Performance analysis in text clustering using k-means and k-medoids algorithms for Malay crime documents

Few studies on text clustering for the Malay language have been conducted due to some limitations that need to be addressed. The purpose of this article is to compare the two clustering algorithms of k-means and k-medoids using Euclidean distance similarity to determine which method is the best for clustering documents. Both algorithms are applied to 1000 documents pertaining to housebreaking crimes involving a variety of different modus operandi. Comparability results indicate that the k-means algorithm performed the best at clustering the relevant documents, with a 78% accuracy rate. K-means clustering also achieves the best performance for cluster evaluation when comparing the average within-cluster distance to the k-medoids algorithm. However, k-medoids perform exceptionally well on the Davis Bouldin index (DBI). Furthermore, the accuracy of k-means is dependent on the number of initial clusters, where the appropriate cluster number can be determined using the elbow method

Sentiment analysis for hate speech detection on social media: TF-IDF weighted N-Grams based approach

Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) at Strathmore UniversityHate speech on social media has unfortunately become a common occurrence in the Kenyan online community largely due to advances in mobile computing and the internet. Incidents of hate speech on social media have the potential of quickly disseminating amidst online users and escalating into acts of violence and hate crimes due to incitement, as was the case during the 2007-2008 Post Election Violence. With the upcoming, highly contested 2017 general elections, the monitoring of hate speech on social media platforms is of critical importance to detect hate speech occurrences as soon as possible to prevent any further escalations which may result in violence. Current efforts by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission to monitor hate speech on social media involve the use of web crawlers to collect possible instances of hate speech based on specific keywords. Human monitors then have to analyze the collected data to determine instances that are actually hate speech. This human analysis is not only time consuming and overwhelming but also introduces subjective notions of what constitutes hate speech. This research proposed the application of machine learning techniques to build a text binary classifier to detect hate speech on twitter. Hate speech data was collected and labelled to build the corpora. A Support Vector Machine model was trained and validated based on the labelled text data using unigram features and term frequency-inverse document frequency weighting. The research employed an experimental approach to determine which combination of features, weighting schemes and classifiers gives the best performance on the collected hate speech data. Bigram features weighted using term frequency-inverse document frequency fed into a Support Vector Machine classifier gave the best classification performance at an accuracy of 76.22 percent, with an area under the curve of 0.76 for a Receiver Operating Characteristic curve

The feasibility of Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry in the Limpopo and Gauteng provinces

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the feasibility of using Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry and to determine the extent to which the environment favours the use of Northern Sotho as a language of marketing, advertising, business and acquiring entrepreneurial skills. The investigation is characterised by a two-pronged approach to data collection: a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews. A wealth of data was produced by these means. The data from the first phase were captured and decoded in categories set out in frequency tables. The categories were reduced to thematic constructs. Data from the second phase were captured and encoded in transcripts that were later decoded and reduced to themes, categories and sub-categories. The identified themes are consolidated as follows: · The exclusive hegemonic use of English or Afrikaans as a communication barrier to non-native speakers of these languages in commerce and industry · Socio-economic background of respondents · Existence of language policies for workers in commerce and industry · Dispositions of mother-tongue speakers of Northern Sotho and other languages towards the prospective development and use of Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry · Feasibility of developing Northern Sotho lexicography and terminology for the purposes of commerce and industry. The question here is: How does one determine feasibility? Before this issue could be addressed another important and sensitive matter had to be considered: to determine whether native speakers of Northern Sotho and the other South African languages are favourably disposed towards the prospective development and use of Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry. A negligible percentage of respondents expressed negative sentiments in this regard (cf. outcomes of focus group interviews). A distinct majority (64,7%) of respondents who filled in questionnaires was not favourably disposed but a significant minority (35,3%) was positive. However, it should be noted that the questionnaire was not designed to reveal explicit allegiances; hence responses in this regard are somewhat open to interpretation. The first step towards determining the feasibility of developing and using Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry was to determine the current situation in this regard. English and Afrikaans were naturally found to be dominant in commerce and industry while Northern Sotho was used among friends and colleagues in informal situations. Only 3% of the respondents to the questionnaire survey indicated that they used Northern Sotho for transactional purposes in commercial and industrial settings, while 46,8% reported using a smattering of Northern Sotho in a variety of situations. The second step was to determine the effects that could be expected on the current hegemonic use of English or Afrikaans as languages of commerce and industry. Most respondents reported that a lack of proficiency in English prevented them from performing well in their jobs in commerce and industry and some reported that it had been a significant impediment to their efforts to secure employment. In most instances they had no option but to use English to interact with potential employers because it was the only language in common use in commercial and industrial settings. The third step was to determine whether the respondents were proficient in Northern Sotho. It transpired that 68% of them had no command of the language while some reported that they were still learning it. This could be the contingent of 17,8% referred to above since 50,2% reported that they never use Northern Sotho for purposes relating to commerce and industry. The fourth step was to look for a model of language acquisition that would suit the communication needs of anyone who wished to acquire a command of Northern Sotho for use in commerce and industry. Models have been discussed and one has been recommended. The researcher also conducted a survey to establish the extent to which language policy documents exist in commerce and industry. The results of the questionnaire survey revealed that 42 of the 201 respondents are familiar with the language policy or language practice of the company at their place of work. This was in contrast to all the respondents (in the focus group interviews) who seemed to be unaware of the existence of such policies at their places of work. The need to develop and extend targeted/dedicated lexicographic and terminological resources for the use of Northern Sotho in commerce and industry was also identified.Prof. L. C. Posthumu

Love in times of climate change: how an idea of adaptation to climate change travels to northern Tanzania

There is one remarkable feature of the way in which the story of global warming is advancing, at least as far as sub-Saharan Africa is concerned: we cease to treat it as a story. This thesis addresses this blind spot and follows a travelling story of adaptation to climate change from international platforms all the way to northern Tanzania where the Maasai pastoralists dwell. As such, it is demonstrated how this global discourse travels through systems of power, brings old frictions among different stakeholders to the fore and explores the varying lifeworlds that it entangles and brings to life along its way. Following this trajectory provides insight into how climate change, as a statistical description, becomes an agentive force and imaginative resource that is inexhaustible in meaning; a power that operates well beyond its atmospheric properties

Environmental Change and African Societies

Environmental Change and African Societies contributes to current debates on climate change from the perspectives of the social sciences and the humanities. It charts past and present environmental change in different African settings as well as scenarios for the future.; Readership: Historians, social anthropologists, political scientists, geographers and anyone else interested in environmental change in Africa

The feasibility of Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry in the Limpopo and Gauteng provinces

The main objectives of this study are to investigate the feasibility of using Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry and to determine the extent to which the environment favours the use of Northern Sotho as a language of marketing, advertising, business and acquiring entrepreneurial skills. The investigation is characterised by a two-pronged approach to data collection: a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews. A wealth of data was produced by these means. The data from the first phase were captured and decoded in categories set out in frequency tables. The categories were reduced to thematic constructs. Data from the second phase were captured and encoded in transcripts that were later decoded and reduced to themes, categories and sub-categories. The identified themes are consolidated as follows: · The exclusive hegemonic use of English or Afrikaans as a communication barrier to non-native speakers of these languages in commerce and industry · Socio-economic background of respondents · Existence of language policies for workers in commerce and industry · Dispositions of mother-tongue speakers of Northern Sotho and other languages towards the prospective development and use of Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry · Feasibility of developing Northern Sotho lexicography and terminology for the purposes of commerce and industry. The question here is: How does one determine feasibility? Before this issue could be addressed another important and sensitive matter had to be considered: to determine whether native speakers of Northern Sotho and the other South African languages are favourably disposed towards the prospective development and use of Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry. A negligible percentage of respondents expressed negative sentiments in this regard (cf. outcomes of focus group interviews). A distinct majority (64,7%) of respondents who filled in questionnaires was not favourably disposed but a significant minority (35,3%) was positive. However, it should be noted that the questionnaire was not designed to reveal explicit allegiances; hence responses in this regard are somewhat open to interpretation. The first step towards determining the feasibility of developing and using Northern Sotho as a language of commerce and industry was to determine the current situation in this regard. English and Afrikaans were naturally found to be dominant in commerce and industry while Northern Sotho was used among friends and colleagues in informal situations. Only 3% of the respondents to the questionnaire survey indicated that they used Northern Sotho for transactional purposes in commercial and industrial settings, while 46,8% reported using a smattering of Northern Sotho in a variety of situations. The second step was to determine the effects that could be expected on the current hegemonic use of English or Afrikaans as languages of commerce and industry. Most respondents reported that a lack of proficiency in English prevented them from performing well in their jobs in commerce and industry and some reported that it had been a significant impediment to their efforts to secure employment. In most instances they had no option but to use English to interact with potential employers because it was the only language in common use in commercial and industrial settings. The third step was to determine whether the respondents were proficient in Northern Sotho. It transpired that 68% of them had no command of the language while some reported that they were still learning it. This could be the contingent of 17,8% referred to above since 50,2% reported that they never use Northern Sotho for purposes relating to commerce and industry. The fourth step was to look for a model of language acquisition that would suit the communication needs of anyone who wished to acquire a command of Northern Sotho for use in commerce and industry. Models have been discussed and one has been recommended. The researcher also conducted a survey to establish the extent to which language policy documents exist in commerce and industry. The results of the questionnaire survey revealed that 42 of the 201 respondents are familiar with the language policy or language practice of the company at their place of work. This was in contrast to all the respondents (in the focus group interviews) who seemed to be unaware of the existence of such policies at their places of work. The need to develop and extend targeted/dedicated lexicographic and terminological resources for the use of Northern Sotho in commerce and industry was also identified.Prof. L. C. Posthumu

Postcolonialism Cross-Examined

Taking a strikingly interdisciplinary and global approach, Postcolonialism Cross-Examined reflects on the current status of postcolonial studies and attempts to break through traditional boundaries, creating a truly comparative and genuinely global phenomenon. Drawing together the field of mainstream postcolonial studies with post-Soviet postcolonial studies and studies of the late Ottoman Empire, the contributors in this volume question many of the concepts and assumptions we have become accustomed to in postcolonial studies, creating a fresh new version of the field. The volume calls the merits of the field into question, investigating how postcolonial studies may have perpetuated and normalized colonialism as an issue exclusive to Western colonial and imperial powers. The volume is the first to open a dialogue between three different areas of postcolonial scholarship that previously developed independently from one another: • the wide field of postcolonial studies working on European colonialism, • the growing field of post-Soviet postcolonial/post-imperial studies, • the still fledgling field of post-Ottoman postcolonial/post-imperial studies, supported by sideways glances at the multidirectional conditions of interaction in East Africa and the East and West Indies. Postcolonialism Cross-Examined looks at topics such as humanism, nationalism, multiculturalism, nostalgia, and the Anthropocene in order to piece together a new, broader vision for postcolonial studies in the twenty-first century. By including territories other than those covered by the postcolonial mainstream, the book strives to reframe the “postcolonial” as a genuinely global phenomenon and develop multidirectional postcolonial perspectives

Environmental Change and African Societies

Environmental Change and African Societies contributes to current debates on climate change from the perspectives of the social sciences and the humanities. It charts past and present environmental change in different African settings as well as scenarios for the future.; Readership: Historians, social anthropologists, political scientists, geographers and anyone else interested in environmental change in Africa

Mobilizing Global Knowledge

An examination of, and guide to, the challenges and responsibilities of doing research with displaced peoples while respecting their complex needs. In 2018, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees documented a record high 71.4 million displaced people around the world. As states struggle with the costs of providing protection to so many people and popular conceptions of refugees have become increasingly politicized and sensationalized, researchers have come together to form regional and global networks dedicated to working with displaced people to learn how to respond to their needs ethically, compassionately, and for the best interests of the global community. Mobilizing Global Knowledge brings together academics and practitioners to reflect on a global collaborative refugee research network. Together, the members of this network have had a wide-ranging impact on research and policy, working to bridge silos, sectors, and regions. They have addressed power and politics in refugee research, engaged across tensions between the Global North and Global South, and worked deeply with questions of practice, methodology, and ethics in refugee research. Bridging scholarship on network building for knowledge production and scholarship on research with and about refugees, Mobilizing Global Knowledge brings together a vibrant collection of topics and perspectives. It addresses ethical methods in research practice, the possibilities of social media for data collection and information dissemination, environmental displacement, transitional justice, and more. This is essential reading for anyone interested in how to create and share knowledge to the benefit of the millions of people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes