Pay Satisfaction and Role Ambiguity as Predictors of Job Burnout Among Osun State Civil Servants, Nigeria

The study assessed the levels of Job burnout and examined the extent to which pay satisfaction predicted job burnout among Osun State civil servants. It also investigated the extent to which role ambiguity predicted job burnout and determined whether there is a joint prediction of pay satisfaction and role ambiguity on job burnout. These were with a view to understanding the factors that predict job burnout among Osun State civil servants. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. Primary data were collected through the administration of questionnaire on a sample of the study population. The study adopted multi-stage sampling technique. Purposive sampling technique was used to select eight ministries and stratified sampling technique was used to select 354 respondents comprising 214 males and 140 females with mean age of 43.39 years and standard deviation of 9.09. Three standardized psychological instruments namely: Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ), Role Ambiguity Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) were used to collect the data for the study. The data generated was subjected to linear and multiple regression analyses.  The results revealed that civil servants exhibited a moderate level of job burnout (44.70%). The results also showed that pay satisfaction significantly predicted job burnout among civil servants (β= 0.21, t = 3.53,P< .05). The results further revealed that role ambiguity significantly predicted job burnout among the respondents (β= 0.71, t = 8.37,P<.05). Finally, the results indicated that pay satisfaction and role ambiguity jointly predicted job burnout among civil servants (β= 28.13, t = 9.39,P< .05). The study concluded that job burnout was moderate among Osun State civil servants, while pay satisfaction and role ambiguity independently and jointly predicted job burnout among respondents

Assessing the Suitability of Bromilow Time-Cost (BTC) Model to Predict Project Time on Road Construction Projects in Botswana

The construction industry researchers have still found the Bromilow Time-Cost performance model given by T = KCB very relevant to today’s construction processes. The only aspects that change in the model are the coefficient of the equation K, and the power of the cost B. This suggests that the equation characteristics only change with the type of project and the environment in which the project was executed. The model helps to forecast the duration of a project using the estimated final cost of the project. A fast estimate of construction time in the early phase of a project helps the contractor in avoiding time and cost overruns that might lead to dispute and possibly litigation. The motivation for this research was derived from the above assertions. Data for formulating the Bromilow model for road construction projects were collected from a sample of 54 road projects executed by the Botswana Department of Roads. Analysis showed that the Bromilow time-cost performance model for road construction project in Botswana is given by: T = 14. 11116C0.155488 With R2 = 0.283266 and adjusted R2 = 0.269483. Even though the R2 and the adjusted R2 were considered a good fit for the data and the R2 was within the range of what was found in the previous studies around the world which is between 0.205 and 0.850, the model may not provide a good base in Botswana for estimating the duration of a project at the early life when the early cost is known. It is recommended that data on recently completed projects be provided for in-depth analysis of the influence of variables such as funding, payment, rework, change orders , and many other agents of time-overruns might have contributed to project time in the Botswana construction industry. Keywords: suitability, Bromilow’s model, project time, road construction projects, Botswana DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-12-04 Publication date: December 31st 202

Moving Nigeria’s Project Procurement System to Best Value: A Prescription

A new sustainable and best value procurement initiative suitable for use in developing countries has been developed.  The procurement system, the Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS) was developed in the United States (US), and has been tested in Botswana and recently in India.  PIPS not only stabilizes the procurement system, it transfers the risk and control to contractors who must act in the best interest of the client.  The transparency, accountability, and risk management orientation of the PIPS structure disengages relationships, inaccurate expectations, and bureaucratic and political actions.  The strength of PIPS includes minimizing the need for professionals representing the client to make decisions, direct, and control contractors.  PIPS has been tested for 20 years in the US, with 98% performance on over 600 projects.  Recent tests outside of construction reveal that the efficiency of PIPS can minimize up to 50% of the procurement transaction costs. We hypothesized that paradigm shift from the low-bid or price-based procurement to the best value procurement through the application of PIPS technology is a potential panacea capable of extricating corruption, collusion, fraud, bid rigging, ethical violations and negative headlines from developing countries’ procurement environment rather than advancing measures that only scratches the problems on the surface. We infer that a adoption of a new initiative in best value procurement using PIPS technology can revolutionize the procurement environment in Nigeria in particular and the developing countries as a whole. Keywords: Best value, public project procurement, Performance Information Procurement System (PIPS), sustainable consumption, developing countries, Nigeria

Socio-Economic Importance of Honey among Traditional Healers and Orthodox Practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

The necessity for people’s adequate and quality as well as good health and standard of living for overall National development informed the main reason for the study on Socio-economic importance of honey among traditional healers and orthodox medical practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State. A total of 105questionnaires wereadministered, while 91 were retrieved from the respondents. Various uses of honey were investigated both for personal consumption and medicinal purpose. The result shows that 41.8 % of the respondent use honey for multiple purpose, while 35.2% use honey mainly for medicinal purpose, 16.5% use it mainly as beverages, while the remaining 6.6% for use in treatments. The Chi Square Test showed a higher calculated value of 385.71 than the tabulated value of 21.026. This confirms a strong relationship between the use of honey and social life of Iwo people. The major constraints discovered was that Traditional healers do not exercise strict control on the quantity doses of honey used for different ailments. It is therefore recommended that both rural and urban dwellers should be sensitized about the use of honey, in order to encourage sustainable consumption for improvement of health status. Keywords: Medicinal, orthodox, traditional, hone

Seroprevalence of hepatitis E among restaurant food handlers in Ibadan, Nigeria

 Background: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is one of the causative agent of acute viral hepatitis in humans. HEV is an important public health disease in many parts of the world because it is transmitted faeco-orally.  Majority of the documented studies on hepatitis E virus in Nigeria have focused on pregnant women and animal handlers with limited data among food handlers. Thus the current study aimed at investigating the prevalence of HEV infection among food handlers operating within the premises of a tertiary care facility.Methods: One hundred and seventy seven (177) food handlers were screened using commercial Enzyme-Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay (ELISA) to detect IgM antibodies to Hepatitis E. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess risk factors for HEV infection.Results: HEV IgM antibodies were detected in 16 (9.0%) of the participants. Age-specific HEV IgM seroprevalence appeared to decrease with age, however there were no significant differences in HEV IgM seropositivity regarding age (P=0.251), gender (P = 0.231), marital status (P=0.735) and religion (P = 0.906). Significant risk factors for HEV IgM seropositivity included source of water for drinking (P=0.03) and the use of soap for hand washing (P=0.02).Conclusion: Our findings suggest that HEV remains a public health problem, as the virus circulates at low but considerable levels especially among food handlers; thus posing a threat to potential contacts. Proper hand washing practices as well as provision of portable water are important factors for the control of Hepatitis E

Allergy sensitization and asthma among 13-14 year old school children in Nigeria

Background: The prevalence of asthma and role of atopy in asthma among children has not been clearly defined in Nigeria.Objective: To determine the prevalence of asthma and investigate risk factors related to allergy sensitization among urban and rural school children in southwest Nigeria.Methods: Validated ISAAC questionnaire was administered to 1736 high school children in randomly selected schools in rural and urban communities. Identified asthma cases were matched to controls. Allergy skin tests, blood eosinophil count, serum IgE and stool examination for parasites were performed. Dust samples from homes were also collected and analyzed for allergens.Results: The prevalence of asthma was 7.5% (95% CI 6.0 to 9.2%) and 8% (95% CI 6.0-10.4%) in the rural and urban communities respectively . Risk factors for asthma included cigarette-smoking, cats in the home and family size. Eosinophil count (109/L) was elevated in asthmatics [0.70 (95% CI 0.48-1.11) vs. 0.32 (95% CI 0.19-0.69); p<0.01], but IgE levels were similar between the two groups (298±229 IU/mL vs. 288±257; p=0.97). Positive skin tests to cat hair, cockroach, mango blossom and mouse epithelium were more frequent in asthmatics than in healthy controls, especially in the rural communities. There was no correlation between allergens in dust collected from homes and skin test reactivity.Conclusion: Asthma prevalence is similar in rural and urban children in Southwest Nigeria and atopy with elevated IgE was not observed to be a major factor for asthma in our cohort of children in both communities.Key words: Asthma, risk factors, prevalence, atopy, sensitization, childre

Linking dynamic phenotyping with metabolite analysis to study natural variation in drought responses of Brachypodium distachyon

Drought is an important environmental stress limiting the productivity of major crops worldwide. Understanding drought tolerance and possible mechanisms for improving drought resistance is therefore a prerequisite to develop drought-tolerant crops that produce significant yields with reduced amounts of water. Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) is a key model species for cereals, forage grasses and energy grasses. In this study, initial screening of a Brachypodium germplasm collection consisting of 138 different ecotypes exposed to progressive drought, highlighted the natural variation in morphology, biomass accumulation and responses to drought stress. A core set of ten ecotypes, classified as being either tolerant, susceptible or intermediate, in response to drought stress, were exposed to mild or severe (respectively 15% and 0% soil water content) drought stress and phenomic parameters linked to growth and colour changes were assessed. When exposed to severe drought stress, phenotypic data and metabolite profiling combined with multivariate analysis revealed a remarkable consistency in separating the selected ecotypes into their different pre-defined drought tolerance groups. Increases in several metabolites, including for the phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid, and TCA-cycle intermediates, were positively correlated with biomass yield and with reduced yellow pixel counts; suggestive of delayed senescence, both key target traits for crop improvement to drought stress. While metabolite analysis also separated ecotypes into the distinct tolerance groupings after exposure to mild drought stress, similar analysis of the phenotypic data failed to do so, confirming the value of metabolomics to investigate early responses to drought stress. The results highlight the potential of combining the analyses of phenotypic and metabolic responses to identify key mechanisms and markers associated with drought tolerance in both the Brachypodium model plant as well as agronomically important crops

Socio-Economic Importance of Honey among Traditional Healers and Orthodox Practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

The necessity for people\u2019s adequate and quality as well as good health and standard of living for overall National development informed the main reason for the study on Socio-economic importance of honey among traditional healers and orthodox medical practitioners in Iwo Local Government Area, Osun State. A total of 105questionnaires were administered, while 91 were retrieved from the respondents. Various uses of honey were investigated both for personal consumption and medicinal purpose. The result shows that 41.8 % of the respondent use honey for multiple purpose, while 35.2% use honey mainly for medicinal purpose, 16.5% use it mainly as beverages, while the remaining 6.6% for use in treatments. The Chi Square Test showed a higher calculated value of 385.71 than the tabulated value of 21.026. This confirms a strong relationship between the use of honey and social life of Iwo people. The major constraints discovered was that Traditional healers do not exercise strict control on the quantity doses of honey used for different ailments. It is therefore recommended that both rural and urban dwellers should be sensitized about the use of honey, in order to encourage sustainable consumption for improvement of health status

Shopaholic Phenomenon, Choice of Shopping Place and the Development of Megamalls in Ibadan, Nigeria

Shopping activities in the 21st century are taking a social dimension rather than mere commercial activities. This is evident in the importance of consumer attachment to shopping and choice of shopping place, which necessitated the increase in the number of megamalls in many cities globally, including Nigeria. This study examined the shopaholic phenomenon, choice of shopping place, and the development of megamalls in Ibadan, Nigeria. The study was empirical using both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection. Two hundred sixteen copies of the questionnaire were administered to mall customers, while an In-depth interview was conducted for six mall operators cut across malls in Ibadan. Statistical Package for Social Sciences using frequency tables, percentages, and histogram charts was used for analysis. The study revealed that most respondents choose Megamall as their shopping place, and there is a connection between the shopaholic phenomenon, choice of shopping place, and the development of megamalls. The conducive and serene environment which megamalls portray has wooed many customers in the urban areas to choose it as their priority as it concerns shopping, and that has gone a long way to enhance the development and sustainability of megamalls in Nigeria. Most customers patronize malls because of their innate love of shopping, ostentatious life, and showy life to impress friends and well-wishers. The glamour and fascination that megamalls display cannot be gotten in retail shops or open markets. Customers are delighted with their experiences in the megamalls that account for their continued patronage of the megamalls over other shopping alternatives

Path Loss Predictions in the VHF and UHF Bands Within Urban Environments: Experimental Investigation of Empirical, Heuristics and Geospatial Models

(c) 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.[EN] Deep knowledge of how radio waves behave in a practical wireless channel is required for effective planning and deployment of radio access networks in urban environments. Empirical propagation models are popular for their simplicity, but they are prone to introduce high prediction errors. Different heuristic methods and geospatial approaches have been developed to further reduce path loss prediction error. However, the efficacy of these new techniques in built-up areas should be experimentally verified. In this paper, the efficiencies of empirical, heuristic, and geospatial methods for signal fading predictions in the very high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) bands in typical urban environments are evaluated and analyzed. Electromagnetic field strength measurements are performed at different test locations within four selected cities in Nigeria. The data collected are used to develop path loss models based on artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), and Kriging techniques. The prediction results of the developed models are compared with those of selected empirical models and field measured data. Apart from Egli and ECC-33, the root mean squared error (RMSE) produced by all other models under investigation are considered acceptable. Specifically, the ANN and ANFIS models yielded the lowest prediction errors. However, the empirical models have the lowest standard deviation errors across all the bands. The findings of this study will help radio network engineers to achieve efficient radio coverage estimation; determine the optimal base station location; make a proper frequency allocation; select the most suitable antenna; and perform interference feasibility studies.This work was supported jointly by the funding received from IoT-Enabled Smart and Connected Communities (SmartCU) Research Cluster and the Center for Research, Innovation and Discovery (CUCRID) of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria.Faruk, N.; Popoola, SI.; Surajudeen-Bakinde, NT.; Oloyede, AA.; Abdulkarim, A.; Olawoyin, LA.; Ali, M.... (2019). Path Loss Predictions in the VHF and UHF Bands Within Urban Environments: Experimental Investigation of Empirical, Heuristics and Geospatial Models. IEEE Access. 7:77293-77307. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2921411S7729377307