MODELLING READING CULTURE IN NIGERIA USING FRACTIONAL BETA REGRESSION DATA FROM SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA

Without mincing words, it is obvious that culture of reading is fading away from our societies in Nigeria. Reading hours have reduced drastically among most students in our various institutions of higher learning. This research is therefore aimed at finding out major covariates and factors responsible for this problem, thereby constructing a model for predicting the reading hour proportion among the teaming youths of our dear country. The beta regression models is useful for cases where the response variable is continuous and restricted to the standard unit interval (0, 1). Through the diagnostic tests carried out on the models, the best fitting model is a beta regression model with log-log link function having the maximum log likelihood value and minimum values from the AIC, BIC. Also, using error metrics MAE, MSE, RMSE, and MAPE tests proved that log-log model has the best predicting power. Results revealed that females in the institutions considered read more than their male counterparts with 2.9 and 2.8 hours per day respectively. The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro (FPI) record the highest average number of reading hours. The outcome of beta regression analysis using log-log model at 5% level show that CGPA, institutions, and zone contribute significantly to proportion of reading hours among students in the south western states of Nigeria. Keyword: Reading, Fractional beta regression, Reading culture, Modelling, log-log model

Non-linear Effect of Socio-spatial features on academic performances of HND Statistics students of the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti

Students’ performances worldwide is a phenomenon that attracts researches since education is considered to be a tool to social and economic advancement of a nation as well as its citizenry. Nigeria situation in the recent time has been considered critical. Many earlier works have shown a general agreed decline in education while that decline has equally been attributed to ranging factors; primary and secondary schools were said to be shambles, while these underperforming schools are mainly considered as public or government school in Nigeria due to many social and economic downturns that are not the subject of this research. An attempt is made in this research work to delve into the general performances of students in higher institution using the the higher national diploma (HND) results of Statistics students of the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti to examine the context of spatial study, the contribution of factors such as sex (peer effect), state, primary and secondary school type attended as well as the ages of students. Tests show significant effect of the variables and further investigation reveal higher influence between performance and type of primary school attended, however positive relationship declined for secondary school attended. The graphical illustration shows that age is found to have a non-linear influence on the academic performances. Keywords: Students, school attended, age, significant effect, performance

Polynomial Regression Model of Making Cost Prediction In Mixed Cost Analysis

Regression analysis is used across business fields for tasks as diverse as systematic risk estimation, production and operations management, and statistical inference. This paper presents the cubic polynomial least square regression as a robust alternative method of making cost prediction in business rather than the usual linear regression.The study reveals that polynomial regression is a better alternative with a very high coefficient of determination. Keywords: Polynomial regression, linear regression, high-low method, cost prediction, mixed cost

Atmospheric ventilation corridors and coefficients for pollution plume released from an Industrial Facility in Ile-Ife Suburb, Nigeria

This study presents a comparative investigation of atmospheric ventilation corridors and coefficients for gaseous pollution plume released from an isolated industrial facility into the ambient air of the host community in Ile-Ife suburb, southwest Nigeria. For the months of September to December in the year 2012 and 2013, measurement of surface layer atmospheric parameters made from an instrumented mast located near the industrial facility were used to parameterize for mixing layer height (MLH). Estimates of ventilation coefficients were obtained as well as in-depth analysis of the ventilation corridors performed. With an estimated carbon monoxide (CO) emission rate of 3.37 gs-1 from the industrial facility, AERMOD regulatory dispersion model was executed within a domain covering 8 km × 6 km around the host community. Effect of monthly changes in local ventilation corridors on pollutants dispersal at the study location was analyzed. Observed speed wind at the study location was weak (monthly mean value is ~ 1.5 m-s-1). The wind direction was predominantly southwesterly, indicating ventilation corridors were towards the north-east of the region. Characteristic values of the atmospheric ventilation coefficients varied from month to month and from daytime (08:00 to 19:00, GMT+1) to nighttime (20:00 to 07:00, GMT+1) with daily maximum values occurring in the late afternoon between (13:00 to 17: 00, GMT+1). The maximum values obtained were 1216 m2s-1and 1156 m2s-1, 1760 m2s-1 and 1038 m2s-1, 1225 m2s-1 and 691m2s-1, and 1334 and 436 m2s-1 for September to December, 2012 and 2013 respectively. Nighttime values were generally low, mostly less than 200 m2s-1. The study reveals that locations SE and NE of the scrap-iron recycling factory are prevalently exposed to high concentration of gaseous pollutants and the populace in those corridors is potentially susceptible to long-term adverse effects.Key words: Air pollution, ventilation coefficient, ventilation corridors, dispersion, AERMOD

Development of A Fingerprint Biometric Authentication System For Secure Electronic Voting Machines

            Democratic government in the world today rely on electronic voting as the foremost means of providing credible, transparent and fair elections for the electorate. There is a need for developed electronic voting systems to be security enhanced to ensure the authenticity of the developed system. Traditional paper balloting systems suffer from vote tampering, multiple voting and illegal voting by unregistered voters. They are also, susceptible to under aged voting due to the difficulty in authenticating the identity of prospective voters. Manual collation and publication of vote results also leads to slow response times and inaccuracies in published results. This research paper proposes a system to combat the current challenges through the development of a fingerprint biometric authentication system for secure electronic voting machines. It uses a fingerprint biometric sensor, integrated via Python to verify users of the system. The inclusion of biometrics improves the security features of the system. The secure voting system is built using PHP and easy to use Graphical User Interface was designed using HTML and CSS. Users are required to interact with the machine via a 7” touchscreen interface. From the results, it shows that the developed machine has a minimum response time of 0.6 seconds for specific operation, an FAR of 2%, FRR of 10% and overall system accuracy of 94%. The developed machine is able to combat the challenges of authentication of users, thereby guaranteeing the transparency, credibility, integrity and vote authenticity of the elections

Assessment of Ecological Status and Tree Diversity in Watershed Area of Dandi Local Government Area in Kebbi State, Nigeria

This study assessed the ecological and tree diversity status of watershed area of Dandi local government area in Kebbi state using systematic sampling technique. Three transects of 300 m long were laid at 100 m intervals. On each transect, six sample plots of size 50 m x 50 m (0.25ha) were alternately laid at 50 m intervals. A total of 18 sample plots will be used for the study. Diameters at breast height (Dbh) of all the trees found in the plot with Dbh ≥ 5cm will be measured. Fourteen tree species belonging to 10 genera and 8 families were identified. Borassus aethiopum of the family Arecaceae was the most abundant species in the area with a relative density (RD) and diversity index (DI) of 0.296 and 0.08728 respectively. This was followed by Cocos nucifera in the Arecaceae family also, with RD and DI of 0.192 and 0.03662 respectively. Daniella oliveri of the family Fabaceae was the least represented species with RD and DI of 0.0018 and 0.00002 respectively. The overall tree species richness in the area was 0.0052

The use of recycled concrete aggregate for concrete production incorporating calcined clay as pozzolanic admixture

Concrete is the most widely used construction material thereby required a lot of raw resources to keep up with its demand. This leads to depletion of raw resources as well as a continuous build-up of demolished concrete wastes (DCW). In most developing nations like Nigeria, the usual way of disposing these DCW is landfilling. However, recycling has become a viable options for conserving the raw resources and reducing greenhouse gases. This study examines the alternative way of reusing concrete wastes for production of fresh structural concrete. The DCW was obtained from the demolition of an existing concrete building and were treated by soaking in water to help reduce the amount of adhered mortar. A mix ratio of 1:1:2 was adopted with a water-cement ratio of 0.25 to attain a relatively high strength concrete and superplasticizer was added to ensure workable mixes. The recycled aggregates (RCA) were used as partial and complete substitute for natural coarse aggregates in percentages of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%, while calcined clay was added as pozzolanic admixture into the mixes at 15% and 20% partial replacement for cement. Tests carried out include the physical characterization of the constituent materials and the compressive strength of the hardened concretes were determined after 7, 14 and 28 days of curing in water using cubes of 100 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm. Results showed that the recycled concrete aggregates has high water absorption due to its porous interface. Moreso, results clearly indicate a continual decreasing trend in the compressive strength as the percentages of the RCA increases, however, a significant increase in compressive strength was observed when calcined clay was added as substitute for cement thereby improving the strength development of concrete

Challenges and opportunities in the design and construction of a GIS-based emission inventory infrastructure for the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

© 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Environmental monitoring in middle- and low-income countries is hampered by many factors which include enactment and enforcement of legislations; deficiencies in environmental data reporting and documentation; inconsistent, incomplete and unverifiable data; a lack of access to data; and technical expertise. This paper describes the processes undertaken and the major challenges encountered in the construction of the first Niger Delta Emission Inventory (NDEI) for criteria air pollutants and CO2 released from the anthropogenic activities in the region. This study focused on using publicly available government and research data. The NDEI has been designed to provide a Geographic Information System-based component of an air quality and carbon management framework. The NDEI infrastructure was designed and constructed at 1-, 10- and 20-km grid resolutions for point, line and area sources using industry standard processes and emission factors derived from activities similar to those in the Niger Delta. Due to inadequate, incomplete, potentially inaccurate and unavailable data, the infrastructure was populated with data based on a series of best possible assumptions for key emission sources. This produces outputs with variable levels of certainty, which also highlights the critical challenges in the estimation of emissions from a developing country. However, the infrastructure is functional and has the ability to produce spatially resolved emission estimates

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially