ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POVERTY REDUCTION INITIATIVE USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Poverty seems to have persisted in many developing countries like Nigeria despite various measures and strategiesthat have been adopted over the years to deal with it. In spite of these efforts majority of the populace is povertystricken. The problem is not introducing these initiatives but rather how effective these initiatives are in reducingpoverty. Many governments in Nigeria have introduced various strategies/initiatives to reduce poverty but thestrategies seem not to have been effective in dealing with the problem. There is need therefore to find a way ofenhancing the effectiveness of these initiatives. The paper is focused on how IT can be used to enhance theeffectiveness of the different poverty initiatives so as to reduce poverty to the barest minimum.Keywords: Information Technology, Poverty , Poverty Reduction Initiatives

The Impact of Mentoring as a GMP Capability Building Tool in The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry in Nigeria

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), a component of Pharmaceutical Quality Systems, is aimed primarily at managing and minimizing the risks inherent in pharmaceutical manufacture to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of products. Provision of adequate number of personnel with the necessary qualifications/practical experience and their continuous training and evaluation of effectiveness of the training is the responsibility of the manufacturer. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014; International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2015). The classroom method of training that has been used for GMP capacity building in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Nigeria over the years, delivered by experts from stringently regulated markets, have not yielded commensurate improvement in the Quality Management Systems (QMS) in the industry. It is necessary and long over-due to explore an alternative training method that has a track record of success in other sectors. A lot of studies carried out on mentoring as a development tool in several fields such as academia, medicine, business, research etc., reported positive outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore mentoring as an alternative GMP training method in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Nigeria. Specifically, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of mentoring as a GMP capability building tool in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Nigeria, with focus on GMP documentations in XYZ pharmaceutical manufacturing company located in South-Western region of Nigeria. The methodology comprised gap assessment of GMP documentation of XYZ company to generate current state data, development of training materials based on the identified gaps and use of the training materials for the mentoring sessions. The outcome of the study was outstanding as gap assessment identified the areas of need that enabled development efforts to be targeted at these areas, unlike generic classroom training. The mentees’ acceptance of the mentoring support was evident by their request for additional training in some other areas related to the microbiology operations that were not covered in the gap assessment. This result portrays mentoring as a promising tool for GMP capacity building, but more structured studies need to be conducted in this area to generate results that can be generalized

The Social Impacts of Information and Communication Technology in Nigeria

This paper highlights the main types of information and communication technologies (ICT) used in Nigeria, the challenges of using them, and provides an indepth study of the social impacts of ICTs in Nigeria. We find that while some of these impacts are beneficial, like improvements in education, health, innovations, government service delivery, and participatory democracy; others are pervasively detrimental to the society as a whole, like e-fraud, hacking, dissemination of offensive images by foreign and local media, and job displacements leading to unemployment. Overall, we find that there is still a large scope of social benefits of ICTs yet to be explored in Nigeria. Keywords: information and Communication Technology; Social Impact; innovation; e-government; Nigeria JEL Classifications:  O30; I00; O31; H11; N1

A Study of Advanced Materials for Gas Turbine Coatings at Elevated Temperatures Using Selected Microstructures and Characteristic Environments for Syngas Combustion

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) that can be suitable for use in industrial gas turbine engines have been processed and compared with electron beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD) microstructures for applications in advanced gas turbines that use coal-derived synthesis gas. Thermo-physical properties have been evaluated of the processed air plasma sprayed TBCs with standard APS-STD and vertically cracked APS-VC coatings samples up to 1300 C. Porosity of these selected coatings with related microstructural effects have been analyzed in this study. Wet and dry thermal cycling studies at 1125 C and spalling resistance thermal cycling studies to 1200 C have also been carried out. Type I and Type II hot corrosion tests were carried out to investigate the effects of microstructure variations and additions of alumina in YSZ top coats in multi-layered TBC structures. The thermal modeling of turbine blade has also been carried out that gives the capability to predict in-service performance temperature gradients. In addition to isothermal high temperature oxidation kinetics analysis in YSZ thermal barrier coatings of NiCoCrAlY bond coats with 0.25% Hf. This can affect the failure behavior depending on the control of the thermally grown oxide (TGO) growth at the interface. The TGO growth kinetics is seen to be parabolic and the activation energies correspond to interfacial growth kinetics that is controlled by the diffusion of O{sub 2} in Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}. The difference between oxidation behavior of the VC and STD structures are attributed to the effects of microstructure morphology and porosity on oxygen ingression into the zirconia and TGO layers. The isothermal oxidation resistance of the STD and VC microstructures is similar at temperatures up to 1200 C. However, the generally thicker TGO layer thicknesses and the slightly faster oxidation rates in the VC microstructures are attributed to the increased ingression of oxygen through the grain boundaries of the vertically cracked microstructures. The plasma sprayed TBC microstructure (VC and STD) with NiCoCrAlY-Hf bond coat are stable up to 1100 C. However, as with other TBC structures, a considerable amount of interdiffusion was observed in the different layers, although the TBC growth was self-limiting and parabolic. The addition of Hf to the VC microstructure appears to have some potential for the future development of robust TBCs with improved isothermal and service temperatures in advanced gas turbines

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

A decision support package for Local Government Administrators

The paper designs and describes the operational characteristics of a software package which can be used to enhance the efficiency and productivity of Local Government administrators. It focuses on the Local Government functions, namely revenue generation, primary education and works services. The design and implementation procedures of the package are presented. The result shows list of teacher's promoted, those retired and the effective dates of their promotions and retirement, amount of revenue generated and the roads under construction through direct labour and under contract with contractors names and addresses. KEY WORDS: Decision support, decision making, education, revenue generation, works services. Global Journal of Mathematical Sciences Vol.3(2) 2004: 149-15

Framework for it-based empowerment and poverty reduction in Nigeria

Income generation, employment and increased productivity are major stepping-stones on the path out of poverty for rural dwellers. These rural dwellers face tremendous challenges to improving their income, generating employment opportunities and improving their productivity. Lack of the needed information has contributed to this poor status. The work identifies four information technologies (IT) based modules of significance in reducing poverty in Nigeria. These include data capture towards priotization of needy areas and well response targetted, Government/Non-Government poverty reduction initiative, IT-based empowerment initiative, and Job oppurtunities/Needed skills information flow. These areas are recommended for immediate use and they offer new approaches that could synergize with each other and with other activities to transform the lives of the rural dwellers for better.Keywords: Information technology, poverty reduction, income generation, rural dwellers, Nigeria International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences, 6(2): 161-165, 201