1,720,956 research outputs found
Understanding institutional and facility related challenges affecting the application of ICT skills to academic activities by faculty staff in sampled Nigerian Universities
Get PDFThe study aimed at understanding institutional and facility-related challenges affecting the application of ICT skills to academic activities by faculty staff. The three full-time universities in Benue state were purposively selected to form the population of the study; namely, University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Benue State University, Makurdi; and University of Mkar, Mkar. The descriptive survey design was adopted with a total population of 1, 537 faculty staff. Out of this population, 306 faculty staff were drawn as a sample for the study, using the simple random sampling procedure. A validated questionnaire was deployed for data collection; while charts, frequency tables and simple percentages were used for data analysis. The study revealed that institutional and facility-related challenges affecting faculty staff’ ICT skills application to academic activities in the universities in Benue State include: inadequate funding of ICT ventures, lack of sponsorship for ICT training, inadequate ICT facilities, unstable power supply and poor internet connectivity. Based on this, it was recommended that the government should annually provide ICT development fund to universities for bankrolling of ICT projects, and the management of respective universities should ensure more spending on providing ICT facilities, stable power supply, and sound Internet connectivity as this would greatly enhance academic activities in the universities.
Keywords: ICT Skills, Faculty staff, Nigeria, Universities, Challenges, Applicatio
An in-depth investigation of sources of information used in generating security information for crime control in two Nigerian University campuses
No full textThe study investigated the sources of information used by the security personnel to generate security information for crime control at Samaru and Kongo campuses of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. Descriptive survey design was adopted using case study design. Through simple random procedure, a validated questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 290 security personnel out of 1,450, and descriptive statistics were deployed for the analysis. It was found that different types of security information are generated at the campuses, majorly through the use interview, tracking devices, gate keeping, and patrol. Based on this, recommendations were provided for improvement.
Key Words: Crime, Control, Information, Nigeria, Security, Sources, University, Campuses
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
IDENTIFYING OF ICT TOOLS TO IMPROVE PROJECT RESEARCH BY GRADUATING UNDERGRADUATES OF A NIGERIAN PREMIER UNIVERSITY
Get PDFICT tools have become commonplace entities in every imaginable facet of life. They are increasingly being used to enhance productivity in academic endeavours, but there is limited empirical evidence on how final year students of universities are leveraging these tools in their project writing. This study aimed at identifying ICT tools available in the Ahmadu Bello University, access points to the tools, areas of project research the use of ICT tools improves, and the challenges faced by graduating students in using ICT tools to improve their project research. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 12, 314 graduating undergraduate students. A reliable and validated questionnaire was administered to a sample size of 291 (set 2019) project students who were randomly selected across the faculties. The descriptive statistics in the form of mean and standard deviation was used as the basis for the data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that ICT tools and access points to the tools are available (m=303, m=302) in the sampled university, and they are being used (m=2.95) to improve different areas of project research. However, several challenges still impede the effective use of ICT tools for utmost outcomes in project research. It is therefore concluded that ICT tools afford the students tremendous opportunities for improving their project works, and maintaining the accrual of these benefits to students require sustainability in the provision and access to ICT tools in the universities
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Awareness and Utilisation of Online Subscription Databases Among Postgraduate Students in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Get PDFPurpose: The study was carried out to investigate the level of awareness and utilisation of online subscription databases, and challenges to effective utilization of online subscription databases among the Postgraduate Students in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive survey design was adopted for the study with a total population of 8,376 postgraduate students. A sample of 400 students was selected for the study using proportionate stratified sampling and simple random sampling techniques. The data collected were analysed using percentages, frequency, mean, and OneWay MANOVA.Findings: The study discovered that postgraduate students in ABU Zaria are only aware of Science Direct, JSTOR and EBSCOHOST databases out of the 12 databases investigated. The level of utilisation of online subscription databases by postgraduate students in ABU Zaria is low. The result of the hypotheses showed significant differences in the awareness and utilization of online subscription databases among PhD, Masters and PGD postgraduate students Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Lastly, lack of training and orientation on how to use databases, lack of online guide on how to use online subscription databases, lack of ICT and computer literacy skills, non-functioning links to some of the databases, and the inability to locate relevant information resources from the databases were the major challenges impeding effective utilization of online subscription databases.Originality/value: The study showed that the differences that exist in the utilization level of online subscription databases among different categories of postgraduate students is largely occasioned by the awareness factor
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