The impact of timber price uncertainty and flexible harvest on bidding behavior in N +1 price forest biodiversity auctions

Conservation auctions have received increased attention since the turn of the century. Improved management of forests for biodiversity is one of the areas where this has been the case. Previous studies have to my knowledge not accounted for the impact of timber price variability on forest owners’ bidding behavior. This thesis fills this void in the literature. Brazee and Mendelsohn (1988) showed that timber price fluctuations affect the timing of timber cutting as the forest owners' reservation prices for cutting increase under higher price variability. A basic insight from auction theory is that no bidder will submit a bid that makes him or her worse off. This is also the case for conservation contract auctions. I combine the above two insights to show that bids for forest conservation auctions will become higher under timber price variability compared to cases with timber prices without such fluctuations.M-ECO

Conceptual Design of Coconut Dehusking Machine

Generally, coconuts are dehusked manually using a machete. These methods require skilled labour and are laborious to use. Attempts made so far in the development of dehusking tools have only been partially successful and not effective in replacing manual methods. The reasons stated for the failure of these tools include unsatisfactory and incomplete dehusking and breakage of the coconut shell while dehusking. Based on this a hand - operated coconut dehusking machine is being designed to solve this problem. This machine takes into consideration the dangers, hazards and risks involved in dehusking the coconut which will be efficient, productive, environmentally friendly, less laborious, easy to use and ergonomic, easy to assemble and disassemble, and most importantly, cost effective in production, maintenance and repairs .The machine will use hydraulic system, including a ram, fed from a pump, which does the dehusking at a rate of 70-80 coconuts per hour. Keywords: Coconut; Dehusking; Machine; Skilled labour; Manua

The Impact of Personal Remittances, FDI and Exports on Economic Growth: Evidence from West Africa

The study delves into West African data to assess the impact of personal remittances, FDI and exports on economic growth by applying panel data methodologies on 15 countries from 1991 to 2017. The study further applied panel fully modified ordinary least square, robust least square, and generalized linear model regression methodologies to make a statistical inference. From the results, it could be ascertained that personal remittances and exports have a strong and positive impact on economic growth. Meanwhile, FDI has a positive impact on economic growth as an individual factor, but with the existence of personal remittances and exports, FDI tends to become negative and significant in West Africa. The study proposes further studies into the area of FDI to unravel the exact relationship it has with economic growth. Keywords: Personal remittances, Foreign direct investment, Exports, Robust least squares, Fully modified ordinary least squares, Generalized linear model DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-23-04 Publication date: August 31st 201

PEDAL POWERED CENTRIFUGAL PUMP PURIFIED WATER SUPPLY DEVICE

This paper analyzes the design of a pedal powered purified water supply device to be used by local dwellers. It works on the principle of compression and sudden release of a tube by creating negative pressure in the tube and this vacuum created draws water from the sump into the pump while rollers push the water through to the filter where adsorption takes place to purify the water. The design composed a peristaltic pump powered by paddling, a carbon filter and hose or flexible tube. As the operator sits on the seat and paddles, the pedal crank transfer the motion to the rotor thus the rollers and the tube is squeezed by the set of rollers to move the fluid. The design analysis shows that one revolution of the pedal gives 1.1 litres of water. This design will reduce the labour, cost and weariness caused by transporting and sanitizing drinkable water for use in the homes of Ghanaian villages. Keywords: Design, Pedal crank, Peristaltic pump, Sump, Local dwellers, Drinkable wate

Educational Data Processing Centers; Determinants of Security Innovations at Higher Education Institutions

Higher education institutions are facing unprecedented security challenges due to the increasing recognition of the importance of integrating technology into the core business of teaching and learning. This study sought to investigate the determinants of security innovation for data processing centers of higher educational institutions. Studies related to security innovation of higher educational institutions are limited considering the vast amount of data processing centers deployed for academic operations. In all, 300 respondents were selected from higher education institutions to participate in a survey to test the proposed model by using multinomial logistic regression. The study found out that four predictor variables; relative advantage, complexity, board approval, and IT competencies were significant and hence the model was suitable for studying security innovation at the organizational level. Keywords: Security Innovation, Educational Data Processing Center, Information Security DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-7-02 Publication date:March 31st 202

The Effects of Globalized Media on Northern Cultures: A Case Study of Dagomba, Frafra and Wala Ethnic Groups in Tamale Metropolis

The existence of globalized media has influenced most people's ways of living, causing significant changes in Ghana's northern culture. Accepting different civilizations, such as Christian and Islamic civilizations, results in a hybridization of culture, which is shown in their way of life and attitudes regarding issues. This study uses the ethnic groupings of the Dagomba, Frafra, and Wala in Tamale to investigate the effects of globalized media. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect relevant data. Using SPSS version 22, it also used descriptive statistics for descriptive analysis and cross-tabulations, as well as the Kendall Coefficient of Concordance to examine the amount of agreement for some specific variables. Out of the ninety people polled, 54 had a television, which they usually used to watch Telenovelas (42.2 %). The outcomes of this study imply that there is a favorable impact on Ghana's northern culture, as seen by their attitude toward social issues (65.6 %) and clothing style (23.3 %). This indicates that while there may be favorable cultural changes, there may also be bad changes. Globalized media, which has the highest rank of 1.73 in the Kendall Coefficient of Concordance, is at the center of it all, playing a vital role in interweaving cultures across time and place. The study suggests that, because the media has a favorable impact on people's attitudes toward social concerns in the north, media houses should promote more social program

The Case for Globalizing Fairness: A Mixed Methods Study on Colonialism, AI, and Health in Africa

With growing application of machine learning (ML) technologies in healthcare, there have been calls for developing techniques to understand and mitigate biases these systems may exhibit. Fair-ness considerations in the development of ML-based solutions for health have particular implications for Africa, which already faces inequitable power imbalances between the Global North and South.This paper seeks to explore fairness for global health, with Africa as a case study. We conduct a scoping review to propose axes of disparities for fairness consideration in the African context and delineate where they may come into play in different ML-enabled medical modalities. We then conduct qualitative research studies with 672 general population study participants and 28 experts inML, health, and policy focused on Africa to obtain corroborative evidence on the proposed axes of disparities. Our analysis focuses on colonialism as the attribute of interest and examines the interplay between artificial intelligence (AI), health, and colonialism. Among the pre-identified attributes, we found that colonial history, country of origin, and national income level were specific axes of disparities that participants believed would cause an AI system to be biased.However, there was also divergence of opinion between experts and general population participants. Whereas experts generally expressed a shared view about the relevance of colonial history for the development and implementation of AI technologies in Africa, the majority of the general population participants surveyed did not think there was a direct link between AI and colonialism. Based on these findings, we provide practical recommendations for developing fairness-aware ML solutions for health in Africa.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2304.0219

Using GIS technology to identify areas of tuberculosis transmission and incidence

BACKGROUND: Currently in the U.S. it is recommended that tuberculosis screening and treatment programs be targeted at high-risk populations. While a strategy of targeted testing and treatment of persons most likely to develop tuberculosis is attractive, it is uncertain how best to accomplish this goal. In this study we seek to identify geographical areas where on-going tuberculosis transmission is occurring by linking Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology with molecular surveillance. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis was performed on data collected on persons newly diagnosed with culture positive tuberculosis at the Tarrant County Health Department (TCHD) between January 1, 1993 and December 31, 2000. Clinical isolates were molecularly characterized using IS6110-based RFLP analysis and spoligotyping methods to identify patients infected with the same strain. Residential addresses at the time of diagnosis of tuberculosis were geocoded and mapped according to strain characterization. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) analysis models were used to identify risk factors involved in clustering. RESULTS: Evaluation of the spatial distribution of cases within zip-code boundaries identified distinct areas of geographical distribution of same strain disease. We identified these geographical areas as having increased likelihood of on-going transmission. Based on this evidence we plan to perform geographically based screening and treatment programs. CONCLUSION: Using GIS analysis combined with molecular epidemiological surveillance may be an effective method for identifying instances of local transmission. These methods can be used to enhance targeted screening and control efforts, with the goal of interruption of disease transmission and ultimately incidence reduction

Thyroid dysfunction and glycaemic control among Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Ghana: A comparative cross-sectional study

Introduction: Thyroid disorders and diabetes mellitus coexist and are prevalent endocrinopathies among adult population. Thyroid dysfunction contributes to metabolic imbalances, increase beta-cell apoptosis and glucose intolerance. There is paucity of data and contradicting findings on how thyroid dysfunction influence glycaemic control. Therefore, we evaluated thyroid dysfunction and glycaemic control among Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in Ghana. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among 192 T2DM patients from Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital. Three consecutive monthly fasting plasma glucose (FBG) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) were analysed and the results were classified as, moderate hyperglycaemia (MH) (FBG = 6.1–12.0 mmol/L, HbA1c \u3c 7%), severe hyperglycaemia (SH) (FBG ≥ 12.1 mmol/L, HbA1c \u3e 7%) and good glycaemic controls (GC) (FBG = 4.1–6.0 mmol/L, HbA1c \u3c 7%). Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4), body mass index (BMI) and other clinical parameters were measured. Data analysis was done using R language version 4.0.2 and p \u3c.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There were no significant differences in age (years) between patients in the various glycaemic groups (p =.9053). The overall prevalence of thyroid disorders was 7.8% among T2DM patients. The prevalence of thyroid disorders was higher in patients with SH (11.7%) followed by those with MH (7.5%) and then those with GC (5.4%). Serum levels of TSH and FT3/FT4 ratio were significantly lower in T2DM patients with SH compared to those with MH and the GC (p \u3c.0001). However, FT4 was significantly higher in SH patients compared to the good glycaemic controls (p \u3c .01). The first tertiles of TSH [aOR = 10.51, 95% CI (4.04–17.36), p \u3c .0001] and FT3 [aOR = 2.77, 95% CI (1.11–6.92), p =.0290] were significantly and independently associated with increased odds of hyperglycaemia. Conclusion: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction is high in T2DM and increases with hyperglycaemia. Reduced TSH and T3 may worsen glycaemic control. Periodic monitoring of thyroid function should be incorporated into management guidelines among T2DM patients in Ghana