The transport system is vital to the welfare of any nation, and the benefits of a carefully planned and efficiently managed transport system spread far beyond the transport field itself. This study examines Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) users’ perspicacity in Lagos, Nigeria with a view to provide useful information and add to existing studies on transport and perception. Three hundred ninety-four questionnaire’s (394) were randomly appraised from commuters’ that travel frequently through the buses. The study found that commuters were satisfied with the service offered by Primero, physical hygiene of the buses, interior and exterior appearance of the buses, customer services, level of cleanliness, mode of operation, timely and service delivered by Primero transport services. The study concludes that more still needs to be done of managing success and recommend that they should improve practical tools and guidelines, streamlining of systems, aiming for a more user-friendly integrated approach with better prioritization and introduction of new requirements across the organization.
Page(s): 01-05 Date of Publication: 16 December 2019
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Gas, oil and electrical power companies usually carry out a regular inspection to check the status of their transmission lines to ensure safe and economical working condition. This inspection process may be completed by using helicopter fitted with external gimbals housing infrared and ultraviolet camera to recognize the heat difference or on foot and requires individuals to inspect power lines from the ground level. This solution is fairly expensive and time-consuming, sometimes injurious for the inspection crew. In this present study, we try to demonstrate a design process of a lightweight unmanned aerial vehicle which incorporated with an extremely lightweight airborne laser scanner to perform the concerning task. The UAV is advanced and designed to carry 5kg of payload covering a range of 50km. Using gasoline-powered engine enables it to carry extra gasoline and fly for a long period of time. Tapered wing configuration creates a dihedral effect which gives the aircraft more lift and stability and reduces the load on the engine. This paper presents the design methodology, performance analysis and manufacturing process of the UAV.
Page(s): 06-09 Date of Publication: 17 December 2019
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This research examines the state of insecurity and criminal cases within the Ibadan community and its environs. Despite several security measures put in place by the Government to curb criminal activities, the state of insecurity and criminal related activities is on the increase and becoming worrisome and embarrassing. This research uses two sets of data – data collected through the administration of questionnaires to the University of Ibadan students, residence within and outside the campus and data obtained from the Nigeria Prisons Service, Agodi Prison Division, P.M.B 5174 Ibadan, Oyo State. Descriptive statistics, inferential statistics and time series analyses were carried out, such as stationary test, model identification, estimation and evaluation, and forecast. The results show that there is a significant relationship between the causes and possible solutions to insecurity within the Ibadan community and their environs at 5% significance level (p=0.000) and the selected criminal cases examined using the unit root (ADF) test established appropriate dynamic models with the AIC values of 5.14, 5.18 and 4.43 respectively for the next four years’ prediction (2017 to 2020). The results therefore suggest that insecurity and criminal cases in Ibadan and its environment tend to increase over time which could be due to many factors from either government or individuals.
Page(s): 10-18 Date of Publication: 17 December 2019
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Theories have proved that a significant critical factor influencing private sector investment is credit to the private sector which has more significant effect on economic activities than credit to the public sector. This study therefore examines the extent to which private sector credit impacts on private sector investment in Nigeria. The ARDL model was engaged in data analysis. From the analysis, the following results were established, that private sector credit has positive and significant impact on private sector investment in the short run, but in the long run, private sector credit has positive and insignificant impact on private sector investment in Nigeria. Empirically, 1 percent increase in private sector credit in the short run leads to 0.77 percent increase in private sector investment. The study recommends that, monetary authorities pursue policies aimed at increasing availability of private sector credit. Such policies include reducing real interest rate by 1 percent so as to increase private sector investment by 0.01% in the short run. Furthermore, the study recommends that public expenditure should be channeled to addressing the poor state of physical infrastructure, particularly road networks, electricity and water supply.
Page(s): 23-28 Date of Publication: 22 December 2019
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The ligand was synthesized using 3-nitrobenzaldehyde and 1-naphthyl amine in 1:1 ratio. The Cu(II) and V(IV) Schiff base metal complexes were prepared using the synthesized Schiff base ligand in 1:1 ratio. The complexes were characterized using the basic techniques like IR, UV, CHN, molar conductivity and magnetic measurements. The complexes were tested for antibacterial activity against E Coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Kleibsella pneumoniae and Streptococcus mutans and antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The results show that the complexes are potent against some bacteria and fungi at some concentrations.
Page(s): 29-40 Date of Publication: 22 December 2019
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A project to obtain tennis statistics based on tennis ball tracking led us on a search to find real time object detection on small, fast moving objects. Realizing there were no methods available that satisfied our requirements, we optimized the detection method that came closest, YOLOv3 tiny [You Only Look Once Version 3 Tiny], to come up with YOLOOv3 tiny [You Only Look Once, Optimized]. YOLOv3 tiny is the third iteration of a Computer Vision application that is used to detect objects in real time. However, it is limited by the size and speed of the object relative to the camera’s position along with the detection of False Positives due to incorrect localization. In this paper, we explore optimization techniques to extend the use of YOLOv3 tiny to accurately detect small, fast-moving objects. The techniques discussed in the paper were tested on detecting a tennis ball moving up to 160kmph with a minimum angular size of 0.414 degrees at a rate of 30 frames per second. The accuracy was found to be 95.268% on a video containing 4600 frames sampled at 30 frames per second (assuming the object is always in the frame) on a GeForce 1050 Graphics Processing Unit. This optimization includes a method of elimination of false positives to increase accuracy.
Page(s): 41-46 Date of Publication: 22 December 2019
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Merger and acquisition (M&A) lead banking sector growth argument has continued to garner more momentum since almost a decade and half ago precisely after the major Nigerian Banking sector consolidation in 2004/5. While the debate is on, several studies have concentrated efforts on group comparative estimation of the pre and post impact of M&A. But comparative growth impact assessment between merger option and acquisition option respectively is lacking. This paper is thus a contribution in this direction. Utilizing bank asset data generated from fourteen (14) deposit money banks (DMBs) categorized into Banks that stood alone (5); merged banks (4); and banks that acquired others (5) respectively, over a 12-year period (2006-2017), the paper sought to investigate if merger or acquisition or both significantly matter for banking sector growth in Nigeria. To achieve this, generated data were first descriptively analyzed and subsequently regressed with E-view-7 and SPSS-20 computer packages to generate optimal multivariate estimators at 95% significant level. Results revealed that acquisition was not significantly positive on bank growth but merger was both positive and significant and thus matter more for banking sector growth. The study therefore among others, recommends due diligence as way forward for acquirer mega-banks in the identification and correction of possible factors which abinitio made the banks they acquired unsound and distressed in order to achieve synergy in the new arrangement.
Page(s): 47-53 Date of Publication: 24 December 2019
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This study investigated the job performances and satisfaction of journalists working in the Tamale metropolis of the Northern region of Ghana. The study adopted the quantitative survey design to sample views of journalists and media practitioners on key issues affecting the execution of their functions. It was discovered that 65 percent of the population studied, belong to the productive age bracket of 29-39 years with a male-dominant workforce. Most of the journalists in the region play dual roles as reporters and news anchors at the same time but well experienced in the profession. The human resource base of journalists in the region range from diploma holders to master degree holders with 80 percent indicating satisfaction of their jobs but dissatisfied because of low salaries and insecurity. The study concludes that there is very weak correlation between motivation and performance.
Page(s): 62-70 Date of Publication: 24 December 2019
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South Africa is fast becoming the preferred destination by international students across the African continent to further their education. The decision making process of these students are influenced by a number of push factors to leave their home country, as well as pull factors to enroll within a new country. These pull factors are an interplay of factors between the host country, city and university, and how well they can satisfy the needs of an international student as potential visitor. The objective of this quantitative study was to develop a framework to manage international students at the largest residential university in South Africa. After conducting an extensive literature review and an empirical study at Tshwane University of Technology a framework was formulated to reposition the City of Tshwane as a first class education destination. This framework will help destinations to attract students from Africa countries and beyond, help boost tourism activities within the destination, and will improve the marketability of Cities as destinations of learning.
Page(s): 62-70 Date of Publication: 24 December 2019
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The coefficient of determination (R2) is perhaps the single most extensively used measure of goodness of fit for regression models, and measures the proportion of variation in the dependent variable explained by the predictors included in the model. It is however, widely misused as the square of correlation coefficient and this has led to poor interpretation of research reports in regression model. In this paper, we investigate the controversy regarding use of coefficient of determination as the square of correlation coefficient in statistical analysis. Difference between the two statistics are illustrated using examples from simple and multiple regression models..
Page(s): 71-76 Date of Publication: 27 December 2019
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Introduction: The spleen remains one of the most commonly affected organs in sickle cell anemia. The use of the palpation method to determine the splenic size can be unreliable and sometimes misleading. Ultrasonography is arguably one of the most reliable methods of splenic size evaluation. Most clinicians prefer the single splenic span (length) measurement because it is fast and is believed to be accurate. Splenic volume measurement is another method of evaluating the splenic size, though it may be more time consuming when compared to the single splenic span measurement. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the splenic size in subjects with sickle cell anemia and normal subjects using the splenic volume measurement and the single splenic span (length) measurement to find out which method is more accurate Materials and Methods: One hundred consenting patients with Hb SS and 100 consenting matching group with Hb AA were recruited in this case-control study. The age group was between 0 to 30 years. Study subjects were scanned using the trans-abdominal route with a 3.5MHz curvilinear transducer of a Sonoscape S40 Digital Colour Doppler Ultrasound System (Sonoscape Medical Corp. December 2018). The study duration was 7months. The splenic length, transverse, anteroposterior diameter and volume were measured. Data Analysis: Data analysis was carried out using statistical package for social sciences version 22.0 (SPSS Inc Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Thirty percent, 39% and 31% of patients with Hb SS have splenic lengths of <6cm, 7-12cm and >12cm respectively. The mean splenic volume (p-value = 0.001) and splenic AP diameter (p-value = 0.048) in subjects with Hb SS found were significantly higher in this study than those with Hb AA. There was no statistically significant difference between the splenic Length(p value = 0.659) and Transverse measurement (p value = 0.433) in both groups. Conclusion: In Ebonyi State of Nigeria, the prevalence of autosplenectomy and splenomegaly among sickle cell anemia subjects are 30% and 31% respectively. Measurement of the splenic volume is more accurate than a single splenic length measurement in assessing the splenic size.
Page(s): 77-83 Date of Publication: 27 December 2019
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Aim: to investigate some effects of aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia. Material and Method: Forty eight male adult wistar rats weighing between 190g and 220g were used for the study. They were acclimatized for 2 weeks and fed with standard rat chow and water ad libitum before the study. They were divided into six groups. Group1- control group received 0.3ml of corn oil, others were induced for BPH with hormones (200µg Testosterone and 100µg estradiol) for 3 weeks; after induction Group 2 took distilled water, Group 3 received 0.71g of finasteride, Group 4, 5 and 6 received 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9g/kg bw Hibiscus sabdariffa (HS), respectively. The prostate were excised, processed and stained with H&E and Masson Trichrome. Result: The weight of group 4, 5 and 6 rats decrease compared to group 2 rats. There were pronounced reduction in the mucosal (epithelial) and fibromuscular stroma hyperplasia of the treated groups when compared with the group 2 rats. Conclusion: This indicates that the test herb has no adverse effect on prostatic parameters of healthy rats and also shows that Hibiscus sabdariffa extract can be viewed as a candidate novel medication for benign prostate hyperplasia therapy.
Page(s): 84-92 Date of Publication: 27 December 2019
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Today in public and private sector banks the working stress of the employees is becoming heavier, especially in the private sector banks. It has been noticed that in banking sector the managerial level employees are too much busy with their job in the office (desk job) as well as outside the office (field job). Stress is also created because of nuclear family, so he or she has to perform both the family and organizational responsibilities, thus facing imbalance in family and work life. This paper aims to identify the stress in public and private sector bank employees in India. From the several reviews maximum researchers have concluded that significant numbers of bank employees are having stress on work especially from private sector banks but in recent days we have seen that this working stress is injected into public sector bank employees also. This paper is having Indian experience with reference to West Bengal State on comparison of stress between Public and private bank employees. In this paper discussions are made on various secondary data like research papers, articles, website, and journals.
Page(s): 93-97 Date of Publication: 28 December 2019
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Hypothermia at birth is one of the most important risk factors for newborn baby, As per WHO more than 60% newborn babies suffers from Hypothermia . To avoid risk of Hypothermia most of the doctors use infant warmer or incubator to mentioning temperature i.e. 36.5 oC. As per literature survey in existing system one of the key challenges is overheating of warmer as the sensor moves away from the body of infant. Most warmers commonly use only one sensor that is Skin sensor, if this sensor goes away from body as well as from bed area then warmer goes overheating. So we require second sensor and that should be fixed on bed area. [1] First stage is to develop a system that will continuously observe and Control the two side temperature that is Skin & Air Sensor. Second Stage avoid Over Heating Problem, If ‘bed temperature’ or ‘baby temperature’ goes up to 38oC, So heater should not be ON to radiate heat energy above 38 oC.[5] With the help of proposed system it is possible to overcome the ‘Overheating’ problem by using Two Sensors i.e. Skin Sensor & Air Sensor.
Page(s): 98-102 Date of Publication: 28 December 2019
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The decision to afford and dwell in quality and sky priced housing anchored on socio-economic eminence which remains a key determinant for standard of living, household prospect and caused by urban growth, over population, and competition for spaces in developing nations. In third world countries such as Nigeria, it also addresses income dissimilarities among the urbanites and civil servants and grants the opportunity to adequate, quality, harmless, satisfactory and worthwhile housing. Despite the fact that there are several cynicisms just before housing practitioners and authorities in providing standard and affordable housing for the various income classes, this research has none the less discovered the prevailing substantiation of its usefulness in providing affordable housing among the income class and accordingly diminishing the wide spread and inhabitation of slums or unacceptable houses. The sampling of 1200 civil servants had exposed a confident statistical relationship concerning affordability of quality, safe and adequate housing among civil servants of dissimilar income and socio economic appearances. The results from this investigation designate that challenges of affordable housing is commonly found among the civil servant since it beaconed on challenges such as housing price (4.69), house pattern and package (4.59), resident’s financial poverty(4.56),shantytown and squatters community(4.44) while Household size (r = .224, p>.05), Transportation (r = .217, p<.05), Non-housing expenses: (r = .265, p<0.5) geographic location (r = – .053 p > .05) the research also considered as the improvement solution for housing affordability among the civil servants. The study highlights the need for Nigeria government, housing practitioners and other authorities assigned with the obligation of providing standard and affordable housing for the civil servants to develop more houses that civil servants can afford to populate or access without any loan from financial institution or other impediments.
Page(s): 103-109 Date of Publication: 29 December 2019
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An effective method of deriving the cycle indices of cyclic and dihedral groups acting on X2, where X={1,2,…,n} is provided. This paper extents some results of Harary and Palmer(1973); Krishnamurthy (1985) and thoka et.al.(2015).
Page(s): 100-112 Date of Publication: 31 December 2019
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Hepatoprotective potential of Cnidoscolusaconitifolius leaf extract on carbon tetrachloride treated wistar rats was investigated. Forty two adult male wistar rats (91-185g) were housed in plastic cages of seven groups with six animals in each. Group one fed with normal rat chow (control). Group two to six were administered CCl4 subcutaneously on day twenty-one. Group three was administered vitamin C orally on daily basis for twenty-one days, group four, five, six took 50mg/kgbw, 75mg/kgbw and 100mg/kgbw extract dose orally for twenty-one day before administration of CCl4. Group seven was given subcutaneous dose of olive oil. All the analysis were done using standard methods. In comparison to the disease control and normal control animals, administration of the extract dose (50mg/kgbw, 75mg/kgbw and 100mg/kgbw) dependently lowered creatinine, albumin, calcium, potassium, ALT, AST and total bilirubin. There was no significant difference (p<0.05) in the magnesium concentrations of rats treated with the leaf extract of C.aconitifolius. The 50mg/kgbw and 75mg/kgbw extract doses provided better protection. Histopathological examination of the liver showed histological normal liver in normal control rats and distortion of the liver sections in disease control rats which was corrected by the extracts at 50mg/kgbw and 75mg/kgbw doses. The result of this study clearly demonstrated the hepatoprotective effect of Cnidoscolusaconitifolius leaf extract against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in rats.
Page(s): 113-120 Date of Publication: 31 December 2019
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Local government is that level of government nearest to the people. It is said to be the cornerstone of the government system in any country. The federal government believes that it is only through an effective local government system, that human and material resources of the nation could be mobilized. The research work aimed at analyzing the sources and uses of local government funds in Nigeria using Lere local government area of Kaduna state as a case study, with emphasis on the internally generated revenue. The work is a survey design and secondary data obtained from records available to the local government finance department. The time series covers the period of five (5) years from 2010 – 2014. The data were analyzed using chi – square statistical tool, the current trends of ineffective tax administration and negligence on the part of revenue collectors is considered as a major problem for local government internally generated revenue. The research recommended that the local government should strive towards improving internally generated revenue and adopt enlightenment campaigns.
Page(s): 121-127 Date of Publication: 02 January 2020
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Construction of high-rise buildings, individual houses, shopping malls, hospitals and industrial facility is on the increase. Plan approval is a prerequisite to initiate the construction, but this requires multiple stages of approval and there is no real time mechanism to monitor actual plan after site construction. This leads to illegal encroachment of either private or public property. After construction the house owners, tenants and officials are not aware of the current quality of construction materials inside the building. This probes a high risk during natural calamities, which can create a devastating effect to human life.The current process needs value stream mapping to develop an effective application for a safe and happy living.
Page(s): 128-129 Date of Publication: 02 January 2020
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Path planning for mobile robots is to find optimum path for robot to move at required location in its environment. In this Literature, a new approach to find the shortest path with less response time for mobile robot is discussed. The core concept lying in this procedure is discussed with simple illustrative example for various cases. For a fixed environment the general procedure of this approach is discussed in detail. Experimental results obtained by this method are compared with already implemented successful approaches and limitations of others approaches overcome by this method are discussed.
Page(s): 130-134 Date of Publication: 02 January 2020
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This study aims to describe and explain the form of prophetic humanism in the PesantrenImpian novel by Asma Nadia and its relevance in the study of literary theory. The method used in this research uses the descriptive qualitative method. The object of his research was the Dream Pesantren novel. Data collection techniques in this research are reading and note-taking techniques. Data analysis techniques in this study used content analysis. The results of this study indicate that the prophetic form of humanism in the novel, namely, maintaining brotherhood, looking at someone totally, and throwing away the nature of hatred. The results of these studies can be used in literary theory courses, especially in enrichment programs by instilling human values in the nation’s next generation.
Page(s): 135-138 Date of Publication: 03 January 2020
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Introduction: In the last decade, the world has witnessed the proliferation of mobile telephony across various countries be it developed or developing. This increase is in part due to expansion and the availability of connectivity. Further, there has been a significant increase in the number of mobile phone manufacturers. This has reduced the cost of mobile devices. We can take advantage of technology so as to be able to improve access to healthcare and health information, and to also improve the management of medical and health information as well as access to the latest medical knowledge for healthcare workers. Methods: Three (3) electronic databases and journals (BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, Elsevier and Google Scholar) were searched with search items including mHealth, Telemedicine, Mobile Health, e-Health, Sub-Saharan Africa, developing countries, low resource countries, behaviour change, adoption of health messages and mobile health solutions. The design focused specifically on empirical research evaluating the effectiveness and the factors influencing the acceptance of mHealth interventions in low income countries not older than 5 years and published in English. Results: From the search, it was noticed that the qualitative design method was mostly used by the researchers. They found that the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is a good predictive model of general people’s intention to use mHealth. Trust, perceived usefulness as well as perceived ease of use have been identified to positively correlated with adoption intention while privacy and performance risks negatively correlated with trust and adoption intention toward mHealth services. The researchers also found that personal innovativeness in Information technology has less significant effect on mHealth adoption. cost is also identified as an important determining factor for mHealth app adoption. The also found that perceived reliability has a significant impact on the adoption of mHealth. Conclusion: This synthesis paper gives an indication that there still exists some gaps in knowledge in the area of mHealth adoption. None of the papers have specifically focused on the factors that increases or reduces adoption. The papers however provide a set of key guiding elements that paves way for further research on factors that increases or reduces the adoption of mHealth in specific contexts.
Page(s): 139-147 Date of Publication: 03 January 2020
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The aim of this research is to identify and model the factors affecting citizen satisfaction with e-government services. For this purpose an empirical study is conducted with Turkish citizens. The study first reviews what factors affect e-government citizen satisfaction through literature. Based on this survey, a questionnaire is prepared and distributed to a convenience sample over internet. A total of 281 usable data are collected. Data are analyzed using IBM SPSS Software. Reliability analyses are applied to test internal consistency of the items in the questionnaire. Correlation analyses are used to estimate the effect of different factors on e-government citizen satisfaction. According to the analyses, the reliability of the questionnaire is found to be high and the results of the correlation analyses show that the factors ease of use, savings, trust and service quality defined in the model all have positive impact on e-government citizen satisfaction.
Page(s): 148-151 Date of Publication: 03 January 2020
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Immunization programme has had a major impact on the health status of the world population, by preventing many cases of infectious disease through immunization. Efficient vaccine storage and handling is a key component of immunization programme. It is a shared responsibility from the time the vaccine is manufactured until it is administered. Thousands of children were dying and some are disable as a result of some common diseases which are measles, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis etc, hence, there is need to sensitize the parents towards the immunization of their children. This study therefore designed to investigate the attitudes of mothers towards immunization of their children in the North Eastern region of Nigeria. Questionnaires and face to interview were carried out on women in some local government areas from states in the North East to elicit relevant information regarding their general attitudes to child’s vaccination. The following factor shall be considered mother’s locality, place of vaccination, mother’s educational status, age at vaccination, spouse’s educational status, mothers’ religious believes, mothers’ age group, child’s age at birth among others. Results from analyses showed that mothers locality, place of vaccination, mothers educational status, age at vaccination, spouses educational status, mothers’ religious believes as well as mothers’ age group, child’s age at birth are all positively associated with attitudes of mothers towards vaccination. Further results finally revealed that donation of gift items to mothers serves as positive inducement towards improving the attitudes of mothers towards immunization of their children. This research work is recommended for a public enlightenment that to educate Nigerian women cum populace on importance of immunization as this work will generate information concerning the relationships between the attitude of mothers and immunization of children.
Page(s): 152-161 Date of Publication: 07 January 2020
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The story of Langkeban Silangkapuri is in Indonesia precisely in Lampung Province. Tells four clans that compete to conquer an island without occupants. The study was conducted with a qualitative approach. The data used in the form of oral literature, then the technique of collecting data by observation, interviews, document analysis. The research method uses the flow method that is data reduction, data presentation, and concluding. The purpose of this research is to study folklore in Lampung using Vladimir Propp’s morphological theory. The steps used determine the function of the actor’s actions, distribute the function of the actor into the auction environment, and create a story scheme. The results showed that there were 20 actors’ action functions that were distributed into 6 action environments and formed two-story patterns.
Page(s): 162-167 Date of Publication: 07 January 2020
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Rotaviruses are a leading cause of severe acute gastroenteritis, resulting in approximately 453,000 annual deaths among children especially those less than five years of age with over 85% of these deaths occurring in the less developed countries of Asia and Africa. Children experience multiple rotavirus infections during childhood which almost are asymptomatic. In Nigeria, rotavirus accounts for over 20% of all cases of childhood diarrhoea annually. Transmission is via the faeco-oral route and distribution is worldwide. The study involved 260 asymptomatic school-aged pupils (aged 1-12) from which faeces were collected in sterile tubes between March and September, 2018 and analyzed immediately without storage using the commercially available Rotavirus VP6 antigen test kit from Bioneovan® Diagnostics, China, following the manufacturer’s instructions. A questionnaire was designed and administered to obtain data on socio-demography, clinical history and some potential risk factors that might be related to rotavirus infection. Data obtained from this study was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and Pearson Chi-square (χ²) test of Association was used to test significant association between variables at 95% confidence Interval and p-value ≤ 0.05 being statistically significant. Results showed that only 24 were positive, giving a prevalence rate of 9.23%. Results also revealed a prevalence of 3.46% for females while males recorded a higher 5.77%. With respect to the Age range distribution, 26.54% were for ages 1-4 years of which 1.54% was positive; 40.39% for ages 5-8 years with a lower burden of Rotavirus infection, and 33.08% distribution for ages 9-12 years with the highest burden of rotavirus infection and there exist a statistically significant association between Age and the onset of rotavirus infection. Findings further revealed that rotavirus is an important viral pathogen of public health importance among school-aged pupils in Gboko, Benue State. The prevalence rate of 9.23% from this study is a pointer to the urgent need for massive commencement of nationwide vaccination of children as asymptomatic carriers of the virus abound and may be a serious threat to the health of the public as the virus is shed from time to time.
Page(s): 168-174 Date of Publication: 07 January 2020
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This study examined the effect of non-financial performance indicators, based on balanced scorecard model, on operational efficiency of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria with a view of evaluating the impact of the drivers of operational efficiency. Emphasis, from prior studies, on measuring operational efficiency have been on financial performance indicators with little or no consideration for the contributions of non-financial performance indicators (NFPIs) that drive the financial indicators. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and a structured questionnaire was administered on sampled employees of the DMBs. Data collected were analysed with the mean of descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found out that internal control and business process, customer satisfaction and learning and growth of employees individually have significant effect on operational efficiency of DMBs in Nigeria. The study concluded that NFPIs have positive relationship with, have significant effect on operational efficiency of DMBs in Nigeria and explain about 56.9% variations in operational efficiency. The study contributed to literature on significance of NFPIs and recommended that DMBs should develop objective matrices to measure individual non-financial performance indicators that tend to contribute to their operational efficiency.
Page(s): 175-183 Date of Publication: 07 January 2020
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An experiment entitled “Soil properties, growth and yield of maize as affected by organic manure (teak fresh leave) in Makurdi, North Central, Nigeria” was carried out at Teaching and Research Farm of Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria during the year 2011 and 2012. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with six treatments replicated three times. Organic manure (teak fresh leaves) was subjected to all plots except control. Data were recorded on different parameters such as soil chemical properties, plant height, number of leaves and grain yield. The statistical analysis of the data showed that organic manure significantly affected some chemical properties and all growth and yield studied attributes. The highest plant height, number of leave and grain yield was recorded in plants received 7.5 t ha-1 organic manure. It was concluded that 7.50 t ha-1 of organic manure among the different rates performed best and hence recommended for the soil sustainability and maize production.
Page(s): 184-191 Date of Publication: 07 January 2020
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This study sought to determine the influence of principals’ classroom visitation on teachers’ pedagogical practices in public secondary schools of Bauchi state, Nigeria. The objectives that guided the study, were first, to examine principals’ implementation of classroom visits in public secondary schools; secondly to find out the effect of principals’ classroom visitation on pedagogical practices of the teachers and make recommendations for improvement of teachers’ pedagogical practices. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was employed for the study. The participants in the study comprised 29 principals and 385 teachers randomly selected from the public secondary schools in Bauchi state. Questionnaires and document observation checklist were used for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze the quantitative data with the aid of SPSS. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic techniques. Simple linear regression analysis was used to test the research hypothesis at α=.05 significance levels. Findings of the study revealed that the majority of principals in public secondary schools in Bauchi state did not execute procedural lesson observation. Also, most principals did not provide teachers with feedback on observed instructions. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed that the principals’ classroom visitation has statistically significant effect on teachers’ pedagogical practices in public secondary schools (R2=.138, F (1,373) =59.691 p<.05). Given this evidence, the null hypothesis that principals’ classroom visitation does not significantly influence teachers’ pedagogical practices was rejected. And the alternative hypothesis that principals’ classroom visitation significantly influences teachers’ pedagogical practices was accepted. The study recommends that Ministry of Education Bauchi state should provide a specific in-service capacity building for principals on techniques of organizing and conducting procedural classroom visits to enhance instructions.
Page(s): 192-201 Date of Publication: 09 January 2020
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The paper investigates the effect of exogeneity and multicollinearity in the estimation of federal government collected taxes and economic growth. Ordinary Least Square model of time series data are often associated with the above stated problem, of which previous attempts to model have failed to investigate. This study thus, explored these phenomena within the context of fitting an economic growth model via a Two-Stage Least Square technique (TSLS) by considering only federal government collected tax instruments as predictors. The validation of the model parameters were ascertained using t-test, F-test, Durbin Watson, R-squared, Adjusted R-squared and Standard error test while variance inflation factor and tolerance level were employed to estimate the degree of multicollinearity. The adopted validity statistic showed that the TSLS model was properly specified with the introduction of specified instrumental variables. The findings from the fitted model revealed that on the aggregates, taxation has contributed positively to the economic growth of Nigeria for the periods under review. In addition, F-statistic of 10.36757 with P-value of 0.000 shows that the overall TSLS regression model is statistically significant and free from the aforementioned problem. The research thus recommends a TSLS technique for the appropriate and error free modeling of economic growth whenever time series data is in used.
Page(s): 202-208 Date of Publication: 09 January 2020
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Axial mean velocity is the primary criteria of most of the flow field. In the present investigation, the mixing of swirling jet within the solid boundary and the wake position memory as it came out of the solid boundary was studied. Extension tubes of 105mm, 210mm and 315m length were fitted to 30 degree and 60 degree swirling nozzle which were made by fitting triangular shaped double start wedge shaped helical right hand thread inside the pipe nozzle. Height of these wedges were 27.5mm, leaving a clear opening of 25mm diameter in the central zone of the 80mm diameter pipe nozzle. Data of axial mean velocity at the exit of the extension tubes were recorded at Reynolds number 5.3e4.
Page(s): 209-212 Date of Publication: 09 January 2020
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The study investigates personnel management practices and teachers’ retention in Public Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State. To achieve this aim, three research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The correlation research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 5210 Public Secondary School Teachers. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were adopted to select 521 teachers for the study. The personnel management practices and teachers’ retention questionnaire (PMPTRQ) was used to elicit information for the study. The reliability coefficient of the instrument ranged from 0.71 to 0.91 using Cronbach Alpha Reliability Method. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression statistical tools were used for data analysis. The results of the study revealed that principal/staff relationship and promotion were related to teachers’ retention in Public Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State. The result of the study further showed that principal/staff relationship and promotion a dimensions of personnel management practices when taken together significantly predicted teachers’ retention in public secondary schools. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that adequate promotion of teachers’ should be encouraged. Also there should be hormonal relationship among teachers in the study area.
Page(s): 213-219 Date of Publication: 10 January 2020
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This study investigates Assessment of Utilization of Educational Facilities on junior secondary school students’ academic achievement in Mathematics in Kwara State, Nigeria. To give direction to the study, three research questions and hypotheses were posed. The study adopted the ex-post facto design with a population of six thousand four hundred and ten (6,410) respondents drawn from 15 schools drawn from the sixteen Local government areas in the three geopolitical zone in Kwara state A questionnaire developed by the researchers titled “Utilization of Educational Facilities Questionnaire (UEFQ) was used for the study. The second instrument was Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) The instrument consisted twenty one (21) objective test questions on Mathematics, based on junior secondary one, two and three (JSS 2 & 3) syllabus. construct validity of the instruments were established by three experts, one in measurement and evaluation and two in Mathematics education and Educational Management respectively from University of Calabar and Kwara State university respectively and the reliability was established with Cronbach alpha reliability index which ranged from .70 to .86 respectively. The data gathered were analyzed with one-way Analysis of Variance (One-way ANOVA). The major findings revealed that most of the secondary schools in North, Central and Southern Kwara. Also it was found that schools that have these facilities poorly utilize even the available ones and these contributed to the students’ poor academic achievement in Mathematics. It was recommended that: Government, in collaboration with the school management, should make fund available for procuring modern electronic instructional resources to complement the conventional non print resources.
Page(s): 220-226 Date of Publication: 10 January 2020
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This paper presents the installation and functional status of the instrumentation and controls for boiler and turbine plants of Sapele Steam Power Station in Nigeria which has been in operation since 1978.The level of sophistication, adequacy of measurement points, and functional condition of instrumentation systems for Sapele steam power station have been studied in this work. Also investigated was the availability of facilities for instrument maintenance and calibration. The level of sophistication of the instrumentation system for the simple and medium capacity Sapele station was found to be appropriately modest. In terms of sufficiency, measurement points installed on the plant were considered inadequate for the purpose of plant performance analysis. Most of the instruments on the plant were found to be in poor working condition, especially on the boiler plants. The implication of the findings is that accurate plant performance indicators cannot be readily calculated for the Sapele station because provision had not been made to measure all relevant thermodynamic process parameters. Results from the survey also indicate that general overhaul of the plant appears to be overdue.
Page(s): 227-233 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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I. INTRODUCTION Biology is an integral part of science that focuses on living things (plants and animals). It is a branch of science that forms a foundation for science that is needed to contribute immensely to the technological growth of the nation. This includes medicine, forestry, nursing, agriculture, biotechnology and so on. Biology is therefore a discipline that has to be properly handled and taught to school children to equip them with the critical needs for technological growth in the society. As one of the basic sciences, Biology is necessary for school children to gain entrance unto tertiary education for specialization in the sciences, engineering and technology. In view of this relevance, it is pertinent to promote the study and practice of Biology to all students.
Page(s): 234-246 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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onstruction of Steiner Triple System is well-known. In this work, an alternative construction is given for the construction of STS(n); n≡1(mod 6) and n>1. Basic blocks have been used for this construction and these blocks have special properties. Starting with these blocks STS(13), STS(19) and STS(25) have been constructed. Furthermore, generalizations of this work for STS(3n) and STS(n2) have been given by introducing Cartesian Products of two sets.
Page(s): 247-249 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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Fluid dynamics and heat transfer sectors have undergonerevolutionary improvements with the study of turbulent flow in recent decades and still different ongoing researches are making breakthroughs in those sectors. In this research, the fluctuation of pressure in the flow field was measured using differential pressure transducer to investigate the turbulence region of conventional circular jet as well as non-circular (rectangular, square and triangular) jets in the flow axis only. The method was approached to introduce a cost-efficient technique as the alternative of high- cost particle image velocimetry, acoustic Dopplervelocimetry. The objective was to investigate the change in turbulence characteristics of different jets and compare performance which can be applied to aerodynamics, propulsion, heat transfer or environmental studies. Simultaneous measurements of pressure in the flow field were taken using pitot-tube which was converted into velocity applying dynamic pressure theory. The jet flow was created using a blower in an airflow facility and the area of inlet and outlet of all the nozzle was equal to maintain the initial jet flow characteristics. The turbulent intensity, mean shear layer and potential core length of the jets have been derived from the measured data. The study revealed that square nozzle didn’t have a significant impact in the flow field whereas the rectangular jet had an increased average shear layer and the triangular jet had a decreased potential core length compared to the conventional jet.
Page(s): 250-253 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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This unbalanced panel study employed Pool Mean Group (PMG) estimator to determine the impact of capital movement inward on internal competitiveness and external competitiveness of West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ). Data from World Development Indicators were sourced for period covering 1970 to 2017. The result showed that FDI has a positive impact on the internal and external competitiveness of WAMZ, ODA has negative impact on the internal and external competitiveness of WAMZ; and IBRD loan has negative impact on internal competitiveness and positive impact on external competitiveness. The result showed that the speed of adjustment though negative is not significant save for trade%GDP. The dual impact of capital movement inward on competitiveness implies that full capital account liberalization policy of WAMZ is not entirely effective to guarantee long-run convergence in WAMZ. In conclusion, capital movement inward e.g. FDI variables affect the capacity of WAMZ to achieve long-run convergence. There should be obvious reforms in WAMZ to accelerate market fundamentals necessary to ensure that inward capital movement improves internal and external competitiveness required to accelerate the achievement of macroeconomic convergence criteria (MCC) in terms of Real GDP and external reserves (trade growth) to sustain Eco EMU beyond 2020.
Page(s): 254-262 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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This study empirically investigates the existence of symmetry and asymmetry in West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) using Wald F-test. Data obtained from World Development Indicators from 1970-2017 were employed for this study. The study was carried out under pooled and country-specific study. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select countries for country-specific study. The result showed that symmetry exists in pooled study, and both symmetry and asymmetry exist in WAMZ. The result implies that WAMZ is entirely not an optimum currency Area (OCA). WAMZ is a quasi-OCA. Thus, WAMZ authorities should accelerate functional economic system that would absorb shock and a system that would strengthen productivity and capacity of WAMZ to gain market share in order to forestall Eco-currency from value volatility.
Page(s): 263-268 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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This conceptual paper describes the factor that affects human capital development in Malaysia. Human capital development in Malaysia is not par with other Asian countries such as Singapore, Japan as well as South Korea. Among the factors that affect human capital development in Malaysia are lack of proficiency in English language, issues with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Malaysia’s higher education institutions’ ranking, brain drain issues among Malaysians as well as ad hoc policies implemented in Malaysian education systems.
Page(s): 269-270 Date of Publication: 12 January 2020
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