and case law in selected African countries relating to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the role of the independent judiciary to preserve the rule of law in Africa.

Keywords: Africa, constitutions, independence, judiciary

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Authors: Adegboyega Adeolapo Ola, Gerelene Jagganath

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One of the greatest challenges of human right in the world, especially African states is the use of child soldiers in armed conflict, constituting a major source of destruction of lives and properties. Mostly, they are in developing countries with the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, the abduction and employment of children as soldiers is a form of exploitative labour that is tantamount to slavery. Since the end of cold war, Child soldier has increased in Africa countries like Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda. This study examines the main cause of the recruitment and use of child soldiers and its challenges to human right. It further assesses the role of international regional bodies and various governments in curbing child soldiers with a view to proffer suggestions on how to address some of the resultant threat of human right. The study posits that the control of small arms and light weapons is essential in curtailing the spread of child soldier and abuse of human right. This hopefully should result in the sustainability of human/child right in African continent. It is a recommendation of this study that, in order to sustain human right in the region, all Africa leaders, government and regional bodies; such as African Union, Economic Community of West African States, South African Development Community among others, should cooperate and work together to address the issue of illicit small arms, which could eventually lead to child soldier.

Keywords: arms control, child soldier, human right, small arms

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Authors: Alan Bhekisisa Buthelezi

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The aim of this paper is to explore African management and leadership philosophies at secondary schools in post-apartheid South Africa. The research was conducted in the King Cetshwayo district of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Apart from the literature on participative management, the paper reports on a research in which an empirical investigation based on a quantitative research paradigm was used to collect data from secondary school principals. The literature findings revealed that secondary school principals need to rethink their management and leadership philosophies in the twenty-first century. The findings of this research further reveal that ubuntu (humanness) and lekgotla (Sesotho term for “an African participatory approach to decision-making”) should be embedded in the art of school management and leadership in the South African context. The paper concludes with the submission that ongoing capacity-building workshops should be fast-tracked on matters pertaining to management and leadership.

Keywords: distributed leadership, team leadership, decentralization of power, transformational leadership

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Authors: Damien Kunjal, Faeezah Peerbhai

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Despite the increasing popularity of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), ETF investment choices may not always be rational. Excess trading volume, misevaluations of securities, and excess return volatility present in financial markets can be attributed to the influence of the overconfidence bias. Whilst previous research has explored the overconfidence bias in stock markets; this study focuses on trading in ETF markets. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the presence of investor overconfidence in the South African ETF market. Using vector autoregressive models, the lead-lag relationship between market turnover and the market return is examined for the market of South African ETFs tracking domestic benchmarks and for the market of South African ETFs tracking international benchmarks over the period November 2000 till August 2019. Consistent with the overconfidence hypothesis, a positive relationship between current market turnover and lagged market return is found for both markets, even after controlling for market volatility and cross-sectional dispersion. This relationship holds for both market and individual ETF turnover suggesting that investors are overconfident when trading in South African ETFs tracking domestic benchmarks and South African ETFs tracking international benchmarks since trading activity depends on past market returns. Additionally, using the global recession as a structural break, this study finds that investor overconfidence is more pronounced after the global recession suggesting that investors perceive ETFs as risk-reducing assets due to their diversification benefits. Overall, the results of this study indicate that the overconfidence bias has a significant influence on ETF investment choices, therefore, suggesting that the South African ETF market is inefficient since investors’ decisions are based on their biases. As a result, the effect of investor overconfidence can account for the difference between the fair value of ETFs and its current market price. This finding has implications for policymakers whose responsibility is to promote the efficiency of the South African ETF market as well as ETF investors and traders who trade in the South African ETF market.

Keywords: exchange-traded fund, market return, market turnover, overconfidence, trading activity

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Authors: Albert Herve Nkolo Mpoko

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The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) landscape in Cameroon has garnered significant attention from both European and Asian nations due to perceived benefits such as capital infusion, technology transfer, and potential for economic expansion. However, it is noteworthy that South Africa's investment presence remains comparatively subdued in Cameroon, lagging behind that of Europe and Asia. Equally surprising is the limited footprint of Africa's economic powerhouse within other African economies. This study delved into four specific facets of South African investment in Cameroon. Initially, it focused on identifying South African companies operating within Cameroon. Subsequently, the analysis encompassed assessing the correlation between South African investment and poverty alleviation. Additionally, the study examined the nexus between South African investment and technological advancement, and underscored the significance of investment incentives in both countries Key findings of the research shed light on several crucial points. South Africa ought to reassess its economic engagement with Francophone Africa, particularly Cameroon. Despite existing policies aimed at fostering investment, there remains substantial ground to cover in this realm. The proliferation of South African enterprises in Cameroon holds the potential to ameliorate poverty and foster employment opportunities across both nations. The advent of South African firms in Cameroon can catalyse technological advancements within the region. Data collection involved surveying 100 executives from the respective administrations and conducting ten interviews. The gathered data underwent triangulation, wherein quantitative findings were juxtaposed with qualitative insights. In conclusion, the study underscores the underutilization of Cameroon by South Africa, emphasizing the untapped potential for mutual economic growth. Furthermore, it posits that the success of South Africa's multinational corporations abroad could serve as a pivotal pillar for sustaining its domestic economy.

Keywords: FDI, transfer of technology, South-South cooperation, mutual economic growth

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Authors: Adebola Ajayi

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Ocimum gratissimum belongs to the Lamiaceae family and is know generally as African Basil. Ocimum gratissimum leaves are widely used as local condiments in diets. The leaves were destalked sorted, washed with potable water to remove dirts, air dried for 14 days under ambient temperature and milled into powder. The proximate composition and mineral contents of Ocimum gratissimum leaves were investigated. The proximate analysis showed the moisture, crude, protein, total ash, crude fiber, crude lipid and total carbohydrate contents were 10.72±0.01%, 12.98±0.10%, 10.95±0.42, 10.21±0.04%, 4.81±0.04% and 49.01±0.25% respectively. The results of the analysis showed that Ocimum gratissimum could be a good source of important food nutrients.

Keywords: African Basil, drying, Ocimum gratissimum, proximate

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Authors: Omotayo Olalere

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The relevance of code-switching for intercultural communication through literary translation cannot be overemphasized. The translation of code-switching and its implications for translations studies have been studied in the context of African literature. In these cases, code-switching was examined in the more general terms of its usage in source text and not particularly in Ngugi’s novels and its translations. In addition, the functions of translation and code-switching in the lyrics of some popular African songs have been studied, but this study is related more with oral performance than with written literature. As such, little has been done on the German translation of code-switching in African works. This study intends to fill this lacuna by examining the concept of code-switching in the German translations in Ngugi’s Petals of Blood. The aim is to highlight the significance of code-switching as a phenomenon in this African (Ngugi’s) novel written in English and to also focus on its representation in the two German translations. The target texts to be used are Verbrannte Blueten and Land der flammenden Blueten. “Abrogration“ as a concept will play an important role in the analysis of the data. Findings will show that the ideology of a translator plays a huge role in representing the concept of “abrogration” in the translation of code-switching in the selected source text. The study will contribute to knowledge in translation studies by bringing to limelight the need to foreground aspects of language contact in translation theory and practice, particularly in the African context. Relevant translation theories adopted for the study include Bandia’s (2008) postcolonial theory of translation and Snell-Hornby”s (1988) cultural translation theory.

Keywords: code switching, german translation, ngugi wa thiong’o, petals of blood

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Authors: Samaila Liman Gamba

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This paper discussed the importance of good governance and its impact on the socio-economic and political development of African countries and, conversely, its underdevelopment and consequent stagnation. The study employed the use of quantitative and descriptive methods of collecting secondary data. The system analysis approach was also adopted as the theoretical framework. It is a global system, but it is also used to analyze the place of regions and single states within it. The study showed that political leadership in Africa based on empirical observation and documented evidence since the hard-won political independence from colonial Europe has become one of Africa’s sources of problems confronting the states and their resources became the primary purpose of political contestation and the establishment of a political culture based on ethnicity and authoritarian pattern of governance. The solution is for African leaders to learn and imbibe the leadership qualities of the late Nelson Mandela, Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah, who carried their citizens along and were devoid of ethnicity and personal aggrandizement. They sacrificed their lives for their countrymen and fought against imperialism and are counted as patriots.

Keywords: political leadership, African development, constitutional democracy, power and resource control

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Jianing Mi, Cheng Feng

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The patronage of e-government services (demand side of e-government) is vital to the successful implementation of e-government initiatives. The purpose of this study is to explore the predictors determining the willingness of African students in China to adopt and use e-government services. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) will be used as the theoretical foundation for this research. Research instrument will be developed and administered to 500 African students in China. Factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions and culture will be investigated to determine its significant impact on the willingness to use e-government services. This study is a research in progress. The outcome of this study will provide valuable recommendations to improve the provision of public services through e-government.

Keywords: e-government, e-government services, predictors, UTAUT

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Authors: Yusri Yusof, Chen Wong Keong

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This paper presents the implementation details of a Relational Database Management System of a STEP-technology product model repository. It is able support the implementation of any EXPRESS language schema, although it has been primarily implemented to support mechanical product life cycle applications. This database support the input of STEP part 21 file format from CAD in geometrical and topological data format and support a range of queries for mechanical product life cycle applications. This proposed relational database management system uses entity-to-table method (R1) rather than type-to-table method (R4). The two mapping methods have their own strengths and drawbacks.

Keywords: RDBMS, CAD, ISO 10303, part-21 file

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Authors: W. S. Besbas, M. A. Artemi, R. M. Salman

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Content based face sketch retrieval can be used to find images of criminals from their sketches for 'Crime Prevention'. This paper investigates the problem of CBIR of face sketch images in transform domain. Face sketch images that are similar to the query image are retrieved from the face sketch database. Features of the face sketch image are extracted in the spectrum domain of a selected transforms. These transforms are Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and Walsh Hadamard Transform (WHT). For the performance analyses of features selection methods three face images databases are used. These are 'Sheffield face database', 'Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) face database', and 'Indian face database'. The City block distance measure is used to evaluate the performance of the retrieval process. The investigation concludes that, the retrieval rate is database dependent. But in general, the DCT is the best. On the other hand, the WHT is the best with respect to the speed of retrieving images.

Keywords: Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR), face sketch image retrieval, features selection for CBIR, image retrieval in transform domain

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Authors: Yrfet Shkreli

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To determine the content of human rights norms in national constitutions, international law - in the form of treaties, declarations and case law from international monitoring bodies, and comparative case law from other countries - is often discussed in the judgments of domestic courts. This paper explores the extent to which international law has influenced domestic human rights case law in Africa. The paper first explores how the human rights provisions of African constitutions came into being before turning to the role played by international law in the constitutional order of various African states and how treaties, declarations and findings of international monitoring bodies have been used in African countries to interpret and expand on constitutional human rights provisions.

Keywords: European Union, global governance, globalization, normative power

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Authors: H. Bahbahani, H. Musa, F. Al Mathen

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The dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) are single-humped even-toed ungulates populating the African Sahara, Arabian Peninsula, and Southwest Asia. The genome of this desert-adapted species has been minimally investigated using autosomal microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA markers. In this study, the genomes of 33 dromedary camel samples from different parts of the Arabian Peninsula were sequenced using Illumina Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform. These data were combined with Genotyping-by-Sequencing (GBS) data from African (Sudanese) dromedaries to investigate the genomic relationship between African and Arabian Peninsula dromedary camels. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and average genome-wide admixture analysis were be conducted on these data to tackle the objectives of these studies. Both of the two analyses conducted revealed phylogeographic distinction between these two camel populations. However, no breed-wise genetic classification has been revealed among the African (Sudanese) camel breeds. The Arabian Peninsula camel populations also show higher heterozygosity than the Sudanese camels. The results of this study explain the evolutionary history and migration of African dromedary camels from their center of domestication in the southern Arabian Peninsula. These outputs help scientists to further understand the evolutionary history of dromedary camels, which might impact in conserving the favorable genetic of this species.

Keywords: dromedary, genotyping-by-sequencing, Arabian Peninsula, Sudan

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Authors: Ilona Mewes, Helena Jenzer, Farshideh Einsele

Abstract:

Objective: The objective of the study was to integrate two big databases from Swiss nutrition national survey (menuCH) and Swiss health national survey 2012 for data mining purposes. Each database has a demographic base data. An integrated Swiss database is built to later discover critical food consumption patterns linked with lifestyle diseases known to be strongly tied with food consumption. Design: Swiss nutrition national survey (menuCH) with approx. 2000 respondents from two different surveys, one by Phone and the other by questionnaire along with Swiss health national survey 2012 with 21500 respondents were pre-processed, cleaned and finally integrated to a unique relational database. Results: The result of this study is an integrated relational database from the Swiss nutritional and health databases.

Keywords: health informatics, data mining, nutritional and health databases, nutritional and chronical databases

Procedia PDF Downloads 85

Authors: Meinrad Haule Lembuka

Abstract:

Social work profession one of its primary mission is to restore and maintain human rights where social workers recognise all humanity as equal, and so too the philosophies that have developed across the world’s regions. Ubuntu means African Humanism, where realization of human rights has been a primary role for every member of community to protect other member. Before Universal declaration of human rights, African societies had a long history of embracing human rights through Ubuntu approach model. The article used Ubuntu theory to guide the review process of existing literature since Ubuntu theory since is grounded in African cultural values and ecology, and it was thought that application of Ubuntu theory was relevant to reflect reality of Ubuntu model and indigenization of social work in African context. Results have shown that in realization of human rights, Ubuntu was practiced is termed as model, philosophy, cultural values, way of life or framework originated in sub-sahara Africa and some of remarkably practice model in several African communities such as Angola, (gimuntu), Botswana (muthu), Burkina Faso (maaya), Ghana (biako ye), Malawi (umunthu), Mali (maaya/hadama de ya), Namibia (omundu), Nigeria (mutunchi/iwa/agwa), (bantu), Sierra Leonne (maaya), South Africa (ubuntu/botho) and Tanzania (utu/obuntu/bumuntu). Collective and holistic mechanism of Ubuntu is found through an Ubuntu framework that is contributed by individual, family, community and spirit that is characterised by interconnectedness of all things and beings. Each society has its own name but the practice remained the same and realization of human rights in Africa context was centred through human dignity, Ubuntu is built under cultural values of humanism that brings implications for African social worker to integrate this indigenous model into social work practice in restoring and maintain human rights. Social workers should promote policies and practices that demonstrate respect for human life, difference, support and expansion of cultural knowledge and resources, advocate for programmes and institutions that demonstrate cultural competence and promote policies that safeguard the rights and confirm equity and social justice for all people.

Keywords: African ubuntu, indigenous practice, African humanism, African human rights, social work and human rights

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Authors: Anil K. Giri, Dipak Subedi, Kathleen Kassel, Ashok Mishra

Abstract:

The United States Department of Agriculture’s programs has been accused of being discriminatory in the past based on the race of the farmer, especially African-American producers. This study examines if there was racial discrimination in payments from the most recent new USDA programs, including those made in response to the pandemic. This study uses the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to examine the payments after normalizing them relative to cash receipts to test if discrimination in the number of payments received exists. Three programs investigated in this study are: i) the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), ii) the Market Facilitation Program (MFP), and (iii) the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP program was administered by the Small Business Administration, whereas the other two were designed and implemented by the USDA. The PPP made forgivable loans to small businesses and, initially, was heavily criticized for not reaching minority businesses (in general). The Small Business Administration then initiated a second draw of PPP loans, prioritizing minority-owned businesses. This study compares attributes of PPP loans made to African-American farming businesses and other farming businesses in the two draws of the PPP. We find that the number of African-American farming businesses participating in the second draw of PPP loans decreased significantly from the first draw. However, the average amount of PPP loans to African-American farming businesses increased in the second draw. In the first draw, the average cost of jobs reported per loan was higher for African-American farming businesses than for other producers. In the second draw, the average cost of jobs reported per loan was significantly higher for other farming businesses than for African-American businesses. The share of PPP loans forgiven for African-American farming businesses is significantly below the national rate of 89 percent. The rate of forgiveness for PPP loans made to African-American producers is unlikely to increase significantly without policy changes. This can increase financial burdens in the future to farm operations operated by African- Americans. Finally, we conclude that the initial goal of increasing minority participation in PPP loans in the second draw, at least among African-Americans in the agricultural sector, did not meet. CFAP made almost $600 million in direct payments to minority producers, including Black producers. Black or African American producers received more than $52 million in CFAP payments. CFAP payments were proportional to the value of agricultural commodities sold for most minority producers. The 2017 Census of Agriculture showed that the majority of minority producers, including African American producers but excluding Asian producers, raised livestock. CFAP made the highest payments to livestock minority producers.

Keywords: United States department of agriculture (USDA), coronavirus food assistance program (CFAP), paycheck protection program (PPP), African-American producers, minority American producers

Procedia PDF Downloads 69