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Threats to E-Government Implementation in the Civil Service: Nigeria as a Case Study
Get PDFThe rapid advancement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has undoubtedly influenced positive changes in carrying out administrative functions in government institutions. The ICT adoption rate in
Africa is not impressive when compared to the more developed countries of the world. Nigeria, as a case study in this scenario, has also not implemented E-Government impressively, according to the required standards set up by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). A comprehensive study conducted on the application and implementation of E-Government in Nigeria has provided some metrics that examine the stumbling blocks for realization of adequate and efficient E-Government implementation in the civil service. The research
was carried out in the federal civil service in Nigeria in two phases namely, pre-IT implementation phase and post-IT implementation phase. Our findings reveal that ICT implementation will remain elusive in the civil service as long as the as threats explained below remain unaddressed. It has therefore been asserted that the need to overcome these threats is a precondition for realization of E-Government implementation in the federal civil servic
Changes in some biochemical parameters of kidney functions of Plasmodium berghei infected rats administered with some doses of artemether
Get PDFThis study aimed at determining changes in urine concentrations of sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) of Plasmodium berghei infected rats during a week of intramuscular administration of artemether (12.5 to 50.0 mg/kg/day) and one week thereafter. Their concentrations and that of creatinine and urea in the plasma were also determined at the end of the study. The observed changes were related to the effects of artemether on the kidneys of the rats. The urine levels of the two electrolytes decreased significantly during treatment (P< 0.05). One week post-treatment with 12.5 mg/kg of artemether, the urine concentrations of the electrolytes increased to values that were not significantly different from that of day 0. At 25 and 50 mg/kg, their urine concentrations still remained significantly lower than day 0 values (P< 0.05). Plasma concentrations of the electrolytes one week post-treatment increased, but they were only significant at 25 mg/kg for K+. A significant increase in the plasma level of creatinine was observed at all the doses of the drug at one week post-treatment. A dose-dependent degeneration of the renal tissue of all the experimental rats was also observed. We concluded that high doses of artemether caused progressive degeneration of the renal tissue of P. berghei infected rats
Adaptive Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) Analysis of seismic electric signal (SES): A comparison of Hamming and rectangular window
Get PDFSeismic electric signal (SES) is one of features for predicting earthquakes (EQs) because of its significant changes in the amplitude of the signal prior to the earthquake. This paper presents detailed analysis of SES recorded prior to earthquake that occurred in Greece in the period from January 1, 2008 to June 30, 2008. During this period of time 5 earthquakes were recorded with magnitudes greater than 6R. In this analysis STFT involving adaptively sliding window technique is used, in which Hamming and rectangular window functions are applied and compared. The comparison shows that Hamming window gives better results in analyzing the first significantly changes of SES prior to the EQ. The application of Hamming window resulted in less rippled spectrum shape which is more suitable to be used in characterizing the SES
The effects of fermented Liqour and methanol extract of Beniseeds on the Biochemical and liver functioning parameters of Albino-rats.
Get PDFLaboratory albino rats were grouped into different groups and fed with the methanol extract of beniseeds
and the fermented liquor of the seeds for a period of 21days to assess their effects on the biochemical and
liver functioning parameters of the rats. The result of the analyses showed that both the extract and liquor
cause significant increase in the level of bicarbonate, urea, uric acid and calcium while the creatinine level
had no significant difference. The liver functioning tests for the rats showed that both the extract and liquor
cause a little increase in the serum total protein and alkaline phosphatase without any significant rise in the
cholesterol level when compared with the control. There was, however a higher increase in cholesterol level
in the rats fed with extract than those fed with the fermented liquor. The results obtained from these in-vivo
analyses of fermented beniseed liquor and the methanol extract of beniseeds has shown that beniseed has
no deleterious effect on the organs of rats as well as on their biochemical parameters. It is therefore
recommended for human consumption as a good nutraceutic seed
A Comparative Study of Biosurfactant Synthesis by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Clinical and Environmental Samples
Get PDFEvaluation of emulsifying activities indicates that biosurfactants were produced by an environmental (strain EP1) and a clinical (strain CP1) species of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. During growth on hydrocarbons, the organisms produced biosurfactants. Both strains grew luxuriantly on motor oil and readily synthesized abundant surfactants at the expense of easily metabolizable substrates. During a 12-day cultivation on motor oil, the organisms produced growth-associated extracellular surfactants with emulsification activities of 71 and 38% for EP1 and CP1, respectively. The generation times obtained for EP1 and CP1 were 1.74 and 2.66 days. The biosurfactants that could not be secreted on glucose were partially purified and putatively identified as rhamnolipids. The surface-active compounds present high emulsification activity and stability in the pH range of 3.0–10.0, temperature range of 4°C–100°C, and salinity range of 16–44% and are capable of stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions with several hydrocarbons. Typical emulsions produced were stable for several weeks. The results also showed that the biosurfactants were able to remove a significant amount of crude oil from contaminated soil; for instance, strain EP1 surfactant removed 54%, CP1 41%, detergent 42%, and water 30%. The rhamnolipids from these strains represent a new class of biosurfactants that have potential for use in a variety of biotechnological and industrial applications where extremes of pH, thermal, and saline conditions would have little or no effect on activity
Corrosion Inhibition Behaviour for Mild Steel by Extracts of Musa sapientum Peels in HCl Solution: Kinetics and Thermodynamics Study
Get PDFStaff PublicationThe inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel by acid extract of Musa sapientum peels in 1M HCl was
investigated using weight loss method. The results showed that the corrosion rate of mild steel in 1M HCl
decreases with increase in concentration of the extracts and the values were in the range 0.013021 - 0.002127
ghr-1
cm-2
. The inhibition efficiency increases progressively as the concentration of the extracts increases up to
about 4% (v/v), above which, further increase in extract concentration did not cause any significant change in
the inhibition efficiency. Effects of temperature on the inhibition efficiency of the extracts showed that
inhibition efficiency decreases with increase in temperature. Activation energy (Ea) was found to be 61.60
Kjmol-1
for 1M HCl and increases to 66.72Kjmol-1
in the presence of Musa sapientum extract. The values for
enthalpy of activation and entropy were all positive indicating the endothermic nature of the mild steel
dissolution process. Calculated Gibbs free energy was in the range -9.43 to -8.99KJ. Kinetics of the reaction in
the presence of the extracts revealed that it follows a first order reaction and the half-life increases as the
concentration of the extracts increases suggesting that inhibition efficiency increases with increase in the
concentration of the extracts. Preliminary investigation of the phytochemical constituents showed that Musa
sapientumcontains tannin, flavonoid, terpenoid and some other compounds in trace constituents
Performance evaluation of wet scrubber system for industrial air pollution control
Get PDFThe concentration of pollutants emitted from industrial production are generally toxic and hazardous, which can be a serious health risk to humans not limited to respiratory ailments (asthma, bronchitis, tuberculosis, etc) but also to the photosynthesis in plants. In this study, a pilot scrubber system for PM10 control has been designed using data obtained from cement industry. A model for the overall collection efficiency of counter current scrubber system and Langmuir’s approximations were used to predict the performance of the system by considering droplet sizes of 500µm, 1000µm, 1500µm and 2000µm. The range of liquid to gas ratio recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been used to investigate the appropriate ratio for optimum performance of the system. Due to reversed flow in the Langmuir’s approximation, negative collection efficiencies for the 1µm dust particle were obtained. For 5µm and 10µm dust particles, the maximum collection efficiencies were determined to be 99.988% and 100.000% at 500µm droplet size and 2.7 l/m3 while the minimum was obtained to be 43.808% and 58.728% at 2000µm droplet size and 0.7 l/m3. The predicted performance of the scrubber system was then validated using the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standard for PM10
REYNOLDS NUMBER DEPENDENCE ON THE EFFECT OF AXIAL STRESS ON UNSTEADY POLYVINYL CHLORIDE PIPELINE FLOW
Get PDFThis paper studies the Reynolds number dependence on the effect of axial stress on unsteady pipeline flow. The unsteadiness is caused by sudden and gradual closure of the valve situated at the downstream end of the pipe. The effect generated by the unsteadiness is controlled by varying the Reynolds number (Re). Measurements were taken at different part of the pipe for a full and half closure of the valve at various Reynolds numbers. The pressure head obtained increase as Reynolds number (Re) increases, measurement clearly shows that Reynolds number majorly control the response of the pressure head although other factors like pipe geometry and wave speed which is a function of material properties and working fluid also contribute. Reynolds number control the magnitude but the wavelength of oscillation is unaltered. For all values of Reynolds numbers considered in this study (3750, 4125, 4750, 5250, 6000) with Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) material used as pipe, its variation caused pressure head to increase, decrease with time until another steady state is reached which make it constant after a particular time for the Reynolds number considered
A novel palmprint segmentation technique
Get PDFRecent paradigm shift from the conventional contact based palmprint recognition to
contactless based systems (CBS) has necessitated the development of a variety of these
systems. A major challenge of these systems is it robustness to illumination variation in
unconstrained environment, thus making segmentation difficult. In this paper, the
acquired image undergoes color space conversion and the output is filtered using
coefficients obtained from the training of an artificial neural network (ANN) based model
coefficient determination technique. Performance analysis of the proposed technique
shows better performance in term of mean square error, true positive rate and accuracy
when compared with two other techniques. Furthermore, it has also been observed that
the proposed method is illumination invariant hence its suitability for deployment in
contactless palmprint recognition systems
Growth response, nutrient and mineral retention, bone mineralisation and walking ability of broiler chickens fed with dietary inclusion of various unconventional mineral sources
Get PDFGrowth response, nutrient and mineral retention, bone mineral content and walking ability of broiler chicken fed dietary inclusion of various unconventional calcium sources were studied using 160‐day‐old broilers. Four isonitrogenous, isocaloric diets balanced for Ca and P were formulated such that oyster shell, snail shell, wood ash and limestone were used as main non‐phytate (Ca from other sources apart from plant) calcium sources. Each dietary treatment consisted of 40 birds replicated four times with 10 birds per replicate. A single diet was fed to the broilers throughout the duration of the study which lasted for 8 weeks. Broilers fed diet containing oyster shell as calcium sources recorded the highest (p < 0.05) feed intake of 5863.30 g, while those fed diet containing limestone consumed the least intake (p < 0.05) of 5432.56 g. Occurrence of lameness and evidences of gaits were highest (p < 0.05) for broilers fed diet containing wood ash. Lowest (p < 0.05) Ca and ash retention were recorded for broiler fed diet containing wood ash as Ca sources. Similar tibia ash values were recorded for broilers fed oyster shell, snail shell and limestone. Wood ash inclusion resulted in a low Ca availability hence its inclusion in feeds for broilers should be discouraged