Incidence of Diabetes mellitus at the Federal Medical Centre Katsina, Katsina State, Nigeria: A Retrospective Study

A six-year (2002 – 2007) retrospective study of hospital records (in-patients) was carried out to investigate the incidence of Diabetes Mellitus in Katsina. The records showed that a total of 754 cases were attended within the study period. The study showed yearly increase in the incidence of the disease with the highest incidence of 288 (38.20%) in the year 2007 and the least 65 (8.62%) in the year 2002. More males suffered from the disease 456 (60.48%) than females 298 (39.52%). The incidence was also found to be high 289 (38.33%) in the age range 65 and above, while age range 25 – 34 was least affected 28 (3.71%). Ways on how to live free of Diabetes Mellitus were also recommended.Keywords: Age Range, Diabetes Mellitus, Incidence, Hospita

Keluasan Makna Kata-kata Bahasa Indonesia dan Kata Bahasa Melayu Pattani yang Digunakan oleh Mahasiswa Thailand di Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta

Penelitian ini bertujuan menentukan kelusan makna kata dalam bahasa Indonesia dan dalam bahasa Melayu Pattani yang diujarkan oleh mahasiswa Thailand di Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta. Metode penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Sumber data penelitian adalah tuturan-tuturan dalam bentuk kalimat atau kata-kata yang diujarkan oleh Mahasiswa Thailand di Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta. Teknik pengumpulan data penelitian ini adalah teknik simak bebas libat cakap, rekam, dan wawancara, terakhir menganalisisnya. Teknik analisis data menggunakan metode padan dan metode analisis kontrastif. Hasil penelitian ini ada dua, pertama, kata-kata yang maknaya lebih luas dalam bahasa Indonesia. Kata tersebut mengandung beberapa komponem makna yang sama dengan bahasa Melayu Pattani, tetapi tidak semua kata terhadap bahasa Indonesia itu komponem sama maknanya, menyebabkan bahasa Melayu Pattani maknanya lebih sempit. Kedua, kata-kata yang maknanya lebih luas dalam bahasa Melayu Pattani. Kata tersebut mengandung beberapa komponem makna yang sama dengan bahasa Indonesia, tetapi tidak semua kata terhadap bahasa Melayu Pattani itu komponem sama maknanya, menyebabkan bahasa Melayu Pattani maknanya lebih luas daripada makna dalam bahasa Indonesia.The objectives of this research are first to describe the meaning of words in Indonesian language which are different with the meaning of words in Melayu Pattani that are researched by Thailand student at Universitas of Muhammadiyah Surakarta. The second is to determine meaning of words extensively in Indonesian language with meaning of words in Melayu Pattani language that is researched by Thailand students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta. The type of research is descriptive qualitative. Data sources of this research are speech in sentences or words forms in different meaning and extensive meaning that is researched by Thailand students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta. Technique of collecting data uses free speech method, recording, and interview, and analysis. Data analysis uses comparison and contrastive method. The results of this research are (1) words in Indonesian language found that include different meaning such as the similar words, writing and even the same of speech with different meaning. (2), words that have more extensive meaning than words in Indonesian language. That words include some meaning that are similar to words in Melayu Pattani language. But not all words have the same meaning because Melayu Pattani language has narrow meaning. (3) The words that have more extensive meaning in Melayu Pattani than the meaning in Indonesian languag

Religion, The Law and Nigeria’s Challenge of Preserving Nationhood

This paper examines the meaning and concept of Nationhood and appraises the argument of whether Nigeria is a nation or on the gradual path towards nationhood, and the complicated role of religion in the delicate balance and how the law acts as a pendulum of preponderance in containing the excesses of respective adherents. Concluding the paper by suggesting strategies for the country to surmount the challenges of preserving the Nation in the midst of the extreme and intense tensions of various kinds chief of which is religious intolerance and corruption, and how the law can aid in attaining the goals

Crystallizing a Discourse of Khalijiness : Exclusion and Citizenship in the Arab Gulf States

For many of the Arab Gulf countries, non-national populations constitute the majority of the population, with the discrepancy between the size of the national and non-national populations continuing to grow. It is in this context that the role played by these non-national populations becomes critically important. In my paper, I argue that exclusion of non-national populations from state-sponsored national identities, as manifest through citizenship rights, plays a pivotal role in fostering imagined national identities and communities among the local Arab Gulf citizens. The study considers two cases in particular: the bidoon (stateless) of Kuwait and middle-class Indian migrants in Dubai. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, I explore the ways in which the two aforementioned populations are excluded, how they contended with their exclusion, and finally attempt reconcile what, in broad terms, constitutes the overarching khaleeji – Gulf – identity that this exclusion has sought to foster. On one hand, the study finds that the bidoon of Kuwait\u27s pursuit of inclusion is rooted in their ethnic heritage as Arabs and the Kuwaiti, tribal-rooted national identity. On the other hand, the middle-class Indian migrants of Dubai embrace their exclusion because of their self-perceived temporariness in the city and instead exhibit a sense of dual-belonging. In light of this, the study considers how the resultant khaleeji identity crystalizes around its exceptions and exclusions, while highlighting the performative and nationalistic aspects of it

Perspectives and Limits of Judicial Discretion in Nigerian Courts

The paper examines the judicial power of discretion, the meaning, the perspective of the use, and certain legally stipulated limitations to the exercise of the power by judges; by asking the question of whether in certain circumstances, where the laws fail to provide definite solutions for matters before the court, and the courts embark on interpolation in other to identify and apply related concepts and rules to arrive at a decision, amounts to making laws?, A fact which judges often deny, yet seldom create  fresh rules and theories in order to fill the vacuum left by legislation. After all, a court would not simply throw out a case simply because there is no law that directly regulates the subject for which the court is called upon to decide

EFFECT OF ACTION-BASED EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH ON BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS’ ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS ACQUISITION FOR BUSINESS OPERATION IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

This study examines the effect of action-based experiential approach on Business education students’ entrepreneurial skills acquisition for business operation in Rivers State, Nigeria. To achieve this, two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated. Quasi-experimental research design was adopted for the study. The population and sample of the study consists of 134 NCE II Business education students during the 2017/2018 academic session. The sample was selected using purposive sampling technique. Two sets of instruments namely: Action-Based Experiential Entrepreneurial Learning Activities Guide (ABEELAG) and the Entrepreneurial Skills Assessment Tool (ESAT) were designed for the study. The instruments were face validated by three lecturers from University of Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State. The reliability of stability for the ESAT was ascertained using test-retest method to test for stability of the instrument. Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) was computed to obtain r – value of 0.84 for the two administrations and converted using the spearman brown prophetic formula to have reliability co-efficient of 0.72. Data collected for the study were analysed using mean scores for the research questions and t-test statistics computed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.1 to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results show that entrepreneurial skills can be highly acquired by Business education students when action-based experiential approach is used for entrepreneurship education than when direct instruction approach is used. The results also show that there is significant difference in the mean score of students in entrepreneurial skills acquisition when taught with ABEA as against DI approach. The result also shows that male and female students do not differ significantly in entrepreneurial skills acquisition when taught with project-based experiential approach. Based on the results and conclusions drawn, it was recommended among other things that a train-the-trainers workshop should be organized by institutions of higher learning for all lecturers handling entrepreneurship in business education to educate them on how to use action-based experiential approach for the practical aspect of entrepreneurship.  Article visualizations

Time series prediction with simple recurrent neural networks

Simple recurrent neural networks are widely used in time series prediction. Most researchers and application developers often choose arbitrarily between Elman or Jordan simple recurrent neural networks for their applications. A hybrid of the two called Elman-Jordan (or Multi-recurrent) neural network is also being used. In this study, we evaluated the performance of these neural networks on three established bench mark time series prediction problems. Results from the experiments showed that Jordan neural network performed significantly better than the others. However, the results indicated satisfactory forecasting performance by the other two neural networks.Key Words: Time Series Prediction, Artificial Neural Network, Recurrent NN, Resilient Propagation

Imams' language use in mosque sermons

PhDReligion plays a pivotal role in some societies, but the interaction between language and religion from a bilingualism perspective has not been fully explored. The overlap between the two, including “the way that religion and language interact to produce language contact” (Spolsky, 2003, p. 81), has recently been considered by Omoniyi and Fishman (2006). Many studies have been conducted regarding language use within institutional settings, such as schools, universities, workplaces and courtrooms. However, less attention has been paid to language use outside of these settings, such as within religious contexts, although mosques are viewed as institutional in nature. In particular, imams may switch between languages in their sermons in the mosque, perhaps similar to priests’ practices in churches where they may switch between Latin and English. The shortage of such studies regarding this phenomenon could be a result of the assumption that secularism is increasingly dominant and widespread, especially in Europe. This assumption can lead to an underestimation of the depth of religion in peoples’ lives and of the significance of the languages to express it. Another salient aspect may be that prayers tend not to change much over time and thus there is no need for such studies to be conducted. Yet, this is not actually true, especially in the case of Friday sermons, which tend to be less formulaic than prayers and in which ordinary talk also occurs. To explore this phenomenon, a qualitative study was undertaken by means of simulated recall interviews and non-participant observation with imams (n=10) and mosque audiences (n=7). The study reveals that employing more than one language in one-way religious speech is a means of increasing historical authenticity, exposing audiences to Arabic, overcoming a lack of easy equivalents in English (such as for the word bidah), emphasizing religious authority (given the very close links between Arabic and Islam), an assumption of audiences’ knowledge of some Arabic features (mostly in the form of words), or accommodating the iv diverse backgrounds of the audience, some of whom have knowledge of Arabic. This has been described as having spiritual, historical and emotional significance, invoking religious links associated between Arabic and Islam. Stakeholders, especially audiences, claim benefits beyond the language used in the sermons themselves. Imams, in addition, also tend to see the use of both English and Arabic as socially and culturally salient, a means of uniting people in an otherwise often fractured world, or one frequently presented as such in the media. Attitudes towards this phenomenon in mosques have been reported by all those involved as being very positive.Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Cultural Bureau in London)

Bacterial Chondronecrosis with Osteomyelitis in broilers: genomics, phylogenomics, and methods to detect specific pathogens during outbreaks.

Lameness is a major issue in animal welfare and the broiler industry. Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) is one of the main causes of lameness. Many staphylococcal species, including Staphylococcus agnetis isolate 908, have been isolated from the bones and blood of lame broilers at the University of Arkansas. Staphylococcus agnetis is a coagulase-variable, Gram-positive bacterial species that has been previously associated with subclinical or mild clinical cases of mastitis in dairy cattle. The annotated complete genome of hypervirulent strain 908 was published at NCBI. In this study, it has been compared to nine genomes we assembled for hypervirulent isolates in dairy cattle. Phylogenomic analyses of chicken and cattle isolates of S. agnetis and Staphylococcus hyicus suggest a very close relationship between the cattle and chicken isolates. The hypervirulent chicken isolate, 908, clustered with two of the cattle isolates, including strain 1379. A catalogue of gene differences between the cattle and chicken isolates was constructed using reciprocal blast analyses at the nucleotide and polypeptide level. More than 40 genes and 3 plasmids from strain 908 are absent or poorly conserved in any of the cattle S. agnetis isolates. No transformation protocol has been described for S. agnetis. Subsequently, an electroporation procedure has been optimized for DNA transformation of Staphylococcus agnetis. Therefore, we have optimized an electroporation method for DNA transformation so that we regularly obtain 10 to 20 transformants per ng using a Gram+/Gram- shuttle vector. Moreover, among the BCO pathogens isolated from the lame broilers, there are a number of Staphylococcus species, such as, S. agnetis, S. hyicus, S. chromogenes, S. aureus, S. cohnii, S. saprophyticus, S. epidermidis, and S. capitis, which are hard to accurately identify based just on genes like 16S rDNA. Therefore, using pfbA gene, a novel PCR assay was optimized for Staphylococcus species discrimination and strain typing. Moreover, extraction of bacterial DNA for subsequent molecular diagnostic applications remains a costly and time-consuming operation. We developed a technique for rapidly extracting genomic DNA from the BCO pathogens and other environmental bacteria based on sodium hydroxide cell lysis with or without magnetic bead capture. Finally, the BCO pathogens are transmitted via air. Our efficient air sampling system was designed for the quick screening of these airborne BCO pathogens and is transferable to monitor agriculturally important pathogenic bacteria

Effectiveness of firefly algorithm based neural network in time series forecasting

Global optimization techniques such as Particle Swarm Optimizers (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) are now widely used for training Artificial Neural Networks (NN), particularly in time series forecasting problems. Firefly algorithm (FA) is a relatively new addition to the family of population based optimization technique that has shown promising result in a number of problems. In this work, we evaluate the effectiveness of FA trained NN in time series forecasting. In the experiments, three well known time series were used to evaluate the performance. Results obtained were compared with results from both PSO and Resilient Propagation (RPROP) trained NNs. FA based NN performed very well in forecasting all the time series considered, outperforming the bench-marks in two out of the three problems.Keywords: Time series, Artificial Neural Network, Firefly Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Overfittin