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A Temporal Stochastic Bias Correction using a Machine Learning Attention model
Nivron, Omer, Wischik, Damon J., Vrac, Mathieu, Shuckburgh, Emily, Archibald, Alex T.
Climate models are biased with respect to real-world observations. They usually need to be adjusted before being used in impact studies. The suite of statistical methods that enable such adjustments is called bias correction (BC). However, BC methods currently struggle to adjust temporal biases. Because they mostly disregard the dependence between consecutive time points. As a result, climate statistics with long-range temporal properties, such as heatwave duration and frequency, cannot be corrected accurately. This makes it more difficult to produce reliable impact studies on such climate statistics. This paper offers a novel BC methodology to correct temporal biases. This is made possible by rethinking the philosophy behind BC. We will introduce BC as a time-indexed regression task with stochastic outputs. Rethinking BC enables us to adapt state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) attention models and thereby learn different types of biases, including temporal asynchronicities. With a case study of heatwave duration statistics in Abuja, Nigeria, and Tokyo, Japan, we show more accurate results than current climate model outputs and alternative BC methods.
Africa prepares for age of robots - The Mail & Guardian
The adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa received a major boost after Uniccon Group, an Abuja-based tech startup, unveiled the continent's first humanoid robot. Omeife, the 1.8m female human-like robot, is African by design and has Igbo-like physical attributes. The battery-powered robot can speak Igbo, Yoruba, English, French, Swahili, Wazobia, Pidgin, Afrikaans and Arabic with native accents. Uniccon Group chief executive Chuks Ekwueme said: "Omeife also identifies objects and calculates positions and distances of objects." The launch of Omeife comes a few months after Abdul Malik Tejan-Sie, a South African-based Sierra Leonean innovator, presented a prototype of South Africa's first humanoid robot.
Omeife, Africa's First Humanoid - GoSpeed Hub
Over the years, Human-like robots have grown in popularity worldwide; we have had humanoids from Asia, North America, and finally, Africa. Equipped to meet the world, Omeife is a 6-foot-tall female "Igbo" humanoid robot designed to provide assistance, indulge in intellectual-social engagement, and serve numerous functions. She was created by STEMFocus, a subsidiary of Uniccon Group of Companies. Uniccon Group is one of Nigeria's fastest-growing Technology startups located In Mabushi Abuja. They offer eclectic, innovative Tech solutions to government agencies and businesses across the continent.
Inside Africa's first humanoid
Somewhere in Mabushi, a crossroad area between the inner and outer districts of Abuja, Nigeria, Uniccon Group, a two-year-old Nigerian technology firm, has built a humanoid: a 6-foot-tall multilingual human-like robot called Omeife. From an idea that was conceptualised in 2020 to a back-and-forth construction--slow wins and quick-succession learning--that stretched across two years, Omeife, built as a female Igbo character that understands and speaks eight different languages, is now a product ready to meet the world. Powered by sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms developed in-house by the company's team of scientists, Omeife has a deep understanding of African culture and behavioural patterns. Speaking to TechCabal about the project over a call, Chuks Ekwueme, who founded the company in 2020 and serves as its CEO, revealed that the humanoid also has a real time understanding of its environment including active listening and the ability to focus on a specific conversation thread as it's happening. "It's not just multilingual, it has the ability to switch languages and interact with specific gestures--hand illustrations, smile and other bodily gestures--that match the tone of the conversation," said Ekwueme.
Modelling spatio-temporal trends of air pollution in Africa
Gahungu, Paterne, Kubwimana, Jean Remy, Muhimpundu, Lionel Jean Marie Benjamin, Ndamuzi, Egide
Atmospheric pollution remains one of the major public health threat worldwide with an estimated 7 millions deaths annually. In Africa, rapid urbanization and poor transport infrastructure are worsening the problem. In this paper, we have analysed spatio-temporal variations of PM2.5 across different geographical regions in Africa. The West African region remains the most affected by the high levels of pollution with a daily average of 40.856 $\mu g/m^3$ in some cities like Lagos, Abuja and Bamako. In East Africa, Uganda is reporting the highest pollution level with a daily average concentration of 56.14 $\mu g/m^3$ and 38.65 $\mu g/m^3$ for Kigali. In countries located in the central region of Africa, the highest daily average concentration of PM2.5 of 90.075 $\mu g/m^3$ was recorded in N'Djamena. We compare three data driven models in predicting future trends of pollution levels. Neural network is outperforming Gaussian processes and ARIMA models.
Nigeria, India strengthen ties on artificial intelligence, solar energy โ Businessamlive
Nigeria and India are moving to strengthen ties in areas of fintech, artificial intelligence, scientific development and solar energy, according to Gangadharan Balasubramanian, Indian high commissioner to Nigeria. The newly appointed envoy, who disclosed this during the commemoration of India's 76th Independence in Abuja on Monday, said the partnership between would further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries. Balasubramanian noted that the trade and economic relations between India and Nigeria have been very strong, with over 135 Indian companies operating in Nigeria. He also said the volume of trade between both countries has increased as well as improved on both sides after the COVID-19 pandemic. "The trade volume between India and Nigeria was $14.95 billion in 2021. The trade volume has increased substantially after COVID-19, both ways," Balasubramanian said.
Nigeria's fragile security architecture is collapsing
Earlier this month, attacks that took place within minutes of each other in different parts of Nigeria, and the apparent failure of the security forces to respond to them efficiently and in a timely manner, exposed how big of a threat lawlessness and impunity currently poses to the country and its people. Late on July 5, heavily armed men on motorcycles raided the Kuje Medium Security Custodial Centre on the outskirts of Abuja and released more than 900 inmates, including more than 60 Boko Haram members in detention. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) โ an offshoot of Boko Haram now allied with the ISIL (ISIS) group โ claimed responsibility for the attack. Just hours before the Kuje incident, another group of heavily armed men had attacked a convoy carrying an advance security team for President Muhammadu Buhari in his home state of Katsina. A presidential spokesperson said the convoy carrying a team of security guards, as well as protocol and media officers, was on its way to Daura, Buhari's hometown, to prepare for a visit by him when the attack took place.
Mairabot: A student-built robot in Nigeria
When COVID-19 hit, an enterprising group of pupils in Abuja, Nigeria, used their robotics class to design and build a simple robot to cut down on interpersonal contact in hospitals. Using only scraps they found around the classroom, they each contributed to the ideas, concept, mechanics and AI elements of their robot "Mairabot" โ which earned praise from health officials and their teachers alike. Mairabot, by filmmaker Philip Okpokoro, introduces us to Nabila Abbas and her fellow students in this short, inspiring film. Philip Okpokoro is a Nigerian director and cinematographer with an impressive record in both documentary and live TV directing. He has directed a wide array of film projects from high-end live TV to intimate documentaries for global broadcasters, and has been awarded for best director of photography.
'How judges can deploy artificial intelligence'
An expert in legal technology, Ope Olugasa, has said judges can use artificial intelligence (A.I) to easily review and evaluate written addresses and submissions in seconds. The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of LawPavilion Business Solutions, Ope Olugasa, said the firm will showcase its new A.I system geared towards smart justice delivery at the forthcoming biennial judges' conference in Abuja. According to him, the solutions are made by Nigerians to help solve some of the challenges facing the country's justice sector. Olugasa told reporters at a briefing in Lagos that the new solution, A.I Document Review, can identify a judge's previous judgments on similar issues. He said it makes adjudication easier and faster, without judges having to always reinvent the wheel in deciding each matter.