signWithMe: Intelligent Learning System for Inclusive Learning of the Ghanaian Sign Language

Applied project submitted to the Department of Computer Science, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science April 2022Though Machine Learning has been around for a while, it is still considered a new tool for economists and in its application to predicting economic growth. Studies that apply machine learning to predicting economic growth have found that the Random Forest algorithm is currently the best performing machine learning algorithm for predicting economic recessions and economic growth. However, besides studies evaluating the various machine learning algorithms, there is limited literature on the application of these techniques to help economists and policymakers solve problems. Developing African countries, like Zimbabwe, with their unique economic growth challenges, can harness the predictive qualities of this technology in development planning, setting, and achieving growth targets. In this thesis, I apply the random forest algorithm to make income predictions for Zimbabwe, in the country's hopes to attain upper-middle-income status by 2030.Ashesi Universit

Phytoremediation Of Crude Oil Impacted Soil Using Purple Nutsedge

The present study investigated the viability of purple nutsedge in the phytoremediation of a crude oilcontaminated land in the Kom-Kom community, Oyigbo, Rivers state, Nigeria. 150g of soil samples were randomly collected from two (2) different points on the polluted site and a control site and analyzed for Petroleum Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) and Heavy metals ( Pb, Cd, Cr & Ni). in soils and plants before and after phytoremediation. Plants were transplanted into the contaminated and contaminated soil after soil sample collection.After planting,the progress of plant growth was observed and recorded biweekly for 3 months before harvesting. From the results obtained, over 80% and 66% PAHs and TPHs phytodegradation efficiencies were achieved using the plant while Cd, Pb and Cr were removed by 90%, 67% and 39.2% respectively. The Bioaccumulation Factor (B.F) of the heavymetals in study plant were found to be greated than 1 which makes it suitable for phytoextraction of heavy metals. Therefore, the study suggests that purple nutsedge can be useful in the phytoremediation of a crudeoil polluted soil. Keywords: Hydrocarbons, Heavy metals, Phytoremediation, Crude oil, Purple nutsedg

Social Entrepreneurship: Role of Networks in Capturing Opportunities.

Social entrepreneurship, an exercise that amalgamates non-profit operations and business values in quest of social impact, has the ability to empower lots of individuals around the world in social problem-solving. This article investigates how managerial ties assist social entrepreneurs in discovering and capturing opportunities for their course. We also look at the moderating effect of centrality on the relationship between the social entrepreneur, managerial ties and opportunity. Drawing a sample from 300 social entrepreneurs, we recorded that, business ties have a more positive effect on opportunity and both degree and betweenness centrality positively moderates this relationship. However, social entrepreneurs are encouraged to establish ties with both government and business because they have different services to offer. But that notwithstanding, they are encouraged to have more business ties to discover and capture opportunities. Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship, government ties, business ties, opportunity capture. DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/53-06 Publication date:March 31st 201

Service-Oriented Multigranular Optical Network Architecture for Clouds

This paper presents a novel service-oriented network architecture to bridge the informational gap between user applications and optical networks providing technology-agnostic multigranular optical network services for clouds. A mediation layer (service plane) between user applications and network control is proposed to facilitate a mapping process between user application requests and the network services. At the network level, a multigranular optical network (MGON) is proposed and implemented to support dynamic wavelength and subwavelength granularities with different transport formats [optical burst switched (OBS), optical burst transport (OBT)], reservation protocols (one-way, two-way), and different quality-of-service (QoS) levels per service type. The service-oriented multigranular optical network has been designed, implemented, and demonstrated on an experimental testbed. The testbed consists of service and network resource provisioning, service abstraction, and network resource virtualization. The service-to-network interoperation is provided by means of a gateway that maps service requests to technology-specific parameters and a common signaling channel for both service and network resource provisioning

Interlocking Effects of Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulation on Social Ties and Social Entrepreneurial Orientation

In recent years, the projection of Social entrepreneurs’ cognitive drive is a critical factor that needs attention in determining the efficiency of social entrepreneurial orientation in entrepreneurship studies. In order for Social entrepreneurs to be fully oriented in improving social well-being through long term developmental project and not merely considered to perform acts of charity, there has to be a social cognitive mechanism as a key characteristic of social value creation. There are however, significant gaps in understanding social entrepreneur orientation hence, few empirical studies on the subject. This paper using both the Social Network and Social Cognitive theories attempts to identify the relationship between Social ties, self-efficacy, self-regulation and entrepreneurial orientation outcomes. Using the Partial lest square of the structural equation model to analyze a survey data of 397 Philanthropist (i.e. social activist, environmentalist and other social innovators) NGOs in Ghana, the findings proved that, the level of an individual’s self-efficacy and Self-regulation is not only important to consider as a driving social entrepreneurs’ cognitive behaviors but also fruitful in improving social Entrepreneurial orientation. The study reveals some directions for social innovators seeking to promote their social entrepreneurial orientation skills using cognitive measures alongside social connections in solving a social problem. Keywords: key words, business ties; political ties; self-efficacy; self-regulation; social entrepreneurial orientation DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/68-06 Publication date:August 31st 202

Antioxidative and Chemopreventive Properties of Vernonia amygdalina and Garcinia biflavonoid

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on dietary and medicinal phytochemicals that inhibit, reverse or retard diseases caused by oxidative and inflammatory processes. Vernonia amygdalina is a perennial herb belonging to the Asteraceae family. Extracts of the plant have been used in various folk medicines as remedies against helminthic, protozoal and bacterial infections with scientific support for these claims. Phytochemicals such as saponins and alkaloids, terpenes, steroids, coumarins, flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans, xanthones, anthraquinones, edotides and sesquiterpenes have been extracted and isolated from Vernonia amygdalina. These compounds elicit various biological effects including cancer chemoprevention. Garcinia kola (Guttiferae) seed, known as “bitter kola”, plays an important role in African ethnomedicine and traditional hospitality. It is used locally to treat illnesses like colds, bronchitis, bacterial and viral infections and liver diseases. A number of useful phytochemicals have been isolated from the seed and the most prominent of them is the Garcinia bioflavonoids mixture called kolaviron. It has well-defined structure and an array of biological activities including antioxidant, antidiabetic, antigenotoxic and hepatoprotective properties. The chemopreventive properties of Vernonia amygdalina and Garcinia biflavonoids have been attributed to their abilities to scavenge free radicals, induce detoxification, inhibit stress response proteins and interfere with DNA binding activities of some transcription factors

Learning Resources for the Blind

Basically, teaching aids for the blind fall into two distinct groups, those providing the basic tools of learning such as writing machines, arithmetic boards and allied instruments and those covering the broader and more flexible requirements of the teaching services for the blind. In this write-up, an attempt is made to examine some of the basic learning resources for the blind. Some of the problems inherent in the purchase, maintenance and the use of these equipments in Nigeria is highlighted and finally an attempt is made to provide possible suggestions for solution of the problems

Towards a service oriented framework for the future optical internet

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