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Global Economic Crisis Effect on Shareholders Wealth in Agro-Allied Industries in Nigeria
Get PDFThis paper examined the effect of global economic crisis on shareholders’ wealth through evaluation of price movement in agro-allied industries in Nigeria. Agriculture being the most accepted sustainable source of revenue to Nigeria economy, though under gross neglect since the time of oil boom, is becoming the turning point of action for Nigeria to retain her economic status among the Commonwealth Nations in recent time. Consequent upon this, the trend of movement of share price in this sector need urgent analysis. Selected listed agricultural based company’s share prices were collected through secondary source from April, 2004 to March, 2014. The trend of share price movement were observed for a period of ten years divided into pre-share crisis period (April 2004 to March 2008) and post share crisis period (April 2008 to March 2014). Data were analyzed through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the student’s t-test. The paper revealed that there is a significant relationship between the 2008 global economic crisis and shareholders’ wealth in the agriculture sector of economy in Nigeria as the p value of yearly average share price was (0.000) in the post share crisis period which is lower than (0.05) level of significant record in the pre-crisis period. The paper concluded that the crisis was responsible for the crash in the agro-based share price on the Nigeria Stock Exchange Markets thus rendering investment in the share of this sector unattractive. Based on this, proactive stock market regulation and reforms to strengthen the wealth of investors by regulatory institutions were recommended
Characterization of bacterial community structure in a hydrocarbon-contaminated tropical African soil
Get PDFThe bacterial community structure in a hydrocarbon-contaminated Mechanical Engineering Workshop (MWO) soil was deciphered using 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis. Four hundred and thirty-seven clones cutting across 13 bacterial phyla were recovered from the soil. The representative bacterial phyla identified from MWO soil are Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, Ignavibacteriae, Spirochaetes, Chlamydiae, Candidatus Saccharibacteria and Parcubacteria. Proteobacteria is preponderant in the contaminated soil (51.2%) with all classes except Epsilonproteobacteria duly represented. Rarefaction analysis indicates 42%, 52% and 77% of the clone library is covered at the species, genus and family/class delineations with Shannon diversity (H′) and Chao1 richness indices of 5.59 and 1126, respectively. A sizeable number of bacterial phylotypes in the clone library shared high similarities with strains previously described to be involved in hydrocarbon biodegradation. Novel uncultured genera were identified that have not been previously reported from tropical African soil to be associated with natural attenuation of hydrocarbon pollutants. This study establishes the involvement of a wide array of physiologically diverse bacterial groups in natural attenuation of hydrocarbon pollutants in soil
Characterizing human subchondral bone properties using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy
No full textDegenerative joint conditions are often characterized by changes in articular cartilage and subchondral bone properties. These changes are often associated with subchondral plate thickness and trabecular bone morphology. Thus, evaluating subchondral bone integrity could provide essential insights for diagnosis of joint pathologies. This study investigates the potential of optical spectroscopy for characterizing human subchondral bone properties. Osteochondral samples (n = 50) were extracted from human cadaver knees (n = 13) at four anatomical locations and subjected to NIR spectroscopy. The samples were then imaged using micro-computed tomography to determine subchondral bone morphometric properties, including: plate thickness (Sb.Th), trabecular thickness (Tb.Th), volume fraction (BV/TV), and structure model index (SMI). The relationship between the subchondral bone properties and spectral data in the 1st (650–950 nm), 2nd (1100–1350 nm) and 3rd (1600–1870 nm) optical windows were investigated using partial least squares (PLS) regression multivariate technique. Significant correlations (p < 0.0001) and relatively low prediction errors were obtained between spectral data in the 1st optical window and Sb.Th (R2 = 92.3%, error = 7.1%), Tb.Th (R2 = 88.4%, error = 6.7%), BV/TV (R2 = 83%, error = 9.8%) and SMI (R2 = 79.7%, error = 10.8%). Thus, NIR spectroscopy in the 1st tissue optical window is capable of characterizing and estimating subchondral bone properties, and can potentially be adapted during arthroscopy
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT (HTA) DECISION MAKING SYSTEM FOR HEALTHCARE IN NIGERIA USING ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS
No full textIn the developed countries various Health Technology Assessment (HTA) has been used to make decision on the most appropriate health technology to be acquired. However, developing countries are yet to take advantage of HTA when deciding on what health technology to procure. This research carried out a study on the applicability of HTA within our local hospital which revealed the pressing need for HTA model and software system that can support hospitals in carrying out HTA seamlessly. Hence, a HTA model based on Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) was proposed and developed in this thesis. The result of this research will help hospital especially within Nigeria to easily carry out HTA when faced with the problem of choosing the best among health technology alternatives given multiple criteria. The system was developed using C# programming language, ASP.NET framework and Accord Library (Linear Algebra Library). The system was evaluated using the responses of questionnaire filled by a group of medical stakeholder at Ota General Hospital which comprised of (A Resident Doctor, A Radiologist, A Technologist and the Procurement Manager). Additionally, this research not only sensitize the hospitals and medical professionals on the benefits and importance of exploring health technology assessment when procuring any health technology but also, made the task easy by automating the entire process of using analytical hierarchical process to solving HTA by developing a software system(NHTA). NHTA abstracts the burden and minimizes human error of carryout HTA while being fast and accurate
A Context-Adaptive Ranking Model for Effective Information Retrieval System
Get PDFAbstract When using Information Retrieval (IR) systems, users often present search queries made of ad-hoc keywords. It is then up to information retrieval systems (IRS) to obtain a precise representation of user’s information need, and the context of the information. Context-aware ranking techniques have been constantly used over the past years to improve user interaction in their search activities for improved relevance of retrieved documents. Though, there have been major advances in context-adaptive systems, there is still a lack of technique that models and implements context-adaptive application. The paper addresses this problem using DROPT technique. The DROPT technique ranks individual user information needs according to relevance weights. Our proposed predictive document ranking model is computed as measures of individual user search in their domain of knowledge. The context of a query determines retrieved information relevance. Thus, relevant context aspects should be incorporated in a way that supports the knowledge domain representing users’ interests. We demonstrate the ranking task using metric measures and ANOVA, and argue that it can help an IRS adapted to a user's interaction behaviour, using context to improve the IR effectiveness
Effects of drying on cholinesterases and angiotensin‐I converting enzyme inhibitory potential and phenolic constituents of African mistletoe (Loranthus bengwensis L) leaves from kolanut host tree
Get PDFThis study investigated the most appropriate drying method (sun drying, oven drying, and shade drying) for mistletoe leaves obtained from kolanut tree. The phenolic constituents were characterized using high performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector, while the inhibitory effect of the aqueous extracts of the leaves on cholinesterases and angiotensin‐I converting enzyme (ACE) and antioxidant activities were determined in vitro. The extracts inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and ACE in dose‐dependent manner. However, extract from sun‐dried sample exhibited the highest AChE, BChE, and ACE inhibitory effect while extract from shade‐dried sample had the least. Likewise, sun‐dried sample exhibited the highest antioxidant properties as exemplified by Fe2+‐chelating, 1,1‐diphenyl‐2 picrylhdrazyl, OH, and nitric oxide radical scavenging abilities. This study also revealed the presence of 20 phenolic compounds with caffeic acid being the most predominant. Conclusively, kolanut host tree mistletoe leaves can be used as therapeutic agent in the management of Alzheimer's disease and hypertension
Stock market development and economic growth of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South African (BRICS) Nations: An empirical research
Get PDFBRICS connotes five main emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are particularly distinguished as nations experiencing expanded market opportunities and countries discovered to be at stages of newly advanced economic development. This paper assesses the stock market development and economic growth in these BRICS nations. In doing this, quarterly time series data from 1994 to 2014 was sourced from World Bank Indicators. The Panel Generalized method based on the fixed effect estimation was employed to determine how stock market development affects the economic growth of BRICS. Diagnostic tests were conducted to ascertain the robustness and stability of the regression results after carrying out the unit root calculations. The findings reveal that stock market development exerts significant impact on the economic growth. The study further reveals that there was a positive correlation between stock market development indicators and BRICS’s economic growth. It is therefore proposed that the weaknesses of each of the BRICS member countries should be taken as policy focus and strategies necessary to strengthen them should be swiftly applied by their respective governments
Impact of leadership styles on employee engagement and conflict management practices in Nigerian universities
Get PDFThis study explores how leadership styles impact work engagement and conflict
management practices in Nigerian universities. It utilises a qualitative research design,
focusing on 40 semi-structured interviews with senior university management staff
comprising Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Bursars, Deans of Faculties and senior nonteaching staff (i.e. chief librarians) of some selected institutions. The findings reveal
cultural values shaping the choice of authoritative, transactional and transformational
leadership styles were commonly adopted. Results further indicate how Nigerian
academic institutions and processes are considered as being overly bureaucratic and
transactional. Additionally, some context-specific norms were found to influence
leadership functions impacting work engagement and conflict management practices. In
summary, the study suggests practice and policy implications that can enhance the
direction and development of effective leadership in this context
IMPACT OF EMPLOYEES’ JOB INSECURITY AND EMPLOYEE TURNOVER ON ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATIONS
Get PDFLayoffs and alternative staffing seem to be a phenomenon in many workplaces, many
employees seem uncertain of their continuing in their job as a result of threats that they face on
the job which could lead to job loss, and these call for concern. This paper therefore examines
some of the factors responsible for job insecurity and employee turnover and the attendant
effects of job insecurity on organisation. The study investigates the relationship between job
insecurity and organisation performance, as well as relationship between job insecurity and
employee turnover. Self-developed structured questionnaire titled ‘Job Insecurity, Organisation
Performance and Employee Turnover’ (JIOPET) was used as the instrument to collect data from
one hundred and twenty randomly selected respondents from organised private sector (financial
institutions) in Akure and public sector (state secretariat) in Ibadan, Nigeria. The data were
analysed and the two hypotheses drawn up for the study were tested using Pearson ProductMoment Correlation. The findings establish that job insecurity negatively affect organisation
performance and induce employee turnover. It is recommended that organisation policy makers
should diligently address the factors that contribute to job insecurity, have training policy and
train employees as work procedures are becoming more dynamic with new technologies
Causality Testing between Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth: Fresh Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa Countries
Get PDFPrevious works are yet to reach a consensus about the direction of causality between Trade Openness (TO), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Economic Growth (EG), in particular, using a panel data analysis for Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This study adopts first and second generation econometric methods to analyse the relationships between trade openness, FDI and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the period 1980-2016. The Westerlund cointegration, the Common Correlated Effect Mean Group (CCEMG), and the Bootstrapp Granger causality econometric techniques were adopted. Findings show there is a cross-sectional dependence among the 23 SSA countries examined. A long-run cointegration among trade openness, FDI and economic growth also exists. A positive and significant relationship exists between trade openness and economic growth. FDI indicates a positive and significant relationship with economic growth. The panel error correction term (ECT) result further confirmed the long-run relationship among the variables. A bidirectional causal relationship exists among trade openness, foreign direct investment net inflows and economic growth for Gambia, Senegal and South African countries