Mapping land use and land cover (LULC) is essential for comprehending changes in the environment and promoting sustainable planning. To achieve accurate and effective LULC mapping, this work investigates the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Machine Learning (ML) methodology. Different types of land covers in the Lucknow district were classified using the Random Forest (RF) algorithm and Landsat satellite images. Since the research area consists of a variety of landforms, there are issues with classification accuracy. These challenges are met by combining supplementary data into the GIS framework and adjusting algorithm parameters like selection of cloud free images and homogeneous training samples. The result demonstrates a net increase of 484.59 km2 in built-up areas. A net decrement of 75.44 km2 was observed in forest areas. A drastic net decrease of 674.52 km2 was observed for wetlands. Most of the wastelands have been converted into urban areas and agricultural land based on their suitability with settlements or crops. The classifications achieved an overall accuracy near 90%. This strategy provides a reliable way to track changes in land cover, supporting resource management, urban planning, and environmental preservation. The results highlight how sophisticated computational methods can enhance the accuracy of LULC evaluations.
The state delivery of affordable and sustainable housing continues to be a complicated challenge in Africa, and there is a need to encourage private sector participation. As a result, this study examines the risks associated with private sector participation in affordable housing and supporting infrastructure investment and the strategies towards mitigating the risks from an Afrocentric perspective. The evidence from a systematic literature review was coupled with the opinion of an international expert panel to address the paper’s aim and provide recommendations for developing improved housing and supporting infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review outcomes and the qualitative data from the panel discussion were analysed using thematic analysis. The results revealed that market dynamics, land supply and acquisition constraints, cost of construction materials, unsupportive policies, and technical and financial factors constitute risks to affordable housing in the region. Mitigation strategies include leveraging joint efforts, strengths, and resource bases, increasing access to land and finance for private sector participation, developing a supportive government framework to promote an enabling environment for easy access to land acquisition and development finance, local production of building materials, research and technology adoption. In line with the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 targets and principles, reforms are required across the housing value chain, involving the private sector and community. Application of the study’s recommendations could minimise the risks of affordable housing delivery and enhance private sector participation.
The significance of financial literacy is garnering worldwide attention across all age groups. Financial literacy has been defined by certain scholars as a necessary skill for individuals to possess in order to effectively navigate their future financial endeavors. The aim of this article is to perform a bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review in order to investigate the present corpus of scholarship on the application of Financial Literacy. The present study entailed a comprehensive analysis of existing research papers to ascertain the principal contributors to this specific domain, noteworthy subthemes, and prospective directions for further investigation. There has been a noticeable rise in the quantity of literature pertaining to this topic during the period spanning from 2020 to 2023. Furthermore, the utilization of network analysis was employed to chart research clusters. The aforementioned discovery yielded a cumulative total of 84 scholarly publications. The findings of the analysis indicate that there exists a gap in the comprehensive research of the keywords “Financial Behavior”, “Financial Attitude”, and “Financial Inclusion”.
Phytochemical and antioxidant analysis of some varieties of Capsicum was evaluated. Mature Capsicum varieties were collected across the State. The seeds were removed, sun-dried for 3 days, stored for 2 weeks at 15 ºC–25 ºC in polythene bags before planting. Saponins, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids and cardiac glycosides were present in abundant, moderate and trace amounts. Combined anthraquinones were absent in all varieties. Yellow (0.810 ± 0.0006 µg/mL), red long dry (0.211 ± 0.0006 µg/mL) and round peppers (2.527 ± 0.0003 µg/mL) had the largest values for total phenol, flavonoids and tannins. Shombo and yellow peppers had the largest (0.270 ± 0.002 µg/mL) and least (0.102 ± 0.001 µg/mL) capsaicin content. The antioxidant activities varied across the varieties. At 100 µg/mL of methanol, yellow (45%) and round peppers (45%) had largest mean absorbances for 2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) Radical Scavenging Activity while sub-shombo pepper (23%) had the least. For Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), yellow (0.63 ± 0.001 µg/mL) and sub-shombo peppers (0.55 ± 0.001µg/mL) had the largest and least values at 100 µg/mL of methanol. At 100 µg/mL of methanol, red long dry (0.112 ± 0.001) and shombo peppers (0.101 ± 0.001) had the largest and least values for the nitric oxide scavenging activity. This study shows that Capsicum varieties exhibit bioactive componds similarities and variations with implications in hybridization, taxonomy and conservation.
Social media interactivity creates consumer’s space of information seeking-sharing where its intensity could produce knowledge, creates new values and changes behavior. The aim of this study is to exploratory investigate the dual role of Generation Z’s information seeking-sharing behavior within green context through the interactive space of social media as a resource for the development of social media marketing strategy. The research employs mixed-method approach of qualitative-explorative data mining, quantitative cross-tabulation Chi-Square test, and integration. Two findings of this research are elaborated. First, consumer’s space of information-seeking leads to the process of green awareness rationalization, i.e., how environment-oriented actions can be rationalized. Second, consumer’s space of information-sharing leads to green social values, i.e., How environment-oriented actions can be socially recognized. The marketing implications of these two findings are business’ efforts to develop green-oriented strategic mindset through space of social media marketing “customer engagement” where the dual role of information seeking-sharing within green context is facilitated.
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