Knowledge management implementation in information society: A study of IIUM library

Most organizations implementing knowledge management are thrilled by the numerous opportunities it offers and the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) library is not left behind in the innovative shift.Even though knowledge management practice is demanded in information society, it does not exist as a full-fledged solution in most organizations yet.The reality in IIUM library is that it already employs certain elements of knowledge management through the use of IT to support various activities from administrative jobs to user education.Among the IT support system used include: the staff intranet and email to share and exchange information, library database to capture and store data and the digital library facilities to serve the diverse interest of its numerous customers.The following questions therefore arise: do these elements of knowledge management available in IIUM library suffice and provide the opportunities it affords? Do the staff and users of IIUM library see it in the light of the benefits that accrue from it? Therefore the purpose of this study lies in its concern for whether the elements of knowledge management involved in the administration of IIUM library is achieving the goals of knowledge management and whether the staff and customers of IIUM library are maximizing the benefits of knowledge management in information societies

Review of offshore pipeline span creation mechanism

The various span creation mechanisms have been studied in great detail and this work has presented the state of the art in the area of offshore pipeline span creation mechanism analysis. The different span creation mechanisms of a pipeline during operation include residual uplifts, scouring, sandwaves, underwater landslides, strudel scour, etc. With this information a software can be formulated which can incorporate the different characteristics of elements of span creation

Semantic Connotation of Hadith and the Emergence of Arabic Schools of Grammar

Scholars focused the contributions of the Qur’ān to the evolution of Arabic Grammar, but few of them focused on the effect of prophetic tradition on the area. This paper, therefore, focuses on semantic connotation of prophetic traditions: “Guide your brother, he has gone astray” and “Divergent opinion of my followers is a blessing” These sayings of the prophet led to the evolution of Arabic grammatical studies and the establishment of its schools that enriched Arabic grammar. It opens with the grammarians’ contribution to the development of Arabic grammar such as Abul-Aswad Addu’alī (d.69 A.H), Seyyid ‘Ali b. Abī Talib, al-Khalīl ibn Ahmad al-Farāhidī and so on. Although, There were five major schools of Arabic grammar namely: al-Madhhab al-Basra, al-Madhhab al- Kūfa, alMadhhab al-Bagdād, al-Madhhab al- Andalusī and al-Madhhab al- Misrī but this paper, mainly focuses on the two prominent schools - Basran and Kūfan. It analyses the conflict of theory in Arabic grammar on some topics and other terms, grammatical debates between notable scholars of the two schools with their divergent opinions. The discussion ends with the justification of analogical deduction employed by the two schools in their analysis as a commendable exercise

RURAL HOUSEHOLDS' SOURCES OF WATER AND WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR IMPROVED WATER SERVICES IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

Households' source of water is one of the core development indicators recently gaining prominence in Nigeria. This study examined rural households' sources of water and its Willingness to Pay (WTP).  A cross sectional survey involving the use of questionnaire was adopted while a dichotomous choice (DC) with follow up was used as elicitation method. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 437 rural households. Descriptive statistics and Tobit model was used as analytical tool for the study. Results from this study revealed that almost 70% fetched from unimproved water sources. Only 74.4% of the respondents showed WTP for improved water sources. Age(p<0.01), Sex (p<0.01), Education (p<0.01), Occupation(p<0.01), Income (p<0.01), Price of water(P<0.01), Quantity of water (p<0.01), Household size(p<0.01) and Distance(p<0.01) to existing water sources significantly influenced rural households' WTP for these services. Therefore, good water sources should be cited nearer to rural community at a relatively low price by rural households. &nbsp

Comparison of Power Output from Solar PV Panels with Reflectors and Solar Tracker

In this paper, performance enhancement of solar Photo Voltaic (PV) panels has been experimented utilizing diffused reflectors and solar-tracker in other to determine the one with higher power output. An intelligent solar tracker and diffused reflector augmented systems were designed, developed and installed to compare the power output that can be generated from each of them when standing alone; and which system will achieve higher power output so as to reduce the number of PV panels required at any given time especially when cost is a major factor. For this comparative study, experimental readings were simultaneously taken from the panel, with sun tracker and the panel with diffuse reflectors aligned at 23.50 with the horizontal. Experimental results indicate appreciable increase in the overall power output of the solar panels. It is discovered that the power output of the panel with reflectors was higher from about 11 am till 2 pm, while the panel with tracking was higher at other times. The average power output of the system for a day is about the same. Looking at the cost of fabrication and the complexity of the tracking system, the reflector system is the better option. Keywords: Diffuse Reflectors, Performance enhancement, Power output, Solar PV panels, Tracking system

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS OF CASSAVA PRODUCTS IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

This study investigated the value chain analysis of cassava products in Ogun State Nigeria. Multistage was used to select 180 cassava processors and marketers. Socio-economic data were obtained from respondents with the use of pre-tested questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, budgetary technique and Analysis of variance (ANOVA). The study revealed that majority (84.3% and 52.8%) of Cassava peel processors and marketers were female. In addition, 60.2% of the processors have secondary education while 51.4% of the marketers also have secondary education. The value chain activities carried out by the processors were, Gari; harvesting, transportation, peeling, fetching, grating mill, sieving, toasting/drying and packaging. Fufu; harvesting, transportation, peeling, fetching, soaking, sieving and packaging. Lafun; harvesting, transportation, peeling, washing, fetching, soaking, slicing, grating mill, sieving, drying and packaging. The marketing activities includes; transportation, bagging and storage (Elegbede, et al., 2018) while marketers transported, packaged and put products in storage for future sales. The mean gross margin for gari, fufu and lafun processors and marketers along the chain were N35876.13, N120463.61 and N48098.72 respectively per annum while net farm income was estimated as N35477.85, N115259.44 and N48098.72. Also, the marketing margin for gari, fufu and lafun was estimated as N25273.07, N2982.65 and N21453.49 respectively per annum while the net marketing margin per annum was estimated as N18766.84, N22489.30 and N16203.81 respectively. Conversely, the marketing efficiency for the cassava products and by-products was estimated as 74.26%, 75.44% and 75.53% respectively for gari, fufu and lafu with lafu having the highest marketing efficiency when compared with the other cassava products (gari and fufu). From the results of the net farm income and marketing margin, it was discovered that fufu is more profitable along the cassava product value chain when compared to the other products (gari and lafu). This study therefore recommends that processing and marketing of lafun and fufu is efficient and their trade is profitable. Also, cassava processors and marketers should form cooperative groups to increase access to credit for higher output and trade of products.   &nbsp

Onset of Hearing Loss, Gender and Self Concept as Determinants of Academic Achievements in English Language of Students with Hearing Disability in Oyo State, Nigeria

Since every class of students with hearing disability is always a heterogeneous one, the need for establishing relationship between some intrinsic factors in these students and their academic achievements becomes very imperative. This study therefore examined the influence of onset of hearing loss, gender and self concept on their academic performance in English language. 100 Senior Secondary School class III students with hearing disability were purposively selected to participate in the study. The study also raised 3 hypotheses to ascertain relationships between onset of hearing loss, gender, and self concept and English language achievement. Instruments such as the self concept scale of the Adolescent Personal Data Inventory, Adapted English Language Test and Audiological Reports were used. Findings showed that postlingually hearing disabled students were superior to their prelingually hearing-disabled colleagues, male students did better than female students and student with high self concept outclassed those with low self concept. It was therefore recommended that teachers and curriculum developers should adequately consider these findings in teaching and curriculum development activities

APPRAISAL OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL, POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL CONCEPT OF PRIVATIZATION: A REFLECTION ON THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE

The concept of privatization is not a new phenomenon but the practice continues toelicit novel ideas that attract comments from academics and other practitioners around theglobe. It is an idea that have transcended over the decades to ensure that public enterprises arebetter managed by private individuals and organizations in order to achieve efficiency in theirproductivity. Our primary goal in this article to examine the philosophical, political andideological basis of the concept of privatization and how this idea has found its relevance inNigerian Political landscape via a reflecting on the Nigerian experience. This paper will startby examining the universal ideas behind concept of privatization, the meaning and origin ofprivatization, its influence on Nigeria and references will be drawn from other countriesaround the world that have made some giant strides in the field of privatisation of their Stateowned enterprises. There will be an overview of the methods of privatization, the nature andpattern of privatization in Nigeria and why the government opted for privatization of publicutilities. This paper will end with the authors’ conclusion on how Nigeria can benefit fromprivatisation policy

Relationship Between Respiratory Symptoms and Quality of Life of Children With Cerebral Palsy

Respiratory conditions are among the causes of morbidity and mortality in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Little attention is given to how respiratory symptoms could affect quality of life (QOL) of these children. This study examined relationship between respiratory symptoms and QOL of children with CP. A total of 95 children participated in this cross-sectional study. Respiratory symptoms and QOL were assessed using Respiratory Symptom Questionnaire and Paediatric QOL Questionnaires respectively. Data obtained were analysed with Spearman Rank Order Correlation and Chi-square analyses to find relationship between respiratory symptoms and QOL and the association between respiratory symptoms and different types of CP respectively. All statistics were performed using SPSS version 20 at 0.05α significance level. There were 57 (60%) male and 38 (40%) female participants with mean age of 2.76 ±2.0years. Fifty-six (55.8%) of the children have spastic hemiplegia, 32 (31.6%) spastic quadriplegia and 13 (12.6%) spastic diplegia. The common respiratory symptoms were phlegm production 44(46.3%), cough 38(40%), dyspnoea 22(23.2%) and wheezes 21(22.1%). Significant negative correlation was observed between cough and QOL (r=-0.234, p=0.022). Phlegm production was significantly associated with quadriplegic type of CP (p<0.05). Respiratory symptoms are common among children with CP and they could deteriorate the children’s QOL. Pulmonary physiotherapy should be incorporated into the routine rehabilitation of these children

Comparative Evaluation of the Functional and Sensory Characteristics of Three Traditional Fermented Cassava Products

This study provides scientific evidence to test the hypothesis that the flours and cooked forms of fufu, lafun and pupuru can suitably serve as substitutes for each other in the food markets and eateries, respectively. Sixteen functional properties of flours were compared statistically. Similarly, discrimination and preference tests were also conducted on the cooked dough.  About 88% of the functional properties of the products were significantly different (p<0.05). Cooked dough samples were significantly different in terms of the appearance, odour and texture. Pupuru had the highest preference scores for all the sensory attributes. Dough appearance was the most important factor determining the overall acceptability of the products. Conclusively, the flours and cooked dough from traditionally processed fufu, lafun and pupuru cannot suitably substitute for each other in food markets and consumers end. &nbsp