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Public Service, Performance Enhancement and the Challenge of Economic Recession in Nigeria
Get PDFAbstractThe Nigerian economy has just technically exited recession. This harsh economic condition is no doubt of great concern to the government and people of the country inview of its attendant pains. Economic and financial experts and professionals areexpected to find solution to this national challenge. This paper however argues that, inaddition to seeking economic solution to this problem, the nation’s public service in itsposition as the main machinery of government for the formulation and implementationof public policies should be recognised as a critical factor in exiting the country out ofrecession. This can be done by continuous training and re-training of public servants inorder to increase their competence, morale and productivity towards speedy recoveryof the country’s economy. The paper adopted the qualitative method of analysis usingmainly secondary source of data.
KeywordsTraining, development, economic recession, economic recovery, performanceimprovement, training needs
 
Election, Technology and Voter Turnout in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: A Study of 2015 Kwara Gubernatorial Election
Get PDFAbstractIn the recent time, the introduction of technology into the management of electoral process has become a popular practice among democratic countries, especially in Africa. This cannot be disconnected from the argument that technology helps not only in delivering free, fair and credible elections but also that it serves as a means to increase voter turnout. Nigeria’s election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, introduced Smart Card Readers (SCRs) and Permanent Voter Card (PVC) during the 2015 elections with the aim of enhancing both the integrity and legitimacy of the elections. Despite this, official report from INEC showed that only 38% of registered voters cast their votes in the 2015 Kwara state gubernatorial election, a figure that represents the lowest in the history of governorship election in the state since democratic rebirth in 1999. This paper investigates the impact of technology on voter behaviour during the 2015 gubernatorial election. Adopting descriptive research design and mixed method of data collection, the paper finds that there is significant relationship between introduction of technology and voter turnout during the election.KeywordsElection, technological innovation, voter turnou
Challenges and Prospects of Internet Connectivity in Developing Universities in Nigeria. A Case Study of Fountain University, Osogbo.
Get PDFThe Internet is a network of networks, which serves as a tool that provides the fastest and latest information on what goes on around the world. In Nigeria, a large number of Institutions are still lagging behind in the area of Internet provision and connectivity. This work focuses on the challenges and prospects of Internet connectivity in developing universities in Nigeria, taking Fountain University, Osogbo as a case study. Data were gathered from records and documents reviewed from the ICT Unit of the university. Assessment through logs, diaries and documentations with Internet network survey was carried out all over the campus. Technical and administrative challenges were found and some prospects were recommended.
Keywords: Internet Challenges, Prospects, Nigerian Universities, Network Connectivit
Promoting Distributed Programming Practices Among Computer Science Students.
Get PDFThe use of distributed programming has become popular practice among software developers in the last few years. Although, quite a number of researchers has explored the domain but its implementation still poses a lots of problems. Similarly, adoption of the practice in the classroom is not left out as it required additional tools. In this report, I have assessed the use and acceptability of the distributed programming practices among students of computer science using an online questionnaire. The results showed that the level of awareness of distributed programing practice among the students of computer science is very low so also is that of the tools that facilitate it. Therefore introducing the practices into the curriculum of high institution of learning is highly recommended as this will strengthen the inter-university student collaboration.
Keywords: Global software engineering, Software development, Distributed programming, Collaboratio
Legitimate Trade, Annexation and Cession of Lagos and International Law
Get PDFThe paper contends that the abolition of slave trade Great Britain in 1807 was “a product of growing European industrial expansionismâ€. Indeed, the promotion of socalled‘legitimatetrade’,whateverthat
meant, as well as the Annexation and Cessionof Lagos can be explained only by economic determinism. The paper concludes thatthe Annexation and Cession of Lagos in 1861 was patently violative of customary rulesand principles of international law.
Keywords Legitimate trade, annexation and cession of Lagos, International law
 
A Stochastic Model to Analyze and Predict Transmission Dynamics of Tuberculosis in Ede Kingdom of Osun State
Get PDFIn this study the stochastic process model for estimating the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) infection in Ede kingdom (Ede North and Ede South Local Government Areas) of Osun State was carried out. The probability generating function approach was used to solve the associated birth process model to obtain the estimate of TB incidence. Also time series analysis was carried out using JMulti software to predict future incidence rate of the disease in the study area. Based on Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model, the autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation methods and a suitable model to forecast TB infection was obtained. The goodness of fit was measured using the Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criteria (BIC). Having satisfied all the model assumptions ARIMA (0,1,1) model with standard error, 6.37086 was found to be the best model for the forecast. It was observed that the forecasted series were close to the actual data series.
Keywords: Stochastic process, Tuberculosis, Incidence rate,Ede kingdo
A Rule-Based Expert System for Pest Control in Maize Plant.
Get PDFMaize crop (Zea Mays), also known as corn, is the most widely cultivated plant and popular cereal grains in Nigeria that had found its usage in every home either as food for human beings or feed for animals, and importantly, raw material for food processing industries. It grows across a range of agro-ecological zones in Nigeria. The incidence of crop pest had been one of the major challenges faced by the farmers, resulting in low yield of crop production, both in quality and quantity. Another major challenge is that majority of farmers lack key knowledge in identifying plant diseases. Awkwardly, such knowledge typically resides within a few experts and is not easily accessible to farmers. Farmers initially necessitate to useful advices for diagnosing the various pests and diseases confronting the crops, before being able to implement a suitable treatment or control measures. To make this knowledge more widely available, a rule-based Expert System (ES) was designed and implemented in this paper. The ES comprises of a diagnosis system that detects pest in maize plant; an information system that gives facts about maize and pests, with their control measures; and finally an expert advice on maize plant cultivation. To make the system more user-friendly, an image database was integrated with it. The system was developed using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and Bootstrap. The application can supply information on 17 pests that affect maize plant in Nigeria, and their respective treatments.
Keywords: Agriculture, Crops, Expert Systems, Pests control, Plant diseases, Maize.
Antidiarrhoeal Activities of Ethanolic Extract of Aristolochia ringens Stem Bark in Castor Oil-Induced Diarrhoeal Albino Rats
Get PDFThe antidiarrhoeal potentials of ethanolic extract of Aristolochia ringens stem back was evaluated in castor oil-induced diarrhoeal rats. The A. ringens stem back ethanolic extract was, in addition, screened for its phytoconstituents. Thirty albino rats of 150-180 g were randomized into six groups of five animals each for each of the three experiments and all administration were oral. Rats in groups I and II were administered 1.0 ml distilled water and 1% DMSO (Vehicle) respectively, while those in group III were administered 2.5 mg/kg b.wt loperamide hydrochloride as reference drug. Rats in groups IV, V and VI were administered 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg b.wt. ethanolic extract of A. ringens stem bark. The castor oil-induced diarrhoeal model was used, the weight and volume of the intestinal content was determined by enteropooling method and the intestinal motility was determined using activated charcoal method. The small intestine of the rats was also assessed for histopathological changes. The extract significantly and dose-dependently reduced the number of diarrhoeal faeces, the volume of intestinal accumulation and the distance moved by the fed charcoal in treated rats compared to the untreated diarrhoeal group (group II). The percentage inhibitions exhibited by the extract at 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight were significantly higher than that of the reference drug. Furthermore, the photomicrograph of the intestine of the extract treated rats showed intact intestinal architecture. Hence, ethanolic extract of Aristolochia ringens stem bark may contain phytochemicals with better antidiarrhoeal potentials which can be explored in the development of more viable antidiarrhoeal agents.
Keywords: Aristolochia ringens, Antidiarrhoeal agents, Intestinal motility, Intestinal accumulation
Comparative Analysis of Theoretical and Empirical Data of Synthetic Cannabinoids
Get PDFComparative studies of spectroscopic data of indol-3-carboxylates and indazole-3-carboxylates are reported from theoretical and empirical viewpoints. Structures of indol-3-carboxylates and indazole-3-carboxylates were modeled; quantum chemical method was employed to investigate the spectroscopic (NMR and FT-IR) properties of the structures. The results obtained from the theoretical studies were compared to empirical results obtained for the spectroscopic properties of these compounds and level of agreement (or disagreement) between the results for the two studies are reported. The scope of the study is limited to the modeling, structural, and electronic and spectroscopic analyses of the modeled structures and comparative analysis of the theoretical data with published experimental data. The absorption transitions were calculated from the optimized geometry in the ground state (S0) using TD-B3LYP/6-31G**. The energy band gaps calculated showed that Naphthalene-1-yl-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indazole-3-carboxylate (M5) has the lowest band gap energy, which may have a substantial influence on the intramolecular charge transfer and bioactivity of the molecule. The 13C and 1HNMR chemical shifts calculated at ab initio and DFT agreed with the experimental data. DFT/6-311G** has the best correlation with fitting factor 0.9956.Thus the chemical shifts from DFT/6-311G** are very close to the experimental and can be used in the absence of experimental data. The vibrational frequency analyses by DFT/B3LYP method are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values.
Keywords: Density functional theory; Frontier molecular orbitals; Spectroscopic properties; Basis set; Indazole-3-carboxamide; N-1-methoxycarbonylalkyl grou