My Machine and I: ChatGPT and the Future of Human-Machine Collaboration in Africa

Recent advancements in technology have necessitated a paradigm shift in the people use technology necessitating a new research field called Human-Machine collaboration. ChatGPT, an Artificial intelligence (AI) assistive technology, has gained mainstream adoption and implementation in academia and industry; however, a lot is left unknown about how this new technology holds for Human-Machine Collaboration in Africa. Our survey paper highlights to answer some of these questions. To understand the effectiveness of ChatGPT on human-machine collaboration we utilized reflexive thematic analysis to analyze (N= 51) articles between 2019 and 2023 obtained from our literature search. Our findings indicate the prevalence of ChatGPT for human-computer interaction within academic sectors such as education, and research; trends also revealed the relatively high effectiveness of ChatGPT in improving human-machine collaboration.Comment: 8 pages, 1 tabl

Homicidal violence during foreign military missions prevention and legal issues

Objectives. The study involved Nigerian soldiers engaged in peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Yugoslavia. Using case illustrations, the study sought to describe patterns of homicidal violence among soldiers from the same country or soldiers from allied forces, and to suggest possible reasons for the attacks.Design and setting. Nigeria was actively involved in peacekeeping missions in Liberia between 1990 and 1996. During this period, intentional homicidal attacks occurred among the Nigerian military personnel. Post-homicidal interviews conducted among the perpetrators were combined with evidence obtained at military courts to produce the case studies.Subjects;. Six Nigerian military personnel who attacked other Nigerians or soldiers from allied forces, with homicidal intent Results, Possible predisposing and precipitating factors for these attacks were highlighted. The possibility of recognising these factors before embarking on overseas missions was discussed, so that preventive measures could be instituted as far as possible. Finally, medico-legal implications of homicide in the military were discussed. Conclusions. A certain degree of pre-combat selection is essential to exclude soldiers with definite severe psychopathology. A clearly defined length of duty in the mission areas and adequate communication with home could reduce maladjustment Health personnel deployed to mission areas should be very conversant with mental health issues so that early recognition of psychological maladjustment is possible

Mapping Computer Science Research: Trends, Influences, and Predictions

This paper explores the current trending research areas in the field of Computer Science (CS) and investigates the factors contributing to their emergence. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset comprising papers, citations, and funding information, we employ advanced machine learning techniques, including Decision Tree and Logistic Regression models, to predict trending research areas. Our analysis reveals that the number of references cited in research papers (Reference Count) plays a pivotal role in determining trending research areas making reference counts the most relevant factor that drives trend in the CS field. Additionally, the influence of NSF grants and patents on trending topics has increased over time. The Logistic Regression model outperforms the Decision Tree model in predicting trends, exhibiting higher accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. By surpassing a random guess baseline, our data-driven approach demonstrates higher accuracy and efficacy in identifying trending research areas. The results offer valuable insights into the trending research areas, providing researchers and institutions with a data-driven foundation for decision-making and future research direction.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

From Generalization to Precision: Exploring SAM for Tool Segmentation in Surgical Environments

Purpose: Accurate tool segmentation is essential in computer-aided procedures. However, this task conveys challenges due to artifacts' presence and the limited training data in medical scenarios. Methods that generalize to unseen data represent an interesting venue, where zero-shot segmentation presents an option to account for data limitation. Initial exploratory works with the Segment Anything Model (SAM) show that bounding-box-based prompting presents notable zero-short generalization. However, point-based prompting leads to a degraded performance that further deteriorates under image corruption. We argue that SAM drastically over-segment images with high corruption levels, resulting in degraded performance when only a single segmentation mask is considered, while the combination of the masks overlapping the object of interest generates an accurate prediction. Method: We use SAM to generate the over-segmented prediction of endoscopic frames. Then, we employ the ground-truth tool mask to analyze the results of SAM when the best single mask is selected as prediction and when all the individual masks overlapping the object of interest are combined to obtain the final predicted mask. We analyze the Endovis18 and Endovis17 instrument segmentation datasets using synthetic corruptions of various strengths and an In-House dataset featuring counterfactually created real-world corruptions. Results: Combining the over-segmented masks contributes to improvements in the IoU. Furthermore, selecting the best single segmentation presents a competitive IoU score for clean images. Conclusions: Combined SAM predictions present improved results and robustness up to a certain corruption level. However, appropriate prompting strategies are fundamental for implementing these models in the medical domain

Haematological parameters dynamics of developing Gallus gallus domesticus

The blood parameters of 12 broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) were determined at the ages of 1, 3, 5 and 7 weeks old, for follow-up of the developmental dynamics in their haematological profile. Blood samples were collected from chickens at 7, 21, 35 and 49 days intervals. Total number of WBC, RBC, PCV, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC together with absolute count of differential leucocytes (neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, lymphocytes and basophils) was determined. Significant age effects (p<0.05) was observed on RBC, PCV, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC and WBC. With increasing age, Hb, PCV, MCV, MCH and WBC increased significantly and RBC decreased significantly (p<0.05), while MCHC and differential leucocyte count had no significant variation (p>0.05). Advancement of age led to increasing body weight. There was a high correlation between body weight and some blood parameters of the broiler chicken. Weight accounted for 19.79 %, 11.87 %, 37.49 %, 36.09 %, 34.92 % and 25.77 % of the variations in PCV, Hb, RBC, WBC, MCV and MCH respectively. Age therefore has effects on the haematological parameters and also determines the body weight of broiler chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Keywords: Development, Broiler chicken, Haematological parameters, Age and growt

The effect of food access schedule and diet composition on the rhythmicity of serum melatonin and pineal N-acetyltransferase activity in rats /

Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, which is known to modulate biological rhythms in mammals. This study investigated the effect of food access schedule and dietary composition on serum melatonin and pineal NAT activity in adult male Wistar rats. These rats were maintained on a 12:12 h light:dark schedule with lights on at 0800h. The rats were randomly assigned to two dietary groups. A group was simultaneously fed a protein-rich and carbohydrate-rich granulated diet and the other group fed granulated rat chow. Each dietary group was further divided based on dietary feeding schedules. Animals were fed between 0800--1600 h or fed ad libitum. The study revealed that protein intake of rats fed the dietary choice was lower with the restricted access than in the free access. In rats fed dietary choice, the nocturnal melatonin levels and pineal NAT activity were significantly lower under the restricted access feeding when compared to the ad libitum feeding schedule. This was not observed in rats fed single chow diet. In conclusion our data demonstrate that food composition does affect the nocturnal synthesis of melatonin as well as the activity of the enzyme NAT. This could be via dietary intake of tryptophan, which is a precursor melatonin synthesis in the pineal gland

Homicidal violence during foreign military missions - prevention and legal issues

Objectives. The study involved Nigerian soldiers engaged in peacekeeping missions in Liberia and Yugoslavia. Using case illustrations, the study sought to describe patterns of homicidal violence among soldiers from the same country or soldiers from allied forces, and to suggest possible reasons for the attacks. Design and setting. Nigeria was actively involved in peacekeeping missions in Liberia between 1990 and 1996. During this period, intentional homicidal attacks occurred among the Nigerian military personnel. Post- homicidal interviews conducted among the perpetrators were combined with evidence obtained at military courts to produce the case studies. Subjects. Six Nigerian military personnel who attacked other Nigerians or soldiers from allied forces, with homicidal intent. Results. Possible predisposing and precipitating factors for these attacks were highlighted. The possibility of recognising these factors before embarking on overseas missions was discussed, so that preventive measures could be instituted as far as possible. Finally, medico-legal implications of homicide in the military were discussed. Conclusions. A certain degree of pre-combat selection is essential to exclude soldiers with definite severe psychopathology. A clearly defined length of duty in the mission areas and adequate communication with home could reduce maladjustment. Health personnel deployed to mission areas should be very conversant with mental health issues so that early recognition of psychological maladjustment is possible

People living with HIV in Ogun East Senatorial district, Nigeria-a happy and physically active people

Background: Physically active individuals tend to be happy people. This study aimed to assess the relationship between physical activity and happiness among people living with HIV. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 412 HIV-positive participants and obtained data using an interviewer-based questionnaire that included sociodemographic questions, extracts from SF-36 to assess happiness and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short form (IPAQ-SF) to assess the intensity and domains of physical activity. We derived the proportions and means (and standard deviation) of participants’ characteristics and disaggregated the factors by reported happiness. Subsequently, we conducted bivariate and binary logistic analyses to assess the associations of happiness with physical activity volume, intensity and domains. Statistical significance was set at 5%. Results: Participants were predominantly females (68.4%) with a mean age of 47.4 (±10.3). Most (372; 90.3%) participants reported feeling happy in the preceding month. The prevalence of physical activity volume was 18.7% (low), 40.5% (moderate) and 40.8% (high), respectively. Physical activity level was related to happiness as 97.6% of the study participants who reported a high level of physical activity also reported feeling happy (ꭓ2 = 30.009; p = <0.001). The study found a positive dose-response association between the volume, intensity, and domains of physical activity and happiness (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our study has demonstrated that HIV participants who engage themselves in physical activity are happy people. The findings may aid policy formulation aimed at physical activity interventions for promoting happiness and other positive mental health constructs among people living with HIV