Matricide and schizophrenia in the 21st century: a review and illustrative cases

Studies have shown an association between homicidal behaviour and psychiatric disorders although it remains difficult to conclude that definite causal relationships exist between specific mental illnesses and particular forms of homicide. However, matricide has been linked to schizophrenia for several decades with an assortment of explanations to explain the connection. To review the psychosocial, contextual and clinical issues involved in the perpetration of matricide by patients with schizophrenia. Two detailed case reports are presented alongside review of relevant literature. There are complex psychodynamic, phenomenological and contextual factors in the act of matricide by persons with schizophrenia. The observation that ambivalent relationships exist between schizophrenics and their mothers (or other carers) probably suggests the need for adequate clinical intervention with families of affected patients in resolving psychological tension which might be the provoking stimulus to murder.Keywords: Schizophrenia; Matricide; Ambivalence; Psychodynamic factor

Assessment of heavy metals in urban highway runoff from Ikorodu expressway Lagos, Nigeria

The distribution of heavy metals in the urban high way run off from Ikorodu expressway of Lagos was studied between March to May, 2004.The heavy metals studied include Pb, Cu, Cr, Zn and Cd. The levels of these selected heavy metals were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Mscientific 200 Model). Trends in the heavy metal from the runoff showed significant variations between the months were values recorded in the month of April showed high values. Statistical analyses showed different mean levels of these heavy metals assessed at the five collecting points. The distribution shows Zn > Pb > Cu > Cr > Cd. Zn recorded the highest concentration levels between (53.4 ± 35.5 - 107.5 ± 80.4 μg/l), while Cd levels (ND - 6.00 μg/L) were the lowest. However, the results obtained falls within the permissible limits of FMENV effluents limits, FHWA and WHO standards of water for domestic use

AN AUTOMATED ENERGY METER READING SYSTEM USING GSM TECHNOLOGY

The measurement of the energy consumed by residential and commercial buildings by utility provider is important in billing, control and monitoring of the usage of energy. Traditional metering techniques used for the measurement of energy are not convenient and is prone to different forms of irregularities. These irregularities include inaccuracies in billing due to human error, energy theft, loss of revenue due to corruption and so on. This research study proposed the design and construction of a microcontroller based electric energy metering system using the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network. This system provides solution to the irregularities posed by the traditional metering technique by allowing the utility provider have access to remote monitoring capabilities, full control over consumer load, and remote power disconnection in the case of energy theft. Proteus simulation software was used to model the system hardware and the software was obtained by using embedded C programming and visual basic. It was observed that the system could remotely take accurate energy readings, provided full control over consumer loads and execute remote disconnection in case of energy theft. The system provides high performance and high accuracy in power monitoring and power management. Keywords: GSM, Automati

AN AUTOMATED ENERGY BILL METERING SYSTEM BASED ON GSM TECHNOLOGY

The measurement of the energy consumed by residential and commercial buildings by utility provider is important in billing, control, and monitoring of the usage of energy. Traditional metering techniques used for the measurement of energy are not convenient and is prone to different forms of irregularities. These irregularities include meter failure, meter tampering, inaccuracies in billing due to human error, energy theft, and loss of revenue due to corruption, etc. This research study proposed the design and construction of a microcontroller-based electric energy metering system using the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) network. This system provides a solution to the irregularities posed by the traditional metering technique by allowing the utility provider have access to remote monitoring capabilities, full control over consumer load, and remote power disconnection in the case of energy theft. Proteus simulation software was used to model the system hardware and the software was obtained by using embedded C programming and visual basic. It was observed that the system could remotely take accurate energy readings, provided full control over consumer loads and execute remote disconnection in case of energy theft. The system provides high performance and high accuracy in power monitoring and power management.   &nbsp

Facial Image Verification and Quality Assessment System -FaceIVQA

Although several techniques have been proposed for predicting biometric system performance using quality values, many of the research works were based on no-reference assessment technique using a single quality attribute measured directly from the data. These techniques have proved to be inappropriate for facial verification scenarios and inefficient because no single quality attribute can sufficient measure the quality of a facial image. In this research work, a facial image verification and quality assessment framework (FaceIVQA) was developed. Different algorithms and methods were implemented in FaceIVQA to extract the faceness, pose, illumination, contrast and similarity quality attributes using an objective full-reference image quality assessment approach. Structured image verification experiments were conducted on the surveillance camera (SCface) database to collect individual quality scores and algorithm matching scores from FaceIVQA using three recognition algorithms namely principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and a commercial recognition SDK. FaceIVQA produced accurate and consistent facial image assessment data. The Result shows that it accurately assigns quality scores to probe image samples. The resulting quality score can be assigned to images captured for enrolment or recognition and can be used as an input to quality-driven biometric fusion systems.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v3i6.503

Pattern of attendance and predictors of default among Nigerian outpatients with schizophrenia

Objective: To assess the pattern of and factors associated with outpatient clinic attendance among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia at a Nigerian psychiatric hospital. Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study of 313 consecutiveoutpatients with diagnosis of schizophrenia confirmed with the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis (SCID). Data was collected on sociodemographics, clinic attendance, perceived social support, perceived satisfaction with hospital care and illness severity (assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, BPRS). Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with outpatient clinic default.Results: Overall, 20.4% respondents were defaulters, with a median duration of clinic nonattendance of 8 weeks. Outpatient clinic defaulters had significantly higher BPRS scores and had missed more outpatient clinicappointments compared with non-defaulters. A significantly higher proportion of defaulters resided more than 20km away from the hospital and reported “not satisfied” with their outpatient care. Being financially constrained was the commonest reason given by defaulters for missing their clinic appointments. The significant predictors of outpatient clinic default included residing more than 20km from the hospital, missing previous appointments and dissatisfaction with outpatient care. Conclusion: Outpatient clinic non-attendance is common among patients with schizophrenia, and is significantly associated with demographic, clinical and service related factors. Interventions targeted at addressing the risk factors for defaulting peculiar to developing country settings similar to the location of this study, could significantly improve treatment outcome.Keywords: Outpatients; Default; Schizophrenia; Non-attendance; Nigeri

Attitudes toward Computer, Computer Anxiety and Gender as determinants of Pre-service Science, Technology and Mathematics Teachers’ Computer Self-efficacy

The study investigated attitudes towards computer and computer anxiety as determinants of computer self-efficacy among 2100 pre-service science, technology and mathematics (STM) teachers from the University of Lagos of Nigeria using the quantitative research method within the blueprint of the descriptive survey design. Data collected were analysed using the descriptive statistics of percentages, mean, and standard deviation and inferential statistics of independent samples t-test, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Finding revealed significant correlations between computer attitudes, computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy. Gender differences in attitude toward computer, computer self-efficacy and computer anxiety among pre-service STM teachers were significant. Affective component, perceived control component, and perceived usefulness component, behavioural intention component, gender, and computer anxiety made statistically significant contributions to the variance in pre-service STM teachers’ computer self-efficacy. The study recommended among others that academic institutions should pay more attention to this computer anxiety and adopt proper ways of reducing the computer anxiety, so that positive e-learning experiences can be created for pre-service STM teachers

PREDICTING SOCIAL NETWORK ADDICTION USING VARIANT SIGMOID TRANSFER FEED-FORWARD NEURAL NETWORKS (FNN-SNA)

Researchers have reflected on personal traits that may predict Social Networking Sites (SNS) addiction. However, most of the researchers involved in the findings of personality traits predictor for social networking addiction either postulate or based their conclusions on analytical tools. Moreso, a review of the literature reveals that the prediction of social networking addiction using classifiers have not been well researched. We examined the prediction of SNS addiction from a well-structured questionnaire consisting of sixteen (16) personality traits. The questionnaire was administered on the google form with a response rate of 95% out of the 102-sample size. Additionally, a three (3) variant sigmoid transfer feed- forward neural networks was developed for the prediction of SNS addiction. Result indicated that pertinence (β = 0.251, p  0.01) was the most powerful predictor of social networking addiction in general and less obscurity addiction (β = 0.244, p  0.01). Experimental results also showed that the developed classifier correctly predict SNS addiction with 98% accuracy compared to similar classifiers.     &nbsp

The impact of a psychiatry clinical rotation on the attitude of Nigerian medical students to psychiatry

Objective: Undergraduate medical students have ingrained and often negative attitudes towards psychiatry as a field and as a career. This in turn has affected recruitment of graduate medical students into the specialty. Little is known about the impact of psychiatry rotations during undergraduate medical training on students’ attitudes about psychiatry and eventual specialty choice in developing countries. This study examined the impact of a psychiatry clinical rotation on medical students’ attitudes to psychiatry and possible career choice. Method: Eighty-one and one hundred and six fifth year medical students completed the ATP-30, socio-demographic and career choice questionnaires at the beginning and the end of a four week clinical rotation respectively. Results: The overall attitude of the students to psychiatry was favourable at the beginning of the rotation with significant improvement following the rotation (p=0.003). Significant improvement in attitude was observed among female and younger students. Students who indicated preference for specialties other than psychiatry showed a greater improvement in their attitude to psychiatry following the rotation (p= 0.011). The rotation however did not enhance students’ preference for psychiatry as a future career. Conclusion: The four-week clinical rotation in psychiatry resulted in increased mean attitudinal score, but not in enhanced preference for psychiatry as a career.Keywords: Psychiatry; Attitude; Medical students; Nigeri

BLACKFACE SURVEILLANCE CAMERA DATABASE FOR EVALUATING FACE RECOGNITION IN LOW QUALITY SCENARIOS

Many face recognition algorithms perform poorly in real life surveillance scenarios because they were tested with datasets that are already biased with high quality images and certain ethnic or racial types. In this paper a black face surveillance camera (BFSC) database was described, which was collected from four low quality cameras and a professional camera. There were fifty (50) random volunteers and 2,850 images were collected for the frontal mugshot, surveillance (visible light), surveillance (IR night vision), and pose variations datasets, respectively. Images were taken at distance 3.4, 2.4, and 1.4 metres from the camera, while the pose variation images were taken at nine distinct pose angles with an increment of 22.5 degrees to the left and right of the subject. Three Face Recognition Algorithms (FRA), a commercially available Luxand SDK, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) were evaluated for performance comparison in low quality scenarios. Results obtained show that camera quality (resolution), face-to-camera distance, average recognition time, lighting conditions and pose variations all affect the performance of FRAs. Luxand SDK, PCA and LDA returned an overall accuracy of 97.5%, 93.8% and 92.9% after categorizing the BFSC images into excellent, good and acceptable quality scales.