Solving Dynamic Traveling Salesman Problem Using Dynamic Gaussian Process Regression

This paper solves the dynamic traveling salesman problem (DTSP) using dynamic Gaussian Process Regression (DGPR) method. The problem of varying correlation tour is alleviated by the nonstationary covariance function interleaved with DGPR to generate a predictive distribution for DTSP tour. This approach is conjoined with Nearest Neighbor (NN) method and the iterated local search to track dynamic optima. Experimental results were obtained on DTSP instances. The comparisons were performed with Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing. The proposed approach demonstrates superiority in finding good traveling salesman problem (TSP) tour and less computational time in nonstationary conditions

Soft Computing Approaches to Stock Forecasting: A Survey

Soft computing techniques has been effectively applied in business, engineering, medical domain to solve problems in the past decade. However, this paper focuses on censoring the application of soft computing techniques for stock market prediction in the last decade (2010 - todate). Over a hundred published articles on stock price prediction were reviewed. The survey is done by grouping these published articles into: the stock market surveyed, input variable choices, summary of modelling technique applied, comparative studies, and summary of performance measures. This survey aptly shows that soft computing techniques are widely used and it has demonstrated widely acceptability to accurately use for predicting stock price and stock index behavior worldwide

Mathematical Research in Digital Age

The time when someone can do real, publishable mathematics completely without the aid of a computer is coming to a close; the use of computers in mathematical research is both widespread and under-acknowledged. Mathematicians use computers in a number of ways. This paper highlights the importance of mathematics and digital age in today2019;s technological advancement; it also explains the influence of digital age on Mathematics research. Key areas where Information and Communication Technology can be applied to Mathematical research are discussed. To demonstrate the use of computer program on Mathematical analysis, some problems were solved analytically and were also solved using computer programs (Mathlab and Python). These two procedures are compared and it is clearly shown that using computer packages to solve Mathematical problems are more efficient, easier and accurate

Recent Advances in Solar Drying of Agricultural Produce in Nigeria: NSPRI Experience

Agricultural products are dried to enhance storage stability, in order to reduce post harvest losses, minimize packaging requirement and reduce transport weight. Crop drying through the sun is the most common practice in the country due to its no energy cost but often result in poor quality, unhygienic and contaminated products. This has been a major threat to food safety. Energy consumption and quality of dried products are critical parameters in the selection of drying process. An optimum drying system for the preparation of quality dehydrated products is supposed to be cost effective with less drying time and damage to the product. To reduce the energy utilization and operational cost as well to further produce high quality safe products, new trends in solar drying system were developed by the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) in order to proffer solutions to the threat in food safety as well as farmers and processors quest for drying with minimal energy cost.  The technologies include mobile solar tent dryers, green house solar tent dryers and parabolic solar tent dryers. These entire dryers have great scope for the production of quality dried products and powders. These advancements have taken the advantage of material selection, design calculations to improve on the technology in order to achieve quality output in terms of environmental parameters and product quality. The advancement has also taken care of times of low solar irradiance especially during the rainy season which is highly humid. The temperature range obtained from the mobile, green house and parabolic solar dryers are 20 – 59.5°C, 21.5 - 68°C, and 25-78°C respectively while their respective  average relative humidity are 71.64%, 60.21%, 49.77%. The ambient temperature range and relative humidity are 20 – 42.5°C and 74.88%. Experimental studies on the performance of the varied solar tent dryers were conducted using Chilli Pepper, Yam, Meat, Fish, Vegetables and plantain have been carried out the Beef meat, Chilli pepper and Telefeiria occidentalis vegetable were dried in the mobile solar tent dryer, greenhouse  solar dryer and parabolic solar dryer. The beef of 71.243% initial moisture content was dried to 12.15%, 12.01% and 10.09% in the aforementioned respective dryers within a period of 5 days. Also the chilli pepper of 89.40% initial moisture content was dried to 12%, 11.3% and 9.3% moisture content respectively in the dryers within a period of 8 days; while the Telefairia occidentalis vegetable of 11.0% initial moisture content was dried within a period of 5 hours to 6.0%, 5.5% and 4.0% moisture content

Pattern of distribution of reactive localised hyperplasia of the oral cavity in patients at a tertiary health institution in Nigeria

Background: Reactive localized hyperplastic lesions of the oral cavity (RHLs) are relatively common peripheral lesions which present as a range of clinically similar lesions at dental centers. Diagnosis can be challenging if dentists are unfamiliar with their clinicopathological across various populations.Objective: This study reviews the pattern of distribution of RHLs of the oral mucosa in a hospital- the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife.Materials and methods: We reviewed 10 years data from the archives of the Department of Oral Maxillofacial Surgery and Oral Pathology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. Information on RHLs were extracted and recorded on standardized data forms and analyzed using STATA.Results: The most common lesions were pyogenic granuloma (43.7%) and focal fibrous hyperplasia (39.7%), respectively. RHLs were found to be more frequent in women (66.7%) than men (33.3%). The most common locations of involvement was the gingivae (84.6%), and lesions were more common in the 9–29 year age group and the mean age was 37.7 (±21.1) years. The relationship between age group and reactive lesions was however not statistically significant.Conclusion:  The major benefit of this study is an improved knowledge of the frequency and distribution of oral reactive le- sions in sub-Saharan Africa which may be highly beneficial when establishing a diagnosis and treatment plan in clinical practice.Keywords: Focal fibrous hyperplasia, oral mucosa, peripheral giant cell granuloma, peripheral ossifying fibroma, pyogenic gran- uloma, reactive hyperplasia

An Assessment of the Impact of Disruptive Technologies on the Efficacy of Accounting Practices in Selected South Western States, Nigeria

Advancement in technology has brought intense but healthy competition among professional bodies in Nigeria, especially in the field of accounting. This has systematically transformed the accounting process from a traditional analog to a digital system. It is on this note that this study examined how disruptive technology affects the efficacy of accounting practice in Nigeria. This study employed a survey research method with the use of a structured questionnaire distributed among professional bodies in Ekiti, Osun, and Ondo States, South Western Nigeria. Regression analysis of Ordinary Least Squares coupled with correlation analysis were employed. The results revealed that artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data, and the internet of things had a significant positive effect on the controlled variable in Nigeria. The results also revealed that cloud computing had insignificant negative effect on the dependent variable. With the F Statistics (7.113) = 109.747, P = 0.000 < 0.05), the results showed a significantly strong relationship between the controlling and controlled variables. It is, thus, recommended the pivotal need for accounting practitioners to enhance their knowledge of disruptive technologies through training and retraining, and continuous attendance of related workshops organized by the respective professional bodies in Nigeria

A Mobile Palmprint Authentication System Using a Modified MNT Algorithm, Circular Local Binary Pattern, and CNN (mobileNet)

A few approaches have been proposed for hand segmentation in palmprint recognition. Skin-color information does not process sufficient information for discrimination in complex backgrounds and variable illumination. The use of guides has also been proposed, which restricts hand placement during capturing. Contour tracing algorithms have also been proposed in the literature. This worked in an even background scenario with no objects or patterns around the hand. In the case of uneven background with objects present, the traditional contour tracing algorithm cannot accurately segment the hand from the background. Hence, this paper proposes a modified Moore Neighbor Tracing (MNT) algorithm for hand detection and key-point extraction in complex backgrounds. The hand image is converted to grey, and the edges in the hand image are detected. The modified algorithm then transverses selected edges and returns the peak and valleys of each finger. This is then used to crop the palm. The modified algorithm improves the accuracy of hand detection in complex backgrounds with an F-Score of 0.8657. A mobile palmprint biometric system was also presented using Circular Local Binary Pattern (CLBP) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The system showed an accuracy of 98.3% for hands captured with the mobile device and the CASIA online database. An accuracy of 99.0% was also recorded for GPDS and PolyU online databases

Health insurance status affects hypertension control in a hospital based internal medicine clinic

Hypertension is a worldwide disorder that contributes significantly to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs in both developed and developing communities. A retrospective cohort study of hypertensive patients attending the Internal Medicine continuity clinic at Nashville General Hospital (NGH) between January and December 2007 was conducted. Given the easy access to health care at NGH and affordable Blood pressure (BP) medications, we explored the ability to achieve optimal BP control <140/90 ​mmHg and evaluated which factors are associated. Of the 199 subjects, 59% achieved BP goal <140/90 ​mmHg. The mean BP was 139/80 ​mmHg. Health insurance status was associated with SBP and DBP (All P ​< ​0.046). Patients with health insurance had a 2.2 fold increased odds of achieving BP control compared to patients without health insurance (P ​= ​0.025). Furthermore, the number of BP medications used was significantly associated with SBP and DBP (All P ​< ​0.003). Patients taking more than three BP medications had a 58% reduced odds of achieving optimal BP control compared to patients taking one medication (P ​= ​0.039). Ethnicity was not associated with achieving BP control. Our study revealed the number of BP medications used and health insurance status, are factors associated with achieving BP control

Estimating the prevalence of COPD in an African country:evidence from southern Nigeria

# BACKGROUND: Though several environmental and demographic factors would suggest a high burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in most African countries, there is insufficient country-level synthesis to guide public health policy. # METHODS: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health and African Journals Online identified studies reporting the prevalence of COPD in Nigeria. We provided a detailed synthesis of study characteristics, and overall median and interquartile range (IQR) of COPD prevalence in Nigeria by case definitions (spirometry or non-spirometry). # RESULTS: Of 187 potential studies, eight studies (6 spirometry and 2 non-spirometry) including 4,234 Nigerians met the criteria. From spirometry assessment, which is relatively internally consistent, the median prevalence of COPD in Nigeria was 9.2% (interquartile range, IQR: 7.6–10.0), compared to a lower prevalence (5.1%, IQR: 2.2–15.4) from studies based on British Medical Research Council (BMRC) criteria or doctor’s diagnosis. The median prevalence of COPD was almost the same among rural (9.5%, IQR: 7.6–10.3) and urban dwellers (9.0%, IQR: 5.3–9.3) from spirometry studies. # CONCLUSIONS: A limited number of studies on COPD introduces imprecision in prevalence estimates and presents concerns on the level of response available across different parts of Nigeria, and indeed across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa

Assessment of measures of adiposity that correlate with blood pressure among hypertensive Africans

Background: Studies differ on which anthropometric measure of adiposity shows good correlation with cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we evaluated the effects of common epidemiological measures of adiposity as a correlate of elevated blood pressure in an African population.Methodology: The study was carried out between June 2009 and December 2011 at the medical out-patient department of a tertiary healthcare center in Nigeria. Correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between blood pressure and body mass index (BMI), waist to height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC).Results: A total of 1,416 Hypertensives comprising 1090 (77%) adult females recruited over two and half years. Women were significantly older (49.2±8.1 vs. 48.0±10.0 years, p=0.039) and shorter (1.6±6.3 vs 1.7±6.8 meters, p&lt;0.0001) when compared with men. Blood pressure parameters were comparable between women and men. Approximately 1 out of 5 participants had good blood pressure control with no gender difference. Anthropometric measurements showed that 446(32%) were overweight, 404(29%) obese and 40(3%) were morbidly obese. Compared with their male counterparts, females were significantly more likely to be obese (P&lt;0.0001). Similarly, 51.6% of the subjects had abdominal obesity, with female preponderance (P&lt;0.0001). Likewise, a greater proportion of women had substantially higher measured waist circumference risk. Compared with other measures of adiposity, body mass index correlated best with diastolic blood pressure in both gender (P&lt; 0.05).Conclusion: This study adds to the evidence that obesity is a major cardiovascular risk factor. BMI, as a measure of adiposity, was found to correlate best with blood pressure. These findings support other observations in other populations that BMI rather than waist to height ratio (WHtR), and waist circumference (WC) is a better correlate of hypertension