On The Optimization of DC-Pension Fund Investment by Lie Symmetry Analysis

We applied the works inspired by Kumei and Bluman in the determination and evaluation of time-dependent financial investments especially in the DC-Pension fund optimization. We established the applicability of Lie symmetry analysis and the reductions techniques of the Lie-symmetry to transform (2+1) dimensional nonlinear pde into a system of (1+1) linear equation with its solutions and obtained the optimal strategy

Development of a Transparent Thermal Reflective Thin Film Coating for Accurate Separation of Food-Grade Plastics in Recycling Process via AI-Based Thermal Image Processing

This paper presents the development of a specific thin film coating designed to address the challenge of accurately separating food-grade plastics in the recycling process. The coating, created using a plasma sputtering process, is transparent to the visible spectrum of light while effectively reflecting infrared emissions above 1500 nm. Composed of a safe metal oxide formulation with a proprietary composition, the coating is applied to packaging labels. By employing thermal imaging and a computer vision AI model, the coated labels enable precise differentiation of plastics associated with food packaging in the initial stage of plastic recycling. The proposed system achieved a remarkable 100% accuracy in separating food-grade plastics from other types of plastics. This innovative approach holds great potential for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of plastic recycling processes, ensuring the recovery of food-grade plastics for future use

A Stochastic Optimal Control of DC-Pension Fund Optimization Driven By Fractional Brownian motion With Hurst Parameter>α=1/2

We considered the goal of the pension fund manager as to minimize the utility loss and maximizeutility at exit from the scheme, the noises involved in the dynamics of the process are fractional Brownian motions with short-range dependence. We use the DPP method to derive the HJB equation for the value function, and obtain the optimal strategy explicitly driven by fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter&nbsp

Application of single-linkage clustering method in the analysis of growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) At 1990 Constant Basic Prices (Million Naira)

Single-linkage is one of the methods in cluster analysis, which is used, for determining natural groupings in multi-variate data. Given a data set with one or more characteristics, singlelinkage system classifies the data into clusters so that they are as similar as possible within each cluster and as different as possible between clusters. The objective is to show the closeness or similarity in the growth rate of GDP. Using the MINITAB software the similarity of the growth rate of GDP and the similarity in the years of production were shown.KEYWORDS: Dendrogram, tree-diagram, nearest neighbour, single-linkage clustering, hierarchical clusterin

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMPERIALISM AND FOOD INSECURITY IN AFRICA WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON NIGERIA

Many African states have recently, hurriedly put together a number of measures aimed at cushioning the effects of the global food crisis. Most of these programs have been implemented in different forms since the era of independence and have had no significant impact on food and agricultural development. In this paper we used the historical materialism approach to critically evaluate Africa’s food crisis genesis. Our thesis, using the Nigerian, experiences is that Africa’s contact with metropolitan capital set the continent on the path to dependent economic and political development. The state structures in Africa emphasize economic programs which respond to Europe’s economic needs to the detriment of internal agricultural capacity building. To redress the situation, we have recommended an end to imperialism and capacity building among African peasants.Capital, Development, Poverty and Political

Infrastructure finance mechanism and challenges in Nigeria

Infrastructure financing through public-private partnership (PPP) can play an important role in addressing chronic deficiency of infrastructural facilities in developing economies. Inadequate infrastructural facilities discourage investments and retards economic development. Traditional methods of financing infrastructure through budgetary provisions and execution by direct contract award has proven to be inadequate and most often unimplemented creating a financing gap for execution of infrastructure projects in developing countries. This paper assesses the nature of infrastructure financing in Nigeria and highlights the major models of PPP as well as some of the challenges encountered in the mobilising this type of financing. The paper concludes with some suggestions on ways to address the identified challenges

Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Classifier And Rank Transformation Approach To Discriminant Analysis

Discriminant analysis is a multivariate statistical technique used primarily for obtaining a linear function of p variables which maximizes the distance between centroids or midpoints of multivariate distributions of k groups. Linear discriminant analysis was performed using the fisher’s technique which was also derived. Test for differences in the means for the two groups and their variance covariance matrices were discussed. A major shortcoming of the fisher’s linear discriminant analysis is that if normality assumption does not hold, the optimal property is lost. This paper compared Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis and the rank transformation approach. This was illustrated by performing discriminant analysis on the data and discriminant analysis on the ranks.  If the population is not normal, the effectiveness of this method is enhanced by using the ranks of the original data rather than the data themselves. The results obtained indicate that the two methods perform equally well but the rank transformation is a better alternative to the Fisher’s discriminant  technique  for distributions of small samples and non-normal data. Keywords Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Analysis, Rank transformation, Classification, Apparent Error Rate

Optimization of bioethanol production from cassava peels

The bioethanol production from waste is acquiring attraction as a strategy for increasing energy security. This study aims to optimize the production of ethanol from cassava peel using Box Bhenken experimental design. The total carbohydrate content of about 90% in cassava peel was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis using Alpha-amylase followed by Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation (SSF) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae for bioethanol production. The production of bioethanol from cassava peels was investigated for 1-4 hours (hydrolysis time), 0.5–1.5mg/L (enzyme loading), and 1-5 days (incubation time). A statistical model was developed and validated to predict the yield of bioethanol after fermentation, and the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the conditions. The results revealed that the maximum ethanol yield of 1.911% was obtained at the optimum hydrolysis time, enzyme loading, and incubation time (i.e. 2.5 hours, 1 mg/L, and 3 days respectively)

Drug therapy, lifestyle modification and blood pressure control in a primary care facility, south of Johannesburg, South Africa: an audit of hypertension management

Background: Hypertension management is suboptimal in many settings. We assessed blood pressure (BP) control according to target, the appropriateness of antihypertensive therapy and the extent of   implementing lifestyle modification among hypertensive patients.Method: This study was an audit involving a retrospective review of medical records of hypertensive patients who were 18 years of age and older (n = 300), attended to by doctors or primary health care nurses at a large community health centre, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. Demographic, anthropometric, clinical and management data were extracted from the files of hypertensive patients who met the inclusion criteria. Data analysis included the use of descriptive statistics, thechi-square test and Fisher’s exact test. The main outcome measures were the proportions of patients with controlled BP, who used appropriate antihypertensive drugs and who had documented lifestyle modifications.Results: Most patients were black (75.7%) and female (68.3%). The mean age was 60 years. The majority of the patients (55.7%) were either overweight or obese. Fifty-seven per cent of the patients (n = 171) had BP control meeting the target. Appropriate choice of antihypertensive drugs was documented in 81.3% of patients (n = 244), while 56.3% had lifestylemodification documented in their records. Significantly more women had their BP controlled to target compared to men (P = 0.0028). Factors significantly associated with good BP control were white race (P = 0.0001) and documentation of adherence to therapy (P = 0.000).Conclusion: BP control was achieved in the majority of patients and the vast majority was on appropriate drug therapy. White race, female sex and adherence to treatment documented in the medical record were significantly associated with BP controlled to target

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of Junior Secondary School Social Studies Curriculum In Rivers State, Nigeria

The study investigated the evaluation of the implementation of Junior Secondary School Social Studies Curriculum in Rivers State. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population was made up of 274 social studies teachers from the 262 public junior secondary schools in the state. The sample size was 120 social teachers selected through simple random sampling techniques (60 from urban and 60 from rural schools). The instrument for date collection was a questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was determined through test–retest method and a coefficient of 0.87 was attained. In analyzing the data collected, proportion (5) was used to interpret the research questions while z- test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study showed that some proportions of social studies teachers do not make adequate use of instructional materials, poor method of teaching were adopted, evaluation techniques appropriate for social studies instruction were not employed and the prescribes syllabus for social studies were covered.  Based on the above findings, it was recommended among others that qualified teachers be recruited, facilities and teaching materials be provided while teachers be re- trained to update their knowledge on the subject, so as to adopt appropriate method of teaching and evaluation techniques