The Competitive Advantage of Outstanding the Products and Services of the Nigerian Service Industry

The study examines the concept of outsourcing and the possible impact it has on the competitive advantage it has on a company in Nigerian economy. Outsourcing is the practice in which companies move or contract out some or all of their products or service operations to other companies that specialize in those operations or to companies in other countries. The problems indentified in the Nigeria service industry are high operating cost having negative impact on return on capital employed, sub-optimality in production because of ineffective utilization of resources and inability of organization to identify areas of core competence for competitive advantage. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the competitive advantag

Electrical lnsulative Properties of Some Agro-Waste Material~.

Insulating materials are used in electrical power circuits to prevent leakages of current. This work investigates the possibility of using agro-waste materials: shells of coconut, mango endocarp, palm kernel, groundnut and bean as well as corncob and rice husk, as electrical insulators. Accordingly, electrical insulative properties: dielectric strength, resistivity, dielectric constant, moisture content and water absorption capacity of these waste materials were determined Each of the materials was washed, air dried for 2 weeks, ground into powder, and sieved with, the U.S Standard Sieve No. 40. It was then bound with a 200 gllitre aqueous solution of gum Arabic, and moulded into various shapes and thicknesses which were air dried for a week. Their dielef:tric strengths were tested thereafter, using a variable trarisformer tester; their resistivities measured with an i41sulation tester, while both moisture contents and water absoiption capacities were determined gravimetrically on dry weight basis. The results showed that the electrical insulative properties of these materials were C011Jparable with the known standard values. However, their moisture contents and water absorption capacities were relatively high, thereby limiting their usefulness as insulators in their ordinary states. Based on their dielectric constants and a standard table, coconut, palm kemel and groundnut shells, with dielectric constants range of 3.5-5.5 fall into high voltage applications; mango shell, corncob, rice lntsk and bean shell, with dielectric constants less than 3. 0, fall into the low voltage application category

Impact of Core Values on Motivating Future Employees: An Empirical Investigation of University Undergraduate

This paper examines the roles that core values can play in helping to moderate extrinsic and intrinsic motivating factors in future employees. Using a sample of students of the Departments of Accounting, Business and Economics from a private University in Nigeria, the results show a significant difference in the level of extrinsic motivation among the students but no significant difference was observed in the intrinsic motivating factors. Furthermore, accounting students were found to be more motivated extrinsically and intrinsically. These results are not consistent with prior research evidence but are ascribed to the paradigm shift in the curriculum of the private University with special emphasis on the teaching of a set of core values. Finally, this study identifies the implications of the new evidence on recruitment and retention policies of organization

Effects of Soil Properties and Operational Variables on the Compactibility of a Sandy Loam Soil

The evaluation of an empirical equation for the determination of degree of compaction of a sandy loam soil was carried out using seven soil physical properties and four compaction operational variables. The soil used was obtained from a borrow pit in Gombe. Five levels of compactive effort, E/A, using a drop-weight type compactor varying from 107.91 to 539.55 Nm was used to compact each of seven pairs of embankment and slice thicknesses (Z, z respectively) with Z varying from 210 to 450 mm and z from 30 to 210 mm. The developed empirical equation, π1 = Gπ2k in which π1 is the dimensionless degree of compaction and π2 is a dimensionless combination of the soil properties and the compaction operational variables, has a very high coefficient of determination, r2 varying from 98.8% to 98.9%. G and k are each polynomial functions of compactive effort per loading, eL. that is, G = αGeL2+βG eL + λG and k=αkeL2+βkeL+ λk. The values of the respective α, β and λ are highly statistically significant at 99.95 confidence level. The “dependent” variables (G and k) are highly correlated at 99.95% confidence level of statistical significance with the “independent” variable (eL). The multivariate expression of the degree of compaction obtained in this study shows that compaction depends, not only on cumulative compactive effort, E/A, but also on the compactive effort per loading (eL), embankment and slice thicknesses (Z and z respectively) as well as on easy-to-measure soil properties (i.e. soil texture, soil uniformity coefficient, antecedent soil moisture and antecedent bulk density)

Isolation and Screening of Fungal Isolates from Bambara (Vigna Subterranea) Nuts for Tannase Production

Tannase (Tannin acyl hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.20) is an enzyme produced in the presence of tannic acid by various filamentous fungi. They are produced principally by fungi of the genus Aspergillus and Penicillium. The enzyme is used in the food and beverage industry as a clarifying agent for wines, beers and fruit juices. In Africa, billions of dollars are expended yearly on the importation of commercial enzymes for the food and pharmaceutical industries and this increases the cost of production and the finished goods. This study was carried out to isolate tannase producing fungal species using Bambara nuts as a substrate in a bid to finding alternatives to the importation of tannase. Fresh Bambara nuts were collected from different locations in Nigeria. They were cleaned, sorted and intermittently moistened with water to encourage fungal growth for fourteen days. The different fungi obtained after fourteen days were inoculated onto Potato Dextrose Agar plates and incubated at 25°C for five days. Subculturing of fungal isolates was carried out to obtain pure cultures of isolates. Tannilytic activity (hydrolysis of tannin) of isolates was assessed by inoculating them in media containing tannin. The plates were incubated at 25°C for 2-5 days after which the plates were observed and zones of hydrolysis measured. A total of eighteen isolates were obtained. They were all members of the Aspergillus genus. 56% (10) of the isolates were able to degrade tannin acid with mean zone of hydrolysis of 39mm ±23.7 mm (Range 10-70mm). This study established members of the Aspergillus genus isolated from Bambara nuts as viable fungi for application in the production of tannase. This study adds to existing reports on fungal production of tannase

Measurement and Comparison of Total Electron Content for Assessment of Ionospheric Models during April 7, 2000 Geomagnetic Storms

Ionospheric modelling is a major approach to predicting the behavior of the ionosphere particularly in regions where Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are not readily available. Hence, the objective of this paper is to measure and compare Total Electron Content (TEC) for Assessment of Ionospheric Models during April 7, 2000 Geomagnetic Storms. Measured Total Electron Content (TEC) from experimental records (April 5 - 9, 2000) were compared with those predicted by the improved versions of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI-2012 and IRI-Plas2015) and the NeQuick models. The mean values of TEC in five days of the months were plotted against the hours of the same day and the root mean square error of the models which shows their deviations from the GPS data were used to observe the diurnal variations in TEC and the performances of the ionospheric models respectively. The data obtained confirmed that TEC has their highest values during the midnight period and lowest values during the sunset period at the Australian stations and we also confirmed that European stations had their highest TEC values during the daytime and their lowest values during the night time. We affirmed that the North American station in USA had its highest TEC values during the night time and lowest values during day time. The Asian station had its highest TEC values during the day time and lowest values during the midnight period. However, NeQuick, IRIPlas2015, and NeQ-IRI produced better estimate of TEC than the IRI-2001 and IRI-2001COR at all locations during the phases of the geomagnetic storm