Incorporating Biometric And Mobile Systems In Social Safety Nets In Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper measured poverty and corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa and modelled a biometric/mobile solution for curbing corrupt practices in social safety programmes. This is against the backdrop that efforts to better the lives of the vulnerable groups - unemployed, rural poor, women and persons with disabilities - are being frustrated by corruption in social security schemes mounted by various government to cater for these groups. The fallout is that planned benefits don't get to the target audience, precipitating conflicts and social tensions. Even more worrisome is that this segment of the society becomes easy recruits for social menace like kidnapping, terrorism, vandalism, prostitution, among others. Using Nigeria as case study, the study applied biometric system for the documentation and authentication of social safety net beneficiaries so that only genuine persons get the social benefits. Equally, mobile applications and devices are integrated for disseminating information about planned and released social packages from government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to the target audience. The research resulted in an integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) design that substantially mitigates corrupt practices in social safety nets

From Murky to Transparent Agricultural Sector: Mainstreaming e-Agriculture in African Development

Agriculture remains the mainstay of African economy. However, factors such as the subsistence nature of African agriculture, the dearth of information and corrupt practices in the sector have retarded growth and development. To take agriculture to greater heights for inclusive economic development and social cohesion, adequate and timely information needs to be shared on agricultural inputs distribution (e.g. seeds and fertilizer), research findings on modern farming techniques have to be disseminated in a timely fashion, real-time conversation on climatic change vulnerability and environmental risk has to take place among stakeholders, and the use of online payment systems for agricultural services has to be internalized, among other measures. All these underscore the exigency of mainstreaming technology in this allimportant real (social) sector. Leveraging on existing inclusive innovation initiatives such as production of lowcost computers and mobile devices for developing economies by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), we proposed ann-tier e-Agriculture system. Using Nigeria as case study, Microsoft SharePoint as development platform, and component-based software engineering as development approach,this study designed and implemented an eAgriculture software application as a viable technology option for galvanizing agriculture in Africa. The researchers gathered requirements, modelled proposed solution, implemented and evaluated the new system. The outcome is a web-based multi-tier system that drives conversations among agriculture stakeholders on an online real-time basis. This proposed dialogue platform will inject transparency into agriculture business, mitigate age-long corrupt practices inherent in distribution of farm inputs, promote inclusive development and scale up the overall contribution of agriculture to national gross domestic products (GDPs) of African countries

Attaining the sustainable development goals using blockchain-based cybersecurity

Sustainable development, or sustainability, refers to meeting the needs of the present generation while not compromising on the needs of the future generation. Cyberspace has increasingly become a tool for actualizing sustainable development, given the increased volume of online transactions. However, cyberspace has equally been used to perpetuate crime and criminality, culminating in high levels of corruption in society. Corruption thrives in secrecy in governance, weakens state institutions, and promotes injustices in society, making the actualization of Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) a mirage. Since SDG 16 is the cornerstone for the actualization of the remaining 16 SDGs, this vision paper proposes a blockchain-based cybersecurity system for engendering transparency and accountability in governance, using Nigerian politics as a case study. We used use case diagrams and n-tier component diagrams to explain how the functionalities of blockchain technology can be used to address trust deficits occasioned by crime and criminality. We also harped on how the implementation of the proposed system can impact the attainment of the SDGs by the target year of 2030

Climatology of Satellite-Derived Mesoscale Convective Systems over West Africa

This work studied the climatology of Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCSs) over West Africa. Infrared brightness temperature (BT) data was collected from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) website over the rainy season period for ten years (2006 - 2015) from 1st of June to 30th of September. The study area covers West Africa from 5ºS to 25ºN and 20ºE to 20ºW, it was divided to 5o X 5o boxes. The T-R criteria used to detect the minimum size of MCSs was a diameter of 200 km or more and a BT of 233 K (-40 ºC) or less. All the MCSs were tracked for the months of June, July, August and September and compared the wettest (2014) and the driest (2009) years as observed from the ten years annual rainfall data collected from the archives of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET). The results indicated that for both the driest and wettest years, latitudinal row 5ºN - 10ºN is the most active zone favorable for the initiation, propagation and decay of MCSs over West Africa with 45% of MCSs found there in the month of June and row 10ºN - 15ºN as the next favorable zone (29-32% of MCSs). In the month of July, the active zone shifted to 10ºN - 15ºN while the next favorable zone also shifted to 5ºN - 10ºN, which was maintained and became more favorable through August and September. There were almost double the number of MCSs occurrence in the wettest year compared to driest year. During wettest year, MCSs were found out to be slower than their driest year counterpart. The results also gave a better insight of the behavioral patterns of West African MCSs, hence improving general forecasting method and reliability. Keywords: active zone, initiation, propagation, DETRAWACS, tracking

Enhancing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa through Service Oriented Software Engineering (SOSE)

Experts in African development believe that small and medium businesses form the engine room of the continent's economic growth and development. This spectrum of businesses, to all intents and purposes, currently provides productive engagements for about 80% of Africans. Despite widely acknowledged contributions to the sm·vival of the continent, adequate t·ecot·ds have not been kept about this segment of the economy. The apparent dearth of statistics makes it difficult for entrepreneurship stakeholders such as investors, researchers, financiers, government and consultants to effectively and efficiently articulate and orchestrate a growth plan for them. This study relied on the doctrine of inclusive innovation and development to design and build an Automated System for Small and Medium Enterprises (ASSME) that avails information for these businesses to continue to grow in influence and importance. The researcher used serviceoriented software engineering (SOSE) approach and against the backdrop that Nigeria is a microcosm of Africa, the study focused on the country as a testbed for implementing the web-based solution. The research methodology includes requirements engineering, modelling of the new system using universal modelling language (UML), implementing the proposed solution using Microsoft SharePoint development platform and finally, evaluating results. In the final analysis, a practical and usable n-tier enterprise application emerged. It will aid regulatory agencies like SMEDAN (Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria) in gathering and coordinating information as well as availing same to entrepreneurship stakeholders in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector for their respective growth-enhancing interventions

Deep Neural Network Model for Evaluating and Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 16

The decision-making process for attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be enhanced through the use of predictive modelling. The application of predictive tools like deep neural networks (DNN) empowers stakeholders with quality information and promotes open data policy for curbing corruption. The anti-corruption drive is a cardinal component of SDG 16 which is aimed at strengthening state institutions and promoting social justice for the attainment of all 17 SDGs. This study examined the implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria and modelled the 2017 national corruption survey data using a DNN. We experimentally tested the efficacy of DNN optimizers using a standard image dataset from the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST). The outcomes validated our claims that predictive analytics could enhance decision-making through high-level accuracies as posted by the optimizers: Adam 98.2%; Adadelta 98.4%; SGD 94.9%; RMSProp 98.1%; Adagrad 98.1%.publishedVersio

Activity of bovine parainfluenza type 3 virus in cattle in North Eastern Nigeria -A short communication

Parainfluenza type 3 virus (PI3V) is a primary agent of Bovine Shipping Fever worldwide. The activity of the virus was accessed through a sero-survey using the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. Out of 656 cattle sampled from Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Borno States, 51.37% were seropositive. The reciprocal of HI titres ranged between 21 and 212. The geometric mean HI titres ranged from 106 in Borno State to 686 in Adamawa State. The  implication of these findings to the possible occurance of shipping fever along cattle routes is discussed

Wykorzystanie głębokich sieci neuronowych w ograniczaniu zmian klimatycznych związanych z konfliktem farmerów i pasterzy w ramach inicjatywy na rzecz zrównoważonej integracji społecznej

Peaceful coexistence of farmers and pastoralists is becoming increasingly elusive and has adverse impact on agricultural revolution and global food security. The targets of Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16) include promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. As a soft approach and long term solution to the perennial farmers-herdsmen clashes with attendant humanitarian crisis, this study proposes a social inclusion architecture using deep neural network (DNN). This is against the backdrop that formulating policies and implementing programmes based on unbiased information obtained from historical agricultural data using intelligent technology like deep neural network (DNN) can be handy in managing emotions. In this vision paper, a DNN-based Farmers-Herdsmen Expert System (FHES) is proposed based on data obtained from the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics for tackling the incessant climate change-induced farmers-herdsmen clashes, with particular reference to Nigeria. So far, many lives have been lost. FHES is modelled as a deep neural network and trained using farmers-herdsmen historical data. Input variables used include land, water, vegetation, and implements while the output is farmers/herders disposition to peace. Regression analysis and pattern recognition performed by the DNN on the farmers-herdsmen data will enrich the inference engine of FHES with extracted rules (knowledge base). This knowledge base is then relied upon to classify future behaviours of herdsmen/farmers as well as predict their dispositions to violence. Critical stakeholders like governments, service providers and researchers can leverage on such advisory to initiate proactive and socially inclusive conflict prevention measures such as people-friendly policies, programmes and legislations. This way, conflicts can be averted, national security challenges tackled, and peaceful atmosphere guaranteed for sustainable development.   Pokojowe współistnienie rolników i pasterzy staje się coraz mnie realne, co ma negatywny wpływ na rewolucję rolniczą i globalne bezpieczeństwo żywnościowe. Cele zrównoważonego rozwoju (SDG 16) obejmują promowanie tworzenia pokojowych i zintegrowanych społeczeństw na rzecz zrównoważonego rozwoju, zapewnienie wszystkim dostępu do uczciwego wymiaru sprawiedliwości i tworzenie skutecznych, odpowiedzialnych i integrujących instytucji na wszystkich poziomach. W ramach łagodnego podejścia i długofalowego podejścia do problemu konfliktów rolników-pasterzy w kontekście kryzysu humanitarnego, w niniejszym artykule zaproponowano architekturę integracji społecznej wykorzystującą głęboką sieć neuronową (DNN). Formułowanie polityki i wdrażanie programów w oparciu o obiektywne informacje uzyskane z historycznych danych przy użyciu inteligentnej technologii, takiej jak głęboka sieć neuronowa (DNN), może być przydatne w zarządzaniu emocjami. W niniejszym artykule zaproponowano oparty na danych uzyskanych od Nigeryjskiego Narodowego Urzędu Statystycznego system ekspercki rolników-pasterzy (FHES) oparty na DNN w celu przeciwdziałaniu nieustannym starciom rolników-pasterzy wywołanych zmianami klimatu, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Nigerii. Do tej pory wiele było ofiar. System FHES jest modelowany jako głęboka sieć neuronowa, przy użyciu danych historycznych hodowców-pasterzy. Zastosowane zmienne wejściowe obejmują ziemię, wodę, roślinność i narzędzia, podczas gdy zmienne wyjściowe to rolnicy-pasterze skłonni do pokoju. Analiza regresji i rozpoznawanie wzorców przeprowadzone przez DNN na danych rolników-pasterzy wzbogaci mechanizm wnioskowania systemu FHES o wyodrębnione reguły (baza wiedzy). Podstawą tej wiedzy jest klasyfikacja przyszłych zachowań pasterzy/rolników, a także przewidywanie ich skłonności do przemocy. Krytyczni interesariusze, tacy jak rządy, dostawcy usług i naukowcy, mogą wykorzystać takie doradztwo do zainicjowania proaktywnych i społecznie włączających środków zapobiegania konfliktom, takich jak przyjazne dla ludzi polityki, programy i prawodawstwo. W ten sposób można uniknąć konfliktów, stawić czoła wyzwaniom bezpieczeństwa narodowego i zagwarantować pokojową atmosferę dla zrównoważonego rozwoju

Zastosowanie inżynierii sterowania modelami i sztuk pięknych w przygotowywaniu systemu reagowania na zmiany klimatyczne dla obszarów wiejskich w Afryce: przypadek wspólnoty Adum-Aiona w Nigerii

Experts at the just concluded climate summit in Paris (COP21) are unanimous in opinion that except urgent measures are taken by all humans, average global temperature rise would soon reach the deadly 2oC mark. When this happens, socioeconomic livelihoods, particularly in developing economies, would be dealt lethal blow in the wake of associated natural causes such as increased disease burden, soil nutrient destruction, desertification, food insecurity, among others. To avert imminent dangers, nations, including those from Africa, signed a legally bind-ing universally accepted climate control protocol to propagate and regulate environmentally-friendly behaviours globally. The climate vulnerability of Africa as established by literature is concerning. Despite contributing relatively less than other continents to aggregate environmental injustice, the continent is projected to bear the most brunt of environmental degradation. This is on account of her inability to put systems and mechanisms in place to stem consequences of climate change. Hence, our resolve to use a combination of scientific and artistic models to design a response system for tackling climate challenges in Africa. Our model formulation encompasses computational model and creative arts model for drawing attention to environmentally friendly behaviours and climate adaptation and mitigation strategies. In this work, we focus on rural Africa to share experience of climate change impact on agriculture – mainstay of rural African economy. We examine the carbon footprints of a rural community in Nigeria – the Adum-Aiona community – as case study and for industrial experience. The authors will provide operational data to substantiate claims of existential threats posed by greenhouse gas (GHG) generation on livelihoods of rural dwellers. The study will also design and test a Climate Change Response System (CCRS) that will enable people to adapt and reduce climate change impact. To achieve the research objective, the researchers will review literature, gather requirements, model the proposed system using Unified Modelling Language (UML), and test CCRS statically. We expect that the implementation of the proposed system will enable people mitigate the effects of, and adapt to, climate change-induced socioeconomic realities. This is besides the fact that the empirical data provided by the study will help clear doubts about the real or perceived threats of climate change. Finally, the industrial experience and case study we share from Africa using model-driven engineering approach will scale up the repository of knowledge of both climate change research and model-driven engineering community.Eksperci biorący udział w szczycie klimatycznym w Paryżu (COP21) sugerują, że pomimo mimo podejmowanych działań zaradczych, średnia temperatura na naszej planecie podniesie się wkrótce o 20C. Gdy to nastąpi, społeczno-ekonomiczne podstawy bytu, szczególnie w krajach rozwijających się, zostaną naruszone w wyniku m.in. przewi-dywanego wzrostu zachorowań, zniszczenia gleby, pustynnienia i braku zabezpieczenia żywności. Aby zapobiec zbliżającemu się niebezpieczeństwu podpisano prawnie wiążący protokół klimatyczny, zaakceptowany także przez kraje afrykańskie. Jego celem jest uregulowanie i wsparcie dla zachowań prośrodowiskowych w skali globalnej. Opisywana w literaturze wrażliwość klimatu w Afryce wydaje się być szczególnie istotna. Chociaż w porównaniu do innych kontynentów jej udział w emisji zanieczyszczeń do atmosfery jest mniejszy, to właśnie ten kontynent ma dotknąć największy poziom degradacji środowiskowej. Wynika to m.in. z braku możliwości wdrażania kluczowych dla klimatu systemów i mechanizmów. Stąd wynika nasza determinacja w opracowaniu kombinacji naukowych i artystycznych modeli, służących jako narzędzia do formułowania systemu odpowiedzi na czekające Afrykę zmiany klimatyczne. Nasze podejście obejmuje modele obliczeniowy i odnoszący się do sztuk pięknych, które mają pomóc w zwróceniu uwagi społeczeństw na niezbędne zachowania prośrodowiskowe. W badaniach koncentrujemy się na obszarach wiejskich w Afryce, aby przedstawić wpływ zmian klimatycznych na rolnictwo, które stanowi podstawę afrykańskiego systemu ekonomicznego. Zbadaliśmy ślad węglowy obszarów wiejskich w Nigerii, we wspólnocie Adum-Aiona. Autorzy przedstawiają dane pokazujące realne zagrożenia dla ludzi, które niesie ze sobą emisja gazów cieplarnianych. Prezentowany jest także test odnoszący się do Systemu Odpowiedzi na Zmiany Klimatu, który pomoże mieszkańcom nie tylko w adaptacji do, ale także w zmniejszeniu konsekwencji zmian klimatycznych. Dyskusja zostanie wsparta przeglądem literaturowym, pomagającym lepiej określić wymagania, które powinien spełniać model, z wykorzystaniem UML. Należy się spodziewać, że wdrożenie proponowanego systemu przyniesie realne korzyści, także te noszące się do uwarunkowań społeczno-ekonomicznych. Rezultaty przeprowadzonych badań empirycznych precyzują zakres zagrożeń związanych ze zmianami klimatycznymi. W końcowej części odniesiemy się do doświadczeń związanych z przemysłem, także w kontekście Afryki. Zastosowanie inżynierii sterowania modelami wzbogaca zakres wiedzy odnoszący się zarówno w kontekście badań nad zmianami klimatycznymi, jak i możliwych zastosowań inżynierii

Incorporating Biometric And Mobile Systems In Social Safety Nets In Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper measured poverty and corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa and modelled a biometric/mobile solution for curbing corrupt practices in social safety programmes. This is against the backdrop that efforts to better the lives of the vulnerable groups - unemployed, rural poor, women and persons with disabilities - are being frustrated by corruption in social security schemes mounted by various government to cater for these groups. The fallout is that planned benefits don't get to the target audience, precipitating conflicts and social tensions. Even more worrisome is that this segment of the society becomes easy recruits for social menace like kidnapping, terrorism, vandalism, prostitution, among others. Using Nigeria as case study, the study applied biometric system for the documentation and authentication of social safety net beneficiaries so that only genuine persons get the social benefits. Equally, mobile applications and devices are integrated for disseminating information about planned and released social packages from government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to the target audience. The research resulted in an integrated Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) design that substantially mitigates corrupt practices in social safety nets