Concepts of bounded agency in education, work, and the personal lives of young adults

This paper traces the development of a series of Anglo-German studies on how young adults experience control and exercise personal agency as they pass through periods of transition in education and training, work, unemployment and in their personal lives. The overarching aim has been to develop an extended dialogue between ideas and evidence to explore the beliefs and actions associated with life-chances under differing structural and cultural conditions. What kinds of beliefs and perspectives do people have on their future possibilities? How far do they feel in control of their lives? How does what people believe is possible for them (their personal horizons developed within cultural and structural influences) determine their behaviours and what they perceive to be 'choices'? This research contributes to the re-conceptualisation of agency as a process in which past habits and routines are contextualised and future possibilities envisaged with in the contingencies of the present moment. The paper concludes by explaining the concept of ;bounded agency' as an alternative to 'structured individualisation' as a way of understanding the experiences of people in changing social landscapes

AndroShield:automated Android applications vulnerability detection, a hybrid static and dynamic analysis approach

The security of mobile applications has become a major research field which is associated with a lot of challenges. The high rate of developing mobile applications has resulted in less secure applications. This is due to what is called the “rush to release” as defined by Ponemon Institute. Security testing—which is considered one of the main phases of the development life cycle—is either not performed or given minimal time; hence, there is a need for security testing automation. One of the techniques used is Automated Vulnerability Detection. Vulnerability detection is one of the security tests that aims at pinpointing potential security leaks. Fixing those leaks results in protecting smart-phones and tablet mobile device users against attacks. This paper focuses on building a hybrid approach of static and dynamic analysis for detecting the vulnerabilities of Android applications. This approach is capsuled in a usable platform (web application) to make it easy to use for both public users and professional developers. Static analysis, on one hand, performs code analysis. It does not require running the application to detect vulnerabilities. Dynamic analysis, on the other hand, detects the vulnerabilities that are dependent on the run-time behaviour of the application and cannot be detected using static analysis. The model is evaluated against different applications with different security vulnerabilities. Compared with other detection platforms, our model detects information leaks as well as insecure network requests alongside other commonly detected flaws that harm users’ privacy. The code is available through a GitHub repository for public contribution

Causes and impacts of global financial crisis on the performance of Nigerian banks (a case study of selected banks)

Incessant bank failure in the face of several banking policies calls for appropriate prophylactic measures capable of stemming the tide because the pain of bank failure touches the banker, customer, government and the general public as well. Thus, when the global financial crisis came, it destabilized the expected return of the consolidation exercise of 2005 which seriously affected the operation of Nigerian banks. This study evaluates the causes and implications of the global financial crisis on the performance of Nigerian banks with a view to determine the extent of this impact and determining various options that could cushion the impact as well as avoiding future reoccurrence. The secondary data used in this study are those relating to loans and advances, customers deposit and investment in securities (independent variable), while the dependent variable is bank performance. Ordinary Least Square method of Multiple Regression Analysis was used to manipulate the time series data into Econometric model of inflation, while F test was used to test the formulated hypotheses. This study reveals that global financial crisis has a negative impact on the performance of Nigerian banks despite in defiance of high liquidity possessed by these banks immediately after the consolidation exercise of 2005. It was recommended that banks should desist from financing other banks’ investment in securities to avoid multiplier effect syndrome while the Nigerian government should find alternative ways to fund their budget deficitBanking policies; Loans and Advances; Securities; Liquidity; Consolidation; Lending rates; Deposit rate.

Pilot interaction with automated airborne decision making systems

Two project areas were pursued: the intelligent cockpit and human problem solving. The first area involves an investigation of the use of advanced software engineering methods to aid aircraft crews in procedure selection and execution. The second area is focused on human problem solving in dynamic environments, particulary in terms of identification of rule-based models land alternative approaches to training and aiding. Progress in each area is discussed

The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits

This paper explores the interface between personality psychology andeconomics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability ofpersonality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworksfor interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promisingavenues for future research.education, training and the labour market;

The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits

This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promising avenues for future research.lifecycle effects, personality traits

The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits

This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promising avenues for future research.personality traits, lifecycle effects, psychology, economics

Critical thinking and systems thinking: towards a critical literacy for systems thinking in practice

About the book: In reflective problem solving and thoughtful decision making using critical thinking one considers evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the problem and the question at hand. In this book, the authors present topical research in the study of critical thinking. Topics discussed include developing critical thinking through probability models; the promotion of critical thinking skills through argument mapping; an instructional model for teacher training in critical thinking; advanced academic literacy and critical thinking and critical thinking and higher education

An Assessment of Citizens’ Participation in the 2016 Governorship Electoral Process in Edo State, Nigeria: A Content Analysis Approach

The major focus of this paper is to demonstrate the application of content analysis as a methodological tool especially in data collection in social research. In order to contextualize the essence of the paper, an assessment of the role of citizens’ participation in electoral process in Nigeria with particular reference to Edo state 2016 Governorship Election in Nigeria was done. The entire research process, starting with problem identification, study, objectives, research theme, data collection, analysis, findings and conclusion were carried out. Though a purely methodology paper, it demonstrated succinctly the expected harmony between the object of research and the tool or technique with which it is carried out.Key Words: Content analysis, methodology, social research, electoral process, citizens’ participatio